I was watching The Natural on Sunday night after the Oscars and after Roy Hobbs/Robert Redford first breaks out into baseball super stardom it flashes to a scene of Roy Hobbs baseball cards hot off the presses.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin2oPVnKQESKYB3SzYHLWC6cCJ4YLWHDpXZ0RYZ5RlPVA4jcL5kuQcfYTmXIQqKEW7M1cUqJgtubsSdTqaKSun2FCbMBKCrGI_Ni5l3kvz2pqCLuNKUxJ0sqPNFAwJNqwFRALU1HqpN3M/s400/The+Natural+Baseball+Card.jpg)
As the cards flashed by they looked like 1940 Play Ball cards but in color. I was pretty familiar with the black and white cards that make up the main Play Ball set from 1940 and so I thought that they just sort of fudged it for the movie because no one would want to look at black and white cards rolling out of the factory.
1940 Playball #40 Hank Greenberg
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdLwsPDaw5EJ53A1Fb1akEmpEHU6eoxbDvKI_R8PWGC9nw32jIa0s-yRXL9HlJ1viB4JCBw-37LGrD1POlWmT2f7WbxFmDcF9gqAj_WxHMRV26PSf7TKb4Mzvy7CiP812g-oLJQ0K3FBU/s400/Hank+Greenberg+1940+Play+Ball.jpg)
Well, I consulted my gigantic 2008 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards which has damn near every baseball card ever made listed. It turns out Play Ball did actually make a few color version of the 1940 cards and it is speculated that these were tests for the colorized 1941 set. If you can lay your hands on a color "Daffy" Dean you could get over $2,000 at auction.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin2oPVnKQESKYB3SzYHLWC6cCJ4YLWHDpXZ0RYZ5RlPVA4jcL5kuQcfYTmXIQqKEW7M1cUqJgtubsSdTqaKSun2FCbMBKCrGI_Ni5l3kvz2pqCLuNKUxJ0sqPNFAwJNqwFRALU1HqpN3M/s400/The+Natural+Baseball+Card.jpg)
As the cards flashed by they looked like 1940 Play Ball cards but in color. I was pretty familiar with the black and white cards that make up the main Play Ball set from 1940 and so I thought that they just sort of fudged it for the movie because no one would want to look at black and white cards rolling out of the factory.
1940 Playball #40 Hank Greenberg
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdLwsPDaw5EJ53A1Fb1akEmpEHU6eoxbDvKI_R8PWGC9nw32jIa0s-yRXL9HlJ1viB4JCBw-37LGrD1POlWmT2f7WbxFmDcF9gqAj_WxHMRV26PSf7TKb4Mzvy7CiP812g-oLJQ0K3FBU/s400/Hank+Greenberg+1940+Play+Ball.jpg)
Well, I consulted my gigantic 2008 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards which has damn near every baseball card ever made listed. It turns out Play Ball did actually make a few color version of the 1940 cards and it is speculated that these were tests for the colorized 1941 set. If you can lay your hands on a color "Daffy" Dean you could get over $2,000 at auction.
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