Game On!

Earlier in the week, I received a package containing this 1940 Stars of Baseball board game produced by When Topps Had Balls.  It had been purchased by a fellow blogger who preferred to remain anonymous.  Obviously I'll respect their wishes, but their gift is just too cool not to share with all of you.

Each board game contains a foldout play board (not pictured), 10 score sheets, a booklet containing 18 lineup cards, 4 plastic stands to display "runners" in the game, a pair of dice, a "1940 Stars of Baseball" pencil, a Lou Gehrig box topper (which doubles as a dice roll card), and a 40 card set.

The rules of the game are simple and the game itself seems like it'd be pretty entertaining.  But as a baseball card collector, I consider this more of a baseball card set than a game.  So instead of playing the game, let's check out the cards.

First up is the Lou Gehrig 5x7 box topper:

This "commemorative roll card" is a thing of beauty and hands down my favorite card in the board game.  A quick glance at the back gives you an idea of how to play the game.

As the name of the game suggests, the 40 card set contains baseball stars of the 40's.  The cards are your standard 3.5" in length, but are only 2" wide.  

2018 WTHBALLS Stars of 1940 #1

I'm a huge fan of the card design and the player selection.  The card backs offer a short biography of the player along with a special "power roll" number.  According to the Lou Gehrig commemorative card, if the player rolls the "power roll" number in the game, it's a home run.

2018 WTHBALLS Stars of 1940 #3

Outside of the Gehrig... my two favorite cards in the set are the DiMaggio and Williams.  Sure they're arguably two of the biggest names.  But I also love how their photos feature well-cropped action shots.

Here's a look at the rest of the 40 card set in its entirety:

#1 Joe DiMaggio, #2 Bob Feller, #3 Ted Williams, #4 Hank Greenberg

#5 Luke Appling, #6 Jimmie Foxx, #7 Bobby Doerr, #8 Bobo Newsom

#9 Joe Kuhel, #10 Harlond Clift, #11 Johnny Mize, #12 Arky Vaughan

#13 Bill Nicholson, #14 Dixie Walker, #15 Frank McCormick, #16 Billy Herman

#17 Enos Slaughter, #18 Mel Ott, #19 Lon Warneke, #20 Rip Sewell

#21 Charlie Keller, #22 George Case, #23 Bob Johnson, #24 Hal Trosky

#25 Joe Cronin, #26 Lou Boudreau, #27 Joe Gordon, #28 Rudy York

#29 Rip Radcliff, #30 Barney McCosky, #31 Paul Derringer, #32 Claude Passeau

#33 Joe Medwick, #34 Dolph Camilli, #35 Whit Wyatt, #36 Stan Hack

#37 Lonny Frey, #38 Bucky Walters, #39 Debs Garms, #40 Carl Hubbell

Well... that's it for tonight.  A huge thank you goes out to the generous, anonymous blogger who purchased this beautiful set for me.  Even though you told me not to, I found a few things to send your way today at the Serramonte Mall Card and Collectibles Show.

I hope the rest of you are enjoying your weekend.  Here in San Jose, it's insanely hot:

I took this picture at around 4:30 this afternoon.  My parents would be comfortable with this heat.  I'm more of a 57 to 67 degrees, overcast kind of guy.  I call it flip-flop/hoodie weather.  What about you?

What's your ideal weather?

Happy Saturday and sayonara!