1950s Bowman

In the 1950s, Bowman Gum Company produced baseball and football cards from 1950 to 1955, continuing their post-war production that resumed in 1948 (no football cards were produced in 1949). Bowman was the only major sports card manufacturer in 1950. The monopoly was short lived, as Topps Chewing Gum began producing cards in 1951. The rivalry lasted five years, punctuated by disputes over exclusive contracts with players. In 1956, faced with diminishing profits due to legal fees and increasing production costs, Bowman was bought out by Topps in 1956 for $200,000. The following provides a brief summary of trading card sets issued during the 1950s by Bowman.

In 1950, Bowman printed a total of 200 million baseball cards, and had revenues of one million dollars.

1950 was the only year in which Bowman had a monopoly on baseball cards; there were no other national issues released that year. This set numbered 252 cards total. As with the 1949 Bowman set, the cards measured 2¹⁄₁₆″ by 2½″, quite a bit smaller than what is now considered the standard size for baseball cards. The card fronts feature hand-painted color reproductions of actual photographs.

As Bowman did not have any competition in 1950, most major stars of the era are represented in this set, including Ted Williams. However, the set lacks big-name rookie cards, which has hurt its collectible value. Unlike most vintage sets, in which the high-number cards are usually harder to find (and thus more valuable), the 1950 set is actually harder to find in the low numbers, cards 1–72. Cards 181 to 252 can be found with or without a copyright line at the bottom of the card's back (the versions without the copyright being less common).

Checklist: [1].

The 1951 Bowman card set totals 324 cards. Like the 1950 set, 1951 Bowman features color-art reproductions of actual photographs. In fact, the 1951 set reused a number of images from the 1950 set, including the images for Tommy Henrich and Billy DeMars. The size of the cards was increased to 2¹⁄₁₆″ by 3⅛″. For collectors, this is the most valuable of the Bowman sets and one of the more valuable sets ever issued by any maker, due in large part to the presence of rookie cards for both Mickey Mantle (card #253) and Willie Mays (card #305). These are the two most valuable single cards Bowman ever issued.

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