What set sealed Bowman's fate?

[Brianruns10]

Yeah, the 54 Bowman is the weakest Bowman set...it looks like a weak carbon copy of the 52 Topps, and sort of represents a creative hesitation on their part. If they'd stuck with perfecting the full color process they tried in '53, they could've been years ahead of Topps and their '57 set.

Though they made an admirable recovery with the 55 set, and I would've loved to have seen their 56 set, with it's fence-hole concept, come to fruition. It was certainly more intriguing that Topps' 56 carbon copy of their own '55s.

[darkhorse9]

I agree that it would have been fun to see the "knot hole" cards, but all indications that I have heard from the famous Bowman test portfolios was that the design that Bowman would have used in 1956 would be the one that looks like the 1957 Topps football set. I think that would have been another loser for Bowman.

[toppcat]

It was more of a 30 month decline than any one set killing off the cards I think. Bowman started selling a smaller number of non sports sets starting in 1954 and when the 1955 Football set could not compete against Topps, their Chairman, John Connelly, decided to sell out to Topps for $200K. He took the money and sank it into Crown Cork & Seal and became quite wealthy. I don't think Bowman could compete with the Topps distribution network or keep up with their legal fees in the course of two lawsuits and related appeals over baseball player contracts. I am reasonably certain one of the reasons Bowman made black and white cards in 1953 was to stop paying Joe DiMaggio (their hired spokesman for the color set) royalties on the sale of color baseball cards but I can't find the contract to prove it.

There is story out there too (unconfirmed I believe) that Topps had been promised the 1956 NFL license by Bert Bell. If true, that may have been the final straw but I think it's one of those Sy Berger "stories" so who knows?

FYI-John Connelly owned Connelly Containers, which made shipping cartons for Bowman and that company owned Bowman at the time of the sale after Connelly had wrangled control of the board away from the prior directors. Warren Bowman had been gone almost five years by the time Topps bought them out.

[Volod]

Very interesting info, Dave - thanks for providing that. I agree that the 1953 DiMaggio contract was probably a very significant factor in Bowman's financial woes. The production of the final series in black and white seems to me a definite indication that legally the company was only obligated to pay Joe D. for the color cards, and thus weaseled out when they began to realize they had bought a pig in a poke.

[stewbacca]

In reguards to player selection, didnt the players have contracts with each company? If you signed with Bowman, you didnt have a Topps card and vice versa. I thought Bowman had the better players under contract at first.

[Brianruns10]

A few did both sets. Willie Mays and Eddie Matthews had Bowman and Topps issues in 54 and 55.

[the 'stache]

Going back to what Todd said, here's an example of how the game, and the hobby have changed. Here's a screenie of a prospect profile I do every year now before the start of the season. I'm just some guy sitting at home watching the game, buying cards, and I not only have access to, but religiously read scouting reports, forecasts, etc, in addition to doing fantasy baseball like so many other Americans.



If I were to show go back in time, and show this to a kid living in 1947, their head would explode.