Pre "The Other War"

[darkhorse9]

There seems to be a clear consensus that the term "PreWar" refers to cards issued in 1941 and earlier. That's an easy call since that's when the US entered WWII and paper rationing pretty much ended all but a few outlier sets.

But what about World War I? There doesn't really seem to have been any down turn in card manufacturing then. The US entered in late 1914 and it lasted until late 1918. The Standard Catalog lists over 50 sets from 1915-1917 (oddly only one strip card started in 1918) and a few in 1919 before things pick back up in 1920

So is there such a thing as Pre War I? If so, when does it begin?

[bbnut]

I believe the US officially entered in 1917. That could explain it.

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[Tao_Moko]

Originally Posted by bbnut

I believe the US officially entered in 1917. That could explain it.

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Bingo. Congress declared war on Germany in April of 1917. The 6th to be exact. The armistice was signed on Nov 11, 1918.

[jingram058]

The US took a lot of casualties in our short, less than 2 years of involvement "over there". The war had been going on since 1914. Sad that it is largely forgotten today. Eddie Grant comes to mind. I know there were other ballplayers who didn't make it back. Hank Gowdy was in a lot of combat, and he did come back. He was in the famous 42nd Infantry, the "Rainbow Division".

[tlhss]

Even with the signing of the armistice, we still had troops facing combat into the 1920s.

[Tao_Moko]

Originally Posted by tlhss

Even with the signing of the armistice, we still had troops facing combat into the 1920s.

True, but unlikely impacting the printing of baseball cards.

[jingram058]

Production-wise, WW1 or "The Great War" or "The World War" or "The War To End All Wars" had virtually no effect in the US. What was significantly affected was transportation; the railroads were mobilized under national control by the US Railroad Administration. That proved to be unmitigatedly disastrous up into the 1920s. There were some shortages, but things like paper, cardboard, cards...those things were unaffected.