1931 W754 St. Louis Cardinals / Metropolitan Studios Set and Checklist

Posted on September 5, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	W754 St. Louis Cardinals / Metropolitan Studios
Year	1931
Size	6 1/4″ x 9 1/2″
Images	Black and White
Type	Miscellaneous
Number in Set	30

1931 W754 St. Louis Cardinals / Metropolitan Studios Overview

W754 Cardinals Metropolitan Studios.jpeg The American Card Catalog classified numerous St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Browns sets as W754 issues. Only one, however, fits into the pre-war era – a set from 1931 featuring the Cardinals.

If you look for a W754 1931 issue as was mentioned in the American Card Catalog and you’re out of luck. And unfortunately, the book doesn’t offer any specific details other than to say it was a 1931 release. Today, most collectors omit the W754 when discussing this set.

Pictures of the players in the 1931 Cardinals set include a variety of poses. Some are full length shots, others are about 3/4 length, and some are close up portraits. One interesting one is the photo of James Lindsey. His looks different from the others in that it is a picture of a picture and has his last name printed in white in a large black box at the bottom.

The 1931 pictures all generally look the same but are credited differently. Some have no credit printed on them at all. Others have the Metropolitan Studios name and location (St. Louis) on them. Others have that information but with a copyright symbol. More still have the name of a Sid Whiting located in St. Louis. The placement of the credits is at the bottom most (if not all) of the time but they range from being in the center to either of the corners.

Sid Whiting was a professional photographer of some consequence and his studio was located in St. Louis at the corner of Washington and Grand streets. Whiting took pictures of all sorts of subjects and his work can still be found today. Many of his items include his famous signature.

One set that might fit the bill is the 1931 Metropolitan Studios Cardinals set of photos. That set, of course, is known by collectors but usually isn’t credited as the W754 1931 set. The Metropolitan Studios set includes 30 black and white photos of Cardinals players.

Other W754 issues include the following: