1922 Olsen’s Baseball Game Cards Set and Checklist

Posted on September 6, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	Olsen’s Baseball Game Cards
Year	1922
Size	2 1/2″ x 3 1/2″
Images	Color
Type	Game Cards
Number in Set	60

1922 Olsen’s Baseball Game Cards Overview

001 - Copy The 1922 Olsen’s Baseball Game cards set is an interesting one. It included a total of 60 different playing cards, 30 featuring blue players and 30 featuring red players.

Similar to other card games revolving around the sport of baseball, the cards had specific actions printed on them to determine the game play. And as playing cards, these had rounded corners. That has helped many of them remain in decent condition over the years.

Cards were packed neatly into a two-column red box. The box had the name, ‘Olsen’s Base Ball’ printed on the exterior in white ink along with pictures of generic players. The entire Olsen game with all 60 cards cost $.85.

The cards themselves also feature generic players. However, arguably the game’s two biggest stars of the time period were featured as part of the game in Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb.

Ruth and Cobb were featured on an advertising insert for collectors to receive a 120-card set of cards, similar to the E120 American Caramel or W573 blank-backed set. However, because the number of cards in the advertised set doesn’t match the number of cards in either of those, it isn’t known exactly what they are.

Here’s more information on the mystery behind these cards.

The ad insert was cleverly done since it was printed on the same sheet as the instructions, making sure that it would not be missed. The same sheet also had the playing board on it, so whenever these are found, they are often damaged from wear.

Team sets were sold for ten cents each while complete sets were sold for $.50. Collectors could purchase these by mailing requests in to the Olsen Games Company at their 60 W. Washington Street, Chicago, IL address.