History of Sportkings

The history of the Goudey Gum Company is steeped in American tradition. Goudey was the first gum company to bring baseball picture cards and bubble gum together to the marketplace.

Founded in 1919 by Enos Gordon Goudey the company was established in Boston Massachusetts. The Goudey Gum Company was a rival of the Philadelphia-based Frank H. Fleer Company for many years. In fact, Goudey claimed that he not Fleer invented bubblegum and that Fleer simply beat him to the patent.

Although the first Goudey cards were of American Indians and their first gum in packs was Indian Gum, Goudey soon issued in 1933 their first set of baseball cards including Babe Ruth, called Big League Chewing Gum.

Later in late 1933 and early 1934, Goudey issued the legendary 48-card Sport Kings, a set that featured the first-ever football cards of Red Grange, Jim Thorpe and Notre Dame immortal Knute Rockne.

The set was the who's who of sport. Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth and Carl Hubbell represented baseball, Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen represented golf, Bill Tilden represented tennis, Gene Tunney, Jack Dempsey and Max Baer represented boxing, Eddie Shore, Ace Bailey and Howie Morenz represented hockey, Joe Lopchick, Nate Holman and Eddie Burke presented basketball while speed skating, ski jumping, billiards, horseracing, wrestling, track and field, boating and aviation were all captured by the stars of their day.

The Sport Kings cards were produced through a less than advanced silkscreen process causing subtle color variations for which the cards are now famous.

Although the Goudey-era only lasted a short time, it left card collectors a tremendous legacy. It is this legacy that Sport Kings LP continues with the release of Sportkings Series A.