This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/7/2009
Rarely offered in top grades is a PSA 8 NM/MT example of Lou Gehrig's outrageously challenging 1933 Goudey card #160, which is virtually identical to its #92 counterpart in all but two regards: 1) the card number at the top of the reverse reads "No. 160" instead of "No. 92," and 2) the 1933 Goudey population reports from both PSA and SGC detail, to date, about half as many total examples of card #160 on record, with about a third as many examples in top grades compared to card #92. Why The Goudey Gum Company decided to include two identical examples of the famous slugger's first major baseball card in its inaugural set may never be known for certain, but one obvious reason would of course be Lou's exponentially expanding stardom, concurrent with the fading of Babe Ruth. Long residing in the colossal shadow of his world famous teammate, Lou's numbers in the seven years leading up to and including the 1933 season nevertheless read something like a comic book, with a .350 batting average and a remarkable .450 on-base percentage encompassing those seven seasons, including a string of RBI totals that is unrivaled in the history of the game (175, 142, 126, 174, 184, 151, and 139). In 1934, he would then put together one of the most prolifically productive seasons of all time. Clearly, the reason for his repeat appearances in the '33 Goudey set is no great mystery, but this still doesn't explain why card #160 is so darn tough (in all grades, but especially in NM condition or better). To date, PSA has graded 830 total examples of card #92 and just 479 copies of card #160, while SGC reports total populations of 210 and 136, respectively. The numbers at the top of the pop reports are even more puzzling, with PSA grading just 14 examples of card #160 in the offered graded of NM/MT 8, with just 4 higher on record (2 NM/MT+ 8.5s and 2 MINT 9s), compared to a whopping 45 examples of card #92 in the NM/MT 8 class, with 6 higher (5 MINT 9s and 1 world renowned GEM MINT 10). Proudly offered in this lot is 1 of those scarce 14 examples of card #160 that has climbed PSA's grading ladder to the improbable yet still inexplicable plateau of NM/MT 8, with just 2 competitors like it and 0 higher on record at SGC.