Quote:
Originally Posted by trdcrdkid
In 1949, Leaf issued a set of 98 baseball cards, skip-numbered between 1 and 168. (The cards are dated either 1948 or 1949, but they were all issued sometime after June 1949, when Buck Barker wrote an overview of sports gum card issues that did not mention Leaf baseball: http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=223647.) The first 49 cards issued were relatively common, but the other 49 are very scarce, apparently because they were pulled from the market when Bowman sued Leaf over the rights to picture major-league players on gum cards. Lionel Carter, 31 years old and a major card collector by that time, collected the first series of 49 when they came out, but didn't even know about the other 49 until years later. |
Hi David K.
With all due respect to Buck Barker......I have to differ with the above stated timeline of the 1949 LEAF BB cards. I collected these cards when I was 9 years old in 1949.
I remember very well that in our neighborhood (New Jersey), the 1st series of 49 cards were available in early Spring of 1949. These LEAF cards preceded the 1st series
of the 1949 BOWMAN cards by at least 2 months.
If you are interested, check out my well researched (8-page) article on the 1949 LEAF BB set published in the OLD CARDBOARD magazine (Issue #9, Fall 2006).
Furthermore, Warren Bowman sued the LEAF GUM CO. because of its infringement on Bowman's Copyright (issued in 1948).... "
BASEBALL BUBBLE GUM"
1949 BOWMAN wrapper .................................................. 1949 LEAF wrapper
