Tell your stories Of dealings with legends of the hobby

[tedzan]

George Moll is indeed a hobby Pioneer, who is not that well known to many. George was the dynamic force behind all the Bowman, Play Ball and Gum, Inc.
sportscards and non-sportscards from 1938-1943; and, 1948-1955. The George Moll Advertising Agency (of Philadelphia) produced all the Bowman Gum
trading cards....starting in 1938 with their famous HORRORS OF WAR set. In the 1930's, George Moll advised Warren Bowman to include trading cards with
his popular Blony bubble gum product.....and, the rest is history.

In 1981, while doing research for a Bowman article in the Spring edition of Bob Lemke's Baseball Cards Magazine, I visited with George Moll at his home in
Pennsylvania. I found him to be an enthusiastic 86 year old, who enjoyed talking BB cards. He showed me all his BB, FB and Non-sports cards. Including
tons of complete uncut sheets of BB, FB, and Non-Sports cards that were designed by the Moll Agency during 1938-1955 (and printed by Zabel Brothers).

As a teenager, George collected T-cards, but they were discarded. When he was about 40, he started collecting 1933 Goudey's. He told me these were
his favorite BB cards. Then he showed me the most fantastic 1933 Goudey set that I've seen. The cards were in an album within high quality Mylar plastic.
It comprised of 240 cards, not including Lajoie. Instead, the #106 card was Leo Durocher (who is normally #147 in this set). I've always wondered if the
Moll Agency printed this scarce "variation" card. It is a perfect replica of the original Goudey Durocher card.

George was an avid reader of all the hobby publications in the 1970's and the 1980's. His parting statement to me was...."Thank you for writing an article
about the Bowman cards, because all I read about is Topps cards. Please send me a copy when it is available."

With that, he told me to select an uncut sheet from his vast collection. I chose this 1952 Bowman FB (Large issue) sheet........







The following are examples of some of the fantastic trading cards produced by the Moll Agency (circa 1938 - 1955) for the Bowman Gum Company.
















There is much more I can relate to you of my afternoon visit with George Moll. But, I'll leave it at this.


TED Z

[Tomman1961]

I had the pleasure of writing a few times back and forth with Frank Nagy starting when I was about 22 years old in 1983. I was bidding in many of his auctions and picked up a lot of T-206 Hall of Famers. He offered me advice on pre-WW2 cards. Through him, I completed my Playball sets. Not bad for a 20's year old kid. By 1987 we both discussed the over produced junk that was out there. Nice man. Nice advice. I still have a letter or 2 from him. His hand writing was pretty tough to read though.