This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/8/2017
Although fairly basic in design, much of the appeal of the 1948 Leaf issue results in the extreme difficulty to assemble a full set. Using production tactics that were morally dubious to put it kindly, Leaf intentionally short-printed half of the cards to keep their customers buying more and more of the product to try to complete the set. They also "skip-numbered" the collection with the final card of Phil Cavaretta at #168 though the series only contained 98 cards. That kept customers buying even more, chasing after cards that didn't actually exist. But while Leaf may have lacked in integrity, there certainly was no deficiency when it came to player selection with the legendary rookie cards of Jackie Robinson and Satchel Paige joined by the debut cards of Stan Musial, Warren Spahn, Ralph Kiner and Lary Doby as well as tribute cards of Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner. Recognized within the hobby as the first post-war production with color, the set does include a host of rookie cards since production of trading cards was obviously not a priority during the war and many players make their first appearance on cardboard in this issue. The featured set has most of the key cards PSA graded and includes the following: #3 Ruth PSA 2.5, 4 Musial PSA 3.5, 5 Trucks PSA 5 (MC), 8 Paige PSA 3, 11 Rizzuto PSA 7, 20 Sauer PSA 3, 30 Goodman PSA 3, 33 Lowrey PSA 3, 38 Kluszewski PSA 6, 45 Keltner PSA 3.5, 51 Dark PSA 2.5, 70 Wagner PSA 5, 75 DiMaggio PSA 2.5, 79 J. Robinson PSA 2.5, 91 Kiner PSA 4, 93 Feller PSA 2.5, 98 Newhouser PSA 2.5, 104 Steward PSA 3, 108 Batts PSA 2.5, 120 Kell PSA 2.5, 121 Pesky PSA 3, 127 Slaughter PSA 3, 138 Doby PSA 2.5, 146 Reiser PSA 2.5, 148 Stephens PSA 2.5 and Cavaretta PSA 2. Other key cards are #1 DiMaggio FAIR, 32 Spahn GOOD, 46 Mize FAIR, 59 Appling VG, 76 T. Williams VG, 83 Doerr EX, 106 Boudreau FAIR abnd 117 Gordon VG. The rest of the set is 5% NM, 8% EX/MT, 15% EX, 10% VG/EX, 40% VG and 22% lower.