In addition, Bowman pioneered the idea of having some cards with multiple players, which later became a staple of the Topps sets in the ’50’s. The set did include Mantle, Stan Musial, Yogi Berra, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese and had a total of 20+ Hall of Fame members. Some of the great stars of the day are missing as Jackie Robinson & Willie Mays were under exclusive contracts to Topps and Ted Williams was flying fighter jets in Korea. While it included only 160 cards, the format was unprecedented with beautiful color photography offering detail never before seen. In 1953, Bowman produced a set of baseball cards that holds a special place in the history of the hobby. When Topps hit the market in ’52 with larger sized cards, great color photos and a set numbering over 400 players, Bowman was forced to take notice. Usually comprised of 250-300 cards, they were small and not very aesthetically pleasing. What the casual observer doesn’t know is that the Bowman company started producing baseball card sets in 1948 and were the only ones in the marketplace through 1951.

One graded 2.5 sold a few weeks earlier for $25,000! Just a few weeks ago, one of these in poor condition (graded 1 on a scale of 1-to-10) sold for $8,500 on eBay. It was the product that created the modern era of baseball cards and includes the incredibly valuable “holy grail” card of Mickey Mantle. Even baseball fans without an interest in the hobby of card collecting have some knowledge of the famous 1952 Topps set.

1953 bowman stan musial