1949 Leaf Cards Skip Numbered?

[PolarBear]

Anyone know why Leaf skip numbered the set? Were more series planned and scrapped or was it just something they did for no reason?

[toppcat]

To mak-a zee moola

[ChiefBenderForever]

Football and boxing cards are mixed into the set.

[PolarBear]

Originally Posted by JohnnyHarmonica

Football and boxing cards are mixed into the set.

In many cases though, they have the same numbers as the baseball cards.

[ChiefBenderForever]

Originally Posted by PolarBear

In many cases though, they have the same numbers as the baseball cards.

I didn't know that, I guess I'm not sure what is up with that, I thought football and boxing cards were the inbetween missing numbers. Ted Z and others that have put the set together would know what they did.

[Exhibitman]

I do not buy the idea that the FB and boxing were meant to be one set:

1. Leaf's boxing set has 49 cards (plus the famous pulled Graziano) on 1 sheet (7 x 7). No mixed sheets have ever been found. Every flipped sheet printing I have ever seen (wrong backs and double-printed fronts both) have the same configuration, i.e., the same two guys on the cards: Jeffries-Loughran, Fields-Baer, etc. The packs, wrappers and ads I've seen do not mention two sports, only boxing. There is no indication that the two were intentionally printed together or sold together.

2. If the FB and boxing were one set then why did Leaf make a boxing album? And why does it have space for 3x as many cards in it as are in the set?

No, I think greed is the reason. If certain numbers were missing the kiddies would buy more cards in an effort to fill in the set, and the album came with extra spaces to accommodate the many dupes that the kiddies would have as a result of fruitlessly busting packs to chase the missing cards.

[tedzan]

LEAF GUM continued to produce Non-Sports cards after 1949. And, in 1960 they issued a 144-card B & W BB set.

LEAF GUM's sportscards (Boxing, FB and BB) sets simply were skip-numbered as a clever "marketing trick" (Chicago
style), so that us kids in the late 1940's would keep buying cards.

And we did, by redeeming soda bottles by the wagonload for pennies to buy Leaf's. I probably spent $5 in pennies
before I completed my 1st series (49 cards) of the 1949 BB set. We never saw the 2nd series (short-printed cards)
in our neighborhood. Leaf distributed their 2nd series only in 4 regional areas (Boston, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio).


TED Z

[steve B]

I thought the 1960 set came with marbles and wasn't related to the gum Company? I seem to recall seeing a picture of an unopened pack of marbles with a card.

Steve B

[tedzan]

The LEAF Company of Chicago was founded by Sol and Marshall Leaf and has been around since the mid-1930's.
It has marketed trading cards under several names.....

Leaf Gum.....1948 (Sea Pirates, Boxing, Foot Ball sets)....1949 BB & FB sets
Leaf Confectionary (Non-Sports cards)
Sports Novelties, Inc., Chicago......1960 BB B&W set
Etc., etc.

After 1949, LEAF GUM stopped producing sportscards (for a decade), due to legal battles vs the BOWMAN GUM Co.

Marshall Leaf explained why LEAF skip-numbered cards...."that they would intentionally skip numbers to get kids to
try to collect the set."

This is certainly apparent in LEAF's 1948 Boxing cards and 1949 Base Ball & Foot Ball cards.

TED Z

[toppcat]

Wasn't Leaf bought by Donruss in the 80's? I forget where Donruss ended up (probably receivership) but Donruss cross marketed with Leaf in 1985 at a minimum.

[PolarBear]

Thanks for the info Ted. You must have some amazing memories ripping packs that most of the rest of us consider vintage from another era.

I saw a post in another thread about your 52 Mantle that you personally pulled from a pack. Again, simply amazing, and even more so that you kept your cards all through the years. I don't think I have anything (cards or otherwise) that I collected as a kid.

Did you follow the Yankees - Red Sox pennant race in 1949?

What was your favorite team and favorite player when you were a kid?

What cards were the favorite pulls from packs?


Hope you don't mind the staccato-like questions, but I'd love to hear some of your personal stories.

[steve B]

Thanks Ted. I'd heard years ago that the 1960 set was a different company, it's good to get the right story.

I never doubted the skip numbering as a sales ploy.

Didn't Topps get in trouble over a few missing numbers in the late 50's sets?

Steve B

[tedzan]

Due to conflicts with Bowman, the 1953 Topps set is missing 6 numbered cards.

Also, 4 #'s are missing in the 1955 Topps set.

I'm not aware of missing cards in the subsequent Topps sets.


Regards,

TED Z