Fifties Friday: 1950

Last week I had a post on the year with the fewest Cubs card, 1956. I showed all of the Cubs cards from the year and it seems like it was well received. So I thought I would make a regular feature that shows the early Cubs cards that many of you may never have seen. Hence, today I begin Fifties Fridays.

I'll get things started with 1950. The only cards that I've got to show from 1950 are from Bowman. There are 15 cards in the set. My cards are reprints; some day I'll spring for the real things, but for now, the reprints are good enough. I really like that many of the cards feature the players at Wrigley Field. It makes me happy to see the Cubs in their home uniforms, though these aren't the familiar blue pinstripes. Those didn't come until 1957.

The most recognizable name would probably be Hall of Famer Frankie Frisch, who was the Cubs' skipper. Phil Cavaretta and Hank Sauer were the stars of the team. And as they did throughout the fifties, there are some recognizable players that starred for other teams but were over the hill by the time they came to the Cubs. The 1950's version would be Mickey Owen and Johnny VanderMeer.



Phil Cavaretta



Hank Edwards, plus the back end of some unidentified person in the background. Since these were painted, why not just skip the guys rear end and put in the bricks.



This took ten minutes. Not the greatest job, but the butt is gone!



Frankie Frisch



Doyle Lade, with the iconic Wrigley brick.



Dutch Leonard



Mickey Owen, with the Wrigley grandstands in the background.



Andy Pafko



Bob Rush, plus what would become known as the Budweiser house in the background.



Hank Sauer



Johnny Schmitz This artist's interpretation of the left field bleachers is a bit off.


Bill Serena



Roy Smalley



Wayne Terwilliger



Johnny VanderMeer



Preston Ward