NonSports Forum

Net54baseball.com
Welcome to Net54baseball.com. These forums are devoted to both Pre- and Post- war baseball cards and vintage memorabilia, as well as other sports. There is a separate section for Buying, Selling and Trading - the B/S/T area!! If you write anything concerning a person or company your full name needs to be in your post or obtainable from it. . Contact the moderator at leon@net54baseball.com should you have any questions or concerns. When you click on links to eBay on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network. Enjoy!
Net54baseball.com
Net54baseball.com
T206s on eBay
Babe Ruth Cards on eBay
t206 Ty Cobb on eBay
Ty Cobb Cards on eBay
Lou Gehrig Cards on eBay
Baseball T201-T217 on eBay
Baseball E90-E107 on eBay
T205 Cards on eBay
Baseball Postcards on eBay
Goudey Cards on eBay
Baseball Memorabilia on eBay
Baseball Exhibit Cards on eBay
Baseball Strip Cards on eBay
Baseball Baking Cards on eBay
Sporting News Cards on eBay
Play Ball Cards on eBay
Joe DiMaggio Cards on eBay
Mickey Mantle Cards on eBay
Bowman 1951-1955 on eBay
Football Cards on eBay

Go Back   Net54baseball.com Forums > Net54baseball Postwar Sportscard Forums > Football Cards Forum

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 10-31-2011, 09:21 AM
vintagechris vintagechris is offline
Member
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 451
Default How popular were FB cards in the 50's?

For those who collected cards in the 50's(Ted Z and any others), how popular were football cards compared to baseball in the 50's? How did kids generally view football cards?
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 11-02-2011, 06:15 PM
Myachelydra's Avatar
Myachelydra Myachelydra is offline
John Spano
Member
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Ohio
Posts: 486
Default

Wasn't alive in the 50's...but most accounts I have read refer to football cards as "fillers" that occupied the spots of baseball cards in the racks or on the shelves between baseball seasons.

Looking at ebay numbers over the last ten years it is probably safe to say that for every one football card produced in the 50's eight+ baseball cards were produced.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 11-02-2011, 11:54 PM
spec spec is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Posts: 344
Default More than you might think

Quote:
Originally Posted by vintagechris View Post
For those who collected cards in the 50's(Ted Z and any others), how popular were football cards compared to baseball in the 50's? How did kids generally view football cards?
I collected football cards in the late 50s and early 60s, and, though they certainly weren't as popular as baseball cards, football cards had their appeal. It may be a function of where you grew up, of course.
I was raised outside Pensacola, Fla., where the closest major league baseball franchise was hundreds of miles away (St. Louis until the Houston Colt 45s were born in 1962). There was only one baseball game on television each week and the only radio games were the Mutual Game of the Day each weekday afternoon and the Cardinals on KMOX at night. Though NFL cities were just as distant, college football (Auburn and Alabama more than Florida State and Florida, which were not the powers they are today) was a year-round topic. There were lots of areas of the US like that in the 50s and 60s. By the way, the TV networks fed us a weekly dose of Washington Redskins games (and they were pretty bad then), considering D.C. the NFL's Southern outpost.
Besides the familiarity with college football players (remember that NFL sets emphasized a player's college credentials and some earlier sets had pictured active college players), the football sets were small and featured mostly star players. Thus, much less of a financial commitment for youngsters and more bang for your nickle (don't forget the insert stickers, tattoos, etc.).
Bob Richardson
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 11-03-2011, 01:01 PM
bigtrain bigtrain is offline
Tom
T0m Rus.so
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Cooperstown, NY
Posts: 1,232
Default

When I was a kid in the late 50s and through the mid 60s, baseball was unquestionably the National Pastime. In the NY metro area, we could watch or listen to a game every day of the season. The baseball season was six months long. Football games were once a week for three months or so. There were no pre-season games on television. There was a championship game but no playoffs or Super Bowl. We had no cable or satellite tv so you usually got only one or two televised football games per week. I collected football cards only because at the end of the football season, Murray, the guy who owned the local candy store would give them away rather than throw them away. He probably sold more baseball cards in a day than he sold football cards in a month.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 11-04-2011, 11:21 AM
vintagechris vintagechris is offline
Member
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 451
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by bigtrain View Post
When I was a kid in the late 50s and through the mid 60s, baseball was unquestionably the National Pastime. In the NY metro area, we could watch or listen to a game every day of the season. The baseball season was six months long. Football games were once a week for three months or so. There were no pre-season games on television. There was a championship game but no playoffs or Super Bowl. We had no cable or satellite tv so you usually got only one or two televised football games per week. I collected football cards only because at the end of the football season, Murray, the guy who owned the local candy store would give them away rather than throw them away. He probably sold more baseball cards in a day than he sold football cards in a month.
Very interesting. Oddly enough, I started collecting football cards first, then only bought baseball because there was no football to buy during baseball season. Buying the baseball cards eventually made me a huge baseball fan. This was 1980 though.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 11-04-2011, 07:43 PM
GoldenAge50s's Avatar
GoldenAge50s GoldenAge50s is offline
FredYoung
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: RI
Posts: 7,758
Default

I grew up in WNY in the '40's & '50's and bought FB cards almost at the same time I bought BB.

Started w/ BB in '48 & '49, then started FB w/ the 1950 Bowman issue as soon as they hit the market & BB season was over.

I have complete Bowman sets from 1950, '51 Topps Magic, & both '51 & '52 Large, all saved & bought originally in packs.

Of course BB was my main sport, but wanting to collect year round back then I bought FB & NonSport as well. So did my friends, but BB was #1 w/ all of us!!

In the past few yrs I had my 1950 & '52 Large completely graded by SGC, just as I had saved them all these yrs, both the good & the not-so-good! Both sets have a grade average of just under 8 on the SGC Registry.

I just this month decided to upgrade a few of the 1950 set that were in lesser condition, but have not entered them on the Registry at this point.

Here are a couple of names you will recognize from my '52 Large set:
Attached Images
File Type: jpg 52fb2f.jpg (59.7 KB, 204 views)
File Type: jpg 52fb30f.jpg (54.2 KB, 204 views)
__________________
I've learned that I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy it.

Last edited by GoldenAge50s; 11-04-2011 at 08:14 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 11-07-2011, 05:43 AM
vintagechris vintagechris is offline
Member
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 451
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by GoldenAge50s View Post
I grew up in WNY in the '40's & '50's and bought FB cards almost at the same time I bought BB.

Started w/ BB in '48 & '49, then started FB w/ the 1950 Bowman issue as soon as they hit the market & BB season was over.

I have complete Bowman sets from 1950, '51 Topps Magic, & both '51 & '52 Large, all saved & bought originally in packs.

Of course BB was my main sport, but wanting to collect year round back then I bought FB & NonSport as well. So did my friends, but BB was #1 w/ all of us!!

In the past few yrs I had my 1950 & '52 Large completely graded by SGC, just as I had saved them all these yrs, both the good & the not-so-good! Both sets have a grade average of just under 8 on the SGC Registry.

I just this month decided to upgrade a few of the 1950 set that were in lesser condition, but have not entered them on the Registry at this point.

Here are a couple of names you will recognize from my '52 Large set:
Fred, Did you have 1952 Bowman small FB cards in your area? Were they an option to buy or did you just prefer the Large?
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 11-07-2011, 03:22 PM
Hot Springs Bathers Hot Springs Bathers is offline
Mike Dugan
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 1,052
Default

From a different geographical perspective I grew up in the south. We bought baseball cards from time to time in the Summer when we found them but most kids only knew the Yankees and Cardinals players.

When school started we would all stop by the local candy/pet store by our grade school to buy football cards. Since college football was and is so big down here we enjoyed the stickers or pennants included as much as the cards I think.

I didn't start buying until 1960 on both but really kicked it into gear in 1962 on both sports. I stopped buying baseball after the 1963 season but kept buying football until 1967. In our area I never saw anything other than Topps for both sports except a local laundramat I walked past had a vending machine with 5 cent Fleer baseball packs in 1963. We had a washing machine (Mom hung our clothes out to dry) but I would stop by the laundramat to watch the machines!
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 11-15-2011, 06:41 PM
GoldenAge50s's Avatar
GoldenAge50s GoldenAge50s is offline
FredYoung
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: RI
Posts: 7,758
Default

Quote:
Fred, Did you have 1952 Bowman small FB cards in your area? Were they an option to buy or did you just prefer the Large?
Chris---

Yes, I bought the small as well. My recollection is that the small were available 1st and I bought quite a few, but then the Large came out, liked them better, stopped buying small & bought the Large until I completed the set.

I had maybe 1/2 set of small & sold them all a few yrs ago.
__________________
I've learned that I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy it.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 04-19-2012, 10:31 PM
fgoodwin fgoodwin is offline
member
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Oregon
Posts: 7
Default

I grew up in Dallas in the late 50s and early 60s. I started collecting football cards before I ever became aware of the Cowboys or Texans. My friends all preferred baseball cards but for some reason I preferred football (the cards as well as the game). I'm not sure why I didn't care for baseball. I'm a big fan of the Texas Rangers now but about the only baseball team I was aware of back then was the Yankees.
__________________
--
Dallas Cowboy Books Blog
http://www.facebook.com/DallasCowboyBooksBlog
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 04-20-2012, 10:35 PM
Publius Publius is offline
Joe S
J.oe Squi.res
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 143
Default

Fantastic thread, some great recollections here! Anyone remember buying any 1948 Leaf football? Curious how that went and how frustrating it was if you bought Leaf again in 49 only to discover the skip numbers?

How about 1957 Topps football? It's been said they came in two series, but the uncut sheets show both series on one sheet, leaning it towards one series.

Joe
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 04-20-2012, 10:53 PM
spec spec is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Posts: 344
Default

Both series of 1957 Topps football came mixed in the same 5-cent packs, at least late in the season (Dec.) when I got most of mine in Pensacola, Fla. As I recall, there were fewer cards from the second series checklist in each pack, but that's based on the gaps on my checklist rather than careful examination of each package. I didn't follow football nearly as closely as I did baseball, so I didn't really worry about the cards I was missing once I got Hopalong Cassidy, my favorite player, and cowboy.
Bob Richardson
Reply With Quote
Reply



Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Best 50's cards -- non-HOF edition paulcarek Postwar Baseball Cards Forum (Pre-1980) 11 09-30-2010 09:47 AM
Stolen Cards Returned - More Detailed Info Archive Net54baseball Vintage (WWII & Older) Baseball Cards & New Member Introductions 17 12-14-2006 05:11 PM


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 01:17 AM.


ebay GSB