Same Picture, Different Years... How Common is This?

[STL1944]

I was looking at a couple of older Bowman cards this evening and noticed that the picture used on the 1949 Bowman is the exact same one used on the 1951 Bowman.

I apologize if this is a topic that has been talked about and talked about over the years, but I just thought it was cool to just notice it.

Question... How common was this for a company to use the same picture for multiple years?

[quitcrab]

Very common with Topps. Check out Bubba Smith's football cards !

[REGGIE206]

1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle


1952 Topps Mickey Mantle

[ALR-bishop]

In some early years it was to save money, and in a couple, post Marvin Miller, it was because of needing a new agreement with the players before being able to use new pictures.

There are a few threads in here highlighting the reuse of some photos, but I do not recall a thread devoted to it. Maybe people could start adding them here.

[savedfrommyspokes]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

In some early years it was to save money, and in a couple, post Marvin Miller, it was because of needing a new agreement with the players before being able to use new pictures.

There are a few threads in here highlighting the reuse of some photos, but I do not recall a thread devoted to it. Maybe people could start adding them here.

There are multiple threads/articles, but Mark Armour's article did a good job explaining why in the 60s Topps used the same images, sometimes even 7-8 years apart. Bowman, as seen with the Spahn's cards from 49-51, recycled images of other players also, IE Doyle Lade 49-51.

https://sabrbaseballcards.blog/2017/...cott-of-topps/

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