Vintage Bowman, Non-Minty Fresh Condition

I've always been a fan of Bowman, being a rookie collector. In the last year, I've made one of my collecting goals be to acquire a card from each of the vintage Bowman sets. I try to keep myself on a tight budget when collecting, always looking for affordable deals. So, these cards are loveably roughed up. I hope you enjoy their scars, their life experience, as much as I do.

Vic Wertz from the 1952 Bowman set. I snagged this one off of the Ebays for less than two bucks shipped. I consider that quite a deal since he's in a Tigers uniform and Mr.Wertz actually had a respectable career: 17 MLB seasons, a few all-star appearances, his name even tossed around in HOF voting. Sure, the card is so thin it almost feels like a threadbare T-shirt and there's that big crease in the middle, as if the previous owner liked to make Vic bow to the empty stands in the background. All that wear just makes me dig this card more. This was such a great set for Bowman. I miss the hell out of Bowman Heritage.

Here's Del Rice from the 1951 set. He also had 17 seasons and one all-star appearance, but he was no Wertz. This card is in pretty good shape, probably the best of my old Bowmans, and I dig the old catcher getup. The catchers seemed to have the most interesting cards from these early sets.

Another great looking catcher card from the 1950 set: Bruce "Bull" Edwards. This one has some crazy writing scratched into it. I love that writing, because that's what allowed me to pick it up from my local card shop for almost nothing. The back has some more mysterious writing.

Hmmm... Some kid wrote Dodgers and Cubs, and I guess he wanted to document the Bull's trade. Think of this as a Bowman Traded card, then.

The oldest card I own: Ray Lamanno from the 1949 set. Another catcher, too, with that extended thumb on the glove. Ray's looking up toward a pop-up, or maybe some incoming pigeon bombs, but what he doesn't know is someone has scratched "Grounder to 36" behind Ray's back. What are you doing looking for a pop-up, Ray? Obviously, it's a grounder.

On the back, someone has reminded us Ray's on the Reds. Thank, buddy. Really, thanks for making this card in my price range. The signature in red on the back looked so great in this set, although the fronts were much less interesting than the Bowman sets that would follow. And you gotta love that game and bank advertisement that eats up half this card. Too bad I just missed the expiration date to order one.

So, doesn't this make you miss Bowman Heritage? Bring it back, Topps! And just so you know, all of these cards cost less than two dollars respectively. You can't beat vintage collecting on a budget. I'll post my other vintage Bowman soon. Thanks for reading.