Another 1940 Play Ball Color Proof?

[Chris-Counts]

Jon,

Thanks for your reply. I agree the coloration is sloppy, But I have an observation I believe is worth mentioning. I have owned a total of seven of these (Frey, White, McCormick, Phelps, Hassett, Demaree and Stengel) and I have seen four others (Coscarart, Ott, Hubbell and Dean). Of the four I didn't own, none featured the color red. Of the group I acquired, all but the Demaree and Phelps had red on them, because each played for the Reds or the Bees, both of which featured red on both their caps and jerseys. To varying degrees, all the cards exhibit at least some subtle use of pastels. They all have some skin coloration (see the scan of McKechnie's face) thats done in subtle pastels, and some have the grass tinted a subtle shade of green as well. When blue is used on a player's cap or jersey, its application is very precise in each case (see Demaree). And whenever Red is used, it's much less subtle and somewhat sloppy. The red on all six cards I've seen looks like it was done in watercolor. Yes it looks sloppy, but I believe it would look much worse if it had truly been applied to the card after it was printed. It's my belief the artist did his original work on a larger photo, See how precise the blue is on Demaree's sock. There's no way such precise detail could have been added after it was printed. The Demaree, by the way, was graded by SGC after the company caught flack for grading these cards. They were hesitant to grade it, so I said to one of their graders, "Please take this card back to your lab and destroy it if you have to in some mad science experiment, but I'm convinced the color is part of the card. A month later they sent it back in an SGC 60 holder, so apparently they agreed. I can't confirm it, but I recall hearing that the McCormick (which I sold) is now in an SGC holder, which would be interesting, because it also features the sloppy and vibrant red you can see on the McKechnie card ...