The Bowman Gum Company was founded in Delaware in 1885 by William Bowman. Originally, the company produced chewing gum but did not get involved in the baseball card business until purchasing certain assets of the Goudey Gum Company in late 1933. Goudey had issued highly popular sets of gum and baseball cards from 1933-1936 but experienced financial difficulties during the Great Depression and was forced to close its doors.
Seeing the potential, Bowman acquired Goudey’s card manufacturing equipment and trademarks and decided to continue the concept of including a baseball card with each stick of gum. In 1934, Bowman issued its first set of cards as Goudey had done the prior years. Known as the “1934 Bowman Gum”, the set featured 165 cards highlighting players from the American and National Leagues in a very similar green-bordered design to the previous Goudey issues. This established Bowman as the new leader in the baseball card industry.
Bowman would go on to produce annual sets each year from 1934 through 1939, chronicling the players and teams of Major League Baseball. Each set steadily grew in size, with the 1935 and 1936 issues containing 200 cards, the 1937 release featuring 219 cards, and the late 1930s sets totaling a massive 365 cards each. The photography and production quality continued to improve as well under Bowman’s guidance.
In addition to the base sets, Bowman also experimented with variations like their famous “Diamond Stars” parallel subset cards recognizing some of the game’s biggest stars. They issued special promotional cards, oddball sized cards, and regional variations as interest in card collecting exploded across America during this time period. While tobacco cards had previously been more common, the Bowman Gum cards were the first mass-produced cardboard baseball cards inserted into bubblegum. This format took off and is still used extensively today by card companies.
When the U.S. entered World War II after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Bowman’s resources were diverted towards the war effort. Like many businesses, they suspended civilian card production through 1945 to focus on more essential goods. After the war ended, Bowman rejoined the sportscard scene by releasing sets in 1948 and 1949. The 1948 and 1949 issues paled in comparison to their golden era of the 1930s, containing a mere 60-70 cards each with plain designs. Competition was also increasing.
Bowman sold its baseball card operations after the 1949 season to Philadephia Gum and Chocolate Company, which continued producing Bowman cards for a couple more years before the brand disappeared. By the mid-1950s, Topps Chewing Gum had emerged as the dominant force in baseball cards and monopilized the market for decades. Still, Bowman was instrumental in popularizing the modern format of sports and trading cards inserted in chewing gum from 1933-1939. Their iconic vintage cards remain some of the most collected in the hobby.
In 1995, Upper Deck acquired the Bowman trademark and relaunched it as a high-end baseball card brand. Since then, Bowman cards have been produced annually focusing on prospects, rookie cards, and autographed memorabilia parallel inserts alongside the bigger Topps Series 1, 2, and Update releases each year. Modern Bowman issues like Bowman Chrome, Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects, and international Bowman products provide a second major baseball card organization. So while Bowman’s original golden era faded after WWII, the name is still synonymous with the sport over 80 years after they first sparked the modern baseball card craze by taking over from Goudey in 1933.
In summary, Bowman Gum Company entered the baseball card business in late 1933 after acquiring the remaining assets of the bankrupt Goudey Gum Company, including their card production equipment. From 1934 through 1949, Bowman issued highly popular and collectible annual sets that grew the hobby significantly and established the enduring format of sports cards packaged with gum. They continued Goudey’s tradition before selling their card division after 1949, but the Bowman brand was later revived successfully by Upper Deck in 1995 and remains a prominent name in the industry today focused on prospects, parallels, and high-end products. Bowman’s innovation and cards from their formative 1930s golden era left an indelible mark on the baseball card collecting world.
