1952 Bowman Large Football Cards

Product Details

When Topps entered the ring in 1952 to fight against Bowman in the sports card business, there were some immediate changes. One of those involved Bowman increasing the size of its cards, and that ultimately resulted in two different sets: 1952 Bowman Large Football and 1952 Bowman Small Football.

1952 Bowman Large Football Set Details

At first, the 144-card set was issued in a similar format as 1951 Bowman Football. The cards measure 2 1/16 inches by 3 1/8 inches and are divided into four 36-card printing sheets. At some point, however, Bowman decided to make the cards bigger (2 ½ inches by 3 ¾ inches) and printed up the same 144 cards on larger—but still 36-card—printing sheets. This larger size for 1952 Bowman Large Football seems to have resulted in certain cards getting caught up in the machinery at the factory and withdrawn, since several cards are notoriously short-printed.

Other than the size, the white-bordered cards in the small and large sets are exactly the same. Card fronts feature a painted picture of a player or coach. A pennant contains the subject's name and a team logo appears either above or below it.

Card backs feature a written biography and the first instance of previous stats for Bowman (except for linemen and coaches). At the top, a card number appears in the left corner, just below the name. The team and position are noted to the right of the card number along with a few vital statistics. At the bottom of the card, a line above the copyright states College to Pro, as a way of pointing out that some of the players are shown with their college teams.

On the surface, there are several new features for 1952 Bowman Large Football. First, all teams are represented by their coach. This offers a way for collectors to pick up cards of legendary coaches like Paul Brown, George Halas and Steve Owen who otherwise wouldn't have many mainstream cards. Secondly, there were college logos and team names shown on the card fronts for rookie players, with the pro teams listed on the back.

Due to the troubles getting the 1952 Bowman Large Football cards through the process of printing and cutting, it has been said that several of the cards on an outer edge of every sheet were damaged and withdrawn right at the factory. As such, there are multiple cards in the set that are short prints, with #144 Jim Lansford being the toughest to find in any condition. Card #72 of John Schweder is also rare. Both cards would have been on the lower-right corner of the printing sheet.

Aside from coaches like Paul Brown and George Halas, key rookies include Frank Gifford, Art Donovan, Gino Marchetti, Ollie Matson, Hugh McElhenny, Jack Christiansen and Yale Lary. In both sets, cards #73 to #144 are considered to be slightly more scarce than the earlier series, but the short-printed cards in the larger set are even scarcer. However, the SP cards from the large set do not correspond to any scarcity in the smaller issue.

Key 1952 Bowman Large Football Cards:

• Jim Lansford RC #144
• Norm Van Brocklin #1
• Tom Landry #142
• John Schweder RC #72
• Frank Gifford RC #16
• Joe Stydahar #99