1935 Whitman Party Stunts Game Set

Posted on September 11, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	Whitman Party Stunts Game Cards
Year	1935
Size	1 5/8″ x 2 1/2″
Images	Color
Type	Game Cards
Number in Set	72

1935 Whitman Party Stunts Game Overview

The 1935 Whitman Party Game set includes 72 cards as part of a playing card game. The Whitman name may be familiar to some pre-war collectors. Whitman (more specifically, the Whitman Publishing Company) created several types of card games, including the more popular 1938 Whitman Big League Base Ball Game.

While most subjects on the cards are non-sports related, two feature baseball Hall of Famers Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb.

Sort of.

The card game is kind of a Pictionary game. The cards include images of various people where the game’s players must act out certain situations. Backs of the cards have a playing card design printed in blue ink.

The Babe Ruth card encourages the game’s participants to act out as if they were the legendary Hall of Famer striking out with the bases loaded. Similarly, on another card, participants are to imitate Ty Cobb sliding and beating a throw to home plate.

While there is some demand for the set, there is no doubt that the Ruth and Cobb cards are the most desirable. The Ruth card is somewhat interesting as it was created in 1935, the final year of his career. As a result, it’s one of the last cards from his playing days bearing his name.

The cards are also known as being politically incorrect. Several depict racist tones mocking African Americans or foreigners.

Instructions on the inside of the box describe game play. The 72 cards in the deck were to be shuffled with each player taking a card. Each person was required to perform the action on the card or were subject to some kind of penalty.

Misidentification

PSA has labeled some of these cards as the 1924 Parker Brothers Rook Game cards. However, that is incorrect. These cards are clearly from the 1935 Whitman Party Stunts game and this is a picture of one of the boxes in which it can be found. How the PSA labeling error came to be is unknown to me but it is a mistake.

The 1924 Rook Game set, in fact, appears to be a set of cards with only numbers on them. How these cards were identified as cards from that set is a mystery to me.

Other Sports

While the Ruth and Cobb cards are easily the most popular in the set among sports collectors, other sports are included, too. Other cards depicting generic athletes include: