Question on 1948 Bowman Baseball distribution

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by G1911

I'm almost finished with my 1948 Bowman set, and have been wondering about how they were issued. The lack of available information on card distribution seems odd, compared to how well-known this information is for other early Bowman/Topps sets and even turn of the century issues.

I know the first sheet contained cards 1-36, and the second sheet re-printed the cards, replacing 12 of them now known as the short prints with 37-48. Of course, this doesn't mean the cards were issued in two series.

The recent box that was found had an opened pack that contained only 1-36 print group cards (including 2 duplicates in the 5 card pack, I hope collation wasn't that bad for most packs!).

Does anyone know if these were issued as two series, 1-36 and 1-48 missing 12 numbers, or were they just printed on two sheets and distributed together as 1 48 card series? Anyone remember or heard of 1 card penny packs or any other way of distribution? Why was this set only 48 cards, while Bowman printed 108 cards for their Football set, a much less popular sport at the time? That this set was clearly successful as it launched Bowman's post-war card boom and exists in large quantity today would make it seem strange they wouldn't have printed a second/third series. Is it known if the 48 cards were perhaps released rather late into the baseball season?

After the end of the war, I have to think it was still a little difficult to get, in a timely fashion, all the raw materials needed to put out a full card set of say 200 or so still by late 1947/early 1948. I've seen some trade articles from then indicating as such.

You also had to get the contracts done with the players, which required having agents in place, tracking them all down etc. I suspect Bowman did a lot of that in Spring Training of 1948 or even later as teams rolled through Philadelphia.

By the time Football season came around, things were certainly becoming smoother.