Longtime Giants player and future manager Alvin Dark. Al started his career as a Brave, winning the Rookie of the Year award in 1948. He got traded to the Giants in 1950 and went on to several All-Star appearances and a World Series championship in 1954. He later took the Giants to the World Series again as manager in 1962, and won it all as manager in 1974 with the Oakland A's. Like Vern Law from the last post, this card is not in the terrible shape most of the quarter cards were. No parer stuck to the front and no paper loss on the back. Just a very large water mark on the top and right side of the card, and a crease going across the top that looks like the card got caught in something. Not a terrible looking card, although I am not a fan of the light wood borders from the first series.
Ah, now this is much better. Hank Thompson is one of those players that were terribly important to the history of baseball but no one knows about. You know who Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby are, right? Well Hank here is the third black player to play in the majors after integration. He integrated the St. Louis Browns in 1947 along with Negro League star Willard Brown, then he did the same thing for the Giants two years later along with Monte Irvin. Hank didn't get a chance to integrate another team as he finished out his career with 8 solid seasons with the Giants playing third, second and the outfield. Hank Thompson has firsts all over the place and his cards are cheaper than Jackie's. Actually Jackie Robinson doesn't have a 1955 Bowman card due to the contract fights they were having with Topps. Larry Doby doesn't have a 1955 card at ALL. If you want a groundbreaker in 1955 Bowman, Hank's your man.
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