[bigfanNY]

The Variations folks discussed here for the1939 Playball set have been known for decades. There was one early guide that listed them coming in 2 sizes ( due to the extra large borders). The first Baseball card dealer I met in 1973 was Paul Gallagher who ran the NYC show with his brother but My Dad and I met him at an antique show in Madison square garden. he had a table stacked with all varieties of cards. My dad had bought along a few of his playballs from 39 40 and 41. And he asked him if he had any 40 playballs And I can still see my dads face as as Mr Gallagher opened up a suitcase full. My dad went through and bought the Yankees he still needed maybe 3 or 4. He said he had as many 39's if we wanted to look but My dad said he had a nice DiMaggio but never much liked the 39's. Paul laughed yes he said NO NAMES ON THE FRONT everybody says nice pictures but no names.
So the 39 set has been the least favorite set of its era for a long time. I know there were articles written about them in the late 70's describing the variations and discussing the size differances but it has never been a popular set. That is not to say it is easy to put together, The high numbers are tough and the Williams and DiMaggio have always been sought after.
Two years later in 1975 we had completed the 40 set and my Dad had his 41 set from when he was a kid but we never completed the 39 set. My old checklist says we topped out at 128 of the 161. Glad to see renewed interest.