Early bowman baseball: Artist

[enoch47]

Does anyone know any of the artist names that worked on 50's bowman baseball cards? Any help would be appreciated!

[Chris Counts]

I've long wondered the same thing. The '50, '51 and '52 sets, in my opinion, are a tremendous artistic achievement. I'm curious how many artists were involved as well. It seems like it couldn't possibly be just one. The photographer of the '53 set deserves recognition as well. I've always been amazed at how at ease and lighthearted all the players look in the '53 set. The photographer clearly had a great rapport with the players. As for the other four Bowman sets, I don't even bother collecting them. But the '50-'53 sets are truly remarkable and have never received the credit they deserve as some of the finest baseball cards ever produced ...

[enoch47]

I have what I believe is some early artist proofs from around 53-56. The cards were picked up from sam rosen in sept of 1957. I am trying to compare works and maybe one guy is still alive! They are so awesome that they had to be from one of the big dogs

[enoch47]

Football Artist as well would be helpful!

[tedzan]

Warren Bowman and George Moll were very close business associates in the late 1930's to mid 1950's. Bowman had the Trademark for his popular BLONY
bubble gum (circa 1935). George Moll operated an Advertising Agency in Abington, PA. George employed 12 professional artists and they did the artwork
for all the GUM, Inc. and BOWMAN sports and non-sports cards from 1938 - 1955. The lead (senior) artist was Charlie Steinbacher.

I interviewed George Moll at his home in 1981 for a BB card article that I was writing for Bob Lemke's Baseball Cards magazine. Mr. Moll was in his 80's at
that time, but he still was as enthusiastic as a young kid talking and showing me a lot of the artwork, uncut sheets of 1950's BB and FB cards, and his BB
card collection which started with the 1933 Goudey set. A very gracious and fine gentleman.


TED Z

[enoch47]

these are a few scans of the cards, they all look bowman like, im tring to match up a artist potentially

[skooter]

Do you have a copy of the article, or know where I can get one. I would love to read it!

[tedzan]

This Bowman article is titled "The Case of the Mysterious 1949 Bowmans". It is a 6-page (well-researched) story that resolved
the existing confusion (at that time) regarding the dozen (or so) variations in this Bowman set.

Provide me your mailing address and I will send you a color xerox copy.

Email me directly........tedzan11@comcast.net

No PM's please.


TED Z

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

FYI, out of the three late Charles Steinbachers from Pennsylvania, only two could have likely fit the age criteria to be the artist in question. Unfortunately, both passed away in the 1960's (1962 and 1966). It would be interesting to discover the names of other Bowman artists. Does anyone have any leads?

[tedzan]

Jodi

The Charles Steinbacher (art Director) of the George Moll Advertising Agency that I have noted in my prior post here met with an untimely death in 1966.
He was the lead artist who designed many of the 1938 "Horrors of War" cards issued by GUM, Inc. (Blony bubble gum....the former Trademark of Bowman
Gum). This very dramatic and exceptionally artistic set of 240 Non-Sports cards depict the eventual horrors of WWII. This set of bubble gum cards was
the predecessor to the 1939-1941 Play Ball BB issues.

Another Bowman card artist was Tom King. My long-time hobby friend, Jack Weaver (professional artist), and I met with Tom back in the early 1990's at
his home. Tom and his wife (also a former Moll Agency employee) were a wealth of knowledge regarding the "good ole days" working for George Moll and
J. Warren Bowman.

With some amount of research, I can probably find more of the 12 artists that created a lot of the Bowman Sports and Non-Sports cards....no guaratees,
though.


Jodi
If you are interested, I have a newspaper article on Charles Steinbacher from The Philadelphia Inquirer (dated Sept 23, 1993) which I can send you.


TED Z

[Chris Counts]

So are the four cards pictured '49 Bowman proofs? They seem like crude prototypes for the '50 Bowman set ...

[tedzan]

The upper pix is that of Dave Philley. This is not the example used to create his 1949 card.

The 2nd pix is that of Ned Garver. This is the example used to create his 1949 and 1950 cards.

I'm not certain about the FB pix.


TED Z

[enoch47]

the top card is actually nelson fox, the second is garver, the third is leon clarke with a usc jersey, and the fourth is Ron Kramer from michigan. These are a few of the proofs I own from era 50-56 bowman football and baseball. I am just trying to figure out were these came from, they have bowman all over them as far as look and feel, I have been down tons of roads looking for information, Im now looking at artist to find out time frame and to compare....since these are 90 -95 percent painted, it is just another chance to find out more about these....

[tedzan]

Are you sure that your top picture is Nellie Fox ?

(1) The BB player in this picture resembles White Sox outfielder Dave Philley more so than Nellie Fox.

(2) Nellie Fox started with the Philadelphia A's in 1947, and traded to the White Sox for the 1950 season.
Fox was not depicted in the Bowman sets till 1951. He is depicted in a different pose than the one in your top picture.

(3) The Ned Garver picture is circa 1948-1949 and was the image used by Bowman to create his 1949 & 1950 Bowman cards.



TED Z

[Chris Counts]

The inclusion of Kramer makes me wonder if they really are Bowmans. He basically didn't arrive on the scene until '55, and didn't play in the pros until '57. Clarke started up about the same time. Why would Bowman create such a crude prototype in '56 when their artists, by that time, were producing much better work? The design would make sense if Bowman created it in '49, but not '56. Also, I've seen a few '56 Bowman proofs (Shuba and Koshorek?) and they look nothing like these cards ...

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

I recall reading a 1984 article about the '56 Bowman proofs. Too bad they didn't have the chance to issue them. One of the proposed styles resembled the 1958 Hires cards IIRC.

[Chris Counts]

Jodi, not only did Hires use one of the three 1956 Bowman prototypes for its 1958 design, but many of the photos appear to be outtakes from the 1955 Bowman set, which unlike almost any other set, primarily used photos taken in Shibe Park/Connie Mack Stadium, presumably in 1954 ...

[enoch47]

The cards I have, I believe were some some proofs made by bowman in 56. I will show a pic with a 55 bowman and the proof I have, I think the baseball pics that I added are cards from 56 as well......I think bowman was warming up to a college football issue sometimes before they sold out.....take a look...its also why the scan was of fox since these are were probably from 56

[enoch47]

reverse

[tedzan]

Bowman was already including College FB players in their early 1950's sets (as they became NFL rookies). Shown here are several examples of this
on this 1952 (Large card issue) uncut sheet........





TED Z

[enoch47]

Sweet pic! I agree, I am just trying to figure out what all these are. I have found that of the over 100 cards of these I have.....every single guy is an all american..from pre 1950 up to all americans in 1956. It dates me right before the sale of bowman....I am just wondering if Bowman had thought of or put in motion an answer to the 1955 topps All american set that really took off for topps...................what do you think?

[tedzan]

I'm not sure; but, I would not be surprised that Bowman's artists were planning to emulate the Topps All-American FB set of 1955.

My uncut 1952 FB sheet is a perfect example of how Bowman immediately responded to the very popular larger card format of the
1952 Topps BB cards. Very late in the 1952 season, Bowman experimented with their printer's 38-inch track press to produce their
larger card version of their 1952 FB smaller size cards.

In 1953 Bowman's printer employed a larger 43-inch track press to print their larger card 1953-1955 BB, FB and Non-Sports issues.


TED Z

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by JBirkholm

I recall reading a 1984 article about the '56 Bowman proofs. Too bad they didn't have the chance to issue them. One of the proposed styles resembled the 1958 Hires cards IIRC.

I am pretty sure Topps produced the Hires cards. They were famous for recycling designs, even if they originated with Bowman.

[enoch47]

I think in 56 bowman was going to release a college set in the classic 1948 bowman look, this time in color, we may never known. I have seen the Hires, those would have been some cool cards as a mainstream bowman release.