1934-1936 Diamond Stars: #120 Lon Warneke

Sunday, April 7, 2024

#120 Lon Warneke - Chicago Cubs

Lonnie Warneke

Chicago Cubs

Pitcher

Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 6'2" Weight: 185

Born: March 28, 1909, Mount Ida, AR

Major League Teams: Chicago Cubs 1930-1936; St. Louis Cardinals 1937-1942; Chicago Cubs 1942-1943, 1945

World Series Appearances: Chicago Cubs 1932, 1935

Died: June 23, 1976, Hot Springs, AR (67)

Lon Warneke spent his entire 15-year career with the Cubs and Cardinals, and was a 20-game winner in three seasons in the early 1930s. Warneke joined the Cubs' starting rotation in 1932, going 22-6 while leading the league with a 2.37 ERA. With no Cy Young Award yet for the league's top pitcher, Warneke finished second that season in the league's MVP voting behind Chuck Klein (#139). He'd lead the league in complete games in 1933 with 26 and pitched four innings of relief for the National League All-Stars in the first All-Star Game. Warneke holds the distinction of collecting the first triple and scoring the first National League run in All-Star Game history. He was a 20 game winner again in 1935, helping the Cubs to their second pennant in four years.

Warneke continued his success with the Cardinals following an October 1936 trade to St. Louis. He won 18 games in 1937, and 17 games in 1941, while also throwing a no-hitter against the Reds on August 30, 1941. He retired following the 1945 season with a lifetime record of 192-121 and a 3.18 ERA in 445 pitching appearances. Warneke recorded 1,140 career strikeouts. He became an umpire in the Pacific Coast League in 1946, and joined the ranks of National League umpires in 1949, resigning the position following the 1955 season. Warneke is the only person to have played and umpired in both an All-Star Game and a World Series game in major league history.

Building the Set

December 11, 2020 from San Diego, CA (Kit Young Cards)

On the night I impulsively decided to collect the original Diamond Stars set, and I subsequently purchased the Harvey Hendrick (#41) card from Kit Young Cards, I also added the complete, and first, extended set to my cart for the very reasonable price of $7.50. The 12 cards in this first extended set were originally issued in 1981.

In the early 1980s, a family member of a former National Chicle employee discovered an uncut sheet of 12 unused cards presumably meant as a 1937 continuation of the Diamond Stars set. As originally advertised, and as mentioned on the back of every card issued, the company had intended for the set to contain 240 subjects. They only produced 108 cards before production was halted, and the theory is this newly found sheet represented a "lost" continuation of the set. Fortunately, the images of the cards made their way into the collecting world and a 12-card "what if" set was created. (More on the uncut sheet can be found here from SABR's Baseball Cards Research Committee and from this Ryan Cracknell article for Beckett.)

Another great article was recently published to SABR's Baseball Cards Research Committee website taking a closer look at these extended cards.

The Beckett online database lists the set as "1981 Diamond Stars Continuation Den's" and the set's description notes "This set was created and produced by Denny Eckes. Hobbyist Mike Galella was involved in bringing this sheet to the the public. These cards were originally available from the producer for $3." The back of the cards have a 1981 copyright attributed to Den's Collectors Den, the company belonging to the aforementioned Eckes.

The 12 cards include more ambitious geometric designs than the original Diamond Stars cards, although the overall color template remains the same as their 1934 to 1936 counterparts.

Variations Available

1 - 1981 / blue back / 1936 statistics / 1981 copyright

The Card / Cubs Team Set

If this card was intended to have been released in 1937, the write-up on the back would have indicated Warneke had recently joined the Cardinals - see below. Thematically consistent with the original Diamond Stars set, the tip on the back encourages pitchers to know how to field their position and to know where to position himself for each potential scenario when a ball is put into play.

1937 Season

On October 8, 1936, the Cubs traded Warneke to the Cardinals for Ripper Collins (#116) and Roy Parmelee. He'd initially slot in as the Cardinals' number three starter behind Dizzy Dean (#124) and Si Johnson, with Warneke eventually outperforming them both. He'd go 18-11 with a 4.53 ERA in 36 games, while throwing 18 complete games and a pair of shutouts.