George Blaeholder - 1933 Goudey #16
1933 Goudey #16 George Blaeholder
Low number: this card was printed on press sheets 1-2 (#1-40 plus #45-52), which saw shorter distribution than the rest of the 1933 run — low numbers are noticeably scarcer.
About George Blaeholder
George Blaeholder was a right-handed pitcher born January 26, 1904, in Orange, California, and raised in nearby Garden Grove. Recommended by Browns coach Jimmy Austin, he signed with St. Louis in early 1923 and made his major-league debut in 1925, spending the bulk of his 11-season career (1925-1936) with the Browns before finishing with the Philadelphia Athletics (1935) and Cleveland Indians (1936). Working mostly for second-division St. Louis clubs, he went 104-125 with a 4.54 ERA, 106 complete games, and 14 shutouts over 338 appearances. Blaeholder is credited, alongside George Uhle, as one of the pitch's earliest developers of the slider - then called a "sailer" or "slide ball" - which Jimmie Foxx called "the meanest thing to hit I ever saw... a cross between a fast ball, a curve, a fade away and a public nuisance." St. Louis sportswriters sarcastically tagged the good-natured hurler "Gloomy George" and the "Dismal Dutchman." His career win total, respectable for the era's weak Browns teams, drew praise from contemporaries as remarkable given his supporting cast. He later worked as a machinist in Garden Grove and died December 29, 1947, at age 43.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · SABR
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 306 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 14 | 29 | 46 | 200 | 2 |
| SGC | 145 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 18 | 104 | 9 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Snapshot 2026-07-03. Half-grades fold down (8.5→8). PSA counts are straight-graded.
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Related cards
More St. Louis Browns cards:
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- #18 Muddy Ruel
- #101 Dick Coffman
- #120 Carl Reynolds
- #140 Bump Hadley
- #166 Sam West
- #188 Rogers Hornsby
- #198 Jack Burns
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1933 Goudey George Blaeholder card?
It is card #16 of the 1933 Goudey (R319) Baseball set - the 240-card, 2-3/8 by 2-7/8 inch color-art set issued in 1933 with Big League Chewing Gum. It pictures George Blaeholder with the St. Louis Browns.
Is the 1933 Goudey George Blaeholder #16 a rookie card?
By modern catalog convention, yes. 1933 Goudey is treated as the hobby's first major nationally distributed gum set, so nearly every card in it carries the rookie-card (RC) designation - a modern label applied retroactively, since many of these players had earlier tobacco, caramel, or strip cards.
How many cards are in the 1933 Goudey set?
240 numbered cards, though collectors usually count 241 collectible cards because #6 Jimmy Dykes exists in an error and a corrected version. Only 239 numbers were in 1933 packs - #106 (Nap Lajoie) was printed in 1934 and issued by mail.
Sources: Trading Card Database, Baseball-Reference, PSA & SGC population reports, and hobby press-sheet research. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-07-04.