Friday, August 31, 2007

Every journey begins with a single step... #50 - Jackie Robinson

In this case my first step was the purchase of a 1949 Jackie Robinson Bowman baseball card. A 2 1/2 by 2 1/16 inch piece of cardboard that I had just plunked down a serious amount of cash for.

I had decided a few weeks prior that my life was missing something. Simply put, I needed a challenge, one that would combine my love of baseball with my interest in history and technology.

After weeks of reviewing baseball card sets from 1900-1960 I decided on collecting the 1949 Bowman Baseball set. There were many reasons for this choice, but to be honest it largely came down to a question of cost vs. coolness factor. Some of the cards from the pre-1960 sets look amazing and are exceeding rare, but have astronomical prices. While I tend to believe in a historical item's inherent value I can't see spending $100,000+ to complete a set.

For me it was a question of whether I could justify the cost necessary to put together a near-mint set while being enthralled by the cards themselves. 1949 Bowman cards have an amazing color scheme and player photo layout that evokes images of post-war, pre-space age simplicity. The backs of the cards include player information, a brief bio and statistics along with a offer for the purchaser to send in 3 card wrappers and 15 cents to get a promotional item. All of those factors makes me consider this set to be the first ever 'modern' baseball card set.

So, with a big gulp of air I pressed the online purchase button and the first step was taken!

The first step:
Card #50 of a 240 card set that was issued in 1949 by the Bowman Gum Company. This card is generally considered to be Jackie Robinson's rookie card, although the 1949 Leaf set also included a Jackie Robinson card.

I chose this particular card because it has all the things that collectors look for in a baseball card: razor sharp corners, near-perfect centering, clean print with vibrant colors and no signs of wear or tear. This card literally looks like it came out of the pack and went straight into it's plastic holder.


Hard to believe that this fragile piece of cardboard has managed to stay so fresh-looking and perfect for 58 years!