1949 Bowman

The First "Real" Postwar Set?

Baseball Culture

As we move along with the replay and other articles, I want to write a little bit about baseball culture. In particular, I’m interested in writing about some of the aspects of baseball culture that have gone missing over time, as well as some things that have changed.

It’s easy to say that things have changed for the worst, though that obviously is not always the case. There is a certain nostalgia trap that is easy to fall into if you’re not careful.

Without much further ado, let’s talk about baseball cards!

My Story

I was in early elementary school during the height of the infamous junk wax era of baseball cards.

I’ve got vivid memories of being excited for 1989 Topps when it first came out, as well as very vague memories of seeing some sort of 1989 Topps ad on television. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be anything like that on YouTube, though I can always relax and enjoy Don West infomercials instead.

I remember buying packs of 1990 Topps at the local grocery store for 50 cents each. Cards were everywhere in those days. I remember seeing cards for sale at lemonade stands, and can remember being upset that my parents wouldn’t buy me a 1987 Topps team set during our trip to Disneyland.

I also remember reading a lot about baseball cards of the past, from classic (and now forgotten) books like this:

Like most kids, I fell away from mainstream baseball cards after the 1994 player’s strike. I tried to get back into it around 2008 or so, but never really felt the same passion. The endless parallel sets and focus on lottery-style insert cards just never appealed to me. It’s just not as much fun to buy a bunch of packs and try to piece together a set by hand anymore.

However, old cards are different.

The First “Modern” Set?

I don’t think we can talk about baseball in 1949 without spending some time talking about 1949 Bowman, one of the most iconic sets of the era.

Taken from Heritage Auctions

The big question, though, is whether Bowman’s 1949 set really counts as the first “modern” (i.e. postwar) set. 1948 Bowman was a small 48-card set with blurry photos and poor card quality. Meanwhile, 1948-49 Leaf was a rare winter baseball card set remembered chiefly for the card of Honus Wagner stuffing his mouth with chewing tobacco:

Taken from baseball-cards.com

As far as the classic era of baseball cards goes, 1949 Bowman is really the starting point.

I want to note that the cards pictured from here on out come from The Card Cyber Museum, which I highly recommend for anybody with an interest in old baseball cards. The Museum is great for post-war cards; anything earlier will require a bit of searching on Check Out My Cards and the infamous Net54 Baseball Card Forums.

Valuable Cards

It’s kind of hard to term some of these “rookie” cards, since many of the players had been around for years before this set was printed.

A look at some of the backs makes this obvious:

Taken from Boston Sports Cards

The reason for this becomes obvious when you look at the history of baseball cards. After the famous 1941 Play Ball set, America’s involvement in World War II brought an end to baseball card production in general. Aside from a number of small regional sets, baseball card printing on a national scale basically stopped.

There are a few odd things about 1949 Bowman. Take the variations, for example. Some cards in early printing series exist both with and without names on the front — the variations with names are rarer according to Cardboard Connections.

Obscure Players

You’re not going to find a ton of obscure players in a 240 card set, but you will find a few good stories here and there.

Take the Jerry Priddy card for example:

Now, I know who Priddy is, having played a few games with the Browns. He’s their starting second baseman, and wasn’t as bad a player as some blogs claim.

However, if you collected 1949 Bowman cards as a kid, you absolutely know who he is. He’s card #4, which Bowman deliberately delayed printing until the final series of the year.

Image taken from Deans Cards

Now, deliberately holding back a card to get kids to buy more packs was nothing new. Every serious member of the hobby knows about the 1933 Goudey Lajoie card, which was deliberately withheld and only distributed to those frustrated enough to write in to the company. Similarly, serious hockey card collectors know about the 1923 Paterson V145-1 Bert Corbeau card: the issuing company promised to give a pair of ice skates for free to anybody who completed the set, holding this card back similar to the old McDonalds Monopoly scheme.

Of course, there are other fun obscure players in 1949 Bowman. For example, here is Cass Michaels:

There’s also a nice card for one of the DiMaggios (no, not that one):

I’ll be back with more notes and tidbits about baseball culture as we move on.