[droid714]

I recently read a book about the war between Bowman and Topps for control of the baseball card market back in the 1950's and it got me thinking about how I would have spent my nickles if I had been a kid back then.

For each year, from 1949 through 1955, which brand of card would you have bought? Here are the ground rules: You can only choose to collect one brand, you can't collect both. And, for the sake of this exercise, ignore production quality problems. Assume that every card has perfect centering and registration. I'm more curious about how you feel about the actual design of the card and not the fact that the end product had quality control issues.

I'll start.

1949: Leaf

I currently collect only Indians so I'm basing my comparisons on the Indians from the Bowman and Leaf sets and the Leaf set wins hands down! The cards are larger, the colors brighter and the images superior. Eight of the nine Indians in the Leaf set have a counterpart in the Bowman set and the only card I prefer in the Bowman set is the Larry Doby, but only by a small margin. The 1949 Bowman set is mostly a bunch of boring head shots.

1951: Bowman

Seriously? The 1951 Bowman set is quite colorful and attractive while the Red Back/Blue Back set from Topps is possibly the most hideous set of cards ever made.

1952: Topps

Topps blindsided Bowman with what is still arguably the finest looking set of cards ever made. Bowman, on the other hand, kind of just mailed it in. I always felt that the '52 Bowman set was a cheap knockoff of their '51 set with drabber, more subdued colors.

1953: Bowman

Topps produced a truly beautiful set of cards in '53. Unfortunately, Bowman produced what many vintage collectors believe is the most beautiful set of baseball cards ever made.

1954: Bowman

I think that the '54 Bowman set is possibly the most overlooked and underappreciated set of cards ever made. Overshadowed by their '53 set it gets very little love. I love the design and put them in the same class as the '53s. Topps, on the other hand put out the second worst looking cards they ever produced, surpassing only the Red Back/Blue Back sets. I might be prejudiced because most of the Indians players have a sickly, pea-green background. And don't even get me started on the alternating backs!

1955: Bowman

For the record, I'm not partial to horizontally oriented cards. I don't even like the occasional horizontal card placed in a vertically oriented set. Just my luck that both companies chose to issue horizontal sets in '55. To their credit, Bowman used an original design making use of those new-fangled TV sets that all your well-off neighbors had in their living rooms! Topps, on the other hand, used a bland design which was little more than their '54 set turned on it's side. Not Impressed.

So to summarize:

1949 Leaf by a sizable margin
1951 Bowman by a mile
1952 Topps by a mile
1953 Bowman by a slim margin
1954 Bowman by a mile
1955 Bowman by a sizable margin