#1 "Lefty" Grove - Boston Red Sox

Robert Moses Grove

Boston Red Sox

Pitcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  6'3"  Weight:  190

Born:  March 6, 1900, Lonaconing, MD

Major League Teams:  Philadelphia Athletics 1925-33; Boston Red Sox 1934-41

World Series Appearances:  Philadelphia Athletics 1929-31

Died:  May 22, 1975, Norwalk, OH (75)

Hall of Fame Induction:  1947

One of the greatest pitchers of all-time, and a fitting selection for card #1 in this set, Lefty Grove dominated American League batters, and was nearly untouchable for the three seasons between 1929 and 1931.  Those were the years he helped lead Connie Mack's (#142) Athletics to three straight pennants and World Series titles in 1929 and 1930.  Grove was 79-15 with a 2.46 ERA in 133 games, 99 starts and 855 innings pitched during that run, winning the pitching Triple Crown in both 1930 and 1931, leading the league in wins, ERA and strikeouts.  Grove was 28-5 with a 2.54 ERA and 209 strikeouts in 1930, and he topped those numbers in 1931 by going 31-4 with a 2.06 ERA and 175 strikeouts in 1931 while winning the league's MVP honors.  He was a 20-game winner in seven straight seasons, led the league in ERA nine times and in strikeouts in seven consecutive seasons between 1925 and 1931.  Grove was a six-time All-Star.

Grove retired following the 1941 season with a lifetime record of 300-141, a 3.06 ERA and 2,266 strikeouts in 3,940 2/3 innings pitched.  He threw 298 complete games, including 35 shutouts.  Inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame in 1947 and widely acknowledged as the best left-handed American League pitcher of all-time, Grove was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999.

Building the Set

December 16, 2024 from Santa Ana, CA (dahardaway) - Card #113

This was the second eBay auction I got lucky with in December, netting me the first card in the set and dropping the number of cards needed for my version of a master set down to six.  I was surprisingly one of only two bidders on this auction from seller dahardaway, and I won the card with a bid only slightly higher than the starting price.  To be honest, and given I had no expectation of winning the auction, I was caught off guard when the alert came through notifying me of the win and asking for payment.  Fortunately, the auction was won well in advance of The Philly Show, meaning I didn't risk doubling up on the expensive Grove card while there.

Similar to the Jimmie Foxx (#64) card, and given this card's price tag, I opted to let Santa deliver it on Christmas morning.

Variations Available

1 - 1934 / green back / 1933 statistics / 1934 copyright ✅

2 - 1935 / green back / 1934 statistics / 1934 copyright 

The Card / Red Sox Team Set

Given that Grove joined the Red Sox following the 1933 season, collectors finding this card in early packs of Diamond Stars cards were likely getting their first look at the pitcher in his new team's uniform.  The first line on the back of the card compares Grove's fastball to that of another all-time great, Walter Johnson.  Ironically, Grove's fastball all but disappeared following his trade to the Red Sox, and he'd depend more on his curveball in his later years to get batters out.  The write-up ends with a warning to boys under the age of 16 not to work too hard on mastering the fastball pitch.

1934 Season

With Mack and his Athletics in financial distress, and looking to capitalize on his aging stars, Grove became one of several superstars dealt away from Philadelphia following the World Series run that ended in 1931.  On December 12, 1933, Grove, Max Bishop (#6) and Rube Walberg were traded to the Red Sox for Bob Kline, Rabbit Warstler and $125,000.  Perhaps due to wear and tear over the years, Grove's arm started hurting in spring training, and he'd struggle throughout the season.  In 22 games, including 12 starts, Grove was 8-8 with a 6.50 ERA.  He threw just 109 1/3 innings.

1933 DeLong Gum #23

1934 Goudey #19

1934-36 Batter-Up #31

1960 Fleer Baseball Greats #60

1976 Topps #350

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card:  1927 Playing Cards (W560)

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (1):  1976

Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2023 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary #462

382 - Grove non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 1/2/25.

Sources:

Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
National Baseball Hall of Fame
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Next Card: #2 Al Simmons - Chicago White Sox

#64 Jimmie Foxx - Philadelphia Athletics

James Emory Foxx

Philadelphia Athletics

First Base-Catcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  195

Born:  October 22, 1907, Sudlersville, MD

Major League Teams:  Philadelphia Athletics 1925-35; Boston Red Sox 1936-42; Chicago Cubs 1942, 1944; Philadelphia Phillies 1945

World Series Appearances:  Philadelphia Athletics 1929-31

Died:  July 21, 1967, Miami, FL (59)

Hall of Fame Induction:  1951

One of the greatest hitters of all-time, Jimmie Foxx was a veteran of 20 big league seasons, spending most of his career with the Athletics and Red Sox.  Foxx was dominant at the plate, winning a pair of batting titles, and a Triple Crown in 1933 when he batted .356 with 48 home runs and 163 RBIs.  He helped lead the Athletics to three straight American League pennants, winning World Championships in 1929 and 1930.  Foxx clubbed at least 30 or more home runs in 12 consecutive seasons, and drove in at least 100 runs in 13 consecutive seasons, between 1929 and 1941.  He was a nine-time All-Star, and the first player to win three MVPs, collecting the awards in 1932, 1933 and 1938.

Foxx became the second member of the 500 home run club, joining Babe Ruth (#110), on September 24, 1940.  In 2,317 major league games, Foxx collected 2,646 hits, scored 1,751 runs, had 534 home runs and 1,922 RBIs.  His RBI total is still 10th all-time.  His .325 average is currently 45th all-time, his on-base percentage of .428 is 12th all-time and his OPS of 1.038 is sixth all-time.  A member of the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame, the Athletics Hall of Fame and the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame, Foxx was inducted into Cooperstown in 1951.

Building the Set

December 15, 2024 from The Philly Show (707 Sportscards Ltd.) - Card #112

Before starting our drive to the The Philly Show, recently held inside Hall A at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania, I texted Doug a photo of Foxx's Diamond Stars card and told him to be on the look-out at the show.  Soon after we arrived, he reported back fairly quickly he had found a version of the card on the far side of the showroom floor, but that it was slabbed.  He knows I've been avoiding slabbed cards whenever possible, as they tend to carry a premium, and because I'd prefer to display the cards in my sets in their proper home, in order, within the set binder's nine-pocket pages.  (I wrote a full post summarizing the show over at The Phillies Room.)

Still, I was curious, and Doug led me to the dealer's table.  The Foxx card was in a display case, and having asked to view it, I almost immediately handed it back when I saw the price tag on the back for $725.  I'll give the dealer some credit for his assessment of the situation, as he picked the price tag off with his thumbnail and said that price was at least a few years' old.  He countered with a price nearly half the original sticker price and after a brief back and forth, I was scanning his phone to send a Venmo payment.  Given the importance of this card to the Diamond Stars set (and me), I opted to tuck the card away for 10 days so that Santa would get credit for the gift on Christmas morning.

Variations Available

1 - 1935 / green back / 1934 statistics / 1935 copyright

1945 - Foxx with the Phillies

The Card / Athletics Team Set

This is an absolutely iconic card, and a card I've seen many, many times in my 50 years of collecting.  I'm thrilled I finally have it in my collection.  National Chicle opted to show Foxx as a catcher, even though he hadn't caught a game in the majors since the 1928 season.  The Athletics, up until the 1934 season, had Mickey Cochrane (#9) behind the plate, necessitating a position change for Foxx.  The first line on the back of the card isn't accurate, as Foxx wouldn't catch a game until the start of the 1935 season, likely after this card was being found in early packs of Diamond Stars cards.

The write-up on the back also credits Foxx's strong wrists to his years spent milking cows on his father's dairy farm in Maryland.

1935 Season

Now in his 11th season, Foxx showed no signs of slowing down.  In 147 games for the Athletics, he batted .346 with a league-leading 36 home runs and 115 RBIs.  Connie Mack's (#142) team was in shambles following a fire sale of top tier players, leaving Foxx as the sole remaining star on a club that would lose 91 games.  Foxx was the opening day catcher, making 24 starts behind the plate before shifting over to first base for the duration of the season.  He'd make 121 starts at first.  Foxx moved over to third base for the All-Star Game in Cleveland, given the American League squad had Lou Gehrig (#130) at first base.  Foxx would lead the American League All-Stars to a 4-1 victory, going 2 for 3 with three RBIs, including a first-inning, two-run home run.

On December 10th, Mack would complete the team's dismantling, dealing Foxx and Johnny Marcum to the Red Sox for George Savino, Gordon Rhodes and cash.

Phillies Career

Foxx finished his legendary career back where it all began, in Philadelphia, but this time he'd be in the National League and playing for the Phillies, who signed the aging slugger on February 10, 1945.  With rosters crunched due to the war, the Phillies invited Foxx to spring training and he made the team as a pinch-hitter and surprisingly, an occasional pitcher.  Throughout the season, Foxx made 50 starts - 35 at first base, 13 at third base and two starts on the mound.

In his final major league action, he batted .268 with seven home runs and 38 RBIs.  As a pitcher, Foxx was a surprising 1-0 with a 1.59 ERA in nine games and 22 2/3 innings pitched.  Offering to help the team however he could, Foxx started games on August 19th and September 2nd.  His lasted into the seventh inning in his August outing.  In Foxx's final big league game, he laced a two-run double against the Dodgers on September 23rd, before being lifted for pinch-hitter Tony Lupien in the game's seventh inning.

1933 Goudey #29

1934-36 Batter-Up #28

1938 Goudey Heads-Up #249

1941 Play Ball #13

1960 Fleer Baseball Greats #53

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card:  1927 Playing Cards (W560)

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A

Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2023 Panini Chronicles Classics #33

931 - Foxx non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 1/1/25.

Sources:

Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
National Baseball Hall of Fame
The Phillies Room
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #63 "Stonewall" Jackson - New York Giants

Next Card:  #65 "Zeke" Bonura - Chicago White Sox

#104 Robert Rolfe - New York Yankees

Robert Abial Rolfe

New York Yankees

Third Base

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  170

Born: October 17, 1908, Penacook, NH

Major League Teams:  New York Yankees 1931, 1934-42

World Series Appearances:  New York Yankees 1936-39, 1941-42

As a Manager:  Detroit Tigers 1949-52

Died:  July 8, 1969, Gilford, NH (60)

Red Rolfe played in 10 major league seasons with the Yankees, reaching the World Series in six of those seasons and winning five World Series rings as a key member of the "Bronx Bombers" of the 1930s.  As the team's regular third baseman, Rolfe went to four All-Star Games and provided both a steady glove and a reliable bat.  His best season came in 1939 when he helped the Yankees reach the World Series by leading the league in runs (139), hits (213) and doubles (46) while hitting his career highs in batting average (.329) and home runs (14).  He tied his career high with 80 RBIs that season as well.  With his glove, Rolfe twice led the league in fielding percentage for third basemen (1935 and 1936).

Retiring following the 1942 season, Rolfe coached baseball and basketball at Yale University before returning to the majors in 1947 as a coach for the Yankees.  He took over as manager of the Tigers beginning in 1949, going 278-256 over four years at the helm.  Rolfe returned to his alma mater, Dartmouth, as their athletic director in 1954 where he stayed until retiring in 1967.  In a 1969 Yankees fan poll, Rolfe was named the third baseman on the Yankees' all-time greatest team.

Building the Set

December 10, 2024 from Los Angeles, CA (Greg Morris Cards) - Card #111

The addition of this high-number Rolfe card was a pleasant surprise, and helped me avoid getting completely shut out from a series of auctions from Greg Morris Cards following yet another Diamond Stars set break by the dealer.  On a whim, I spent an evening in early December searching for any of the final nine cards needed for my version of a Diamond Stars master set.  Greg Morris Cards had a bunch of cards up for auction from the set, including most of the cards I needed.  I entered my highest bid on each of them, waited a few days until the auctions closed, and came away with this Rolfe card for what I deemed to be a reasonable price.

This card joins the less pricey Rolfe card from early in the set (#29), added almost exactly four years to the day prior to this newer card arriving in the mail.

Variations Available

1 - 1936 / blue back / 1935 statistics / 1935 copyright

As mentioned and shown above, this is the second Rolfe card in the set, with the infielder first appearing on card #29.  The final 12 cards in the Diamond Stars set, released as part of series three in 1936, contain the exact same photos and players as earlier cards from the set.  This card has the same text on the back as his earlier card, save for his 1935 statistics at the bottom replacing his 1934 statistics.  Also, the ink on the back of card #104 is blue, similar to all cards from the third series.

The Card / Yankees Team Set

There's all kinds of stuff going on in that Art Deco photo.  Rolfe is presumably getting ready to make a throw from third to first while the shortstop (maybe?) looks on and an umpire preemptively makes a safe call even though Rolfe is still holding the ball.  In the distance, a factory's smokestack sends smoke into the cloudless blue sky.  Rolfe is wearing a Yankees road uniform, as those sported "New York" across the front while the Yankees home uniforms contained nothing but pinstripes up until 1936.

The back contains a fielding tip, advising the reader to learn how to anticipate in which direction a batted ball will go based on the location of the pitch.  Rolfe had mastered this, according to the write-up, which is part of the reason he had become a successful fielder.

1936 Season

Rolfe was a year away from stardom and four straight All-Star Game appearances.  The regular third baseman for the Yankees, Rolfe appeared in 135 games, batting .319 with 10 home runs, 70 RBIs, and a league-leading 15 triples.  Manager Joe McCarthy (#143) had Rolfe bat second most of the year, setting the table for the power hitters in the middle of the order, including Joe DiMaggio (#126), Lou Gehrig (#130) and Bill Dickey (#11).  In his first World Series action, Rolfe batted .400 (10 for 25) against the Giants, as the Yankees won in six games.

1934 Goudey #94

1941 Double Play #65

1951 Bowman #319

1952 Topps #296

1973 Fleer Famous Feats #22

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card:  1934 Goudey #94

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (1):  1952

Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2010 Topps New York Yankees 27 World Series Championships #YC8

123 - Rolfe non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 1/1/25.

Sources:

Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Previous Card:  #103 Bill Dickey - New York Yankees

Next Card:  #105 "Ernie" Lombardi - Cincinnati Reds