1951 Bowman

Card #223 - Johnny Vander Meer

---

In 1951, Bowman's keyword must have been "bigger." That year, the company issued its largest set to date, both in physical size and number of cards. The 1951 Bowman set is the most valuable of their issues as a result of a fine crop of legendary rookies. While Bowman had a small degree of competition from newcomers Berk Ross and Topps, neither of their relatively small issues had a large effect on them...yet.

Card fronts are designed very similarly to Bowman's 1950 set, to the point that several players' 1951 cards look like larger versions of their 1950 cards. As in 1950, Bowman used hand-painted color reproductions of actual photographs. The player's name appears on the card front inside a small black box, which is the only change to the design other than the physical size of the card. Card backs, like in all previous Bowman issues, feature the player's name, team and position listed above a statistical write-up. Backs are printed in black, except for two areas that are printed in red: the player's name and "Baseball" in large letters within Bowman's ad copy at the bottom.

At 324 cards, the 1951 Bowman set had more cards than any other Bowman set before the company's purchase by Topps. This made it the largest issue of any gum card set to date; however, that record would only stand for one year as Topps changed the rules in 1952. Cards numbered 243 to 324 were printed in smaller quantities and are scarce. This high number series features the rookie cards of Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays. Other notable rookies in this set include Whitey Ford, Monte Irvin, Jackie Jensen and Jim Piersall.

Card #242 - Sam Jethroe (Back)

1951 Bowman Display Box

1. Ed Ford
2. Larry "Yogi" Berra
3. Robin Roberts
4. Del Ennis
5. Dale Mitchell
6. Don Newcombe
7. Gil Hodges
8. Paul Lehner
9. Sam Chapman
10. Al "Red" Schoendienst
11. George "Red" Munger
12. Hank Majeski
13. Ed Stanky
14. Alvin Dark
15. Johnny Pesky
16. Maurice McDermott
17. Pete Castiglione
18. Gil Coan
19. Sid Gordon
20. Del Crandall
21. George "Snuffy" Stirnweiss
22. Hank Sauer
23. Walter "Hoot" Evers
24. Ewell Blackwell
25. Vic Raschi
26. Phil Rizzuto
27. Jim Konstanty
28. Eddie Waitkus
29. Allie Clark
30. Bob Feller
31. Roy Campanella
32. Duke Snider
33. Bob Hooper
34. Marty Marion
35. Al Zarilla
36. Joe Dobson
37. Whitey Lockman
38. Al Evans
39. Ray Scarbrough
40. Dave "Gus" Bell
41. Eddie Yost
42. Vern Bickford
43. Billy DeMars
44. Roy Smalley
45. Art Houtteman
46. George Kell
47. Grady Hatton
48. Ken Raffensberger
49. Jerry Coleman
50. Johnny Mize
51. Andy Seminick
52. Dick Sisler
53. Bob Lemon
54. Ray Boone
55. Gene Hermanski
56. Ralph Branca
57. Alex Kellner
58. Enos Slaughter
59. Randy Gumpert
60. Alfonso Carrasquel
61. Jim Hearn
62. Lou Boudreau
63. Bob Dillinger
64. Bill Werle
65. Mickey Vernon
66. Bob Elliott
67. Roy Sievers
68. Dick Kokos
69. Johnny Schmitz
70. Ron Northey
71. Jerry Priddy
72. Lloyd Merriman
73. Tommy Byrne
74. Billy Johnson
75. Russ Meyer
76. Stan Lopata
77. Mike Goliat
78. Early Wynn
79. Jim Hegan
80. Harold "Peewee" Reese
81. Carl Furillo
82. Joe Tipton
83. Carl Scheib
84. Barney McCosky
85. Eddie Kazak
86. Harry Brecheen
87. Floyd Baker
88. Eddie Robinson
89. Henry Thompson
90. Dave Koslo
91. Clyde Vollmer
92. Vern "Junior" Stephens
93. Danny O'Connell
94. Clyde McCullough
95. Sherry Robinson
96. Sandalio Conseguera
97. Bob Kuzava
98. Willard Marshall
99. Earl Torgeson
100. Sherman Lollar
101. Owen Friend
102. Emil "Dutch" Leonard
103. Andy Pafko
104. Virgil "Fire" Trucks
105. Don Kolloway
106. Pat Mullin
107. Johnny Wyrostek
108. Virgil Stallcup
109. Allie Reynolds
110. Bobby Brown
111. Curt Simmons
112. Willie Jones
113. Bill "Swish" Nicholson
114. Sam Zoldak
115. Steve Gromek
116. Bruce Edwards
117. Eddie Miksis
118. Preacher Roe
119. Eddie Joost
120. Joe Coleman
121. Gerry Staley
122. Joe Garagiola
123. Howie Judson
124. Gus Niarhos
125. Bill Rigney
126. Bobby Thompson
127. Sal Maglie
128. Ellis Kinder
129. Matt Batts
130. Tom Saffell
131. Cliff Michaels
132. Cass Michaels
133. Sam Dente
134. Warren Spahn
135. Walker Cooper
136. Ray Coleman
137. Dick Starr
138. Phil Cavaretta
139. Doyle Lade
140. Eddie Lake
141. Fred Hutchinson
142. Aaron Robinson
143. Ted Kluszewski
144. Herman Wehmeier
145. Fred Sanford
146. Johnny Hopp
147. Ken Heintzelman
148. Granny Hamner
149. Emory "Bubba" Church
150. Mike Garcia
151. Larry Doby
152. Cal Abrams
153. Rex Barney
154. Pete Suder
155. Lou Brissie
156. Del Rice
157. Al Brazile
158. Chuck Diering
159. Eddie Masi
160. Phil Masi
161. Wes Westrum
162. Larry Jansen
163. Monte Kennedy
164. Bill Wight
165. Ted Williams
166. Stan Rojek
167. Murry Dickson
168. Sam Mele
169. Sid Hudson
170. Sibby Sisti
171. Buddy Kerr
172. Ned Garver
173. Hank Arft
174. Mickey Owen
175. Wayne Terwilliger
176. Vic Wertz
177. Charlie Keller
178. Ted Gray
179. Danny Litwhiler
180. Howie Fox
181. Casey Stengel
182. Tom Ferrick
183. Hank Bauer
184. Eddie Sawyer
185. Jimmy Bloodworth
186. Richie Ashburn
187. Al "Flip" Rosen
188. Roberto Avila
189. Erv Palica
190. Joe Hatten
191. Billy Hitchcock
192. Hank Wyse
193. Ted Wilks
194. Harry "Peanuts" Lowry
195. Paul Richards
196. Bill Pierce
197. Bob Cain
198. Monte Irvin
199. Sheldon Jones
200. Jack Kramer
201. Steve O'Neill
202. Mike Guerra
203. Vernon Law
204. Vic Lombardi
205. Mickey Grasso
206. Conrado Marrero
207. Billy Southworth
208. Blix Donnelly
209. Ken Wood
210. Les Moss
211. Hal Jeffcaot
212. Bob Rush
213. Neil Berry
214. Bob Swift
215. Kent Patterson
216. Connie Ryan
217. Joe Page
218. Ed Lopat
219. Gene Woodling
220. Bob Miller
221. Dick Whitman
222. Thurman Tucker
223. Johnny Vander Meer
224. Billy Cox
225. Dan Bankhead
226. Jimmy Dykes
227. Bobby Schantz
228. Cloyd Boyer
229. Bill Howerton
230. Max Lanier
231. Luis Aloma
232. Nelson Fox
233. Leo Durocher
234. Clint Hartung
235. Jack "Lucky" Lohrke
236. Warren "Buddy" Rosar
237. Billy Goodman
238. Pete Reiser
239. Bill MacDonald
240. Joe Haynes
241. Irv Noren
242. Sam Jethroe
243. John Antonelli
244. Cliff Fannin
245. John Berardino
246. Bill Serena
247. Bob Ramazotti
248. Johnny Klippstein
249. Johnny Groth
250. Hank Borowy
251. Willard Ramsdell
252. Homer "Dixie" Howell
253. Mickey Mantle
254. Jackie Jensen
255. Milo Candini
256. Ken Silvestri
257. Birdie Tebbets
258. Luke Easter
259. Charlie Dressen
260. Carl Erskine
261. Wally Moses
262. Gus Zernial
263. Howie Pollett
264. Don Richmond
265. Steve Bilko
266. Harry Dorish
267. Ken Holcombe
268. Don Mueller
269. Ray Noble
270. Willard Nixon
271. Tommy Wright
272. Billy Meyer
273. Danny Murtaugh
274. George Metkovich
275. Bucky Harris
276. Frank Quinn
277. Roy Hartsfield
278. Norman Roy
279. Jim Delsing
280. Frank Overmire
281. Al Widmar
282. Frank Frisch
283. Walt Dubiel
284. Gene Bearden
285. Johnny Lipon
286. Bob Usher
287. Jim Blackburn
288. Bobby Adams
289. Cliff Mapes
290. Bill Dickey
291. Tommy Henrich
292. Eddie Pellagrini
293. Ken Johnson
294. Jocko Thompson
295. Al Lopez
296. Bob Kennedy
297. Dave Philley
298. Joe Astroth
299. Clyde King
300. Hal Rice
301. Tommy Glaviano
302. Jim Busby
303. Marv Rotblatt
304. Allen Gettel
305. Willie Mays
306. Jim Piersall
307. Walt Masterson
308. Ted Beard
309. Mel Queen
310. Erv Dusak
311. Mickey Harris
312. Gene Mauch
313. Ray Mueller
314. Johnny Sain
315. Zack Taylor
316. Duane Pillette
317. Forrest Burgess
318. Warren Hacker
319. Red Rolfe
320. Hal White
321. Earl Johnson
322. Luke Sewell
323. Joe Adcock
324. Johnny Pramesa