The design of the '54 cards was much simpler that the TV set of 1955. It's just a picture and an autograph. After using real photographs in 1953, Bowman went back to the paintings in 1954.
In all, there were 15 Cubs in the set. My plan was to get these one at a time, auctions only, as I planned for the 1955 set. But once again, a large lot of these popped up on ebay. It had ten of the 15 cards, and I couldn't resist. I ended up paying less than $1.50 per card for the lot.
As with the '55's, the condition wasn't mint, but I wasn't looking for mint. There were still five more cards left, and it took me only two weeks to get them wrapped up. There was no Ernie Banks card in the '54 set, so that made this much cheaper to finish.
With this project completed, I've now got all of the Cubs from the early edition of Bowman, 1949 - 1955. The first five years worth of cards are reprints, while the last two are the real things.
So I can now check Bowman off my list.
Here are the fifteen '54's. Enjoy!
Frank Baumholtz
Dee Fondy
Hall of Fame broadcaster Joe Garagiola
Jim Greengrass
Warren Hacker
Ransom Jackson
Hal Jeffcoat
Ralph Kiner
Johnny Klippstein
Turk Lown
Eddie Miksis
Paul Minner
Bob Rush
Bill Serena
Roy Smalley, who was a bit wild with his throws from shortstop. Instead of "Tinkers to Evers to Chance," the joke was "Miksis to Smalley to Addison Street!" He is also the only Cub player in the 20-50 club....21 homers and 51 errors in 1951.
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