The 1933 DeLong set was one of the big sports card sets to be produced in 1933.
While competing with Tattoo Orbit and Goudey Gym, the Delong set is one of the best produced products in terms of eye appeal.
Also known as R333, the DeLong set is a one year wonder.
While the backs promise releases for other sports, nothing ended up being produced.
And it’s sort of remarkable that a set even came out.
The year before, Harold DeLong was an executive/treasurer at Goudey. He quit to start his own Gum Company.
He was on the development team for the card series before he departed to get his own company.
As a start-up DeLong didn’t have the funding that Goudey did. So the distribution of cards was limited unlike Goudey.
On top of that, many though Goudey was the superior gum.
So a lack of sales and brand name really hurt the cards.
While Goudey may have had the better gum, DeLong had the design down.
While every other set had cards with full color or black and white, DeLong did things differently.
It featured a black and white player with a color background.
Goudey also did this in 1941. But the cards are nowhere in quality like the 33 DeLong.
The cards in this DeLong set measure 1-15/16” by 2-15/16.
Which is also much larger then the cards of the prewar Era.
22/24 of the cards are in a vertical position, while Pepper Martin and Lefty Grove are horizontal.
On the back there were baseball tips. This was a switch in the marketing from adults to kids.
See in the past tobacco cards catered towards adults, but now gum companies like goudey and delong focused on the kids.
These backs were created by Austen Lake who was the Baseball Editor of the Boston Transcript
Like Goudey, this set is loaded with hall of farmers. In fact, over 15 of the cards in the set are hall of farmers.
You can find players like Lefty Grove, Jimmy Foxx, and Lou Gehrig.
The biggest name missing though is Ruth. Dizzy Dean and Mel Ott are also unfortunately missing.
With only a 24 card checklist, this set shouldn’t be too difficult to complete.
It’s a shame that there was only one year of DeLongs.
They innovated a ton and produced one of the most aesthetically pleasing sets of all time.
1933 Delong Checklist
1 “Marty” McManus – Mgr. Boston Red Sox
2 Al Simmons – Chicago White Sox
3 Oscar Melillo – St. Louis Browns
4 William (Bill) Terry – Mgr. New York Giants
5 Charlie Gehringer – Detroit Tigers
6 Gordon (Mickey) Cochrane – Philadelphis Athletics
7 Lou Gehrig – New York Yankees
8 Hazen S. (Kiki) Cuyler – Chicago Cubs
9 Bill Urbanski – Boston Braves
10 Frank (Lefty) O’Doul – Brooklyn Dodgers
11 Freddie Lindstrom – Pittsburgh Pirates
12 Harold (Pie) Traynor – Pittsburgh Pirates
13 “Rabbit” Maranville – Boston Braves
14 Vernon “Lefty” Gomez – New York Yankees
15 Riggs Stephenson – Chicago Cubs
16 Lou Warneke – Chicago Cubs
17 Pepper Martin – St. Louis Cardinals
18 Jimmy Dykes – Chicago White Sox
19 Chuck Hafey – Cincinnati Reds
20 Joe Vosmik – Cleveland Indians
21 Jimmy Foxx – Philadelphia Athletics
22 Charles (Chuck) Klein – Philadelphia Nationals
23 Robert (Lefty) Grove – Philadelphia Athletics
24 “Goose” Goslin – Washington Senators
