What did I buy?

[MCyganik]

The seller posted 6 players with this similar "heavy cardboard" medium. He is a large volume seller that labels everything as a "set break" so he most likely acquired these oddball cut-out pieces somewhere and didn't know what they were so he threw out "1940 Topps" to acquire clicks.

He also sold 2 Cuban/Mexican League cut-outs in the same timeframe and listed them as "1940 Topps" as well.

Obviously they are not Topps. Also consider the 6 players:

Mickey Cochrane - out of baseball by 1940, last year played 1937
Van Mungo - struggling with injuries by 1940, peaked pre-1937
Dick Bartell - played for the Tigers in 1940, his peak year was on the Giants in 1937
Billy Herman - still a star in 1940, but peak years were 1935-37
Hal Trosky - Played well in 1940 but peak years were 1934-1938
Joe DiMaggio - Rookie year was 1936, was already a star in 1937

So most likely we're looking at around 1936-37 era.

Consider the backs. 3 of them (Cochrane, DiMaggio, Trosky) have Art Deco lettering on them that looks like it forms OOK (Handbook? Blue Book? Scorebook?) and a 9 and 3 that would form a year 193?:

s-l1600.jpgs-l1600 (1).jpgs-l1600 (2).jpg

There are multiple sellers on eBay who acquire old baseball handbooks and cut out hardly seen photos of obscure teams/players and rebrand them as cards or rare photos.

If anyone can identify or find familiar the Art Deco lettering of the backs, you might find the cover that belongs to these cut-outs.