1949 Leaf Theory

[Pat R]

Originally Posted by yanks87

I do think the lawsuit had something to do with the distribution of the cards, mainly the short prints. Dr. James Beckett as well have others have said that the cards are found predominately through the Great Lakes, which would fall in line with East coast distribution shut down because of the lawsuit. I think that the 2nd printing of the first 49 happened before the short print run. I think the order of the set distribution was:
_ Leaf Pirates
_ Leaf Baseball -First 49 Print/2nd Print (First 49, this is where the PINK color appears)/Short Print 49 Baseball
_ Leaf Football and Boxing

All the sets used skip numbering, and the color composition of the cards became simpler and simpler as time went on (no more green). With the Short Print baseball into boxing and football, the color went to strictly CMYK, no color mixing.

Still working to crack the code, but learning some very interesting things. Thanks for including this.

I just thought it was interesting that the newspaper article from 1949 and Lionel Carters writing from 1960 mention 33 cards and Ted's photo of the uncut sheet has 33 cards with a 1948 copyright date and 16 with a 1949 copyright date. Is it possible that they had a two 33 card sheets set up to print and maybe even printed some and then added 16 of the cards with the 49 copyright date to each sheet.

[yanks87]

Originally Posted by Pat R

I just thought it was interesting that the newspaper article from 1949 and Lionel Carters writing from 1960 mention 33 cards and Ted's photo of the uncut sheet has 33 cards with a 1948 copyright date and 16 with a 1949 copyright date. Is it possible that they had a two 33 card sheets set up to print and maybe even printed some and then added 16 of the cards with the 49 copyright date to each sheet.

Interesting, I will have to look into that further, it may explain a couple of things, or it may just be a coincidence. Johnny Mize and Warren Spahn were at the top of the list of players that filed suit, it was settled outside of court, and Leaf agreed to stay out of the market until 1951. The cost to license players likeness in those day was around $5, and Bowman hand contracted many, so the suit makes sense. I will look further into the copyrights, and see if it coincides with the cards that actually changed. That would be a fascinating wrinkle.

[Pat R]

Originally Posted by yanks87

Interesting, I will have to look into that further, it may explain a couple of things, or it may just be a coincidence. Johnny Mize and Warren Spahn were at the top of the list of players that filed suit, it was settled outside of court, and Leaf agreed to stay out of the market until 1951. The cost to license players likeness in those day was around $5, and Bowman hand contracted many, so the suit makes sense. I will look further into the copyrights, and see if it coincides with the cards that actually changed. That would be a fascinating wrinkle.

Brian, do you know when they settled outside of court, it must have been quite awhile after Bowman sought the court order.

[yanks87]

Originally Posted by Pat R

Brian, do you know when they settled outside of court, it must have been quite awhile after Bowman sought the court order.

I don't, but it is fairly short runway, the cards hit in '49 and they settled on not producing cards again until '51, so I would imagine it was a quick proceeding. Honestly, Sol Leaf had run into a copyright infringement suit on the Overland side, so a quick settlement may have been the result of not wanting to get "into it" on the east coast with Bowman and the players that brought the suit.