1949 Bowman P.C.L. Cards

[craigpw]

In my time on Net54, I've yet to see a thread regarding 1949 Bowman Pacific Coast League cards. Much is unknown about this set. These cards have long been favorites of mine, and I would love to learn from other members who have information about the issuance and distribution of the set.

Thanks for you posts in advance,
Craig

[Griffins]

Mark Macrae and Ted Z wrote an article in VCBC years ago that pretty much seems to cover everything. Suggest you track that down, well worth it.

[toppcat]

Philly and Portland IIRC for actual, in pack distribution. Some are handcut as I'm sure you know. I have one, Rucker, as a type and am glad to own it.

In this linked thread there is a little story about how some Bowman sheets and handcut cards (not necessarily PCL) came into the hobby. I suspect some handcut PCL cards came through the store mentioned therein.

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=198180

[tedzan]

So much to tell, so where do I begin...... in 1984 at a BB card show in Atlantic City (NJ), I acquired my first set (36 cards) of this extremely rare PCL issue.
I talked the dealer into a cash/trade deal. A little cash and a dozen (or so) 1982 Topps Traded sets (which were hot back then). I was thrilled with this deal.
Since then, I have upgraded this set many times over. And, I have helped collectors complete 6 of these Bowman PCL sets.

For many years (1970's-1980's) the thinking regarding these cards was that they were not issued in packs, but were cut from 36-card sheets. In the early
1980's a gentleman from nearby Philadelphia contacted me to sell his original collection of Bowman cards from his youth. When I sorted thru this collection,
it was heavy on 1949 Bowman's. Much to my surprise it included 7-PCL cards. The owner of these Bowman cards clearly recalled that these PCL cards were
in the regular issue 1949 Bowman packs that contained higher #'s. These 7 cards were indeed factory-cut.

Mark Macrae tells of an interesting find in the Northwest of these PCL cards. Perhaps he will chime in here with his story.



Depicted here is a scan from my PCL album of 12 of these Bowman cards. I have 2 more such scans of the other 24 cards that I will post when I find them.





The regular 1949 Bowman cards were issued in this Red-White-Blue wrapper. The Green-White-Orange one is a very rare 1949 Bowman wrapper. And, it's
thought that this wrapper may have been issued containing the PCL cards.






TED Z
.

[whiteymet]

Ted:

I too picked up a few 49 PCL's in the bottom of a box of other cards. While in college during the early 70's a fellow who was from Philly brought me a box of old cards that had been in his family.

It had all the usual Topps and Bowman's from the 50's and mixed in were about four different PCL's so that told me then and there they had to have been sold in the packs.

I went on to complete the set and that and the rest of my collection went to Halper some years later.

Fred

[Troy Kirk]

I too once bought 3 1949 Bowman PCL cards from an original collection of early Topps and Bowman cards. They were factory cut. I asked the guy I bought them from about them and he told me he was sure they just came in packs like the other cards he had.

[ALR-bishop]

Just finished this set. Yeah !