1950 Bowman

Card #105 - Bob Dillinger

---

1950 was the only year in which Bowman held a monopoly over the baseball card business, as there were no other national issues released that year. Leaf, which had issued a set between 1948 and 1949, did not issue a follow-up and Topps would not debut until 1951. Rather than resting on its laurels, Bowman came up with a set that both moved ahead quality-wise and looked back upon a classic gum card set.

Bowman's 1950 design is a marked improvement over previous years' sets. The cards retained the 2 1/16" by 2 1/2" dimension of earlier sets, but the machine-added colors used in 1949 have been replaced by color reproductions of actual photographs, hand-painted by contract artists. The only other feature of the card front is a white border and a thin black line separating the border from the picture. No words or names appear anywhere on the card fronts.

Card backs are similar to the 1949 cards, except they appear in a horizontal format and redemption promotions have been removed. In keeping with the format used by Bowman in most of its issues, the player's name, team, position and biographical information appear along with a five-star Bowman logo above a statistical write-up.

While the player photos being rendered in full-color artwork was a huge step from the retouched black-and white photos from '49, In many ways it was reminiscent of Goudey's 1933 artwork. At 252 cards, this was the largest baseball card set in roughly 40 years.

One innovation in this set is the inclusion of certain non-playing managers, like Leo Durocher and Casey Stengel. While picturing managers on cards was not a new concept, it had been quite some time since any had been featured. This started a long-running trend that continues today.

While Bowman did not have any competition, most major stars of the era are represented, including Ted Williams's first appearance on a card since the company was still called Gum, Inc. There are no big-name rookies appearing here, and that has affected the set's value. The set has a scarce series in cards 1-72 (which is unusual because the scarce series is almost always at the end of the set). Cards 181 to 252 can be found with or without the copyright line found at the bottom of the card's back. The version with the missing copyright line is less common.

Card #62 - Ted Kluszewski (Back)

1950 Bowman 1-cent Wax Pack	1950 Bowman Display Box

1. Mel Parnell
2. Vern Stephens
3. Dom DiMaggio
4. Gus Zernial
5. Bob Kuzava
6. Bob Feller
7. Jim Hegan
8. George Kell
9. Vic Wertz
10. Tommy Henrich
11. Phil Rizzuto
12. Joe Page
13. Ferris Fain
14. Alex Kellner
15. Al Kozar
16. Roy Sievers
17. Sid Hudson
18. Eddie Robinson
19. Warren Spahn
20. Bob Elliott
21. Harold Reese
22. Jackie Robinson
23. Don Newcombe
24. Johnny Schmitz
25. Hank Sauer
26. Grady Hatton
27. Herman Wehmeier
28. Bobby Thompson
29. Ed Stanky
30. Eddie Waitkus
31. Del Ennis
32. Robin Roberts
33. Ralph Kiner
34. Murry Dickson
35. Enos Slaughter
36. Eddie Kazak
37. Luke Appling
38. Bill Wight
39. Larry Doby
40. Bob Lemon
41. Walter "Hoot" Evers
42. Art Houtteman
43. Bobby Doerr
44. Joe Dobson
45. Al "Zeke" Zarilla
46. Larry "Yogi" Berra
47. Jerry Coleman
48. Leland "lou" Brissie
49. Elmer Valo
50. Dick Kokos
51. Ned Garver
52. Sam Mele
53. Clyde Vollmer
54. Gil Coan
55. John "Buddy" Kerr
56. Del Crandell
57. Vernon Bickford
58. Carl Furillo
59. Ralph Branca
60. Andy Pafko
61. Bob Rush
62. Ted Kluszewski
63. Ewell Balckwell
64. Alvin Dark
65. Dave Koslo
66. Larry Jansen
67. Willie Jones
68. Curt Simmons
69. Wally Westlake
70. Bob Chesnes
71. Al Schoendienst
72. Howie Pollett
73. Willard Marshall
74. Johnny Antonelli
75. Roy Campanella
76. Rex Barney
77. Edwin "Duke" Snider
78. Mickey Owen
79. Johnny Vander Meer
80. Howard Fox
81. Ron Northey
82. Carroll Lockman
83. Sheldon Jones
84. Richie Ashburn
85. Ken Heintzelman
86. Stan Rojek
87. Bill Werle
88. Marty Marion
89. George Munger
90. Harry Brecheen
91. Cass Michaels
92. Hank Majeski
93. Gene Bearden
94. Lou Boudreau
95. Aaron Robinson
96. Virgil "Fire" Trucks
97. Maurice McDermott
98. Ted Williams
99. Billy Goodman
100. Vic Raschi
101. Bobby Brown
102. Billy Johnson
103. Eddie Joost
104. Sam Chapman
105. Bob Dillinger
106. Cliff Fannin
107. Sam Dente
108. Rae Scarbrough
109. Sid Gordon
110. Tommy Holmes
111. Walker Cooper
112. Gil Hodges
113. Gene Hermanski
114. Wayne Terwilliger
115. Roy Smalley
116. Virgil "Red" Stallcup
117. Bill Rigney
118. Clint Hartung
119. Dick Sisler
120. John Thompson
121. Andy Seminick
122. Johnny Hopp
123. Dino Restelli
124. Clyde McCullough
125. Del Rice
126. Al Brazile
127. Dave Philley
128. Phil Masi
129. Joe "Flash" Gordon
130. Dale Mitchell
131. Steve Gromek
132. James Vernon
133. Don Kolloway
134. Paul "Dizzy" Trout
135. Pat Mullin
136. Warren Rosar
137. Johnny Pesky
138. Allie Reynolds
139. Johnny Mize
140. Pete Suder
141. Joe Coleman
142. Sherman Lollar
143. Eddie Stewart
144. Al Evans
145. Jack Graham
146. Floyd Baker
147. Mike Garcia
148. Early Wynn
149. Bob Swift
150. Georg Vico
151. Fred Hutchinson
152. Ellis Kinder
153. Walt masterson
154. Gus Niarhos
155. Frank "Spec" Shea
156. Fred Sanford
157. Mike Guerra
158. Paul Lehner
159. Joe Tipton
160. Mickey Harris
161. Sherry Robinson
162. Eddie Yost
163. Earl Torgeson
164. Sibby Sisti
165. Bruce Edwards
166. Joe Hatten
167. Elwin Roe
168. Bob Scheffing
169. Hank Edwards
170. Emil Leonard
171. Harry Gumbert
172. Harry Lowrey
173. Lloyd Merriman
174. Henry Thompson
175. Monte Kennedy
176. Sylvester Donnelly
177. Hank Borowy
178. Eddy Fitzgerald
179. Charles Diering
180. Harry Walker
181. Marino Pieretti
182. Sam Zoldak
183. Mickey Haefner
184. Randy Gumpert
185. Howie Judson
186. Ken Keltner
187. Earl Stringer
188. Earl Johnson
189. Bob Friend
190. Ken Wood
191. Dick Starr
192. Bob Chipman
193. Harold "Pete" Reiser
194. Billy Cox
195. Phil Cavaretta
196. Doyle Lade
197. Johnny Wyrostek
198. Danny Litwhiler
199. Jack Kramer
200. Kirby Higbe
201. Pete Castiglione
202. Cliff Chambers
203. Danny Murtaugh
204. Granville Hamner
205. Mike Goliat
206. Stan Lopata
207. Max Lanier
208. Jim Hearn
209. Johnny Lindell
210. Ted Gray
211. Charlie Keller
212. Gerry Priddy
213. Carl Scheib
214. Dick Fowler
215. Ed Lopat
216. Bob Porterfield
217. Casey Stengel
218. Cliff Mapes
219. Hank Bauer
220. Leo Durocher
221. Don Mueller
222. Bobby Morgan
223. Jimmy Russell
224. Jack Banta
225. Eddie Sawyer
226. Jim Konstanty
227. Bob Miller
228. Bill Nicholson
229. Frank Frisch
230. Bill Serena
231. Perston Ward
232. Al "Flip" Rosen
233. Allie Clark
234. Bobby Shantz
235. Harold Gilbert
236. Bob Cain
237. Bill Salkeld
238. Vernal Jones
239. Bill Howerton
240. Eddie Lake
241. Neil Berry
242. Dick Kryhoski
243. Johnny Groth
244. Dale Coogan
245. Al Papai
246. Walt Dropo
247. Irv Noren
248. Sam Jethroe
249. George Stirnweiss
250. Ray Coleman
251. John Lester Moss
252. Billy DeMars