Personal Pre-War Set and Collector Survey

[obctom]

Hi Brian,
Your list of back variations matches mine. However, I haven't seen an example of the Grissom that does NOT mention 1938. Do you by chance have one? Or have you seen one?

The few times I've seen a Grissom on eBay, every one of them mentions 1938. My copy mentions 1938 as well. Makes me wonder if I'm chasing a phantom card that doesn't really exist - or if it's just very, very rare.

The other card that is on both the 1938 and 1939 sets is the Vander Meer; the backs are the same, but one is a pitching pose on the front and the other is a portrait.


Tom

Originally Posted by brianp-beme

There are 12 cards that are featured in both the 1938 and 1939 W711-1 Reds sets that contain differences in their writeups on the back. Here are those cards and the differences between the two years (In most cases I have provided little snippets from the respective bios to identify them below):

Wally Berger:

1938 - "in a trade...in June"
1939 - "in a trade...in June, 1938"

Paul Derringer:

1938 - "Won 22 games...this season"
1939 - "Won 21 games...last year"

Linus Frey:

1938 - "only 25 now"
1939 - "only 26 now"

Lee Gamble:

1938 - "Syracuse last year"
1939 - "Syracuse in 1937"

Ival Goodman:

1938 - No mention of 30 homers
1939 - Mentions hitting 30 homers

Lee Grissom:

1938 - No mention of 1938
1939 - Mentions 1938

Ernie Lombardi:

1938 - No mention of 1938 MVP
1939 - Mentions 1938 MVP

Bill McKechnie:

1938 - "Last year he led..."
1939 - "In 1937 he led..."

Lloyd "Whitey" Moore:

1938 - "Last year with Syracuse"
1939 - "In 1937 with Syracuse"

Billly Myers:

1938 - "In his fourth year"
1939 - "In his fifth year"

Lee Riggs:

1938 - "In his fourth season"
1939 - "In his fifth season"

Wm. "Bucky" Walters:

1938 - "Won 14 games"
1939 - "Won 15 games"


And the following 6 are featured in both sets but have no differences in the writeups between the years:

Harry Craft
Ray "Peaches" Davis
Harry "Hank" Gowdy
Williard Hershberger
Frank McCormick
Jim Weaver


Still not sure about distribution of the set...this still remains quite the mystery.

Brian

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by obctom

Hi Brian,
Your list of back variations matches mine. However, I haven't seen an example of the Grissom that does NOT mention 1938. Do you by chance have one? Or have you seen one?

The few times I've seen a Grissom on eBay, every one of them mentions 1938. My copy mentions 1938 as well. Makes me wonder if I'm chasing a phantom card that doesn't really exist - or if it's just very, very rare.

The other card that is on both the 1938 and 1939 sets is the Vander Meer; the backs are the same, but one is a pitching pose on the front and the other is a portrait.


Tom

Because of the photo differences, the Johnny Vander Meer is the easiest one to figure out which year it belongs to. Its existence makes you wish they had used different photos on all the repeat players in 1939.

I do not have a 1938 Grissom (no mention of 1938 on back). My thought is, if it does exist, it is a tough one that should be snagged, no matter what condition it is in.

Brian