1948-1955 Bowman - Series by Series breakdown and identification

[G1911]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

Yes, I did see that article, but the whole thing makes no sense to me. First of all, I was told that the reason Bowman printed the high numbers in smaller quantities was because kids around that time started to look forward to the football season (and wanted football cards instead). However, the NFL season didn't begin until close to October. So, how could they have printed the highs between late June to mid-July? How early did Bowman start printing the football cards? You will also notice that the first baseball series was printed sometime in April (the same month baseball season started), so again, why would Bowman start printing football cards way before the football season even started? Am I missing something here?

Personally, I think it has nothing to do with Football either. Interest in Baseball is highest when a new season starts (and during the World Series), and then collectors 'drop out' as the year progresses. This happens even today. Topps issues its main set in 2 series + an update set. Topps series 1 is printed in much high numbers than Topps series 2, because you have a ton of people buying a few packs at Target or Wal-Mart when the season is just starting or about to start. Topps baseball series 2 comes out long before the football sets (which Topps no longer has a license for) still. I expect it was similar here.


I think this is partly the fault of how we see things today, focusing only on the major sports sets. Bowman and Topps printed (through a contracted printer) several sets throughout most years. Some of these appear to have been printed right around the same time. Football season coming doesn't appear to mean that they needed to cease production of one set to make another; and the drop in sales throughout a season does not seem to me to relate to football at all.


I think the writer did a great job of identifying the earliest possible print dates based on a thorough examination of the cards, but of course, barring a find of Bowman's internal records, I'll doubt we'll ever know the actual ones.