Has anyone ever seen something like this? '38 Goudey

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by steve B

It's halftone all over, which the cards weren't.

Likely a newspaper or magazine piece. although most of those would have moved on from typography by the time cards became interesting enough to print.

This. The original cards were not half-tones (like Exhibit cards), so this isn't one of those plates.

My guess is that it is a plate made to illustrate a newspaper obituary or other article for one of the players depicted. Probably a zinc plate made in the postwar era. Lots of them have come out of newspaper archives over the years. I remember a big auction of sports figure plates about a decade ago. I bought a bunch of boxers.