Regardless of boasting rookie playing cards of two of the most important names in baseball historical past, the 1951 Bowman baseball card set nonetheless appears tragically underrated.
Bowman started producing baseball playing cards in 1948, however hobbyists will all the time level to this set as the corporate’s most iconic.
And it is all as a result of Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle made their cardboard debuts on this set…
However that is not all.
Collectors can even discover rookie playing cards of three different Corridor of Famers (Whitey Ford, Monte Irvin, and Nellie Fox) together with some unimaginable art work on the cardboard fronts.
Nonetheless, it has lengthy been overshadowed by the long-lasting 1952 Topps launched the next 12 months.
Topps ultimately purchased Bowman in 1956 and retired the model till reviving it a long time later in 1989.
With Bowman out of the image, Topps’ standing as the highest canine within the interest solely continued to snowball all these years.
And that each one however cemented its debut 1952 set as essentially the most fascinating of all post-war units.
Nonetheless, the 1951 Bowman set will all the time maintain a particular place in interest historical past.
And on this information, I will run by means of the 15 most useful.
Let’s bounce proper in!
1951 Bowman #253 Mickey Mantle Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $25,000
“The Mantle Curse” was hell on Mickey Mantle throughout his rookie season.
Mantle was promoted to the Bigs in 1951 because the successor to the good Joe DiMaggio.
Later, there could be a case for all that.
In his rookie 12 months, nonetheless, Mantle adopted a powerful begin with a brutal stoop that value him his roster spot in July.
Mantle fought again and returned to New York in September to hit .284 with six homers in 28 video games.
The Yankees received the pennant, giving the 19-year-old proper fielder his first style of World Collection baseball in opposition to the crosstown Giants.
Two video games later, his season was over.
Mantle tripped over a canopy of a drain pipe, avoiding an outfield collision with DiMaggio and tearing ligaments in his knee.
Much more tragic, Mantle’s dad, Mutt, collapsed making an attempt to assist his son right into a taxi headed in the direction of the hospital.
As Mickey obtained surgical procedure, Mutt was identified as terminal with Hodgkin’s illness.
He died quickly after on the age of 39.
Mickey Mantle would go on to grow to be probably the most legendary gamers in baseball historical past, and at the moment, his rookie playing cards are a number of the most sought-after within the interest.
1951 Bowman #305 Willie Mays Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $14,000
When the New York Giants bought Willie Mays’ contract in 1950, they knew that they had a generational expertise on their fingers.
The 20-year-old was already a strolling tall story from his time taking part in stickball within the streets to his Negro Leagues exploits.
Come the 1951 season, the kid prodigy performed heart discipline for a Giants crew that had been caught in a thirteen-season postseason drought.
A lot for that.
Mays overcame a sluggish begin to his MLB debut to win NL Rookie-of-the-Yr honors, slashing .274/.356/.472 with 20 house runs, 22 doubles, 59 runs, and 68 RBIs in 121 video games.
Mays’ pace, energy, and defensive prowess ignited the Giants en path to the crew’s first World Collection look since 1937.
The Giants in the end misplaced in six to the crosstown Yankees, their third consecutive World Collection loss to their hated rivals.
Mays went simply 4-for-22 (.182) with two walks and an RBI in his first of 4 Collection appearances.
1951 Bowman #1 Whitey Ford Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $1,350
Two weeks after profitable the deciding Sport 4 of the 1950 World Collection, New York Yankees lefty Whitey Ford was dealt one heck of a shock.
The 20-year-old world champion was known as into responsibility by a Queens draft board and entered the Military for a two-year stint.
Ford reported to primary coaching in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, and was assigned to work as a radar operator after a number of falls off phone poles whereas coaching for the Sign Corps.
His base commander additionally pressed him to pitch for the bottom baseball crew.
The commander needed him to pitch full video games 3 times every week—a Herculean load that might simply have blown out the child’s arm.
Ford demurred and stop the crew, nervous that he might obtain official repercussions down the highway.
The implications by no means got here.
Ford as a substitute performed for the Monmouth Seaside Tavern softball crew, preserving sharp for a 1953 MLB return.
His is one in every of three Corridor of Fame rookie playing cards within the set and can stay vital for years to come back.
1951 Bowman #165 Ted Williams
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $800
Ted Williams might have held himself to essentially the most ridiculous requirements of any baseball participant in historical past.
After a wall collision within the 1950 All-Star Sport tore Williams’ elbow aside and ended his season, the Boston Pink Sox left fielder claimed he was by no means the identical hitter once more.
Boy, was he mistaken.
He ultimately tallied two extra batting titles, 5 extra top-ten MVP finishes, and eleven extra All-Star nods.
When he returned from damage in 1951, Williams paced all of baseball in walks (144) and on-base share (.464).
He additionally hit 30 house runs for the seventh time and topped the American League in slugging share (.556), OPS (1.019), OPS+ (164), complete bases (295), and intentional walks (9).
It is believable that Williams genuinely believed that his peak had left him.
If that is the case, it boggles the thoughts what he may have been with out his 1950 Midsummer Basic misfortune.
1951 Bowman #2 Yogi Berra
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $550
1951 was the Yr of the Catcher in Main League Baseball.
New York Yankees backstop Yogi Berra slipped by St. Louis Browns beginning pitcher Ned Garver and teammate Allie Reynolds to win his first of three AL MVP awards.
It was the closest MVP vote in baseball historical past up to now, with Berra, Garver, and Reynolds every capturing six first-place votes.
Berra obtained the nod due to assist down the poll and joined Brooklyn’s Roy Campanella as the primary duo of catchers to win MVP in the identical 12 months.
Berra slashed .294/.350/.492 for the back-to-back-to-back World Collection champs with 27 house runs, 19 doubles, 92 runs, and 88 RBIs in 141 video games.
He was additionally the sport’s most important discipline normal for a Yankees squad that tossed double the variety of shutouts (20) as every other AL crew.
The 26-year-old celebrity capped off his 12 months with a 6-for-23 (.261) effort within the Yankees’ six-game World Collection conquer the hated Giants.
1951 Bowman #31 Roy Campanella
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $325
Roy Campanella obtained his bell rung after which ripped by means of the Nationwide League for his first of three MVP awards.
Months after a water-heater explosion at his house despatched him to the ER, Campanella returned to the hospital after Chicago Cubs pitcher Turk Lown beaned him.
The 29-year-old stayed beneath statement for 5 days and was affected by dizzy spells for a number of weeks after.
It will have been an appropriate excuse to have an off 12 months.
As a substitute, Campanella pushed by means of the complications to create a 12 months for the books.
Campy slashed a gaudy .325/.393/.590 with 33 house runs and 108 RBIs whereas lacking 21 video games resulting from damage and relaxation.
Frustratingly, the Dodgers star was compelled out of two video games of a three-game NL championship tiebreaking sequence with the Giants resulting from a leg damage.
Bobby Thomson’s epic pennant-winning walk-off quickly adopted, gutting the Dodgers on the doorstep of a World Collection look.
1951 Bowman #198 Monte Irvin Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $325
The consensus amongst many Negro League house owners was that Monte Irvin ought to have gotten the nod for breaking the MLB shade barrier.
As transcendent as Jackie Robinson was, Irvin was simply as proficient and even higher.
A six-time NN2 All-Star, Irvin performed each spot on the sector flawlessly.
He was additionally a three-time batting champion with a candy, silky stroke.
When Irvin was lastly signed by the New York Giants in 1949, his twenties had handed, and his athleticism was on the downslope.
“Monte was the most effective all-around participant I’ve ever seen,” Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella mentioned. “As nice as he was in 1951, he was twice that good 10 years earlier within the Negro Leagues.”
Irvin was removed from washed.
His ’51 season stays a historic gem punctuated by his .312 common, 24 homers, and NL-best 121 RBIs.
He dedicated only one error at three completely different positions, incomes himself a well-deserved third-place NL MVP end.
1951 Bowman #32 Duke Snider
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $225
It takes a distinct type of participant to bask within the harsh New York highlight. Duke Snider was by no means one in every of them.
The breaking level got here in 1951.
Snider’s nerves dogged him as he hit a paltry .157 in September, hanging out in 17 of his 83 at-bats.
A number of extra hits might have pushed the Dodgers to the NL pennant.
As a substitute, Snider turned a media goal as Brooklyn fell in a three-game tiebreaker to the Giants.
By the tip of his disappointing ’51 season, the Brooklyn Dodgers heart fielder was confused previous his restrict.
Snider was a delicate soul, and the pressures of the NYC baseball nexus had been turning his hair grey at 25.
Together with his anxiousness spiked, Snider angled for a commerce through the offseason.
Luckily for Dodger followers, the crew denied his request.
Snider remained with the Dodgers for eleven extra years, main them to 2 World Collection titles, one in New York and one in Los Angeles.
1951 Bowman #134 Warren Spahn
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $200
On the opposite
1951 Bowman #151 Larry Doby
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $190
4 years after breaking the American League shade barrier, Cleveland Indians heart fielder Larry Doby sat on the peak of his appreciable powers.
Doby’s ’51 season was an train of his seemingly preordained greatness.
The 27-year-old All-Star propelled the Indians inside hanging distance of an AL pennant, slashing .295/.428/.512 with 20 house runs, 101 walks, 84 runs, and 69 RBIs in 134 video games.
Sadly, the Indians dropped like a rock from mid-September on, ending 4-10 to sink behind the Yankees into second place.
Doby went 9-for-46 over that stretch (.196), denying himself a fourth .300 season in 5 years.
Cleveland’s late-season struggles had been a theme in Doby’s final 4 seasons with the crew.
The Indians completed third thrice from 1952 to 1955, with one pennant win in 1954.
The ’54 World Collection was a heartbreaker in and of itself, as Cleveland ate a four-game sweep by the hands of a deep New York Giants squad.
1951 Bowman #80 Pee Wee Reese
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $170
All the pieces was upended in Brooklyn by Pee Wee Reese’s ninth 12 months in Dodger Blue.
Most of Reese’s teammates from the Forties had been gone, leaving the 32-year-old shortstop as one of many lone stalwarts of an period previous.
Dodgers administration floated the thought of buying and selling Reese to solidify the crew’s Fifties transition.
President and normal supervisor Department Rickey shot these notions down chilly, tabbing Reese as a constructing block for the long run.
“Reese? Final of the outdated Dodgers?” Rickey requested rhetorically. “Would not it’s higher to say he’s the primary of the brand new Dodgers?”
Reese made good on Rickey’s backing in 1951 together with his seventh consecutive All-Star season.
The down-ballot MVP point out slashed .286/.371/.393 with ten homers, 20 doubles, eight triples, 20 stolen bases, 81 walks, 94 runs, and 84 RBIs in 154 video games.
His protection at brief was horrible (35 errors in 749 possibilities), but his management was invaluable through the Dodgers’ pennant race dogfight with the Giants.
1951 Bowman #232 Nellie Fox Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $170
There’s an alternate world by which Nellie Fox by no means turned a Chicago White Sox legend.
Fox fell flat in his 1950 Sox debut, hitting .247 with a .608 OPS in 147 video games.
He additionally struggled within the discipline, committing 18 expensive errors at second base in 121 video games.
Come Spring Coaching in 1951, Fox was combating for his MLB life.
The White Sox thought to promote the 23-year-old’s contract to Portland of the Pacific Coast League, but ultimately flipped a 180 after they noticed how onerous Fox was working.
This included overhauling his mechanics at second base.
Fox spent numerous hours with Yankees legend Joe Gordon.
“It was brutal the best way Fox was pivoting,” supervisor Paul Richards mentioned. “I am shocked he did not get damage.”
Fox put his nostril down and adjusted all the things up, delivering his first All-Star season.
He raised his fielding share significantly whereas posting his first of six .300 seasons (.313) for the fourth-place Sox.
1951 Bowman #26 Phil Rizzuto
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $160
Phil Rizzuto was a made man by the opening of the 1951 season.
After the Yankees’ dominant 1950 World Collection sweep of the Phillies, the reigning AL MVP was a dwelling New York legend.
His base wage now matched his Q issue ($50,000), inserting him slightly below Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio for the highest-paid gamers in MLB historical past.
Rizzuto’s payday seemed to be value it.
The 33-year-old shortstop completed eleventh within the AL MVP vote in 1951, slashing .274/.350/.346 with 21 doubles, 18 stolen bases, 87 runs, 43 RBIs, and an MLB-best 26 sacrifice bunts in 144 video games.
In an period of light-hitting shortstops, Rizzuto saved tempo and proved an asset within the two-hole.
This was by no means extra obvious than within the 1950 World Collection.
Rizzuto hit .320 with a homer within the Yankees’ six-game conquer the Giants, with a homer, three RBIs, and 5 runs scored.
1951 Bowman #30 Bob Feller
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $160
There are All-Star snubs.
After which there are absolute All-Star travesties.
Cleveland Indians ace Bob Feller wasn’t simply nice through the first half of the 1951 season.
He was a respectable MVP favourite, going 10-2 by the tip of June with an AL-best 2.97 ERA.
Nonetheless, Feller struggled in June, which value him an All-Star spot within the eyes of AL supervisor Casey Stengel.
This was a baffling case of recency bias, and Feller appeared to take it extraordinarily personally.
At some point later, the 32-year-old righty took his frustrations out on a mediocre Tigers squad, posting the third no-hitter of his profession.
Feller was spotty through the season’s closing three months but nonetheless topped the American League in wins (22) and profitable share (.733).
He completed fifth within the league MVP vote, pitching to a 3.50 ERA with 16 full video games in 32 begins.
Stengal might have handed him, however Feller remained an All-Star by outcomes alone.
1951 Bowman #7 Gil Hodges
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $150
Gil Hodges’ all-or-nothing method was the important thing ingredient for essentially the most harmful offense of the 1951 MLB season.
The Brooklyn Dodgers narrowly fell one tiebreaker shy of an NL pennant, nevertheless it wasn’t for a scarcity of pop.
Brooklyn completed first within the Majors in runs per sport (5.4), bludgeoning the Nationwide League to a pulp all season lengthy.
Six Dodgers gamers completed within the high twenty of the NL MVP race, together with Hodges in a tie for sixteenth.
The 27-year-old first baseman hammered 40 house runs for the primary time, all however erasing the sting of an AL-worst 99 strikeouts.
4 of these bombs got here on August thirty first, making Hodges the fourth participant to tally 4 homers in a single sport.
The now three-time All-Star ended the 12 months with a .268/.374/.527 slash line and put collectively his first of three 100/100 seasons with 118 runs scored and 103 RBIs.
1951 Bowman Baseball Playing cards In Assessment
Headlined by two powerhouse rookie playing cards of Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays, the 1951 Bowman baseball set boasts a whopping 31 Corridor of Famers.
Contemplating that there are 324 playing cards within the guidelines, practically 1 out of 10 playing cards on this set are Corridor of Famers.
With star energy like that, it is onerous to not love these playing cards.
Even when there weren’t so many big-name ball gamers within the guidelines, the full-color art work alone makes them straightforward to admire.
However, as I discussed within the article’s introduction, this set one way or the other feels undervalued.
To assist that assertion, contemplate that the rookie playing cards of Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays are each overshadowed by their 1952 Topps counterparts.
It is comprehensible, given the 1952 Topps set’s place in interest historical past.
However it nonetheless appears odd at occasions.
Regardless, this set will all the time be probably the most iconic in interest historical past and there are numerous must-have playing cards inside the guidelines.
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