During the dry years of Prohibition, D.G. Yuengling & Sons Brewery faced an existential crisis. Rather than shut its doors, the Pennsylvania brewery turned to an unexpected venture: ice cream.
In 1928 the company launched a 60‑card baseball set that featured legends such as Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby and Tris Speaker. The cards were distributed as promotional prizes, offering everything from free ice cream to a $5 scooter.
The set’s most coveted piece is the elusive Earl Smith card, of which only a handful are known to exist. Because of its scarcity, collectors consider the complete set to consist of 59 cards, the missing Smith piece making the whole collection a holy grail for sports memorabilia enthusiasts.
Among the players highlighted on the cards were regional stars Joe Dugan, celebrated for his defensive brilliance with the Philadelphia Athletics and New York Yankees, and Stanley Coveleski, a future Hall of Famer inducted in 1969 for his pitching mastery.
Yuengling’s ice‑cream operation eventually moved on, and in 2019 the brand was sold to an Atlanta‑based company, ending a nearly century‑old chapter of the brewery’s history.
A recent discovery of a near‑complete set, unearthed by a collector and slated for auction through the REA platform, has reignited interest in the cards’ monetary and historical value. Experts predict that the rarity of the Smith card will drive bidding into six‑figure territory.
The Enduring Allure of a Prohibition‑Era Promo
The story of Yuengling’s ice‑cream cards intertwines sports history, entrepreneurial ingenuity and the fragile economics of collectibles. As the auction approaches, the set stands as a tangible reminder of how a brewery once kept its doors open by sweetening the deal for baseball fans across the United States.