Supplement — No. 106
The Lajoie Supplement
A special card inspired by the most famous missing number in the American card-collecting tradition.
This supplemental card is presented apart from the T222-inspired Cleveland set, using a bolder Sport Kings-style design to echo the unusual place of Goudey’s No. 106 in card-collecting history.
The Missing 106
The 1933 Goudey Big League Gum set was planned as a complete run of 240 cards. Before the final series went to press, Goudey pulled card No. 106 and replaced it with a second Babe Ruth — card No. 144. The gap was intentional, calculated to keep collectors buying in search of a card that did not exist in packs.
By 1934, enough frustrated collectors had written to Goudey that the company produced a real No. 106. The subject was Napoleon Lajoie — a fitting choice for a card that would never appear in a standard wax pack. The card was available only by mail-in request, and later through bulk stock sales in the 1960s. It was never distributed through ordinary retail channels. Today it is among the scarcest cards in American collecting, prized precisely because of the story attached to its absence.
The design itself is a hybrid. The front image was adapted from the 1934 Cliff Bolton card, showing a sliding figure. The back biography follows the 1934 series convention of quoted endorsements. The copyright reads “G. G. Co © 1934,” but it sits above the 1933 “series of 240” footer — an artifact of the card’s unusual origin, stitched together from two seasons’ worth of production materials. One theory holds that Lajoie artwork was originally prepared for Goudey’s separate Sport Kings line, then redirected to fill the No. 106 gap when business conditions changed. Whatever its path, the card arrived late, outside the normal distribution system, and in very small numbers. It has been a centerpiece of the 1933 Goudey conversation ever since.
About This Card
The Notable Base-Ball Subjects supplement is a newly printed card in a Sport Kings-inspired design — distinct from the T222 visual format of the base set. It is intended as a companion piece for recipients of the Cleveland set: an acknowledgment of the Lajoie connection and of the strange, persistent appeal of the card that wasn’t there.
If you received this card and want to know more about how to acquire the full 12-card Cleveland set, use the form below or visit the Cleveland set page.