The 1935 Schutter-Johnson cards were a unique set compared to others in the era. While colorful artwork (i.e. Goudey sets) and real black and white photos, such as those used in the 1939 Play Ball set, were common, the 1935 Schutter-Johnson set relied on cartoon images drawn by a former player. Here’s more on this little-known pre-war set.
1935 Schutter-Johnson Basics
The 1935 Schutter-Johnson set was cataloged as a gum issue (R322) in Jefferson Burdick’s American Card Catalog. If you’ve seen them, you know the cards have a distinctive look. Against an all red background, cartoon players were drawn in black and white. The fronts had a short phrase about a particular baseball tip and the backs included a longer text for that tip tied to a particular player. In many cases, the front also included the player’s last name.
A total of 50 cards were included in the set, which was distributed by the Schutter-Johnson Candy Corporation based out of Chicago and Brooklyn. “Major League Secrets” could be considered the informal name of the set as that title was printed at the top of each card back.
The 50-card set is full of big names and Hall of Famers. Babe Ruth, Christy Mathewson, Lou Gehrig, and Dizzy Dean are at the forefront. Others include Rogers Hornsby, Al Simmons, Hack Wilson, Pie Traynor, Mickey Cochrane, Grover Alexander, Lefty Grove, and countless others. Most players are featured only once but a few (including Ruth, Dean, Alexander, and Kiki Cuyler) are in there twice. More than half of the set includes Hall of Famers.
One of the more intriguing aspects of this set is the artist for the cards – Al Demaree.
Al Demaree
Demaree was the artist for the cards and that’s interesting because he was a baseball player himself. Demaree was a decent pitcher that lasted eight years in the major leagues, playing for several teams including the New York Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and the Boston Braves. His best year was arguably 1913 when he won 13 games and lost only four with a career-low 2.21 ERA.
Among Demaree’s talents, he was a skilled artist. He took classes from the Art Institute of Chicago and was earning money as a teenager for his drawings.
Of interest is that this wouldn’t be the only set of cards where Demaree would be credited. A year earlier, he also drew a series of die-cuts in the Al Demaree Die-Cuts set, categorized as R304. Later, he also supplied the artwork for the 1947 Signal Oil set, one of several gasoline issues in the 1930s and 1940s.
1935 Schutter-Johnson Prices
The Schutter-Johnson cards are surprisingly rare and a little pricey for being a later pre-war issue.
Mid-grade commons in the set are difficult to find at under $100 and Hall of Famers are considerably more. A PSA 5 of Ruth sold for nearly $2,000 in a 2009 auction. Complete sets are hardly ever seen but one was auctioned in 2015 for just under $9,000
1935 Schutter-Johnson Checklist
1 Al Simmons
2 Lloyd Waner
3 Kiki Cuyler
4 Frankie Frisch
5 Chick Hafey
6 Bill Klem (Umpire)
7 Roger Hornsby
8 Carl Mays
9 Chas. Wrigley (Umpire)
10 Christy Mathewson
11 Bill Dickey
12 Walter Berger
13 George Earnshaw
14 Hack Wilson
15 Charley Grimm
16 L.Waner/P.Waner
17 Chuck Klein
18 Woody English
19 Grover Alexander
20 Lou Gehrig
21 Wes Ferrell
22 Carl Hubbell
23 Pie Traynor
24 Gus Mancuso
25 Ben Cantwell
26 Babe Ruth
27 Goose Goslin
28 Earl Combs
29 Kiki Cuyler
30 Jimmy Wilson
31 Dizzy Dean
32 Mickey Cochrane
33 Ted Lyons
34 Si Johnson
35 Dizzy Dean
36 Pepper Martin
37 Joe Cronin
38 Gabby Hartnett
39 Oscar Mellillo (Melillo)
40 Ben Chapman
41 John McGraw
42 Babe Ruth
43 Red Lucas
44 Charley Root
45 Dazzy Vance
46 Hugh Critz
47 Firpo Marberry
48 Grover Alexander
49 Lefty Grove
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