The Most Iconic Lou Gehrig Cards Throughout His Career

Lou Gehrig, the Iron Horse, had a historic career that ended tragically early. Here is a look at the most iconic baseball cards that were released during his lifetime.

Collection of Lou Gehrig cards from the Iron Horse's playing years. | Card Ladder

Lou Gehrig has been my personal favorite Yankee since I read a biography about him from my school library circa 2002-03. He serves as an inspiration for determination and his ability to will yourself into doing incredible things. From his four home run games to his incredible streak of consecutive games played to being the first athlete on the Wheaties box, Gehrig has quite a list of accomplishments packed into a life that was tragically cut short.

On top of spectacular feats, Gehrig also has some incredible cards from his playing years that have been sought after from some of the Hobby’s biggest collectors. Here is a list of some of Gehrig’s best cards.

The 1925 Exhibit Supply Company Lou Gehrig card, widely regarded as his premier rookie card. | Card Ladder

The Rookie - 1925 Exhibits RC

Although it lacks an RC badge, this black-and-white card, printed in 1925 by the Chicago company, the Exhibits Supply Company, stands as the definitive Gehrig rookie card. In 2021, a graded PSA 6 copy of this card sold for $782,400, marking the largest sale of a Lou Gehrig card, with a sale on Memory Lane Auctions reported to have gone for over $1 million in the same year. While there are other incredible Gehrig cards, this stands as the sole rookie card of his career and will fetch a pretty penny for a collector who has it in their possession.

The 1934-35 Wheaties box that featured Lou Gehrig's likeness marks the first time a Wheaties box featured an athlete. | Card Ladder

The Revolutionary - 1934 Wheaties

While not a card per se, when Wheaties printed Gehrig's image on their 1934-35 boxes, they began a now-longstanding tradition of featuring the top athletes of the day on their packaging. After his 1934 Triple Crown, the cereal company decided to feature the athlete on the back of its packaging for the first time. By the 1939 MLB All-Star Game, 46 of the 51 selected All-Stars had been featured.

The 1933 Goudey Lou Gehrig card, widely seen as the most iconic Gehrig card ever printed. | Card Ladder

The Grail - 1933 Goudey

If one were to close their eyes and imagine a baseball card of Lou Gehrig, I would venture to say most would see this baseball card. The blue background and painted left-handed stance make this card his most iconic. If you were to look at the top fifteen most expensive Lou Gehrig cards ever sold, eight are this Goudey card. (Five of the others are 1925 Exhibits, and the lone outliers are the 1933 DeLong Gum Company card and a 1934 Goudey.)

The 1933 DeLong Gum Company card, one of 24 in the set that exists as the only printed set by DeLong. | Card Ladder

A PSA 9 of this card sold for $672,000 in May of 2022

The One-Hit Wonder - 1933 DeLong

In the only set ever printed, Harold DeLong, former treasurer of Goudey Gum Company, released a 24-card set in 1933 that quickly became one of the era's most iconic sets. This card, and the set itself, holds particular sentimental value, as the DeLong set served as the basis for Topps' 2007 Flashback Fridays, where five cards of contemporary players, 25 total, were released every Friday in local card shops for free. I remember having my mom take me after school every Friday to see which players would be released that week.

World Wide Gum, a Canadian affiliate of Goudey, broke their tradition of printing mirror images of the 1933 and '34 sets to offer their own unique release of cards in 1936. | Card Ladder

A PSA 8.5 sold in 2020 for $264,000

Personal Favorite - 1936 World Wide Gum

The World Wide Gum company, a Canadian affiliate of Goudey, was known for releasing mirrored sets of the Goudey baseball card sets in 1933 and 1934. However, in 1936, they broke away from that tradition to offer their own unique set of baseball cards featuring this Gehrig card. The image of Gehrig might be my favorite profile of the player.

In 2024 a SGC 8 copy of this card sold for $164,400

1934 Goudey "Lou Gehrig Says" as well as the 1932 U.S. Caramel card in the center. Because of the marketing gimmick, the 1934 Goudey set unofficially and colloquially was referred to as the "Lou Gehrig Says set." | Card Ladder

There are too many cards that require mentioning, the 1932 U.S. Caramel, the 1934 Lou Gehrig Says - where every card in the set shows a "Lou Gehrig says..." on the front and a quote on the back where Gehrig would give advice on the game or just a blurb. Gehrig would be featured in the set twice, cards 37 and 61 in the checklist.

For avid collectors or those trying to add either a unique or definitive card from the 1920s-30s, Gehrig has many options that would be crown jewels in most personal collections.