1.5x4-1/8". During much of the Great Depression, the hobby of matchbook collecting swept the country. Generally selling at two for a penny, the matchbooks began to feature photos and artwork to attract buyers. In the late 1930s, several series of sports subjects were issued by Diamond Match Co., of New York City. The first issue was a set of 200 baseball players known to collectors as "silver border" for the color of the photo frame on the matchbooks. Player portrait or posed photos are printed in sepia on front, and can be found bordered in either red, green, blue or orange (though it is unclear whether all players can actually be found in the red version), theoretically creating an 800-piece color variation set. The player's name and team are printed on the "saddle" and there is a career summary on back, along with a design of glove, ball and bats. Matchbooks are commonly collected with the matches removed and the striker at back-bottom intact. Pieces without the striker are valued at 50 percent of complete examples. Complete covers with matches bring a premium of 2-3X.

Charlie Gehringer played his entire career from 1924-1942 with the Detroit Tigers. He was a 6x All-Star, an AL MVP in 1937 and a World Series Champion in 1935. Gehringer was inducted into the National Baseball Hall Of Fame in 1949. Autograph is bold and well placed at the base of the matchbook not impeding the image. This signed copy is the only example ever graded by PSA and a true 1/1.