Posted By:
Ted ZanidakisWe had four stores to choose from........corner pharmacy and soda fountain store, Klinsky's Candy
Store, Brown's Candy store on our trek to school, and Jack's (hole-in-the-wall) general store.
And, if we were lucky, on occasion we would run into Phil Rizzuto, who lived two blocks away in our
neighborhood. The very 1st BB cards I acquired were the Homogenized Bond Bread in late 1947.
In 1948, LEAF Gum Boxing and Pirate's cards. Boxing was very, very popular during the 1940's. Only
got a few 1948 Bowmans (BB & FB).......In early 1949, the colorful LEAF Gum BB cards were available.
I could talk about these cards all day, we really loved them with Babe Ruth, Wagner, Joe DiMaggio,
Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Jackie Robinson, etc., etc. But, if you are interested in the full story on
this set, I will refer you guys to my article in the current OLD CARDBOARD magazine.
By late Spring of '49 the 1949 Bowmans were available and at 1st we didn't know if we liked them.
The pix were clearer than the Leafs; however, we couldn't flip or scale them like we did with the
larger size Leafs. But, the Bowman gum tasted better and we could blow bigger bubbles with it.
And, by the end of summer we had mixed emotions...."darn, we have to go back to school"....but,
there was "much joy in Mudville", as the last Series of 1949 BB cards were available in the Fall......
Richie Ashburn....Edwin "Duke" Snider....Leroy "Satchell" Paige....and 105 more cards....WOW !
Every year from Spring to Fall we would anticipate the thrill of what the next Series of Bubble Gum
cards would offer......Finally, in the Fall of 1952 I opened up a 5 cent pack of Topps Hi# cards and
I was staring at Sam Chapman, Babe Herman, Hal Jeffcoat, George Spencer, and MICKEY MANTLE....WOW !
I remember this moment as if it was just yesterday......then I went onto to "staring" at Girls and Cars.....
and, that ended my BaseBall card collecting days as a kid.........until 1977.
T-Rex TED
BRIAN W.......It's 1949 LEAF BB......not 1948-49 (we are not talking about a BasketBall or Hockey set).