Question regarding 1947-66 Exhibits

[pitchernut]

Would they have printed exhibit cards that depict say "1948 Indians" in later years? Also can anyone tell me if Johnny Beazley is in the 1948 NL Champ Boston Braves exhibit card?

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by pitchernut

Would they have printed exhibit cards that depict say "1948 Indians" in later years?

That's a really good question. My theory on the team cards is that the 1948, 1952 and 1956 teams were printed for longer than the 49, 51, 54 and 55 teams (there were no 1953 team cards). The PSA pop report on these cards is somewhat helpful in assessing the situation:

1948 Braves Team 14
1948 Indians Team 15
1949 Dodgers Team 10
1949 Yankees Team 8
1950 Phillies Team 13
1950 Yankees Team 20
1951 Giants Team 11
1951 Yankees Team 12
1952 Dodgers Team 20
1952 Yankees Team 28
1954 Giants Team 13
1954 Indians Team 9
1955 Dodgers Team 14
1955 Yankees Team 13
1956 Dodgers Team 19
1956 Yankees Team 19

Note the drop off from 48 to 49, the large number 52 submissions and the differential between 54, 55 and 56. Assessing each in turn:

48-49: Even though 49 has "better" teams than 48 (Yankees and Dodgers vs. Braves and Indians), there are about 50% fewer 49 submissions. I suspect that the 48 teams were printed for longer than the 49s and that the 49s were short printed replacement cards.

52: Only year with both teams over 20 submissions. With no 1953 teams, I suspect that these were printed for well over a full year. Anecdotally, the first team I got was the 1952 Dodgers and it seems like I've seen more of them than any other team card.

55-56: Seems based on pops that the 56s were printed more than the 55s. I know I found it easier to get the 56s than the 55s. I'd really think that given the iconic status of the 55 Dodgers you'd see more of them slabbed if the pop was as strong as the 56s. Yet with the 56s being the last team cards I again suspect a print run of more than a year.

Looking at overall trends, I see a pattern: from 1948 to 1952 the even year cards seem to occur at greater frequency than the odd year cards. I suspect that since the issue started with the even year champs the even year cards were printed for longer than a year and that the odd year cards were short printed replacements on the sheets for the even year cards. ESCO was notorious for making midstream replacements; I would not be surprised if they slapped the even year champs onto cards for 15-18 months then put in the new champs to freshen the mixture for reorders. Since they did no teams for 53, the pattern then broke. I suspect that 54 was a short printed year because they were ambivalent about team cards and were experimenting with the reintroduction of teams, and that 55 is about the same as 54, but both seem short compared to 56 because they printed 56 for longer than a year since it was the last team issue. It is also quite possible that since the 1953 series reproduced the results of the 1952 series, they saw no need to do 1953 team cards when the 1952s had the same results.