vintage-baseball-card-research

                 EXHIBIT BASEBALL CARDS     1939 to 1966    When Were They Produced And What Are The Variations?                                By David Kiehle                                                                 davidwkiehle@gmail.com For the past few years I have been trying to obtain all Exhibit baseball cards from 1939 to 1966 using the checklists in the Standard Catalog of Vintage Baseball Cards, Edited by Bob Lemke, which includes several variations.  When I noticed a few cards that I obtained were not listed by this catalog, I looked on-line for updated lists to use.  Also, I was interested in finding the date that the cards were produced.  I did find a few articles on-line (listed on page 2) which gave some valued information but left many unanswered questions for me.   I have obtained multiple cards and have searched on-line for cards that are for sale or auction.  Thus, I have several observations, some speculations, and some questions about these cards as to when

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A.   1939-41 Inscription: MADE IN U. S. A.    (Spaces between U. S. A.) Size:   ¾ inch              I have identified a total of 45 cards with this inscription. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ B.  1942-45 Inscription: MADE IN U.S.A.    (No spaces between U.S.A.) Size:   ½ inch               I have only identified 5 cards with this inscription. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ C.  1946 Inscription: MADE IN U.S.A.    (No spaces between U.S.A.) Size:   9/16 inch            I have identified 32 cards with this inscription. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ D.  1947 Inscription: MADE IN U.S.A.    (No spaces between U.S.A.) Size:   ½ inch or 17/32 inch In 1947 there were 37 new cards produced with the inscription “MADE IN U.S.A.” (no spaces in U.S.A.)  which was ½ inch in length.  This would mean that there were 27 cards which were hold-overs from previous years with salutations on them.  I have included, with the 1947 list, those cards that I think might have been carry-overs from the 1946 set.  It has been reported that Dickey, McQuinn, and Ott from 1946 were not included.      -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E.  1948                Inscription: MADE IN U.S.A. Size:   5/8 inch  or 19/32 inch For 1948 I have identified 37 cards with the inscription “MADE IN U.S.A.” which is 5/8 inches long (or 19/32 inch).   Included in this list is Feller with the length of the inscription at 5/8 inch not 9/16 inch (which was the case for the 1946 Feller card.)  Feller’s image for the 1946 card is smaller than that for the 1948 card.  Also note, that on the 1948 list is Joe Gordon, wearing a Cleveland uniform.  He was not traded to Cleveland until October of 1946 and probably did not get changed to the Cleveland uniform until 1948.  Moreover, the length of the MADE IN U. S. A. is 5/8 inch unlike the 9/16 inch of his 1946 card.  Also, Gordon’s image is slightly smaller on the 1948 card than the 1946 card.   Also, the 1946 version of Fred Walker with

  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  F.    1949   Inscription: MADE IN U.S.A.  and AN EXHIBIT CARD      Size:  ½ inch  or 17/32 inch The cards from 1949 are easy to date because they included the printing of “AN EXHIBIT CARD” in addition to the “MADE IN U.S.A.” of size 1/2 inch.  To further justify my opinion that cards which depict league champions were produced in the subsequent year, you will note that the league champions of 1948 are in the 1949 set because they have the “AN EXHIBIT CARD” inscription.   However, this leads to my first mystery for which I do not have a complete explanation.  If this idea about cards being produced after the season is always true, why do the two cards for 1949 league champions have the “AN EXHIBIT CARD” inscription?  Perhaps they were produced in 1949 or were produced in 1950 when all the other cards had a smaller “MADE IN U.

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- G.  1950                              Inscription:  MADE IN U.S.A.        Size 7/16 inch In 1950 the inscription was again “MADE IN U.S.A.” but it was reduced in size to only 7/16 inch.  And there was no “AN EXHIBIT CARD” on these cards.  I have included the 1949 Yankees and the 1949 Dodgers team cards.  Undoubtedly cards from the 1949 set or before were among those that were produced along with then new cards in 1950.   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- H.    1951 to 1953              Inscription:  Made in U.S.A.  (Lower Case)      Size:    ½ inch or 17/32 inch Cards from 1951 to 1953 can be counted together since they all have the inscription “Made in U.S.A.”, size ½ inch. I am agreeing with the writers of other articles on these cards that those produced in 1952 were black and white not tan colored.  The 1951 pennant winners (printed in 1952) are black and white.  The 1950 winners (printed in 1951) and the 1952 winners (printed in 1953) were tan colored. Some player cards were probably produced in one of the years or two of the years or in all three.    For example, Marty Marion is in the 1952 set because he is shown in a St. Louis Browns uniform on a black and white card.  He is also shown in a tan card which must have been produced in 1953.  He did sign with the Browns until late No

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I.    1954 – 1956         1954, 1956                   Inscription:         PRINTED IN U.S.A.           Size:    3/4 inch         1955         Made in U.S.A.                 Size:     ½ inch                                                                             MADE IN U.S.A.                 Size:     ½ inch                                            MADE IN U.S.A. with AN EXHIBIT CARD         Size:      ½ inch                                                                             PRINTED IN U.S.A.              Size:      ¾ inch The 1955 set, which has post card backs and is checklisted in the Standard catalog, gives lots of clues about 1954 and 1956.   First, these two sets include new cards with the inscription “PRINTED IN U.S A.” which is ¾ inch long.  I have located 28 of these.  (26 for 1954 because there

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------                                                          J.      1957 – 1958 Inscription: Printed in U. S. A.   (U. S. A. spread)        Size:  21/32 inch  New cards were printed with the inscription “Printed in U. S. A.” length 21/32 inch.  (Most published lists call this measurement 5/8 inch).  And, for the first time, there are spaces between the letters of “U. S. A.”  But, as was the case for a new year’s production, not all cards had the new inscription.   An uncut sheet of 16 players from 1958 that I have seen offered on ebay, includes 7 cards (Adcock, Roberts, Baker, Schoendienst, Trucks, Kaline, and Zernial) with the inscription from their 1954-56 years.  Therefore, I have assumed they were also in the 1957 printing in this fashion.  Until more uncut sheets are identified, it is difficult to know actually what player

                                                                                                                             1957 to 1958                                                                                1959 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------                                                          K.      1959 Inscription: Printed in U. S. A.   (U. S. A. spread)        Size:  21/32 inch In 1959 several changes occurred in the inscriptions.  Most importantly, all inscriptions were “Printed in U. S. A.”.   This is the first year that all inscriptions were the same.    Examples of a 1959 card different from 1957 to 1958 are Blasingame with the “U. S. A.” all in the Cardinals logo and Bauer with “Printed” starting under the “r” of Bauer.  All such subtle changes are listed in the following 1959 list.   I have tried to make a complete list of all 64 c

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------                                                          L.      1960 Inscription: Printed in U. S. A.   (U. S. A. spread)        Size:  21/32 inch In 1960 the Exhibit cards were printed in black and white and have several variations in the inscription locations or other subtle changes when compared to 1959, which makes for interesting variations if you are so inclined to search for these.   You can see all these variations on the 1960 Checklist which follows. I have seen an uncut sheet of 32 1960 cards which verifies their placement on the 1960 list.  I have noted this verification on the 1960 list. Note that for 1960 Mantle, the card is black and white and the c and k are not connected.  (The c and k are connected for 1957 to 1959.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------                                                          M.     1961 Inscription: Printed in U. S. A.   (U. S. A. spread)        Size:  21/32 inch In 1961 Exhibit cards were back to tan color but the cards from 1960 with variations of the inscription location or other changes had those variations maintained, which makes for another set of subtle variations.  So, some 1957-59 cards are different from 1961 cards.     I have seen an uncut sheet of 32 1961 cards which verifies their placement on the 1961 list.  I have noted this verification on the 1961 list.   Also, I have seen an advertisement for 1961 cards which also verifies their placement. Please refer to the lists for 1960 and 1961 to see all the variations from 1959 that I have identified. In 1961, the Mantle card is tan and the c and k are not connected.   This is prob

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ N. 1962 and 1963 1962  Black  Stats on Back           Printed in U.S.A. (U.S.A. not spread)     11/16” 1962  Red Stats on Back               Printed in U.S.A. (U.S.A. not spread)     11/16” 1963  Stats on Back                       Printed in U.S.A. (U.S.A. not spread)     11/16”                                                          Or Blank It is easy to spot cards from 1962 to 1963 without even looking at the backs to see the statistics.  The inscription is still “Printed in U.S.A.” but there are no spaces between the letters of “U.S.A.” and the length is 11/16 inch.  There were 32 cards produced in 1962 (or 64 if you count the red printed backs and the black printed backs.) In 1963 there were 64 cards produced with stats on back in red. 32 were duplicates of 1962 without stats and with the “Printed in U.S.A.” (11/16 i