1949 Bowman PCL

[ALR-bishop]

Anyone else do this set ? Consists of 36 cards and no big names. Reportedly marketed only in Seattle, Portland and Philly ( Bowman headquarters). Very tough to complete and expensive. Maybe only an extreme OCD Bowman collector would have the inclination

Anyone know if wrapper on right might have been for PCLs

[Cliff Bowman]

If they weren't so expensive I would get former or future Cubs Dom Dallessandro, Joe Marty, and George Metkovich. Marty hit .500 (6 for 12) for the Cubs in the 1938 World Series. ETA unbeknownst to me Red Adams and Glossop each played a few games for the Cubs in the ‘40s.

[Casey2296]

I stop at 1923 for my PCL collection but those are very cool, thanks for posting Al.

[ledsters]

I don’t know about the wrapper, but, I collect PCL Padres cards. I’m interested in the Padres cards if you are looking to sell them.

[Lobo Aullando]

I'd be happy with a type card, but I just never see them. I've seen more T217 Monos in the wild over the past couple years.

[jingram058]

I have 9 from 1936, Zeenuts. These are very cool! I didn't even know about them until this thread.

[toppcat]

I have a type of Johnny Rucker, happy to have it!

[oaks1912]

Al,
The wrapper is definitely a legitimate 1949 Bowman variation, however it has not been established that it contained exclusively the PCL cards.The closest we all came to a definitive source was longtime photographer and collector, the late Frank Caruso who grew up in Olympia , Washington. He collected the major league Bowmans in '49, and while visiting his aunt, who lived in the Green Lake district of Seattle during the summer of 1949, he purchased a few packs of cards at a local market. This pack contained exclusively PCL cards. He was more focused on the fact that these cards featured "Local" players rather than the major leaguers that he was accustomed to purchasing 60 miles south in Olympia. The wrapper was a blur to him. Frank was / is the only longtime collector that I ever encountered that bought both the major league issue and the PCL (exclusive) packs in 1949.

I have pursued these cards for nearly 50 years, talking not only with longtime collectors, but those who originally saved these cards, their families (& noted where they lived at the time) and dealers / resellers who had acquired groups of these cards. There has never been a wrapper found within any of these original collections. Ted Zanidakis & I collaborated on an article nearly 30 years ago, when more original sources were available and could not locate any such person that found a PCL-exclusive collection which contained a wrapper. The variation wrapper existed in the hobby prior to our article, but currently remains a mystery.


As Ted shared in the article there were PCL cards mixed in with major league players in packs distributed midway through the 1949 season , which were marketed near Philadelphia, Bowman's headquarters . It is also a possibility that the variation wrapper could have been used on those 'mixed' packs as well. We just do not know.


Many people, including myself, would 'like' it to be a PCL exclusively wrapper, but without a solid provenance or paper trail, anyone making a claim to it's definitive usage should be suspect.

[ALR-bishop]

Thanks for the great info Mark…. and to Ted as well