1938-40 Cincinnati Reds Set and Checklist (W711)

Posted on September 5, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	W711 Cincinnati Reds
Year	1938-40
Size	Varies by set
Images	Color and Black/White
Type	Miscellaneous
Number in Set	Varies by set

1938-40 W711 Cincinnati Reds Overview

The W711 Cincinnati Reds set consists of various team cards and postcards produced from 1939 through 1956. While most of the sets were created beyond the pre-war era, the 1938, 1939, and 1940 sets fall within the war-time boundaries.

Jefferson Burdick classified the 1939 and 1940 issues as W711 in his American Card Catalog. However, a 1938 issue also exists that he did not include in that classification. While the 1938 set was not technically given the W711 designation by Burdick, it is included here because of its similarity to the 1939 release.

Those team-issued sets are among the latest releases of the pre-war era. Each one featured cards of members of the Cincinnati Reds. Pictures were printed in color with the player’s name and position printed in a bright orange rectangle at the bottom. The backs included no statistical information but did offer the player’s name and a biography.

While these are typically referred to as team-issued cards, they were ordered from Harry Hartman Publishing, who was the likely printer of them. Order forms for Hartman’s Cincinnati offices (606 Greenwood Building) were basic and how fans received these cards. An order form purportedly for 1940 lists the set for a price of fifteen cents.

The 1938 set includes a total of 23 cards while 1939 has 27. Both sets measure approximately 2″ x 3″. Because they both feature players from the Cincinnati Reds, many players are the same in both sets. Making things worse is that the same pictures were often used.

When two players are in both sets, that can present some difficult in determining which year a particular card is from. The easiest way to tell the difference is usually to check the biographies on the back, most of which (if not all) are different.

W711-2 Lombardi The 1940 set was much different from these two issues.

Instead of a more rectangular shape of card with color pictures, the 1940 W711-2 cards were black and white and had more of a square shape. These cards measure approximately 2 1/8″ wide by 2 5/8″ tall.

These cards had white borders and resembled some more like the 1948 Bowman cards that would be released later.

Show here is a 1940 W711-2 example of Hall of Famer Ernie Lombardi, one of the keys to the set.

After the 1940 set, there was a large lag in time between sets. The next Reds team issue cataloged under the W711 header was a set of postcards in 1955. Other postcard and picture releases followed.

Sets in the W711 Classification

The entire W711 series is listed below.

1938 Reds Cards Cars (color)
W711-1 1939 Reds Cards (color)
W711-2 1940 Reds Cards (black and white)
W711 1955 Reds Postcards
W711 1956 Reds Postcards
W711 1956 Reds Pictures
W711 1957 Reds Pictures
W711 1958 Reds Pictures
W711 1959 Reds Pictures

As stated, the 1938 Reds Cards were not given the W711 classification despite the fact that they are very similar to the 1939 set. However, they are listed here because they are clearly in the same grouping as these cards as a whole.

1938-40 W711 Cincinnati Reds Checklists

Below are checklists for the 1938, 1939, and 1940 sets. Checklists for the other sets are not listed here as they were not printed until the 1950s, well after World War II had ended.

1938 Set