1954 Bowman Baseball Card Variations

DeansCards.com recently received a 1954 Bowman baseball card complete set and it got us thinking about one of the special features of this unique set - the variation cards.  The set itself has 224 total cards that were broken up into two series for distribution: #1-128 and #129-224.  However, many pricing guides maintain only a single pricing series, meaning that all common cards have the same value throughout the entire set.  Interestingly, the 1954 Bowman baseball card set does not have many marquee rookie cards.  Don Larsen provides the only well known rookie card in the set.  Aside from the rookies, this set is also missing many of the popular star players of the time.  Bowman did, however, employ some creativity in its numbering of the set.  There is a 16 card rotation, meaning that one team, in this case, the Yankees, would have card numbers 1, 17, 33, 49, etc, while the second team, the Red Sox, would have 2, 18, 34, 50, etc.  This team rotation arrangement would not be seen in another vintage set.

#12 Roy McMillan variations

As for the variations, a surprising 40 card out of 224 total have some sort of variation.  The most prominent variation by far is the #66 Ted Williams card.  Williams had been serving in Korea, as his 1959 Fleer baseball card set dutifully memorializes, and made his return to baseball in 1954.  However, Williams signed an exclusive contract with Topps, so the Bowman Company, which had rushed to get its set out before Topps, had to withdraw the Williams card and replace it with Jimmy Piersall, who already had card #210.  Bowman’s hurry to get its set released before Topps resulted in not only the Williams/Piersall variation but many others.  Variation cards have differences in statistics, birthplaces, trades, and even answers to the quiz questions on the back.  The example we have included is the #12 Roy McMillan card.  The first card that Bowman released for McMillan has the following stat line: 551 season ABs, 1290 lifetime ABs.  The correct stat line should read 557 season ABs, 1290 lifetime ABs.  Although this seems like a minute difference to the casual observer, Bowman had to correct a similar mistake 40 times throughout the set.
 

This set represents the pinnacle of the competitive baseball card era and we certainly appreciate the rich history that resulted from this heated competition.

1909 E92 Dockman & Sons Baseball Cards

#15 Larry Doyle with bat

# 16 Larry Doyle throwing

***The information in this article was used to write our ebook, Before There Was Bubble Gum: Our Favorite Pre-World War I Baseball Card Sets.  To purchase the ebook, please click here.***



Dean's Cards recently received a collection of 45 E92 Dockman & Sons cards.  These cards are listed online and for sale at DeansCards.com These cards are particularly interesting because they represent such a small portion of the E92 set, but they are the easiest of the four sets to collect.

The E92 set is unusual because it was produced by four different companies: The Nadja Caramel Company, The Croft’s Cocoa Company, The Croft’s Candy Company, and the Dockman & Sons Company.  Although all of the card fronts are identical, the backs feature one of the four companies’ logos.  Some collectors consider these to be four different sets.  The artwork on these cards will look similar to other caramel card sets, as is common with this genre of cards.  The poses are the same as those found on the E101, E102, and E106 sets.

# 38 Honus Wagner throwing

The Nadja set is the largest, featuring 62 cards total.  The two Croft’s sets have 50 each and the Dockman & Sons set has only 40.  All of the four sets are organized alphabetically by player last name.  The Nadja Company was located in St. Louis, but featured players from all of the major league teams.  This may be because the Browns and the Cardinals were struggling so mightily.  In 1909, both the Browns and Cardinals finished dead last, so the people of St. Louis were probably not terribly interested in their home town teams.  Croft’s Was located in Philadelphia, so those two sets are heavy on Athletics and Phillies players.  That left Dockman’s, which was located in Baltimore, to publish a set that has very few players from St. Louis or Philadelphia.  
   

The Dockman & Sons cards have a variety to the cards that is somewhat refreshing.  There are action and portrait shots on solid or natural backgrounds.  The Dockman’s set does not, however, have the great number of variation cards that the other three manufacturers have in this set.  The only variations belong to Honus Wagner and Larry Doyle, who are featured both throwing and batting.  We currently have 24 of the 40 possible cards available online.

1914 B18 Blankets

#14A Ty Cobb (white infield)

***The information in this article was used to write our ebook, Before There Was Bubble Gum: Our Favorite Pre-World War I Baseball Card Sets.  To purchase the ebook, please click here.***

 The following article was written by Dean Hanley and was published in the December 8, 2010 issue of Sports Collectors Digest..


We just bought a very nice collection of about 90 B18 Blankets. The 1914 B18 Blankets are some of the most unique baseball collectibles made in the Pre-War Era. They are made out of felt and were originally issued folded in with tobacco products. Because they are cloth instead of paper or cardboard, they have an especially long life and many of them look as if they were made last week.

The entire set includes 91 cards grouped together by teams and then organized alphabetically. The blankets were issued by several different manufacturers, most notably the Egyptienne tobacco company, and feature no manufacturing marks.

#14B Ty Cobb (brown infield)

Each blanket has a player framed by a baseball diamond with a ball, bats, mitt, and catcher’s mask on the bases. The player is surrounded by a pennant featuring the name of the city and the league. There are a number of star players and Hall-of-Famers included in this set. Shoeless Joe Jackson, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, and Casey Stengel are all represented. Ty Cobb’s red infield variation is the most expensive card in the entire set.

Many of these cards feature different variations. The basepaths, bases, and infields can have different color combinations. For many cards, the red infield variation is the most valuable.

#41 Walter Johnson

One interesting aspect of these blankets is the alternative use in quilts and blankets. The blankets could be sewn together on a decorative quilt. Even today, these quilts still exist in good condition and often feature other tobacco quilt squares containing other themes. These items are now online and ready to buy.