Jim Rowe Postcards

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by abrahamrudy

I'm not trying to collect all of them, but I am trying to identify this one particular postcard. It strikes me as odd that he would sell a postcard of a no-name player 20 years after his retirement, which is why I'm suspicious that it dates from the late 40s or 50s.

Almost all of the Jim Rowe postcards are of players who were retired...and it's not odd to see a "no-name" player...I see them all the time and have owned many. Jim Rowe was not making postcards in the 1940s or 50s and I'll stand by that until someone offers proof.

[abrahamrudy]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

Almost all of the Jim Rowe postcards are of players who were retired...and it's not odd to see a "no-name" player...I see them all the time and have owned many. Jim Rowe was not making postcards in the 1940s or 50s and I'll stand by that until someone offers proof.

I'll take your word for it. I just wondered because my internet research came up with surprisingly little for Jim Rowe. I'll keep looking.

[scgaynor]

He did them as a collector issue for guys who wanted player photos of a specific team or a specific year. You can't have a complete 1948 Phillies set without Sam Nahem, so he created a postcard of Sam Nahem. There was a relatively small group of early collectors who would write to each other looking for specific player photos and Rowe was one of the guys that would fill their needs, especially since he had Burke's images.

Scott

[abrahamrudy]

Originally Posted by scgaynor

He did them as a collector issue for guys who wanted player photos of a specific team or a specific year. You can't have a complete 1948 Phillies set without Sam Nahem, so he created a postcard of Sam Nahem. There was a relatively small group of early collectors who would write to each other looking for specific player photos and Rowe was one of the guys that would fill their needs, especially since he had Burke's images.

Scott

So basically he was a photograph collector. I guess that makes sense. I wonder how the licensing worked for those pictures...

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by abrahamrudy

So basically he was a photograph collector. I guess that makes sense. I wonder how the licensing worked for those pictures...

He wasn't a collector as far as I know, but he was a photographer who I believe worked with George Brace and thus had access to probably the world's largest archive of baseball negatives.

[abrahamrudy]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

He wasn't a collector as far as I know, but he was a photographer who I believe worked with George Brace and thus had access to probably the world's largest archive of baseball negatives.

Looks like you're right about the negatives. My research finally turned up some results:

http://www.lelands.com/Auction.aspx/...llection/page1

A 2006 auction of his collection. Photographs, negatives and even some cards from the 80s.

[slidekellyslide]

Well, I went straight to the source and asked Mary Brace (George's daughter) what the deal is with the Rowe postcards and she told me that Rowe and Brace were good friends and traveled together to Cooperstown and Spring Training and they both belonged to a group called the "Hit and Pitch Club". Brace allowed Rowe to use his negatives and any profit made was Jim's to keep with the understanding that the negatives would return to Brace if something happened to Jim...Jim moved to Florida and George lost track of him...When Jim died there was no provisions made for the negatives to return to the Brace family.

Btw Mary still sells her father's photos at this website:

http://www.bracephoto.com/

[maddy62]

I knew Jim Rowe. I knew him well. He was an avid collector since he was a very young man. Mr Rowe and Mr. Brace were long time friends and collaborated on many projects. At some ooint Mr. Rowe acquired a number of negatives from Mr. Brace and he became more and more invovled in photograghy beginning in the 60's. He made photos for other collectors, many that were autographed. He corresponded with many of the baseball players as well, who requested photos of themselves to use to distribute to their fans. He also provided photos to the Baseball hall of fame in cooperstown for many oldtimers as they were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Mr Rowe himself was named as a honorary hall of famer for his many contributions. He was a walking encyclopedia of baseball statistics and trivia. He had a great talent for writing and would use that talent on many occasions to help promote some of the oldtimers into the hall of fame. So to answer your question. yes he was definitely a collector, and was one a a group of collector friends in the Chicago area to start the very first baseball collectors show. And yes, he believed that any man who wore the uniform, had a story to tell and was worth having a photo. And yes he was a die hard Cub fan, which is why many of his photos are Chicago based. Hope this helps.