a little more focus

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Posted By: William Heitman

Hi Leon--
As someone who has been doing this for such a long, long time, I have come across one question that seems to be almost without answer. What is "vintage"? The definition on this board seems to be "pre World War II" and I wonder why this is. Does this mean "before the United States entered the war"? If so then Play Balls qualify. Does it mean "before the War in Europe"? Oops, then Play Balls are no longer vintage just as some Goudeys are not. Does it mean "before the boomers arrived"? Well then, Topps and Bowman are out, but all Goudeys and Play Balls are in. As I look at eBay and the chat that goes on about baseball cards, it seems to me that vintage means old. And what is "old"? I still feel very young but, I'm sure to many, I am old.
And, over the course of my life, many things that seemed pretty new when I was a boy have become very old as seven decades have passed. When I was writing about baseball cards so many years ago, I identified collecting interest by particular sets of cards. I considered these to be ground-breaking issues although I'm sure the issuers didn't consider them as such. Old Judge, T206, 1933 Goudey, 1949 Bowman, 1952 Topps and 1958 Topps. These, it always seemed to me, were ground-breaking issues. Why, well they seemed to advance collecting to some new level. Old Judge--the first(maybe only) attempt to cover all of baseball through cards. T206--the next attempt at a comprehensive look at all of baseball in probably the first of baseball's golden ages. 1933 Goudey--the next attempt at a comprehensive look at major league baseball and a derpresion-era diversion for the young. 1949 Bowman--the first boomer big set. 1952 Topps--Topps first foray into a comprehensive set. 1958 Topps--the major leagues move west and card distribution becomes truly nationwide(and with such an ugly set!!) Some might add 1981 to that list as it was the year Topps lost its lock on the major leagues.
It seems to me that when you call vintage pre World War II, you are really just saying before Topps and Bowman came along. Vintage, to me, simply means the thing really came out when it purported to come out. So, vintage really just means real. While this forum is supposed to be about "old" cards, it has moved into knocking ebay sellers, exploring grading idiosyncracies and, many times, flexing egos, and much more.
But the discussion about "old" cards is really great.
Being the moderator of this diverse discussion must be fun, but it must also be very difficult. So, Leon, I applaud you, and I'd like to ask "Is an original 1949 Bowman a vintage card?"