1948-1955 Bowman - Series by Series breakdown and identification

G1911 · #1 12-18-2019, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by samosa4u

Yes, I did see that article, but the whole thing makes no sense to me. First of all, I was told that the reason Bowman printed the high numbers in smaller quantities was because kids around that time started to look forward to the football season (and wanted football cards instead). However, the NFL season didn't begin until close to October. So, how could they have printed the highs between late June to mid-July? How early did Bowman start printing the football cards? You will also notice that the first baseball series was printed sometime in April (the same month baseball season started), so again, why would Bowman start printing football cards way before the football season even started? Am I missing something here?

Personally, I think it has nothing to do with Football either. Interest in Baseball is highest when a new season starts (and during the World Series), and then collectors 'drop out' as the year progresses. This happens even today. Topps issues its main set in 2 series + an update set. Topps series 1 is printed in much high numbers than Topps series 2, because you have a ton of people buying a few packs at Target or Wal-Mart when the season is just starting or about to start. Topps baseball series 2 comes out long before the football sets (which Topps no longer has a license for) still. I expect it was similar here.

I think this is partly the fault of how we see things today, focusing only on the major sports sets. Bowman and Topps printed (through a contracted printer) several sets throughout most years. Some of these appear to have been printed right around the same time. Football season coming doesn't appear to mean that they needed to cease production of one set to make another; and the drop in sales throughout a season does not seem to me to relate to football at all.

I think the writer did a great job of identifying the earliest possible print dates based on a thorough examination of the cards, but of course, barring a find of Bowman's internal records, I'll doubt we'll ever know the actual ones.

tedzan · #2 12-18-2019, 03:26 PM

G1911

Nice presentation.

But, starting with the 1948 set, some of the info you stated regarding Series make-up of these BOWMAN sets is not correct.

TED Z

T206 Reference
.

G1911 · #3 12-18-2019, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tedzan

G1911

Nice presentation.

But, starting with the 1948 set, some of the info you stated regarding Series make-up of these BOWMAN sets is not correct.

TED Z

T206 Reference
.

I'm confident some of it is not; it's taken mostly from articles, variations that can help pinpoint, the little uncut material I have seen previously, and the catalogs. What is incorrect with 1948? Was it not two sheets? Is it known if it was 1 or 2 series?

toppcat · #4 12-18-2019, 06:31 PM

Hey Teddy Z, your uncut sheets remind me of something, You once (I believe many years ago) posted a big sheet of the 51 or 52 Bowman cards that was much bigger than the smaller ones normally seen. Do you still have that scan?

tedzan · #5 12-18-2019, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toppcat

Hey Teddy Z, your uncut sheets remind me of something, You once (I believe many years ago) posted a big sheet of the 51 or 52 Bowman cards that was much bigger than the smaller ones normally seen. Do you still have that scan?

Hi Dave

Great hearing from you. I missed seeing you at the National this past Summer.

Is this the BOWMAN sheet you are referring to...�

TED Z

T206 Reference
.

toppcat · #6 12-19-2019, 08:18 AM

Ted, I've been to Chicago the last several Nationals and seem to be arriving when you are leaving. I probably will not be in AC this year.

No it was the smaller cards I think but was more like a Topps sized sheet; there were a number of 32 card groupings on it, maybe in a 4 x 3 array with gutters in between each 32 card panel. I may be misrembering if it was yours but I do recall it being posted here a long while back. I lost some scans in a hard drive crash awhile back and that was one of them. Only time I've ever seen something like that.

samosa4u · #7 12-19-2019, 12:44 PM

Steve,

Thank you so much for posting this Zanidakis article. I couldn't read it on my desktop at first, but then I looked at the pages on my wife's iPad, with the brightness turned all the way up, and I managed to read the whole thing pretty quickly. It's an amazing piece of work and it answers so many of my questions.

Did you actually read these baseball card magazines back in the 1980s? Are there any other interesting articles you have? If so, I would love to read them! Please PM me.

____________________________________________

G1911 (what's your name, dude?)

I found this interesting paragraph in the Zanidakis article posted above:

Usually, the later series were not printed or sold in as high a quantity as the first few series, because the novelty of the new set would have worn off by mid-summer OR the cards would be competing with football cards on the store shelves.

Zanidakis has listed two possible explanations as to why Bowman would short-print their high numbers. This takes us back to my earlier question, and that is how early did Bowman start printing their football cards? Bowman started printing their baseball cards during the same month the 51' baseball season started, which was in April, but it looks like they did not do this with their football cards. In other words, Bowman issued their football cards way before the football season even started.

Volod · #8 12-19-2019, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toppcat

Ted, I've been to Chicago the last several Nationals and seem to be arriving when you are leaving. I probably will not be in AC this year.

No it was the smaller cards I think but was more like a Topps sized sheet; there were a number of 32 card groupings on it, maybe in a 4 x 3 array with gutters in between each 32 card panel. I may be misrembering if it was yours but I do recall it being posted here a long while back. I lost some scans in a hard drive crash awhile back and that was one of them. Only time I've ever seen something like that.

Dave: Are the sheets at this link what you are referring to?
https://www.footballcardgallery.com/...+Bowman+Large/

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