Double header baseball cards were a unique card format introduced in the 1930s that featured two player photos and stats on a single larger card. They provided collectors with more content for their money compared to standard size cards at the time. The double header format was popular with collectors during the Great Depression era and helped drive interest in the growing baseball card hobby.
The first double header cards emerged in 1933 from the Goudey Gum Company. Goudey had been issuing standard size baseball cards as promotional inserts in their chewing gum packs since 1931. In 1933, they experimented with a larger card format that could showcase two players side by side. The cards measured approximately 3.5 inches by 2.25 inches, nearly twice the size of a standard baseball card of the time.
On one double header card, the front would feature a photo and stats for one player on the left side and same for another player on the right side. The backs were blank. In total, Goudey issued 60 different double header cards over two series in 1933 and 1934 featuring a total of 120 different players. Some of the stars featured included Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, and Lefty Grove.
Collectors appreciated getting twice the content for the same price of a pack of gum. At a time when money was tight during the Depression, the double header cards provided more value and excitement per pack. Their larger size also made them easier to see the photos and stats compared to postage stamp-sized standard cards of the period. The cards caught on in popularity with collectors.
Inspired by Goudey’s success, other card companies soon followed with their own double header issues. In 1935, National Chicle issued one series of 48 cards featuring 96 players. The same year saw the debut of double headers from Diamond Stars and Red Rock. Even more companies like Bell Brand and Play Ball entered the double header arena over the next few years.
The larger size and two-player format of double headers made them very appealing to collectors. Some collectors also found the larger cards less portable and harder to store in albums compared to standard size cards. By the late 1930s, most gum and candy companies had shifted back exclusively to standard size vertical format cards that became the enduring classic design.
While short-lived compared to standard cards, double headers remain a very collectible niche subset today due to their larger size, scarcity, and place in baseball card history. With fewer printed than single player issues, double headers tend to be some of the most valuable and desirable vintage cards for serious collectors. Grading services like PSA and SGC especially enjoy grading these unique larger format cards when high quality specimens come on the market.
The rarest and most valuable double headers are the 60 original 1933 and 1934 Goudey issues which started the craze. Top stars like Babe Ruth in these early Goudey sets can sell for over $10,000 in Near Mint condition. But high grade examples of any early 1930s double headers from the other pioneer companies like National Chicle are still valuable, routinely selling for hundreds to low thousands of dollars.
Even more common players attain significance and demand when appearing on rare double headers from obscure short-lived brands. For example, a 1935 Diamond Stars Babe Ruth in grade NM condition recently sold at auction for over $3,000 solely due to the brand’s extreme scarcity. The largest and most complete vintage double header collections can be worth over $100,000.
While short-lived in actual production, double header cards played an important role in the history of the burgeoning baseball card hobby and industry during the 1930s. Their larger size and two-player format provided novelty and value that collectors of the Depression era appreciated. Today, surviving high quality specimens are prized possessions for those who collect the earliest and rarest vintage cards. The unique double header format continues to fascinate collectors with their place in the early evolution of the modern baseball card.
