1949 Leaf Theory

[tedzan]

Brian

People get carried too far away with the COPYRIGHT dates. They simply tell us when the player's Biographies were created.

LEAF first produced their PIRATE set in 1948 (Pirate movies were very popular in the 1940's). I clearly remember acquiring many of these colorful cards during
the Summer of 1948.

In early Fall of 1948, LEAF issued their 50 card* set of BOXERS. This set was so popular, that LEAF continued into 1949 printing up more of these BOXER cards
in the beginning of 1949.

In the Fall of 1948, LEAF issued their FOOTBALL set of 98 cards.....in 2 series of 49 cards each.

Then in early Spring of 1949, LEAF issued their 1st series of BB cards. These cards preceded the 1949 BOWMAN cards by a month (or two) in my neighborhood.
Their 2nd series (49 cards) of cards were issued during the Summer of 1949 (in limited regions of the US).

In the Fall of 1949, LEAF issued their FOOTBALL set of 49 cards


* Note....card #50, Rocky Graziano, was removed (he did not like his image).


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[yanks87]

Originally Posted by tedzan

Brian

People get carried too far away with the COPYRIGHT dates. They simply tell us when the player's Biographies were created.

LEAF first produced their PIRATE set in 1948 (Pirate movies were very popular in the 1940's). I clearly remember acquiring many of these colorful cards during
the Summer of 1948.

In early Fall of 1948, LEAF issued their 50 card* set of BOXERS. This set was so popular, that LEAF continued into 1949 printing up more of these BOXER cards
in the beginning of 1949.

In the Fall of 1948, LEAF issued their FOOTBALL set of 98 cards.....in 2 series of 49 cards each.

Then in early Spring of 1949, LEAF issued their 1st series of BB cards. These cards preceded the 1949 BOWMAN cards by a month (or two) in my neighborhood.
Their 2nd series (49 cards) of cards were issued during the Summer of 1949 (in limited regions of the US).

In the Fall of 1949, LEAF issued their FOOTBALL set of 49 cards


* Note....card #50, Rocky Graziano, was removed (he did not like his image).


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Fantastic, thank you Ted. Thank you for sharing first hand knowledge of when all the series hit. I will update my notes accordingly.

Did you ever get any of the premiums? The pirate ring or the large format cards at the bottom of the baseball boxes?

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by yanks87

Fantastic, thank you Ted. Thank you for sharing first hand knowledge of when all the series hit. I will update my notes accordingly.

Did you ever get any of the premiums?

The pirate ring or the large format cards at the bottom of the baseball boxes?

Brian

I am guessing you are a Yankees fan ?
If so, you will appreciate this...when I was growing up, our home in Hillside, NJ was just 2 short blocks away from Phil Rizzuto's home. Phil was a really
great neighbor. I could devote several pages of stories regarding him. I knew Phil for many years.


Speaking about 1949 LEAF Premiums, here are some of mine......
Check-this-out, here are 2 graded examples which confirm that PSA and SGC do NOT understand the LEAF BB cards with respect to their "issued date".
These PREMIUMS were included in the same wax-pack boxes that the 1949 cards were in. And indeed, they are correctly identified with the 1949 date.
Yet, the individual 98 (and their variations) BB cards that are graded by PSA and SGC are INCORRECTLY identified as 1948, or 1948-1949 issue dates.


NOTE ----------------v 1949 v-----------------------------------------------------------------------------v 1949 v






TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[Rare Stuff]

Check out my video on the 49’ Leaf Premiums

https://youtu.be/A_AukMF8vpY

[yanks87]

Originally Posted by Rare Stuff

Check out my video on the 49’ Leaf Premiums

https://youtu.be/A_AukMF8vpY

AMAZING collection, I am BEYOND impressed and jealous. Thank you for sharing!

[yanks87]

Originally Posted by tedzan

Brian

I am guessing you are a Yankees fan ?
If so, you will appreciate this...when I was growing up, our home in Hillside, NJ was just 2 short blocks away from Phil Rizzuto's home. Phil was a really
great neighbor. I could devote several pages of stories regarding him. I knew Phil for many years.


Speaking about 1949 LEAF Premiums, here are some of mine......
Check-this-out, here are 2 graded examples which confirm that PSA and SGC do NOT understand the LEAF BB cards with respect to their "issued date".
These PREMIUMS were included in the same wax-pack boxes that the 1949 cards were in. And indeed, they are correctly identified with the 1949 date.
Yet, the individual 98 (and their variations) BB cards that are graded by PSA and SGC are INCORRECTLY identified as 1948, or 1948-1949 issue dates.


.

Ted - the premiums are fantastic, thank you for sharing. I am a Yankee fan and grew up listening to The Scooter on WPIX with Bill White. In many ways, their banter made me as much of a Yankee fan as the players on the field. His Hall of Fame induction speech is amazing, I can't even image the stories you have from living close to him. They don't make them like that anymore!

[tedzan]

Brian

Perhaps, I will thrill you with some of my Phil Rizzuto stories when I find the time.

Regarding, the BOWMAN lawsuit.....there are two stories to it. One factor deals with the Rights of the players.

The 2nd deals with the labeling on the BOWMAN and LEAF wax-packs wrappers. I will scan my two 1949 LEAF
BB wax-pack wrappers and post them tomorrow to show you the difference.

The BOWMAN lawsuit forced LEAF to modify their wrapper labeling quite fast. The wrappers containing the 2nd
Series cards (short-prints) issued in the Summer of 1949 are different.

I will post pictures tomorrow.


TED Z[/B]

T206 Reference
.

[steve B]

I've been working off and on doing a spreadsheet of 49 Leaf Images.

Hardly complete, and I still find new ones.
As things are now, I'm up to at least 4 different runs, maybe as high as 6.

The obvious Pink ones. these so far always have the sides to the portraits, or the lines across the ends of bats. On some cards it can be tough to spot.

The ones with lines across the bats and portraits, but with red instead of Pink.

With lines, but shaded or dark hats

Without the lines regular hats

Without lines Shaded hats.

That's all sort of preliminary. the hat shading may not be consistent, but I think it is.

Where the background does not make a line across a bat, the yellow extends to the edge, but the black does not. On ones with the lines, the yellow often doesn't extend to the edge, but I have seen at least one where it does.

Most of the easily recognizable color differences are consistent with only one version.

I believe the yellow backgrounds Like the Johnson here are a different printing where no blue was used to mix with yellow.


An amazingly complex set for just 50 cards. (I think of the rare numbers as their own set. )

[yanks87]

Originally Posted by steve B

I've been working off and on doing a spreadsheet of 49 Leaf Images.

Hardly complete, and I still find new ones.
As things are now, I'm up to at least 4 different runs, maybe as high as 6.

The obvious Pink ones. these so far always have the sides to the portraits, or the lines across the ends of bats. On some cards it can be tough to spot.

The ones with lines across the bats and portraits, but with red instead of Pink.

With lines, but shaded or dark hats

Without the lines regular hats

Without lines Shaded hats.

That's all sort of preliminary. the hat shading may not be consistent, but I think it is.

Where the background does not make a line across a bat, the yellow extends to the edge, but the black does not. On ones with the lines, the yellow often doesn't extend to the edge, but I have seen at least one where it does.

Most of the easily recognizable color differences are consistent with only one version.

I believe the yellow backgrounds Like the Johnson here are a different printing where no blue was used to mix with yellow.


An amazingly complex set for just 50 cards. (I think of the rare numbers as their own set. )

Great research. I feel like "we" (the collectors) need to come up with a designation for how best to characterize the print runs on these. The color variations are definite flags of different runs, as different inks were used. Then we have the actual plate changes, the recognized Peterson and Aberson variations actually extend to many more. Then there are the outliers.

My thought is that the plate changes represent a definite "variation" as there was a physical change made to the printing plate, though the rest of the card stayed the same. Those variations are measurable and not as subjective as the tints of the inks, though those tints are SUPER important in decoding how many different printing runs were made. The Rizzuto that you have shown has two changes made to it (outside of ink colors), the detail of his hat was removed making it blue, and the background red was extended to the nameplate. The only other player that I have found to get this treatment is Jackie Robinson, though the Babe Ruth card has a variation where the "background connector" is added, but the hat is untouched.

Complex is certainly the best way to characterize it, as I have gotten deeper into the research I have really started to enjoy the quirkiness of the cards, outside of their value in the hobby, but also representing a fascinating time in the game.

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by tedzan

Brian

Regarding, the BOWMAN lawsuit.....there are two stories to it. One factor deals with the Rights of the players.

The 2nd deals with the labeling on the BOWMAN and LEAF wax-packs wrappers. I will scan my two 1949 LEAF
BB wax-pack wrappers and post them tomorrow to show you the difference.

The BOWMAN lawsuit forced LEAF to modify their wrapper labeling quite fast. The wrappers containing the 2nd
Series cards (short-prints) issued in the Summer of 1949 are different.

Hi Brian

This illustrates the above stated 2nd lawsuit (BOWMAN vs LEAF) regarding the use of the wording " BASEBALL BUBBLE GUM "
on the wax-pack wrapper. BOWMAN claimed they owned the Copyright for that term. So, LEAF removed the word " BASEBALL "
from their wax-pack wrapper when they issued their 2nd Series of cards in the Summer of 1949.


1949 BOWMAN ------------------------------------------ 1949 LEAF 1st Series -------------------------- 1949 LEAF 2nd Series



TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[Pat R]

Originally Posted by tedzan

Hi Brian

This illustrates the above stated 2nd lawsuit (BOWMAN vs LEAF) regarding the use of the wording " BASEBALL BUBBLE GUM "
on the wax-pack wrapper. BOWMAN claimed they owned the Copyright for that term. So, LEAF removed the word " BASEBALL "
from their wax-pack wrapper when they issued their 2nd Series of cards in the Summer of 1949.


1949 BOWMAN ------------------------------------------ 1949 LEAF 1st Series -------------------------- 1949 LEAF 2nd Series



TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Isn't the last wrapper a football wrapper?