Minimalist Artistic Vintage Baseball Sets
 

I am wondering which vintage baseball sets feature 100% artwork without player names on the front? 1950 Bowman comes to mind, but are there any others?

The 1948 Signal Oil Oakland Oaks set comes to mind. The Calbee cards are a bit short of perfect purity.

1959-1961 Morrell

1953 Bowman is another

The Bowmans from '48, '50 and '53 are have no-frills designs ...

I guess it depends on how you define vintage and how broadly you define cards. Looking through my collection, I see the following:

1955 All American Sports Club
1966 James Elder Postcards
1968 Dexter Press
1975 and 1978 SSPC

Added in Edit:
1939 Play Ball
1952 Berk Ross

Along with the Play Balls from 1939, are also three regional "no-frills" sets from 1940-41 that feature players from the Reds, Browns and Cardinals ...

These sets are photographs rather than artwork. I can’t think of a baseball artwork set, off the top, that has no design elements other than the 1950 Bowman’s.

Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange would like a word...

Aren't the 1950 Bowmans hand-colored photographs?

Whether an original painting or hand colored over a photograph used as the model, it seems the OP's meaning of 'artwork' is a conventional usage of the term, to designate artistic depictions in the sense of drawings/paintings/colorings and not photographs. I don't see an issue to debate.

I have no idea what the OP intended, but my dictionary agrees that photographs are artwork.

I would think someone aware of 1950 Bowman would be aware that 1953 Bowman exists. The intent seems to be fairly clear. I did not and am not saying a photograph cannot be a piece of art or denigrating Ansel Adams, but being pedantic over every little word people use when the context seems to make it clear feels like a waste of time to me.

Another B/W photo issue is the 1933 Butter Cream set.

Brian (card not mine)

1953 Brown & Bigelow.

I don't have a 1933 George C. Miller card to post, but they have beautiful artwork and no lettering on the front. Also, one of things I like about cards without lettering is that they're great for autographs.

Nope. Artwork isn't camera work; it's painting by hand. So the only baseball set example I have seen so far that features full-color artwork on the front with no player names is the 1950 Bowman set.

No, they are scaled-down renditions of original artist paintings.

This example works, but unfortunately, the entire set isn't minimalistic like the one you posted. Many have advertising on the front at the bottom. Minimalistic means only the player is featured on the front, with no words or names, or advertising to go with it.

There you go! Those fit the definition and have the art deco look of the Diamond Stars cards produced in that same era. Thanks. Are there any others?

The GC Miller set is a good example...I felt that there was a set I was overlooking. Curse me! Here is a full and a cancelled (72%) size example.

Brian

I thought the advertising was placed on the cards (as an add-on feature) per the request of the business that ordered them.

However, what do I know? Apparently, I'm a dolt who doesn't comprehend the definition of minimalistic. Thank you ever so much for the edification.

That's interesting! I never knew of a set in which the players could either be sponsored or not. That may be a unique feature of the Brown & Bigelow set.

Universal Toy
 

The c.1920's Universal Toy cards would be another set to include:

https://www.collectorfocus.com/image...-universal-toy

The knowledge base that exists here is astounding. I have never even heard of
Universal Toy Cards, but they are reminiscent of strip cards to some extent. I think the artwork seems better though. Thanks!

some more unis.

Time to change your underwear, maybe? Jeez....

Is that Ruth in the lower right corner wearing a Boston jersey? By 1920, practically the whole world knew he was no longer a Red Sox player.

The label on the graded card actually mentions 1920's, and this set may have been released somewhere around 1923 or so, due to the inclusion of boxer Luis Firpo.

Below is a quote I pulled regarding Firpo and the possible issue year by our own Adam the Exhibitman in a real old Net54 thread, as well as visuals of the box that supposedly housed these panels (along with a bunch of other items), that I found as well on another even older thread.

"The boxers card gives some help as to when the box of goodies with it was likely issued. The lower left hand image is Luis Angel Firpo [I have definitely ID'd it from an old photo]. Firpo, the Wild Bull of the Pampas, was Argentinean and did not arrive in America until early 1922, and gradually moved into the heavyweight contender picture over the next year and a half, fighting here and in Latin America until he fought and beat Jess Willard in July 1923, then fought and lost to Jack Dempsey in September 1923. I don't think it likely that he would have been picked for an American card set before that since he had never even fought here until early 1922."

Brian

IT doesn't get too much more minimalist than only a name and team!

The First "True Reliever"
 

All this talk about Luis Firpo has excited me into wanting to point out a further connection between the boxer and baseball: In August of 1923, a young pitcher named Frederick Marberry debuted for the Washington Senators, appearing in 11 games. The next season he played a key role, particularly out of the bullpen, in Washington's capture of the American League pennant and the 1924 World Series.

Marberry enters the history books (and trivia questions) as the sport's first prominent reliever. He has been retroactively credited as having been the first pitcher to record 20 saves in a season, the first to make 50 relief appearances in a season or 300 in a career, and the only pitcher to lead the major leagues in saves six times. In his book Bill James' Guide to Baseball Managers, James wrote: "Marberry was the first pitcher aggressively used to protect leads rather than being brought in when the starter was knocked out. Thus, Marberry is in my opinion the first true reliever."

A month or so after Marberry's 1923 debut in Washington, Luis Firpo electrified the American sports world by knocking Jack Dempsey completely out of the ring during their fight for the heavyweight boxing title. Dempsey hit his head on a writer's typing machine, and for a moment, it looked like Firpo would become world Heavyweight champion. But Dempsey was helped back into the ring, benefitted from a controversial "long count" and eventually knocked Firpo out.

Marberry's emergence at a time when Luis Firpo was a sensation in the sports world combined with the physical resemblance the two shared, gave rise to Marberry's nickname: Firpo. Firpo Marberry went on to appear in 551 games during 14 MLB seasons.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1672657637
https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1672657641

Marberry
 

Another card of Marberry and a photo of Firpo the boxer. Also here's another example of "minimalist" issue. Hard to identify the players in this Obak issue.

There are also versions of these that just have the player's name and a silhouette.

Brian (I feel it is not my fault this is not my felt)

W9316
 

The w514 is Fleer and not necessarily minimalist, but the w9316 series has always been kind of crude, to me

from my past collection

https://luckeycards.com/pw514fleerov...w9316baker.jpg