1953 Bowman

The One Hit Wonders of the 1953 Bowman Color Baseball Card Set

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PSA described the 1953 Bowman Color set as one of “the most beautiful modern-era sets of baseball cards produced.” It’s got some classically gorgeous cards, like the Pee Wee Reese leaping card, the excellent multi-player card of Hank Bauer, Yogi Berra, and Mickey Mantle, plus cards of other individual stars of the day like Roy Campanella, Ed Mathews, Warren Spahn, and Stan Musial. But among the stars are three gorgeous cards of one-hit wonders, players whose only major baseball card release was in this set. Here are their stories.

1953 Bowman Color #83 Jack Daniels

1953 Bowman Color #83 Jack Daniels – Front
1953 Bowman Color #83 Jack Daniels – Reverse

Despite having one of the best names in the history of MLB, Jack Daniels only stuck around baseball for a single season. But he got a baseball card in the iconic 1953 Bowman Color set!

Jack spent seven seasons in the minor leagues before making the Boston Braves roster for the 1952 season. That year, he mainly played as a right fielder and hit .187 with 2 home runs and 14 RBIs. Those numbers weren’t good enough to stick in the big leagues, and “Sour Mash Jack” played six more seasons of minor league ball before ending his baseball career. Over his minor league career, he smashed 167 home runs, including 34 for the AA Atlanta Crackers of the Southern Association in 1956. 

1953 Bowman Color #98 Hector Rodriquez

1953 Bowman Color #98 Hector Rodriquez – Front
1953 Bowman Color #98 Hector Rodriguez – Reverse

Perhaps Rodriquez could have had a longer career had he not been a shortstop. As a member of the Chicago White Sox organization, he was stuck behind Chico Carrasquel and Luis Aparicio, who played the same position. So, for his one year in MLB, Hector Rodriguez played third base. In 1952, he hit .265, hit one home run, and batted in 40 runs. He also walked 47 times, which means his on-base percentage was .346. 

He was a native of Cuba and played in the Negro Leagues and the Mexican League before his season with the White Sox. He followed up his only season in Major League Baseball with a successful career with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League. He was inducted into the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998. And his 1953 Bowman Color Baseball card is awesome.

1953 Bowman Color #142 Larry Miggins

1953 Bowman Color #142 Larry Miggins – Front
1953 Bowman Color #142 Larry Miggins – Reverse

Larry Miggins played in parts of two major league seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals (1948 and 1952) but only got one major baseball card with his 1953 Bowman Color example, which is fair since, in 1948, he only had a single plate appearance.

Miggins played outfield and first base. His career statistics were a .227 batting average, two home runs, and 10 RBIs. He also played nine years of Minor League Baseball from 1944 to 1954, during which he hit .265 with 143 home runs.

Just making it to the Major Leagues is a significant achievement, and there are plenty of players who make it to the league but never get a licensed baseball card. But Daniels, Rodriguez, and Miggins did, and their cards are in one of the more popular post-war releases.

Happy collecting!

The Original Artwork For The 1953 Bowman #51 John Karras Football Card

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Here’s a true hobby one-of-one: the original artwork for card number 51 in Bowman’s 1953 football set, featuring John Karras of the Chicago Cardinals.

The piece was a part of Mastro’s December 2005 Sports Premier Catalog Auction. They described it as a hand-crafted artifact measuring 3-1/8” x 4-5/8” (larger than the as-issued card). The item description mentioned that the item’s corners were chipped as a function of the working process. Also, the art piece was matted with an Ex sample of the final card on display measuring 11-3/4” x 15”, but Mastro didn’t share a photo of the combined display in the catalog.

So, here’s an example of the published Karras Bowman football card.

Happy collecting.

PS, check out The Original Artwork Archive if you want to see more pieces like this one.

Bowman’s 5-Star Series Picture Card Collectors Club

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I quickly snapped this photo while scurrying about the 2024 National Sports Collectors Convention because it looked familiar.

Once I got home from the show, I remembered the logo was also on the back of 1950 Bowman baseball and football cards.

Details are super scarce, so please contact me if you have more info, but in the early 50s, I remember collectors mentioning that Bowman tried having a collectors club akin to Topps’ Trading Card Guild (Picture Card Collectors Club). The Topps Archives mentions it in a piece titled Re-Rack. Given the boxes below, it could have been how Bowman re-packed unsold cards.

I found that Lelands has sold a pair of these boxes. This first one was titled 1953-54 Bowman Television & Radio Stars/Power For Peace Partial Cello Box (27/36).

It sold for just under $2k in February 2019.

This second example is a 1953 Bowman Power For Peace/NBC Radio & Television Stars Cello Box with 14 Packs. It sold for $879 in March 2022.

The BBCE website has an out-of-stock 1953 Bowman TV & Radio Stars Cello Box that they had offered for $8k.

I also had the following early Bowman cello box in my photo archives; REA sold it in 2021 for $3,960. They resold the same box in August 2024 for $6,900.

Again, please let me know if you have more information about Bowman’s 5-Star Series Picture Card Collectors Club.

Check out The Unopened Archive for more!