Your Information Resource for Vintage Baseball Cards
eNews Issue #78 (October 2010)      www.oldcardboard.com


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Welcome to Old Cardboard, the most complete reference resource for information about collecting vintage baseball cards and related memorabilia.  More information about this eNewsletter and its companion website and magazine are found at the bottom of this page.

Contents:
1. Updated Auction and Show Calendar
2. Set Profile: 1948 R346 Blue Tints
3. Latest Additions to the OldCardboard.com Website
4. Set Profile: 1937 Cleveland Press Indians
5. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings)



1. Updated Auction and Show Calendar

The following is a summary of vintage card events coming up in the next 30-45 days. For the most current listings on additional vintage card shows and auctions, see the Show and Auction Calendar on the Old Cardboard website.

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October 2010

9Internet Brockelman & Luckey Auctions (see website for details).
14Phone/Internet Mile High Auction (see website for details).
14Phone/Internet Imperial Sports (see website for details).
15-17Chantilly, VA CSA Chantilly Show (see website for details).
16-17Hempstead, NY "Long Island National #13" (see website for details).
21Phone/Internet Prestige Collectibles Auction (see website for details).
26Internet 2010 Old Cardboard Texas Hold'em Tourney #10 (details).
27Phone/Internet Clean Sweep Auctions (see website for details).

November 2010

4-5Phone/Internet Heritage Signature Sports Collectibles Auction (see website for details).
13Phone/Internet Hunt Auctions (see website for details).
13Phone/Internet SCP Auctions (see website for details).
16Internet 2010 Old Cardboard Texas Hold'em Tourney #11 (details).
16-18Phone/Internet Legendary Auctions (see website for details).
18Phone/Internet Goodwin & Co. Auction (see website for details).
18Phone/Internet Mile High Auction (see website for details).
27San Francisco San Francisco Bay Area Show (see webpage for details).


2. Set Profile: 1948 R346 Blue Tints

Taking its name from the blue tint used in printing the cards, this 1948 set was later assigned the designation R346 in the American Card Catalog.

The set, however, might more appropriately have been designated with a "W" prefix. Like many other "W" cards, the cards were originally produced and sold in vertical strips of eight cards each. In fact, the set is listed in Bert Sugar's Sports Collectors Bible as set W518, but the set's "W" (strip card) designation never took hold.

The cards are somewhat crudely printed on a light brownish-yellow stock. The player's name and team are printed in the lower margin with card numbers located in the lower right corner. All R346 cards have blank backs.

There are a number of variations and errors in the R346 set. While not as common, it is reported that half of the cards (the high numbered series between #25-#48) is also found printed in black ink (see example Ted Williams card shown at left). In addition, the team labeling is omitted on two cards in the set (card #29, Lou Gehrig, example also shown and #35 Hank Greenberg).

One of the errors (perhaps better described as a "comedy of errors") is the mis-labeling of card number 23. The card is labeled "Harry" Majeski, despite the fact that Majeski's first name was "Henry" and most of his fans called him "Hank." All of this may seem a little irrelevant, however, given that the image of the player on the card is actually that of Randy Gumpert!

The issuer of the R346 set is currently unknown. Based on player-team labeling on the cards, most collectors today agree that the set was produced in 1948 with multiple printings.

Many "raw" cards today are found torn or hand cut, especially at the top and bottom edge. Some have irregular white borders outside the printed frameline based on their position in the strip as described below. To our knowledge, no uncut eight-card strips are currently known.

The set was printed and sold in six vertical strips of eight cards each. Within each vertical strip, adjoining players were separated only by a blue line that framed each player. Each strip featured a narrow white border surrounding the column of players. From the pattern of borders remaining outside the framelines on some cards, it can be inferred that cards #1-#8 were printed (in numerical order) on strip 1, #9-#16 on strip 2, etc. The location of players within each card is noted in the set Checklist on the Old Cardboard website.

For more detailed study of the set, a Checklist and Gallery for the R346 cards have been added to the Old Cardboard website.

Note: for uniformity of size, the cards in the Gallery (and the examples shown here) are all shown cropped to the frameline printed on the cards.



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3. Latest Additions to the OldCardboard.com Website

We are continually expanding the Old Cardboard website with more set profiles, checklists and card galleries. Recent (past 30-40 days) additions include:

Set Profiles have been added for:
1937   Cleveland Press Indians

Set Checklists have been added for:
1929   Universal Toy & Novelty Mfg. Co.

Set Galleries have been added for:
1929   Universal Toy & Novelty Mfg. Co.

Updating the website with checklists and full set galleries for additional vintage sets is an ongoing project, so check back often to check out the latest additions. There are now many thousands of card images on the website and the list continues to grow. We welcome and encourage feedback with checklist additions, card images, error corrections and suggestions. Please send all input to editor@oldcardboard.com.


4. Set Profile: 1937 Cleveland Press Indians

The 29 newspaper cutouts of the 1937 Cleveland Indians featured here were designed as a numbered series to be pasted into a collector's album.

Issued within the pages of the Cleveland Press, they came on the heals of a similar nationally syndicated series of "sports stamps" issued the previous year by the Boston Globe, the Detroit Times and other newspapers. The Cleveland set, however, features players only from the Cleveland Indians.

At 3-5/8 by about 8-1/2 inches, the Cleveland "cards" are also somewhat larger than the "sports stamps" issued the previous year. Examples vary a little in height due to the length of the player bios.

The cut-outs were printed in the newspaper at the beginning of the 1937 season. According to Jason Lange, who collects the set, "the cutouts were highly collectible and clearly used by the newspaper to increase circulation."

The set includes just two players (Earl Averill and Bob Feller) that were later inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame. Significantly, however, Feller's cutout (shown in the example) is among his very earliest cards and was issued at age 18 years in his second season with Cleveland.

Under the title "Indian's Album" at the top of each cut-out is the card number and player's name. Each player image includes a facsimile autograph and is followed by a brief player bio. Feller's bio in the example reads:

"Bob Feller--you know the rest. Came unheralded from the sandlots of Van Meter, IA to strike out 15 St. Louis Browns in his first major league start and followed that performance by fanning 17 Philadelphia Athletics for a new American league record. Got priceless publicity when Commissioner Kenesaw M. Landis investigated a claim he did not really belong to Cleveland. Bob is 18, 6 feet tall and weights 182 pounds."

The player bio on each card is followed by a tag line in italics that reads: "This is the (card number) in a series presenting autographed pictures of the Indians. Save them for your scrapbook."

Despite the reference to a "scrapbook" or "album" for displaying the cut-outs, no such album is known among today's collectors.

According to Lange, "a few of the cutouts that I have display dates on the back in the newsprint: #2-Roy Weatherly says March 30, 1937; #6-Julius Solters, April 3, 1937; and #8-Mel Harder, April 6, 1937. Looking at the calendar for 1937, it appears that the Cleveland Press cutouts were issued on consecutive days, Monday through Saturday, beginning on Monday March 29th and ending Friday April 30th. The 1937 season began with Cleveland losing to Detroit on Tuesday, April 20, 1937, and then winning the home opener against the St. Louis Browns on Friday, April 23."

A 1937 Cleveland Press Indians Set Profile has been added to the Old Cardboard website. Based on scans provided by Lange, a Set Checklist and Gallery will be added in the near future. Note: We are missing scans of five players (#3 Roy Hughes, #4 Bruce Campbell, #5 Lyn Lary, #26 George Uhle and #27 Wally Schang). Scans for any of these players from our readers would be much appreciated and will be added to the Set Gallery for all to view. Please send to editor@oldcardboard.com.


5. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings)

Reader Helps Expand 1929 Strip Card Checklist. As a result of the 1929 "Universal Toy" set profile that we ran in last month's issue (Issue #77) of the Old Cardboard eNewsletter, reader Bob Richardson has provided us with four additions (three baseball and one actor) to the Checklist for this obscure set. The new additions are baseballers Earl Averill, Charlie Gelbert and Roy Johnson, as well as actor Nils Asther. All are included in a Set Checklist and a Set Gallery--both recently posted on the Old Cardboard website.


Lyman and Brett Hardeman
Old Cardboard, LLC.

Old Cardboard, LLC. was established in December 2003, to help bring information on vintage baseball card collecting to the hobbyist.  Produced by collectors for collectors, this comprehensive resource consists of three components: (1) Old Cardboard Magazine, (2) a companion website at www.oldcardboard.com and (3) this eNewsletter. The Old Cardboard website contains more than 500 pages of descriptive reference information for baseball card sets produced fifty years ago or longer.  Each of these set summaries has a direct set-specific link to auctions and a similar link to 's powerful search engine for further research.  The website also includes a Show and Auction Calendar, an eBay Top 50 Vintage Sellers List, and much more.  As a result, the Old Cardboard website makes a great "Alt-tab" companion for vintage card shoppers and researchers.  Old Cardboard eNews provides current hobby news, upcoming shows and auctions, and updates to the website and the magazine.  It is published around the middle of each month.  For a FREE subscription to the eNewsletter, or for subscription information on Old Cardboard Magazine, please visit the website at www.oldcardboard.com.  If you find this information resource helpful, please tell your friends.  We need your support and your feedback. Thank you.