Card Details:
Manufacturer: Goudey
Year: 1934
Card Number: 23
Paper: Cardstock
Size: 2 3/8” x 2 7/8”
Card Status: 2nd Year Goudey/11th Year Career
The Set:
The 1934 Goudey Baseball Card set contains a total of 96 cards within the run. The run set a modern standard for eye appeal at the time of its release. The card fronts contained bold background colors along with painted player images. Within the background line graphics of a baseball field and ball players can be found and the player painting is showcased in the card center. The cards are lined by a thin white border on all four sides with the player’s name in smaller print directly across the top middle. The bottom portion contains a blue strip with the likeness of superstar Lou Gehrig along with the phrase “Lou Gehrig says…” and when the cards are flipped to their reverse the backs are filled with statements, supposedly, authored by Gehrig himself.
The set is littered with superstars, including Jimmie Fox, Mickey Cochrane, Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Chuck Klein, Paul Waner, Frank Frisch, Carl Hubble, Lefty Grove and Hank Greenberg. Within the 96-card run only one player, Lou Gehrig, has multiple depictions (No. 32 & 61). Most notably, however, is the absence of Babe Ruth.
The Card:
Card No. 23 is vertically oriented with a bold orange background. Gehringer’s painted portrait portrays him in a white home uniform, however, the team’s logo is missing from both the jersey top and cap. His mitt can be found on his left hand. Behind the portrait a line graphic of a baseball infield can be seen with a baserunner over Charlie’s left shoulder and a fielder over his right. As mentioned above, the blue strip containing Gehrig’s likeness and the phrase “Lou Gehrig says…” can be found at the bottom of the card.
The reverse of the card contains the account of Gehrig in small green font. It reads:
Take a combination of a fine fielder, a dependable hitter and a good baserunner and you have the makings of a star baseball player. That’s Charley Gehringer of the Detroit Tigers, Michigan born, Michigan bred and a Michigan baseball hero. In 1933 he was the best batting second baseman in the American League with an average of .325.
He is 31 years old, stands 5 feet, 11 inches high and weights 180 pounds. He bats left-handed, but throws right-handed. He began his professional career with the Tigers in 1925, virtually right out of college, and has held down the second base sack ever since.
There is no statistical information found on the back of the card.
The Player:
Bat: Left Throw: Right
Height: 5’11” Weight: 180lbs
Debut: 22 September 1924 Final: 27 September 1942
DOB: 11 May 1903 Death: 21 January 1993
Charlie Gehringer was born in Michigan and attended Fowlerville High School before going on to college at the University of Michigan. Gehringer had a 19-year playing career, all of which were with the Detroit Tigers and is widely considered to be one of the greatest second baseman of all time. During his playing time he earned himself the nickname of “Mechanical Man” because of his consistent approach to the game. He would go on to hit over .300 13 times and collect 200+ hits 7 times as well, he also ended his playing career with a career fielding percentage of .976.
Gehringer was also a member of Detroit’s “G-Men” with Goose Goslin and Hank Greenberg.
In 1929 Charlie led the league in stolen bases, doubles, triples, runs scored and hits; despite all of this he did not factor into the MVP vote for the season.
Charlie played in every inning of the first six All Star games in MLB History. He ended his career with a batting average of .320 having collected 2,839 hits, 1,774 runs scored and 1,427 RBI.
After retiring from the game, he joined the Navy in 1942 and served for four years. After his service Gehringer ran a successful Auto Accessories business and eventually became the Detroit Tigers General Manager for two years (1952-53) and later served as the teams Vice President. Gehringer was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1949.
Notable Achievements:
6x AL All-Star (1933-38)
AL MVP (1937)
7x AL MVP Top-10 Vote Getter (1928, 1933-36 & 1938)
AL Batting Average Leader (1937)
2x AL Runs Scored Leader (1929 & 1934)
2x AL Hits Leader (1929 & 1934)
2x AL Doubles Leader (1929 & 1936)
AL Triples Leader (1929)
AL Stolen Base Leader (1929)
20-HR Seasons: 1 (1938)
100 RBI Seasons: 7 (1929, 1932-36 & 1938)
100 Runs Scored Seasons: 12 (1927-30, 1932-38 & 1940)
200 Hit Seasons: 7 (1929-30 & 1933-37)
World Series Title: 1 (1935, Detroit Tigers)
Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1949
Quotes About Charlie:
“Charlie Gehringer is in a rut. He hits .350 on Opening Day and stays there all season.” -Lefty Grove
“I’ve never seen one man hit in so much hard luck, consistently. Year after year, he leads the league in line drives right at somebody. No wonder he looks so sad.” – Bucky Harris
“Charlie says ‘hello’ on Opening Day, ‘goodbye’ on closing day, and in between hits .350.” – Mickey Cochrane
“I tell you, I used to cuss him – I couldn’t hit the ball past him. I’m left-handed and I just couldn’t get one through there on the ground. He’d just coast around that infield, just like somebody skating.” – Joe Sewell
“I always thought that Charlie was one of the great hitters of my time. He didn’t have the tremendous power of Jimmie Foxx, Ruth or Gehrig or those guys, but he was tough to strike out and he hit more line drives and met the ball more solidly than any hitter.” – Rick Ferrell
“You wind him up in the spring, turn him loose, he hits .330 or .340 and you shut him off at the end of the season.” – Lefty Gomez
Population and Sales:
According to PSA there are a total of 24,134 cards from the 1934 Goudey Baseball Set graded. Of those, only 404 cards are of No. 23 Gehringer – a mere 1.6% of the total population. There are 330 Full Grades, 60 Half (+) grades and 14 with Qualifiers. Of the full grade Gehringer population 200 of them can be found in grades PSA 2-5 (61%). To date there are no cards graded PSA 10, five graded PSA 9 and 19 graded PSA 8.
The current VCP on a PSA 2.5, like the one in my collection, is $102.50 with a high sale of $105 and low of $100. Per PSA, prices currently range from $62.98 for a PSA 1 up to $8,700 for a PSA 9.
Work Cited
1933 Goudey Charley Gehringer | PSA CardFacts®. www.psacard.com/cardfacts/baseball-cards/1933-goudey/charley-gehringer-222/20453/.
“Charlie Gehringer Stats.” Baseball, www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gehrich01.shtml.
“Charlie Gehringer.” Baseball Hall of Fame, baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/gehringer-charlie.
“Charlie Gehringer.” Charlie Gehringer - BR Bullpen, www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Charlie_Gehringer.