Card Spotlight: 6-7-19

1931 W517 #43 - Art Shires

Pre World War II cards are always interesting. Economic fluctuations and various material shortages account for spotty releases and other anomalies. There are some years that I cannot find a single solitary White Sox card release. During the United States involvement in WWII, materials were diverted for the war effort and the country had their obvious focus on other things.

Another reason for lack of years without a release would be that some releases were strung out over several years. Some would even put out the same set every few years with a few tweaks and updates. There are still debates in the forums on what card came out in what year and which version was which year. We can only sleuth and make educated guesses. Anyone involved with the processes of those cards are long deceased.

People like Jefferson Burdick helped catalog a great deal of these sets, but those lists were never perfect. Cards still are discovered today that never made those lists. Variations and other oddities still come to light. Time is a cruel mistress and the longer we travel past these releases, the harder it is to properly catalog. Although, some companies never release their full checklists today, which is even more annoying. These present day companies have no excuse not to release the full checklist.

Depression era cards are one of the most overlooked of the bunch, with the exception of Goudey. Most sets were strip cards that were cheaply produced and cheaply bought. They were meant to be hand cut, so the quality really varies in these cards.

The most exciting aspect for me is the sheer amount of players that never get cards anywhere but in these releases. Art Shires is a good example of this. Art played with three teams over a four year career. He only received three known card releases during his playing career. Two were with the White Sox and one was doctored to be on the Boston Braves, but used the same picture as on the W517 card, which he shared space with three other players.

Art has three postcards, one new card and one reprint card made well after his playing career was over. The postcards were made in 1966, the new card was in 1992 and the reprint was in 1997. Since then, nothing. That's why these cards fascinate me greatly. If you played anywhere from the Black Sox scandal until the end of the forties and you aren't a household name in the twenty-first century, you are largely forgotten.

These cards provide a window into that forgotten world. Someone had to play against Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams.