The famous Goudey name was resurrected in 2007 by Upper Deck for a baseball set that put current MLB players on cards with the same design and size of the original set from 1933. For 2008, Goudey cards go to a standard size and draw on 1934 for their inspiration while offering up another round of the popular multi-sport Sport Royalty autographs.
Boxes of 2008 Goudey Baseball hold 18 packs of eight cards each, with one autograph and one memorabilia card in each box on average.
Base Cards and Parallels
Making things a bit easier on today's collectors, the 2008 Goudey base cards are printed in standard 2 1/2" by 3 1/2" size. Visually, the cards are identical to those from Goudey's 1934 set, the second one issued by the former gum company. The originals used hand-drawn portraits of baseball players while the modern versions use photos, but Upper Deck uses a digital process to make them look more like art and the effect is striking.
The 1934 set used Lou Gehrig and Chuck Klein as spokesmen; their roles have been taken by Derek Jeter and Ken Griffey Jr., one of whom appears at the bottom of every card. Solid color backgrounds and silhouettes of players on the diamond complete the design.
A total of 330 cards make up the base set, though they are broken down into several subsets. The first 200 cards are current MLB players, while the next 30 are short prints depicting past baseball greats.
Cards 231 through 250 feature U.S. presidents. They're followed by 20 more cards of 2008 players on black and white cards that mimic a different old Goudey design, this one from 1936. The final 60 cards are titled Sports Royalty; a multi-sport subset inspired by yet another set of Goudey originals.
Parallels fall about 1:2 packs and are in the smaller 1934 size. All of the base cards can be found in various levels that differ in rarity based on the color of the printing on the card backs. Taupe is the scarcest color, numbered to just eight copies per card.
I opened a random box of Goudey Baseball to review and found 125 of the 330 base cards, plus nine total parallels.
Autographed Cards and Memorabilia Cards
Autograph collectors should enjoy two things about 2008 Goudey: there's an autographed card in every box, and they sport on-card signatures.
Goudey Graphs is the primary autograph set, with a 57-player checklist that is heavy on current players but also boasts the likes of Johnny Bench, Don Mattingly, and the player I pulled from my sample box, Mike Schmidt. There are also rare Goudey Cut Signatures that are all 1-of-1 cards from deceased legends from multiple sports.
The signed cards getting the most attention though, are the Sport Royalty Autographs. Based on the subset of the same name, these are hard-signed cards run the gamut from current Upper Deck spokesmen like Sidney Crosby and LeBron James to Hall of Famers like Barry Sanders and Larry Bird to Olympians like Bruce Jenner and Kerry Strug.
Memorabilia cards are almost an afterthought in this product, but they do show up in every box in the form of Goudey Memorabilia. The checklist for these cards features 82 players, and the cards - like the Justin Verlander example from my review box - show off G-shaped swatches.
Insert Cards
Goudey is light on insert cards but does have one set called Berk Ross Hit Parade of Champions. These small, white-bordered cards highlight top stars from multiple sports and fall about two per box.
Collectors looking for more Yankee Stadium Legacy cards can also find them in Goudey. I pulled four from the About.com review box.
The Last Word
Fans of retro-themed sets should eat up 2008 Goudey, as the 1934 originals are highly regarded among collectors of vintage cards. The decision to make the base cards standard size is a welcome one, as is Upper Deck's revelation that the Sport Royalty Autographs are falling even more than the originally announced one per case.
Goudey may not have quite as many collectible elements as some other baseball products that occupy the same niche in the hobby, it's still very well done. It's also a great value at less than $80 a box.