September Vintage Card Show - '52 Chip

stoled this from a dude on twitter but i can't remember his @name

Ok so the Barves moved again. Or, will move in three years but who's counting. This ain't no big deal, They've moved three times already. Boston to Milwaukee to Atlanta to an Atlanta address but not in the same county as Atlanta so not quite Atlanta and there's a whole bunch of Georgia/Atlanta politics bubbling under the surface that you really really don't wanna know about but still pretty much Atlanta when you get down to it. That's gonna be difficult to fit on an away jersey. It'll probably all end up being a ruse by Liberty Media to burn their bridges with the city, then bungle the deal with Cobb County thus allowing them an excuse to move the team to Salt Lake City or San Antonio. Maybe even Miami, they could use a team. Well, we got three more seasons at the Ted anyway, and I'll probably drop dead of a stroke from watching too much Cable TV News by the time the team actually moves somewhere. To celebrate our nomadic tribe of warriors, here's a card from the first city they popped up in.

Old Bowman! Not 1948 Bowman, those are black and white. Not 1949 Bowman, those have a black and white picture with a solid color background. Not 1950 Bowman, those are small and square. Not 1951 Bowman, Those have a solid block with the name on the front. This is 1952 Bowman also known as 1951 Bowman with a fake signature. Also the back only has black ink instead of red and black ink. This is the set Bowman kinda screwed the pooch on, as they basically rehashed the previous year's set while their competitor came up with a product that was vastly superior. AKA Topps' business plan for the past few years. Oh wait! Silly me, Topps doesn't have competitors anymore.

So here's the back. Snooze city. No color, no stats, bottom third is basically an ad. And who the heck are Haelan Laboratories? Was Bowman gum created by Mad Scientists? Was Sy Berger actually a superhero who saved America from being poisoned by radioactive space gum sold by a front confectioner run by Cold War spies? Where can I get a baseball cap for 50 cents and five Bowman wrappers? Would it actually be cheaper to just buy the cap outright instead of buying five packs of 2013 Bowman? If I sent in the wrappers to Topps would the case breakers just get all the caps because they sent their wrappers in first? Why am I asking so many questions? Why am I being so evasive? What do I have to hide?

I don't know a dang thing about Bob Chipman other than he's a high number card and Bowman high numbers are as annoying as Topps high numbers but not quite as annoying as Heritage High Numbers. Actually I do know something about Bob, he pitched and won a game for Milwaukee in 1951. CAN YOU SAY FORESHADOWING. That would be like Topps putting "Freddie likes to eat wings at the Big Chicken" on the back of Freddie Freeman's card. Maybe Topps will do that next year. At least they've stayed put in Duryea, PA. I can't handle any more unexpected moves.

1952 Bowman Large Football

I'm scared to death about the Dawgs' SEC opener in South Carolina today. What is that you ask? Why would a top ranked team be worried about a bunch of Cocks? Well, this is why:

1. South Carolina freaking HATES us. I know several Gamecock fans and there is no greater joy in their life than beating Georgia.
2. The game is in Colombia this year.
3. They whooped our ass last year in our own house and cost us a shot at the National Championship.
4. Three little words: STEVE. FECKING. SPURRIER.

So yeah, I'm terrified. I'll probably commiserate with Larry Munson on the radio while flipping back and forth between the Dawgs, Jackets and Braves (have fun Mark!) on TV. Hopefully Knowshon can run over some people and the Dawgs can control the ball. As a lucky talisman to ward off disaster here's an old Bulldog card from 1952 to coax Lady Luck out of hiding.

This is a 1952 Bowman football card. This is the large sized version and is the size of Bowman's '53-'55 sets. There is also a mini version of the set in the size of their '52 baseball cards. I think these are the first large sized cards from Bowman. The change in size was probably a reaction to Topps' huge '52 baseball set.

Claude was one of many Georgia All-Americans from the olden days. The d-back from Waycross served in the Marines and was later drafted by the Steelers. He played for two years in the league and I guess he went on to use that marketing degree as I can't find any recent information on him. No time to look now, it's almost kickoff! Maybe Claude will be there in spirit to pick off a couple passes from Beecher or Smelley (the guy's actual name*) or whoever will be quarterbacking the Cocks today.

Gooooooooooooo Dawgs! Sic 'em! WOOFWOOFWOOFWOOFWOOF

*(No I'm not going to make the obvious joke, you already thought it anyway. )

UPDATE: See why this damn game always scares me to death? One slip up against these guys and the season is ruined. The offense always goes to hell during this game too, Spurrier has spies in Athens or something. The spirit of Claude came through for the Dawgs with Rashad Jones' interception in the closing seconds to save the game. I'm sure he had something to do with Asher fumble recovery also. Talk about hunkering down... Next week won't be any easier, as the Dawgs travel to the desert to take on Arizona State. Then it's Alabama and Tennessee. Man, the schedule is brutal this year.