Not Vintage....but Extremely Rare - 1949B PCL

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

After 21 years, I have finally upgraded my 1949 Bowman Pacific
Coast League (PCL) set so that all 36 cards are "factory-cut".
Back in 1984 I started collecting this challenging set and in
about a couple years I completed it. However, only 1/3 of the
cards were factory-cut.

Typically, "hand-cut" cards are found, and this is because as
the story goes, this set was issued only in uncut 36-card
sheets. My experience, living in the greater Philadelphia area,
has been that some were included regular BB issue 1949 packs.
I have acquired several original Bowman collections from people
which included a few PCLs. Being amazed at seeing these cards,
I asked, and in all cases the response was I got them as a kid
in 1949 packs.

So, I am curious what experiences are out there in trying to
collect this very rare PCL set ?

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Posted By: Mark Holt

I think David Vargha has some or all of this set at one time. Of course I'm getting increasingly senile so I might be wrong. He's vacationing but I believe will be back next week and you might try reaching him.

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Posted By: Richard Lloyd

Very Impressive Ted....
Thats a great set to have..
Best
Dick

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Posted By: Steve Dawson

I've long been interested in getting the cards of the San Diego Padres' in the set. Does anyone know of anything that lists the team affiliations of each card in the set?

Steve

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

Steve

As soon as I get a chance I will list the team breakdown of
the 36 players in this set; probably tomorrow.

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Posted By: Mark Holt

Here is a post by David Vargha from another forum:

1949 Bowman PCL Baseball

By Dave Vargha

These cards were actually distributed in regular 1949 Bowman packs. They were sold only in the PCL cities of Seattle, WA and Portland, OR as well as Bowman's Philadelphia, PA headquarters. Strangely enough, they were not sold in the more populated San Francisco Bay Area, home of the 1948 PCL champion Oakland Oaks and second place San Francisco Seals. Nor were they sold in the populous Los Angeles area, even though six Los Angeles Angels players and five Hollywood Stars players are in the set. There are estimated to be only around 2,000 total cards from this set in existence. Many were hand-cut from promotional sheets given to stores in the Portland and Seattle areas.

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

Steve Dawson,

The following are the 5 - SAN DIEGO PADRES in this set:

Pete Coscarart, Lee Handley, John "Swede" Jensen,

Xavier Rescigno, Tom Seats

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

Mark Holt

Mark Macrae and I co-authored an article on this Bowman PCL set
back in 1997 in VCBC. For many years both of us did a lot of
research into this rare issue. We combined our experiences; his
on the Pacific coast and mine near the Philly area (where these
PCL cards were also distributed (in very limited quantities).

If you want to look it up it is published in the March/April
1997 VCBC (issue #10), titled "1949 Bowman PCL" by Mark Macrae
and Ted Zanidakis; pages 10-11.

Everything you referred to that David Vargha previously posted,
I believe is abstracted from the information Mark and I already
noted in our VCBC article.

Please check it out.

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Posted By: Mark Holt

Thanks for the tip ted, I've got that issue but didn't remember reading the article. I'll go back and check it out. I've never even seen one of these cards 'live' but will grab one if I run across any in a show.

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Posted By: Steve Dawson

Thank you very much Ted!!!


Steve

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Posted By: Adam J. Baxter

Ted,
Great thread and congrats on your set. I usually collect just Pre-War PCL stuff (Zeenuts, etc.) But I've thought about picking up one or two cards from this set as types. In fact I almost pulled the trigger on that rough cut Harvey Storey that was just on Ebay (a D310 got in the way ) They so rarely come up for sale it's tough to even snag a single example. Cool set though and one of the hobbie's true rarities. I'll have to remind myself to check out that VCBC article. Thanks for sharing.

Best Regards,
Adam

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Posted By: Jason

Hi Ted,
I am looking for 2 cards from this 49B PCL set, and was wondering if you had any suggestions on sources. They were cousins of mine, and these 2 have proven to be the most difficult issues to track down, by far!

Any info is appreciated
Thanks,
Jason

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Posted By: TONY

Back in the 80's I got a call from a guy in detroit who claimed to have TWO complete sets & many dupes.....
so he actually flew out to Los angeles & met me at his hotel room next to LAX.....
I said i will beleive this deal if I see it with my own 2 eyes......

well he opens up a briefcase & pulls out dozens of 1949 PCL cards.....I get excited until I see the cards conditions
all appear real except..........
they were in 2 grades below poor........
due to poor storage........rats got to the cards & ate away parts of every card........
over 100 cards & not one was collectible.......
i still tried to buy them but he thought they were still worth a fortune........
this dumb dude wasted a round trip tix for zero......
all appeared to be factory cut, not hand cut.......had to be the biggest hoard ever of this set........wonder what ever happened to them????? maybe he gave them back to the rats.......

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Posted By: William

Here are a few nice examples:

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Posted By: Marc S.

David Vargha did at one time have a very fine collection of Bowman PCLs, but I believe that they have all since been sold [but are listed on the PSA Registry by the person who acquired the set]

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Posted By: Nate

My question is...what is the price comparison between the factory-cuts and the handcuts? Obviously, the factory-cuts are more desirable, and therefore, more valuable, but how much more so?

Also, what is the most valued card in the short 36 card set?

I have always been a big fan of the '49 Bowman PCL set (although I have only had the opportunity to purchase a few examples). Being a Tony Freitas collector, my Freitas collection would not be anywhere near complete without his Bowman PCL card...it took me a few years, but I finally obtained one not too long ago.

Great thread...I was always a little too intimidated to start a '49 Bowman PCL thread because it doesn't fall under the "pre-war" category. Kudos.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

My want list is tough enough already...

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

Jason

I rcvd. your email and I am responding here since the email server is down.
I don't have extras of the PCL cards you asked for. If I acquire them I will
certainly contact you. Obviously, if you come across them don't hesitate to
buy them. These little cardboard "goodies" do not appear too often.

Ted Z.

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

Nate

Only in recent years, has there been a noticeable difference in pricing. And, of
course the Grading service has been the main factor. Before grading, due to
the real scarcity of these cards, collectors would pay top dollar irregardless
of the cards being "hand or factory" cut; just to get one or any to complete
their sets.

There are no major stars in this set of 36 cards. Prices for certain players vary
as a function of region, or team, or ethnicity. Examples of such are....the above
posted card of Mickey Grasso goes for more $$ (than usual) in NJ since he was
born in Newark.
California collectors will pay more for players from their favorite PCL team.
And, I have had 2 collectors buy cards of Xavier Rescigno from me, since their
collections consisted of all the Hispanic BB players.