1934-1936 R327 Diamond Stars

[Spike]

I touched on Goudey's use of Ruth and Gehrig in 1933 (both) 34 (Lou) 35 (Babe) via their shared sports agent, Christy Walsh, in an article for SABR.

sabrbaseballcards.blog/2023/05/11/1935-goudey-over-the-border-line/

Walsh handled endorsements for many sports stars and appears to have set up 1934 Goudey as a vehicle for Gehrig that paralleled his Wheaties endorsement and attempt to make Lou a movie star. Chuck Klein was also a client of Walsh, which might be why he appeared for one series that year. (Ruth still appeared in the 1934 World Wide Gum set using his 1933 card photo, so perhaps those deals focused on the USA more than Canada.) Klein's also missing from Diamond Stars, so perhaps Walsh asked for higher prices on all three than National Chicle cared to pay.

Big fan of the proof sheet of proposed DS cards that surfaced after bankruptcy and wish the company had survived long enough to print them.

[molenick]

Thanks for posting the proposed sheet of cards. While some of the issued cards had backgrounds that were just color fields (like Byrd and Traynor), these look like they were going in an even more abstract, Art Deco direction.

[brianp-beme]

Here is a 3-pack of smoking Diamond Stars smokestacks.

Brian

[brianp-beme]

And to tie in with the awesome proof sheet posted by Matthew, here are three that have blocks of color that were a precursor to some of the angular ones seen on the sheet (wouldn't it have been great if those 12 shown on the sheet had been issued as #97 to 108, instead of the repeat designs). It definitely looks like they were intending to go all-in on the deco backgrounds, and even introducing curlicues into the mix.

Brian

[brianp-beme]

3 more Diamond Stars displaying classic poses, great color, and incredible artistry.

Brian

[brianp-beme]

And one final Diamond Stars trio, this showcasing catchers. Lopez could have been in my Diamond Stars in motion post, but I guess posting is not an exact science.

A side note - in my opinion the Diamond Stars set has the highest percentage of catchers depicted in the act of catching/sporting catcher's gear of any set, and these catcher cards all have very different and interesting depictions of the players.

Brian

[Spike]

Originally Posted by brianp-beme

And one final Diamond Stars trio, this showcasing catchers. Lopez could have been in my Diamond Stars in motion post, but I guess posting is not an exact science.

A side note - in my opinion the Diamond Stars set has the highest percentage of catchers depicted in the act of catching/sporting catcher's gear of any set, and these catcher cards all have very different and interesting depictions of the players.

Brian

The Diamond Stars and Sky Birds sets strike me as filled with love for cards-as-art. Even if the company itself lasted a short time, what a great legacy.

[Leon]

Thanks for sharing. That's pretty awesome.

Originally Posted by Spike

I touched on Goudey's use of Ruth and Gehrig in 1933 (both) 34 (Lou) 35 (Babe) via their shared sports agent, Christy Walsh, in an article for SABR.

sabrbaseballcards.blog/2023/05/11/1935-goudey-over-the-border-line/

Walsh handled endorsements for many sports stars and appears to have set up 1934 Goudey as a vehicle for Gehrig that paralleled his Wheaties endorsement and attempt to make Lou a movie star. Chuck Klein was also a client of Walsh, which might be why he appeared for one series that year. (Ruth still appeared in the 1934 World Wide Gum set using his 1933 card photo, so perhaps those deals focused on the USA more than Canada.) Klein's also missing from Diamond Stars, so perhaps Walsh asked for higher prices on all three than National Chicle cared to pay.

Big fan of the proof sheet of proposed DS cards that surfaced after bankruptcy and wish the company had survived long enough to print them.