Posted By:
Ted ZanidakisJOHN E
I assume you are familiar with this set's difficulty with all the cards in it whose # is "divisible by 9".
My sheet is very unusual in that it includes (in the rightmost column), the cards divisible by 9.......
namely, Spencer (#9)....Justice (#18)....Miller (#27)....Hancock (#36).
Why these cards are tough to find is simple.....when Bowman decided in late 1952 to enlarge their
regular issue (to compete with the larger size of the 1952 Topps BB issue), they increased the size
of their small set. But, in the process they used their existing printing facilities, which could not ac-
comodate the larger 36-card sheets. Therefore, cards at the ends of these sheets were "cut short".
As I said, cards that are divisible by 9 are the toughest; however, the cards at the left end of the
sheet are also tough (but not as difficult as the "9's"). This sheet illustrates this as cards #1, #10,
#19 and #28 are missing from this sheet.
I hope I have made this clear, if I haven't please ask some more questions. Also, I wrote an article
on this in the SCD back in 1985. In that story I also explain why the last card in the LARGE set....
#144 Lansford is probably the toughest post-war FB card.
If you want a copy of this SCD article, email me.
TED Z