After a paper shortage curtailed the hobby during the Great Depression and World War II, 1948 Bowman baseball cards represented a shaky first step toward growing a new generation of collectors.
While competitor Leaf splashed at least a bit of color across their new cards, 1948 Bowman was nothing but 48 black-and-white photos with simple typeset card backs.
Still, this set was historic, and it’s still plenty popular with collectors today.
Here, then, are the 12 most valuable 1948 Bowman baseball cards, ranked by PSA 7 values culled from the PSA Sports Market Report Price Guide.
Batter up!
1948 Bowman Stan Musial Rookie Card (#36)
By 1948, Musial had already won two National League Most Valuable Player Awards and helped the St. Louis Cardinals win two World Series.
He was probably the best player in the game and on a beeline for Cooperstown.
Yet, Musial had never had a nationally-released baseball card.
That all changed in 1948, when both Bowman and Leaf issued cards of Stan the Man.
Today, that 1948 Bowman rookie card sells for around $2000 in PSA 7.
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1948 Bowman Yogi Berra Rookie Card (#6)
Berra made his Major League debut in 1946 and was officially a rookie in 1947, so he was a relative unknown when this 1948 Bowman rookie card first saw the light of day.
Of course, Yogi would go on to do big things, including winning three AL MVP awards during the 1950s as the Yankees won championship after championship.
He’d also become baseball’s crown prince of malapropisms and, of course, a Hall of Famer.
Yogi’s Bowman rookie card is a $1000+ buy in PSA 7.
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1948 Bowman Warren Spahn Rookie Card (#18)
Spahn, too, was really just getting started on his MLB journey in 1948 — had debuted briefly with the Boston Braves in 1942 but then spent three years in World War II.
In 1947, though, the lefty put up his first of thirteen 20-win seasons and began to establish himself as one of the greatest starting pitchers of all time.
Today, Spahn’s 1948 Bowman rookie issue is a $400+ card in graded NM condition.
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1948 Bowman Phil Rizzuto Rookie Card (#8)
Rizzuto was a bit of a hybrid between Musial and Berra, as the Yanks’ shortstop hit the ground running in 1941 and 1942 before military service interrupted his Cooperstown run.
By 1948, he had been back in the Majors for two seasons, though, and New York was ready to reel off another run of championships.
Even given all that,, Rizzuto didn’t score a baseball card until 1948, and this short-printed Bowman rookie lines up at $400 in PSA 7.
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1948 Bowman Red Schoendienst Rookie Card (#38)
Schoendienst debuted for the Cards in 1945 and then moved into second base the next season.
He stayed there for the next ten years and helped St. Louis win a World Series in 1946.
Red also picked up a ring with the 1957 Milwaukee Braves and finished his Hall of Fame career with more than 2400 hits.
He was also at the managerial helm for those great Cardinals teams of the 1960s, and his Bowman rookie card sells for more than $300 in PSA 7 today.
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1948 Bowman Bob Feller (#5)
Feller is the first guy on this list whose 1948 Bowman is not a rookie card.
He was fresh off a 26-win season, though, and had run off tallies of 24, 27, and 25 victories right before the war.
Feller was already a Cleveland legend, in other words, and his 1948 Bowman is a $250 card in PSA 7.
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1948 Bowman Ralph Kiner Rookie Card (#3)
Kiner led the National League with 23 home runs in 1946, then upped the ante with 51 in 1947.
Turns out, he tore off seven straight homer titles before “slipping” to 35 in a 1953 season split between the Pirates and Cubs.
After a short but stellar ten-year career, Kiner developed himself into a legendary broadcaster and made the Hall of Fame cut in 1975.
Today, Kiner’s rookie card sells for north of $200 in PSA 7 condition.
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