Q&A -- Jersey Variation

Here's an interesting question sent in by Brian:

Q:

"I have a 1934-36 Diamond Stars #82 John Babich (Blue Back) without the Brooklyn on the front jersey.  Is this card an error?  If not can you tell me why this might be?"

A:

I don't own the card, so I had to make a quick online search. Sure enough, the cards found had both variations. Here he is with the team name:

And here he is without any designation on his jersey:

To answer the reader's question, it's not an error card (technically, nothing is wrong, so by definition it can't be an error). What this is would be a variation. While errors and variations are often lumped together by hobbyists, there's a distinction nonetheless.

During my (unscientific) online research, the backs of the three "non-Brooklyn" variations all had a blue back from 1936, but none of the others did. Since Babich's card was one of many in the set with three different back variations, it's possible that the name was removed during the last printing because he was traded to the Boston Braves before the 1936 season. There wasn't a way to produce a new card in time, so National Chicle "fixed" the problem by altering the jersey.

However, this is speculation, so I'm tossing this one out to my readers. Does anybody have any info on this one?

Q&A -- Diamond Stars Backs

Today's question comes from Danny:

Q: 

"Hope you can answer this! What are the differences between the two Bill Dickey card #11’s? Both have green backs, so how can you tell? One is listed as 1934 and the other as 1935. Also, I need to know how to tell the difference between the Tony Lazzeri blue back cards, as there is a 1935 blue back and a 1936 blue back? Appreciate the help!"

A:

Here's a link to my Web page on the set.

There are three different dates on many backs because the cards were issued over a three-year period. The date given in the statistics changed over the years but the copyright date at the bottom of the card remained 1934 throughout the run.

1934 is green.

1935 is either blue or green.

1936 is blue.

So, for instance:

The color of the text is green, and the stat date is 1934. So it's a 1935 card. The card you have with 1935 on the back will be from 1936.

In Honor of Today...

Today is April 20, which we show as 4/20. In some circles, that number has a significance that goes far beyond what gets covered in this blog. I'm only mentioning this in case it sends extra hits to the blog from search engines.

(I suppose pictures of hot Russian women would help the hit rate, but I haven't found any that have shown up on a vintage baseball card. But I digress...)

In honor of the day, here's a card I recently received from the 1934-'36 Diamond Stars set that looks to be "smoked out":

Card #8 -- Joe Vosmik, Cleveland Indians

While the actual year of issue for particular Diamond Stars can often be identified by the color of ink used on the back, that's a little bit tough in this instance:

It's hard to tell whether this card has blue or green ink, but fortunately, it mentions in the stat line that Vosmik led the league in hits in 1935 (Clicking on the picture allows you to read it a little better). Therefore, we know it is a 1936 card.

The card is actually not smoky. It appears to have been dipped in paraffin, which some kids used to give an advantage for flipping against a wall. The substance may have allowed the card to get more distance, but it sure didn't protect the poor thing's corners when it was tossed.

That said, I'm not picky about condition when I can cross a 75 year-old card off my wantlist.

Another Collection Piece

Here's a card I've had in my collection since high school. I picked it up at a local card show more than 20 years ago for $15:

1934-'36 Diamond Stars #35 -- Earle Averill, Cleveland Indians

That's an example of a great deal that is found for early birds -- I was there when the door opened and picked this up at the first table I looked at -- and probably one of the better deals I've done over the years.

There are two things I'd like to point out here. First, Diamond Stars (read about the set at my site) get sorely overlooked by the 1933 and '34 Goudey sets. Its Art Deco design truly makes it a work of art and make them stand apart from the solid backgrounds Goudey used. Second, Earle Averill is overlooked as a Hall of Famer. His career was short (12 years, from 1929-'41), but he was a great hitter. He's still the career Indians leader in RBIs, runs and triples and third in hits despite only 11 seasons on the team. He was named to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1975.