Scan Dump..1953 Bowmans

Baseball cards don't come much prettier than the 1953 Bowman set. I bought a small lot of these things recently along with some 1950B. They all had flaws but that doesn't matter.

Mel Clark was a platoon outfielder for the Phils in the early 50s and played a few games for the Tigers in 1957. He was a career .277 hitter with no power. He sure looked sharp in this photo taken at the Polo Grounds.

Clem Koshorek was coming off his only full big league season in '53. After hitting .267 as the Bucs' utility infielder in 1952 he only had one at-bat and then returned to the minors. He spent 13 seasons in the minors. That stain doesn't detract much from my enjoyment of this card.

Braves' manager Charley Grimm in another Polo Grounds pose. The write-up on the back is classic.

Cal Abrams was in his first season with the Pirates after several years as a spare outfielder in Brooklyn and Cincinnati. '53 was his first year as a full-time starter and it was his best season in terms of homers, RBI, and average. In '54 he was traded to the Orioles in May and ended up leading the team in runs, doubles, triples, and average. He even got a few MVP votes.

He's got the same stain as Clem Koshorek.

And finally, it's Hall of Famer and long-time Mets announcer, Ralph Kiner. Teaming up with Bob Murphy and Lindsey Nelson, he was part of my favorite non-Orioles broadcasting crew. 

Here is a compilation of 'Kiner-isms' from the Mets' tv booth. Warning: There is some Tim McCarver involved.

1953 Bowman Color is hard to beat

I stuck my nose into someone else's Twitter thread the other day when the subject of buying a nice vintage card came up.

I tossed out the idea of getting a '53 Bowman and did so by posting my Stan Musial in the thread. Hell, I'll put it here again because I love it so much. My blog post on this card from earlier this year had some of my other '53 Color Bowmans. Click and scroll if you want to.

I was reminded that I had some new additions to my '53 Bowman Color collection that I have scanned but not posted. These came (if memory serves) as part of a group of miscellaneous and oddball stuff I bought in a sale benefiting a dog rescue group.

Check 'em out:

That is Herman Wehmeier above with the chewed up corner. I didn't scan the back but his makes note of the fact that he's a 'hometown boy' having been born in Cincinnati. That's the Polo Grounds he's in. You can see the apartment buildings that were behind the third base side of the place through the openings in the walls of the upper deck.

Next up, Lou Kretlow is posing in 'the big bahlpaak' as Red Barber called it with his Mississippi drawl back in the day. Kretlow was a Sooner who was signed by the Tigers and pitched for them, the Browns, Orioles and A's in addition to the White Sox. This page has a clip of him, Mickey Mantle and Joe Black playing in a Florida golf tournament for ballplayers. Kretlow appears at the end being interviewed as the winner. The whole clip lasts less than a minute.

A last note on Kretlow. The back of the card mentions that he was 4-4 for the Sox in 1953 but adds that his ERA, "the best test of a pitcher's ability", was 2.96 and winning my old-school-stat heart.

Lastly we have the best known of the three pitchers, Joe Nuxhall. Nuxsie is, of course, well known as the youngest player to appear in a big league game. He was 15 when he debuted in 1944. The card speaks to that fact and adds that he returned to his high school team after that stint thus becoming "undoubtedly the only boy ever to play in the majors then to resume high school sports." Indeed. After his playing days he was a long-time radio broadcaster for the Reds.

This is another great Polo Grounds posed shot.

If I ever hit the Texas Lottery (unlikely since I don't buy tickets) I'd find a nice, ungraded 1953 Bowman Color set and have the time of my life putting it in pages. Other than that I'd never attempt to chase it. That wonderful Mickey Mantle card will never otherwise be within my reach. And I'm not chasing a set I can't finish.

How could I forget Stan The Man?

The 1953 Bowman Color cards are (IMHO) some of the most beautiful cards ever produced.  I'd never be ambitious (or foolish) enough to attempt to collect the set but I pick up inexpensive ones when I stumble across 'em. Just like the Bob Cain card I posted from my latest card show haul. 

I bought this not-so-inexpensive card late last year so technically it wasn't part of my recent graded card 'binge' but I'm as happy with it as I am with any of the others. I saw the '53B Musial being discussed on Twitter and I was struck by how this seems to be the 'most Musial' of all Stan Musial cards. I love the shot, his expression, the bat rack in the background and the uniform top the Cards wore.

I don't collect Musial cards in particular because I have enough PCs to keep me busy already but I do have a soft spot for him. My oldest and dearest friend has always been the biggest Cardinals (and Musial) fan. When we shared an apartment for a year after college the third occupant was his dog 'Stosh', another Musial nickname.

The first line of the bio on this card might well have been written by my friend as it proclaims Stan the Man to be 'the greatest'.

Finally here are the other '53 Bowman Color cards I have scanned and have posted previously. Enjoy!


Early Wynn

Russ Meyer

Billy Pierce

Jackie Jensen

Bob Cain

Newest Card Show Pickups

It's a little difficult to concentrate on cards and such these days given the fact that this country has gone to hell in a handbasket but I'm gonna give it a shot. Maybe doing a blog post is what I need.

I went to the hotel card show a couple of Saturdays back Darrell has changed locations for the West Houston show and it was a welcome surprise to see the room he's booked. Space to breathe! How nice. And more dealers table as well.

I had a couple of goals at the show. One was to scrounge the cheap vintage boxes for 1962 Topps baseball. The other was to help out a couple of blogging friends with their current needs.  To one extent or another, I managed to accomplish both. Plus I was able to nab a few cards that fall into the 'Just Because' category. Those are the ones I'll post here.

I might as well just call the 1972 Kelloggs set a collecting goal. I found a couple more at the show. The best of which is this Vida Blue.

I'm also calling myself an official Dick Allen collector. I mean why the hell not? I love this '74 card. Both front....

....and back:

"Dick likes to listen to stereo music." Awesome!

This is probably my third or fourth Brooks Robinson Deckle Edge. None of them are centered correctly. The bottom edge of this one does have the deckled edge but my scanner refused to acknowledge that fact. 

I'm not sure if I already had this '66 Elston Howard card. That's a problem that will rectify itself once I finish my grand scheme to re-organize. My hobby room/office is now completely re-done with shelves and bookcases. I made a bulk purchase of binders and pages. Now the real work begins.

This 1958 Jackie Jensen All-Star is an upgrade to the one I have in my '58 set. I'll do a fifty cent '58 card upgrade anytime.

I'm sure I've mentioned previously how much time I wasted as a kid studying the backs of these things. I loved seeing who hit what against whom. I don't know why for sure but it fascinated me no end. For example, I see that Jensen has a nice '57 versus the A's. in 19 games he smacked 6 homers, had 20 RBIs and hit .324.

A 1964 World Series subset card with Koufax will always jump out of the box and into my pile.

I don't have much Ali stuff outside on my autographed SI cover to I pick up cheap stuff when I find it. Like this '83 Olympic card.

I picked up a bulk starter lot of 1975 Topps cards recently because it was dirt cheap. But it was all commons so I bought these starts for a buck apiece. I'm not sure I'll ever get around to really pursuing the '75 set because I have several other things on my list but you never pass up stars for a dollar.

I found a few football cards as well. I bought this 1954 Bowman Buddy Young because I figured it might be an upgrade to the one in my Colts collection. It isn't but it's still a nice card to have a dupe of.

'Crazy Legs' Hirsch from 1956 because it's tough to pass up something like this.

This '59 Lenny Moore IS an upgrade. So I feel vindicated.

Back to a baseball card. this is one of those cards I just can't pass up even though it was two bucks and I'll never even try to complete the '53 Bowman set. I just thought it was a beauty of a card. I've been trying to find one of those Browns caps for a long time but I never can locate one to fit my huge head. I've got a nice gray and brown version but it's not the same.

Man, just look at this card. It's art.

Here's the back. I don't think I've ever really noticed that Bowman made room for kids to fill in 'this year' stats below the player's career numbers.

And finally here's my favorite card from the show. From out of the quarter box comes this 1975 Topps Seattle SuperSonics team card. Yup, that's Bill Russell on the tarmac. This card jumps immediately to the list of my favorite hoops cards. 

I don't know many of these guys but that's Slick Watts with the headband above Russ. Tom Burleson is (I think) the tall guy at the bottom of the stairs. Jim Fox is two guys to Burleson's right with John Brisker in between them. I think that's Spencer Haywood at the bottom of the stairs but I wouldn't bet on it.

All in all another fun show. Next up is the July TriStar extravaganza. That one should be great for working on want-lists.

1953 Bowman Russ Meyer

Russ Meyer was just a name I'd heard before I looked into his career when I was posting his 1959 Topps card. As soon as I saw his 'Mad Monk' nickname I knew that would be one of the better research projects I'd done for that blog.

From his Army baseball exploits to throwing a rosin bag onto his own head Meyer was a character worth reading more about. Rather than repost those links here I'll let you check them out on my '59 blog. Not for my writing but for the stuff you can get to through that post like his very fun SABR bio.

This '53 Bowman was just a $1 spur of the moment buy on COMC (or maybe eBay, I forget). I'll spend that for a '53 Bowman any day. Especially when it ships free with the cards I was actually looking for. What a wonderful set. Like little pieces of baseball art. Sure the back of this one is ruined but dat front! Even two serious creases can't screw it up. Am I right?

If you don't care to click through to my other blog here is the '59 Meyer. I love the 1959 set but when it comes to these two cards there is no comparison!

1953 Bowman Color Jackie Jensen

Yesterday, I had nothing. Today I have something. It showed up in the mail and I was very pleased to see it. I collect Jackie Jensen in a pretty casual manner. If I see one that's reasonable I'll pick it up but I don't really seek his cards out.

I found this on eBay listed by a dealer I buy from often. He is a very conservative grader and had this Jensen as 'Poor'. It was the second cheapest '53 Color Bowman Jensen on a B-I-N and it appeared to be waaay better that many of the more expensive ones. While that card is creased (hard to see in the scan) it is nowhere near 'poor' as I view it.

Jensen is a very interesting character. I have heard him described as a 'poor man's Mickey Mantle' and while I'm not sure I agree he does have that 'fair-haired, rawboned power hitter with a flaw' thing going. Jensen's flaw would be his fear of flying that shortened his career. I've more or less been interested in Jensen for awhile but researching his '59 card for my blog of that set I read a lot and found him to be a unique and very talented guy. Rather than repeat that whole post I'll supply a link. There are quite a few stories and sites that are linked in that post that are well worth exploring.

As for the card, well, the '53 Bowmans sure are good looking, yes? Beautiful cards, portraits and posed action cards. Just wonderful baseball cards. I wish I had the wherewithal to make a run at a complete presentable set. I envy anyone who has one.

Meanwhile I'll have to be happy with my tiny stash of '53s. I own an Early Wynn, Billy Pierce and a Lou Boudreau which I can't find to scan at the moment. .