WG7 Walter Mails Game Set- New Set information

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

I was just checking out the current Mastronet auction and was taking a look at the Walter Mails set that they are currently offering. I found something interesting, and somewhat exciting. It has nothing to do with the fact that PSA mislabeled at least 5 of the cards in the set with the completely wrong names- the cards aren't the ones indicated by the holder (see Oeschgar, O'Neil, Sewell, Shea, and Shupe).

Anybody that follows this set knows that the cards come with two distinct back colors, RED or BLUE. The general concensus is that the RED backed cards are much easier to find than the BLUE backed cards. Up until now, it was generally assumed that the two sets were just the same with a minor back color change. A year or two ago by brother and I purchased an entire set of these cards (I currently still own 29 of the cards from the set), all of which had the rarer BLUE back. The set being auctioned in the current Mastro auction has the RED backs, and I have found many cards that have minor to major caption differences between these sets (including Bancroft which lists him (on the BLUE back) for the BOSTON BROWNS??- and corrected to BOSTON BRAVES(not in all caps) on the RED back. But more importantly there appears to be some cards that the photos were cropped differently, including the Guy Morton card (which was always my favorite card in the set), which has a completely diffent set-up between the two sets. Take a look at the pictures...

FIRST: the pictures from Mastro (RED backs)





SECOND: My cards (BLUE backs)






Given the differences, I would venture to say that the BLUE backed cards were the earlier (and in lesser quantities) of the two printings (included errors-Bancroft), which later was somewhat reformatted, and corrected in the RED backed cards.
Opinions? Thoughts?

Take Care,
-Rhett Yeakley