1951 Bowman Paul Richards - WTF?

[vintagetoppsguy]

All 1951 Bowmans were drawings from actual photos. They are not B&W photos with color added. For some reason, Bowman made the Richards a caricature rather than a life like drawing.

[ALR-bishop]

Since he retired in 46 and did not take the managerial job until 51 it may be a drawing was easier that locating a suitable photo to colorize or use to create a color image

[Cliff Bowman]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Since he retired in 46 and did not take the managerial job until 51 it may be a drawing was easier that locating a suitable photo to colorize or use to create a color image

That is the most common theory on all of the stories concerning the card after googling it, Richards wasn’t named the manager until the Bowman cards were near ready to print, Bowman didn’t have any recent photos of Richards since he had been out of baseball for a while so they had one of their artists do a last second rush job for the Richards card.

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Since he retired in 46 and did not take the managerial job until 51 it may be a drawing was easier that locating a suitable photo to colorize or use to create a color image

Could be, but that seems unlikely to me. Richards was a very successful manager in the Int'l League in the late 40's and should have appeared regularly in newspapers, programs, etc. Since the photos were going to be colored anyway, it should not have been that difficult to find a shot of him as manager of Buffalo and adapting it accordingly.

[Volod]

Maybe it was an intentional dig at the White Sox organization. Their 1951 Topps team card was printed upside down, as well. Was Charley Comiskey roundly disliked by card companies, or something?