1946-49 Sports Exchange All-Stars (W603) Set and Checklist

Posted on December 13, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	1946-49 Sports Exchange All-Stars (W603)
Year	1946-49
Size	7″ x 10″
Images	Black and White
Type	Strip
Number in Set	114

1946-49 Sports Exchange All-Stars (W603) Overview

W603 Sports Exchange Miniatures Joe DiMaggio Categorized as W603 in the American Card Catalog, these are technically grouped with strip cards. In reality, though, they are actually large 7″ x 10″ photographs.

These photos featured baseball players and were offered through the Sports Exchange Trading Post magazine. In addition to these photographs, that magazine also issued smaller baseball cards in 1947, referred to as the Sports Exchange Miniatures set (W602). These two are some of the first sets produced after the end of World War II in 1945.

As was done in the W602 set, this set included both current and past players. Past players, such as Babe Ruth and Shoeless Joe Jackson, are among the most popular photos in the set.

These were produced from 1946 through 1949 with the entire set being spread out over several different series. The fronts included a player image with his name and some blank lines for facts about him while the backs were blank.

113 photos are often reported in this set but, in reality, at least 114 exist. Catcher Aaron Robinson has both a fielding and throwing variation.

While most of the photos feature a single player, several feature two players. Additionally, team photos were created for the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals in 1946 — they were the two participating World Series teams that year.