1933 Goudey Sport Kings Gum #5 Ed Wachter

You can’t fully understand this card without reading… This link about the 1933 Goudey Sport Kings set as a whole.

Because the Sport Kings set is desired by collectors of various sports, all the cards, including this Ed Wachter, have retained their value.  After the #3 Nat Holman card, this card is the second appearance of a basketball player in the set. Also, Nat Holman and Ed Wachter were the only two cards printed in the first 1933 series. The other two basketball players (Eddie Burke and Joe Lapchik) come in the 1934 printing.  Prices in the 2001 Standard Catalog of Basketball Cards were $1350/$850/$350 form Mint, NM-MT, and NM respectively.   The card has increased in value from that time.  A PSA 8 sold for $3,050 on eBay on November 8, 2016 with nearly all of them commanding at least a $50 price tag.

The card sends you into the past immediately with the first sentence, “Known as the greatest center in the history of the game…”  A nice reminder that this card precedes not just Shaq, or Kareem, or Wilt, or Bill Russell, but even George Mikan!  Probably was one of the only collegiate coaches of both sculling and basketball in history…

An important card and a piece of history!