1933 DeLong (R333)

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Posted By: GatorDave

This is my first post. I am interested in starting a 1933 DeLong set in Ex condition. Are any of you collectors of this set? Do you know what cards are the more difficult ones to find in Ex condition?

I have been collecting baseball cards since 1978. I have mainly focused on post-1950 cards. However, I have decided to focus my efforts on 1933 DeLong.

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Posted By: Peter Thomas

Hello Dave, I have a graded set between 2 and 6 - mostly 4's. Cards seem about the same in difficulty, but will be pricey in EX. - Peter

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Posted By: jay behrens

Yep, a set in true EX confition is gonna put a serious dent in the bankroll. No scarcities in the set, but getting a Gehrig that nice might be tough as high grade examples of any of these cards are rarely offered.

Jay

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Posted By: dan mckee

The set id fairly easy to complete, my set took about 1 year, get the bleeding over with early, start with the Gehrig. And forget trying to find a wrapper!

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Posted By: Botn

I just bought a complete VGish set. Not the most fun way to put a set together but it was purchased for resale so it is the most economical way to go. The cards are out there in various conditions. The Gehrig seems to be the most plentiful. It was nice to see the entire set since a few of the cards I had never seen before this purchase.

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Posted By: Darren J. Duet

I put together a set in excellent graded condition over the course of 2 years. I find the Grove and Foxx very difficult to find and are rarely offered. The Gehrig is readily available in ex condition but it'll cost you.

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Posted By: Bruce Babcock

My first DeLong was the Gehrig, purchased at The National in 1996. For some reason, the toughest card for me was the Terry, acquired in 2001. The Gehrig (PSA 5) cost me more than three times more than any other card. About 1/3 of the set is graded (PSA 5-6) and the others would fall into the PSA 3-4 category if graded.

The whole set is viewable at
http://homepage.mac.com/thurber51/PhotoAlbum62.html

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Posted By: eric p.

i have a psa 6 terry for sale, which looks like an 8 if your interested, lower grades are more plentiful and definitely more affordable, my psa 6 terry would set you back $490, good luck!

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Posted By: cmoking

I would love to read a history about this set. It's a great looking set. Was the company a gum company like Goudey? How come they only produced one set? Were the cards available in baseball card packs (I doubt that since there are only 24 cards in the set)? Or did they come with some food product?

Any info would be appreciated.

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Posted By: Bob Donaldson

I just won a June 1988 "The Trader Speaks" on Ebay and it had a letter from the one time president of Goudey Gum company. He makes mention of the other Gum/Candy companies of the day. To paraphrase;

Goudey Gum was located in the Alston/Brighton section of Boston.

Delong - Located in South Boston, headed by the ex-treasurer of Goudey Harold DeLong. The company later joined Gum products.

National Chicle - was formed by a group of executives headed by an Alvin Livingstone who left Goudey. They went bankrupt in 37 and the trade names including Diamond Stars and Batter Up were purchased by Goudey. Alvin Livingston kept some equiptment and reopened as International Gum which became Gum products which eventually became part of Moxie.

George Miller was a candy company in the North End of Boston.

Being from Boston, born about 1/2 mile from Goudey's address I find it amazing that Goudey, Delong, National Chicle and George Miller were all operating in Boston at the same time. Why couldn't one of my relative have worked there?

He believes that the reason most of the smaller companies stoped producing cards was the lack of a distribution channel and the preperation costs which he estimates at $40-50,000 in cards, boxes and wrappers.

He also states that he recalls the Lajoie as being distributed with the rest of the cards and thinks it's rarity is due to kids not saving the card of an old timer.

Interesting reading. If anyone wants a copy of the article I'll will copy it and send it out to you.

thanks

Bob

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Posted By: Glenn

"He also states that he recalls the Lajoie as being distributed with the rest of the cards and thinks it's rarity is due to kids not saving the card of an old timer."

Huh. Has anyone else ever heard this explanation?

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Posted By: David Vargha

Eric's price is right on the market price. That's what I paid for my PSA 6 Terry. A bunch of these just came up for sale in SGC holders. Here is what I have on info. for some recent closing prices:

2 Simmons SGC 4 $228
4 Terry SGC 5 $281
5 Gehringer SGC 3 $97
6 Cochrane SGC 6 $987
7 Gehrig SGC 2 $734
8 Cuyler SGC 3 $118
11 Lindstrom SGC 2 $57
12 Traynor SGC 4 $158
13 Maranville SGC 4 $158
14 Gomez PSA 6 $387 / SGC 3 $134
19 Hafey SGC 4 $100
21 Foxx SGC 3 $300
22 Klein SGC 3 $118
23 Grove GAI 5 $383 / SGC 5 $378
24 Goslin sgc 6 $1,200


DavidVargha@hotmail.com

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Posted By: Darren J Duet

I have this set in Vg to Ex. I have found the Grove very difficult to find in any condition. Foxx is the second most difficult, I was lucky to pick-up a PSA 6 Fox about a year ago ($900) and an SGC 60 Gehrig ($1500). The rest of my set ranges from 3 to 6.

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Posted By: andy becker

the same article appeared in vcbc #2 page 34.
the author states "the facts on lajoie are hazy as i was still in production at the time".
the article is dated november 8 1977. perhaps the author was unaware of the 1934 sheet containing lajoie.
good reading nonetheless

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Posted By: Bryan

Quick, think. Name a 1933 baseball card issue from the Boston area. Well, it's Goudey, of course! Hey, not so fast! Another company, DeLong, also put out a pioneering effort in the same year, and also in Beantown! History has relegated the DeLong set to the shadows, as it pales in size to the monstrous 240 card (including card #106, which came out in 1934) set of Goudeys issued the same year, but the set of DeLongs stands proudly with it's 24 colorful and informative cards.
The DeLong set has several appealing features. The most immediate is the attractiveness of the cards themselves. Each card shows a "Giant" sized action pose of the featured player inside a stadium setting. The predominant colors used on the cards are pastels, with red, yellow, and baby blue most commonly seen.
Equally impressive are the cards' reverses, which feature specific "inside" tips on how to better play the game. These are amazingly insightful and show us modern fans that the game was quite advanced as long ago as the 1930's. For instance, Lefty Grove's card talks about how the final snap of his wrist as he releases his fastball creates backspin, which causes the ball to rise as it reaches the batter, consequently often making him undercut the ball and pop it up.
The back of the "Rabbit" Maranville card is also extremely interesting, as it covers the evolution of hitting from the choke hold "spray" hitters of the teens and early 1920's to the "free swingers" of the present day, (1933). I guess that we could make a similar commentary on our modern game!
Another element of this set that creates desire is the scarcity. Obviously not nearly as well or widely distributed as its Goudey counterpart, the DeLongs have sporadically turned up in small groups throughout the East and Midwest, usually in 5 or 10 card groupings and in beat-up condition. The Summer 2000 PSA Population Report shows that they have graded a total of 387 DeLongs, with only 90 examples grading the straight 8 or 9. That's an average of less than 4 copies of each card in true investment grade! Wow! Certain cards, like those of KiKi Cuyler, Riggs Stephenson, Lon Warneke, and Goose Goslin are so rare in high grade that either 0 or 1 copies have been graded Nm-Mt 8 or higher! Even the set's key card, that of the Iron Horse himself, Lou Gehrig, shows a mere 3 examples graded 8, with none higher!
The final piece of the puzzle is player selection. The 1933 Goudey set includes 240 cards, with 64 of them picturing Hall of Famers, or 26.7% of the set. The DeLong set, with 24 cards, features an astounding 15 HOF'ers, or 62.5% of the set! Several collectors out there love to acquire cards and learn the history of baseball's Hall of Fame performers, with the so-called common players not nearly as appealing. This is the type of set for a collector of that nature!
Overlooked, but not forgotten, the 1933 DeLongs are truly a "Larger than Life" set! If you're up to a great challenge, you should look to accumulate the set, in any condition, for all of the reasons stated here and many more!
Enjoy your hobby!

Chris Porter handles both Direct Sales and Auctions for Superior Sports Auctions of Traverse City, Michigan. He can be reached at (231) 922 – 9862.

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Posted By: cmoking

Thanks for this, interesting. It looks like it was written back in 2000, so the pop report stuff is now outdated. It goes to show how many cards have been graded in the last 5 years. The high grade stuff didn't increase that much, but the overall cards sent to PSA have gone up alot more.

"The Summer 2000 PSA Population Report shows that they have graded a total of 387 DeLongs, with only 90 examples grading the straight 8 or 9. "

There are now 1,113 total cards graded (186% increase), with 128 garded PSA 8 and only 2 PSA 9s (only a 44% increase). So the majority of graded cards over the past 5 years have been lower grades.