1939 Play Ball in Context?
 

Hi everyone! Long time lurker, first time poster. I was lucky enough to pick up a copy of the ‘39 Play Ball Ted Williams and am looking to put together a video doing a deep dive on the card, the set, and Gum, Inc. However, I have a blind spot right now to two things: the business rationale and the collector acceptance (or lack there of).

1939 Play Ball marked the first baseball set that JW Bowman had released and was obviously the predecessor to ‘40-‘41 Play Ball and Bowman later on.

The business rationale: Do we know why JW Bowman decided to make the jump into baseball cards? Did the success of the “Horrors of War” set simply give Bowman the confidence he needed to branch out into other types of trading cards?

The collector acceptance: Do we know how 1939 Play Ball was received when it was released? Kids love the larger size compared to tobacco and other gum issue cards? How did it stack up against the other gum issue sets like Goudey and DeLong?

According to Hanley in The Bubble Gum Card War, Bowman viewed the baseball card market of the mid-1930s as "over-crowded", choosing instead to start with "the G-Men and Heroes of Law Enforcement" (1936) followed by "the Horrors of War" (1938). As you know the 1938 set was very successful, netting Bowman $40K/week at one point. Hanley says: "Flush with the success and profits from his Horrors of War card set, Warren Bowman decided the time was right to re-introduce the baseball card to America".

Ah excellent, thanks for the info. I’ll look into “The Bubble Gum Card War”. Have you had a chance to read through? Interesting read?

Yes, it is an interesting read. American baseball cards 101. Bowman versus Topps. It may not help you much because it is focused on the post-war "war" between Topps/Bowman.

As part of your deep dive, could you investigate why it's so difficult to find a truly "centered" '39?

Is that a known issue with '39 Play Ball? I know the margins of the borders are larger on the Title case cards (Upper case for the first letter and lower case on the rest of the letters). I haven't come across anything related to systemic centering issues yet.

A bit of additional background in this PSA article from a few key set collectors here. Looks like Cardboard connection also has some additional info: I wonder if it is as simple as:

1. Centering being tough for all cards from this time period
2. '39 Play Ball was larger than other cards produced at the time
3. This was the second major set Gum, Inc. released, so condition issues might be a lack of manufacturer experience?

Old Man Wrigley once said: "Anybody can make gum. It's selling it that's tricky." Or something like that. Bowman sold a lot of Blony.

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