48 Leaf v. 48 Bowman

[oddball]

Awesome article! I didn't subscribe to SCD until 1985, so I had never seen this. Thanks for posting!

[tedzan]

Thanks Jeff....John....Ty....for the nice compliments.

John, to your question......
"I have to ask, when you were buying the 48 cards, did you leave the Leaf packs on the shelf ?"


In my neighborhood in 1948, the LEAF Gum cards were Pirates and Boxing. Lots of them, but very few FB cards.

Early in the Spring of 1949, LEAF BB cards were available (tons of these cards). Followed by LEAF FB in the Fall.

Also in 1948, BOWMAN cards were plentiful in my neighborhood....Movie Stars, BB, Basket Ball, and FB (with the
exception of the "divide by 3" cards).

When I recovered my original collection from my youth (from my folks home in 1977), all of this became evident.



TED Z
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[TanksAndSpartans]

Thanks Ted. I hadn't considered the Leaf FB cards may not be available. It's pretty cool to have you as a resource on 48B. The part on how you were only 35 cards short and not 36 was great. You mentioned Basketball.... Any theory why only that one was color? If the order was football,basketball, baseball, I wouldn't have expected them to go back to b/w for baseball......

I know it's off topic, but I'd love to find someone with firsthand or at least second knowledge on the 35 Chicle set too. I've heard theories about the high numbers (regional, etc.), but it's not the same as someone opening packs.

[tedzan]

I would guess that the 1948 Bowman Basket Ball cards were printed in color in late '48 as a precursor to their 1949 color BB set cards.
'

TED Z
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[LuckyLarry]

Thanks Ted, I knew of the "divisible by 3" short prints, but your article really explains what it is all about. I've been chipping away at the 1948 Bowman football set for over ten years, and still need 35 cards. Of the cards I still need, 23 of them are "divisible by 3" short prints.
Larry