The Bowman family had great timing and had sold their interests earlier at the peak of their baseball card success , before Toops began to ascend with the results of the 52 set. The new owners did not have the Bowman family marketing instincts and experience. The increased expense of color photos in their 53 set cut back their marketing budget. After 53 Bowman limped through 1954 and made a last ditch effort with their color TV concept in 1955. It fell flat, maybe because so few families were even familiar with color TVs in 1955.
Also, although the set is admired today for the uncluttered front, kids may have preferred a name and team designation on the front
Whatever you think of Dean's Cards pricing, he does have a good book on the bubble gum wars between Topps and Bowman from 1948 to 1955. Topps first major foray into baseball cards was 1951, but they did have a baseball subset in their 1948 Magic Photo set.
I get a smile out of thinking about Steve pedaling all over town looking for 53 Bowmans
