1934-36 Batter Up

[Zan]

Originally Posted by Spike

To build on this discussion, one other die-cut 1930s set appears to have used 40-card sheets, 1937 O-Pee-Chee V300 baseball.

With National Chicle in financial distress by 1936, anyone know if they could've sold their design to OPC or otherwise collaborated on that Canadian issue? Would be interesting if Chicle shopped around the relevant printing equipment or know-how to try and stave off bankruptcy, even if it didn't succeed in keeping them afloat.

Since none of the 1930s OPC sets say "printed in Canada," it seems possible they were made outside Canada and imported for sale.

Interesting idea, as 1936 WWG states that it was printed in Canada

[jason.1969]

I am doing some research on this set for an upcoming article. Thanks to all who posted info in this thread. I definitely did NOT know about cards 41-80 having only four colors. And unfortunately, y'all seem to be confirming my suspicion that no uncut sheets have survived.

I have at least a week to go before I finish my research but an early conclusion I'm considering at the moment is that all of Series One came out in 1934 and none of Series Two came out until 1936. This leaves quite a gap in 1935, which I suspect would have been filled through reissues of select (possibly all) 1934 cards.

Naturally, such a conclusion feels bizarre, and it may be that other information I gather in the next week or so will lead me to reject it. Still, I thought I'd share it here with other folks interested in the set.

[brianp-beme]

Nice Jason, it will really be interesting to see the results of your research/conjecture on this truly underappreciated set.

Good luck, and have fun!

Brian

[judsonhamlin]

Jason - also looking forward to the results of your research. I think you are probably right about the ‘36 date for the high numbers, perhaps at two different points in time, based on the combinations of uniforms and captions on the cards. Having just finished the set (last was John Babich, btw) I will try and spread out the high series and see if I can put together at least some sheet combos based on miscuts.

[jason.1969]

Originally Posted by judsonhamlin

Jason - also looking forward to the results of your research. I think you are probably right about the ‘36 date for the high numbers, perhaps at two different points in time, based on the combinations of uniforms and captions on the cards. Having just finished the set (last was John Babich, btw) I will try and spread out the high series and see if I can put together at least some sheet combos based on miscuts.

May stumble on more clues but the main one that got me thinking is that Series 2 has no Braves, only Bees. Name change not announced until January 31, 1936. Certainly there are other cards (the two Bottomley cards, for example) in Series 2 that are definitely 1936, but it’s really the absence of Braves that pushed me in this direction, coupled with three of the Series 2 Bees cards having low numbers within the series.

[BobC]

Have also heard some say this should actually be two separate card issues. Especially since all the hi numbers were issued without the multiple colors found in cards 1 - 40, but also because the hi numbers issued in 1936 were a different size (smaller) than the lower numbers. Always thought that was a good argument.

Also, weren't the Rabbit Maranville "How To" booklets only issued along or in conjunction with hi number Batter-Up cards in 1936 as well? Assuming so, that could be another point towards saying these were actually two separate issues.

[judsonhamlin]

Another data point is the Curt Davis/Chuck Klein trade of May 21, 1936. They have the teams correct for both although Davis’ card shows him in a Phillies uniform.