1948 Leaf Spahn card front
Card Details:
Manufacturer: Leaf
Year: 1948
Card Number: 32
Paper: Coarse Cardstock
Size: 2 3/8” x 2 7/8”
Card Status: Rookie
The Set:
The 1948 Leaf Baseball Set is the smallest we have profiled in “The Cards” to date; made up of a mere 98 cards. Despite being only 98 cards, the set is numbered 1-168. Leaf became the first to use number-skipping print methods. There are some collector’s who believe this method was a deliberate and deceitful move by the manufacturer; forcing collectors to buy more packs to fill in the “holes” of the set. Other’s believe Leaf had originally intended to produce another series that filled the gaps and simply never complete it.
The original 98 cards were released in two series, the first of which were more widely distributed. This lower distribution for the second series resulted in those 49 cards becoming Short-Prints. This set from Leaf became the first colorized series to be issued after World War II; this colorization made the Leaf set much more desirable that its black-and-white counterpart issued by rival Bowman.
Many hobby experts will tell you that they believe this set was not actually released until 1949, despite many the cards having a copyright date of 1948 on the backs. This belief comes from the fact that there are a significant number of cards in the series that have a copyright date of 1949 on the back; thus, they believe some were produced in 48, however, the set was not actually released until 49. The cards were also printed on a coarse cardstock, leaving them susceptible to quick damage.
The set itself is loaded with stars of the day and had an extremely loaded front containing Joe DiMaggio (No. 1), Babe Ruth (No. 3) and Stan Musial (No. 4) [HOF RC]. The set also contained stars like: Luke Appling, Bobby Doerr, Bob Feller, Ted Kluszewski, Enos Slaughter, Ted Williams and Honus Wagner. Future HOFer is also joined by the HOF Rookie Cards of Larry Doby, George Kell, Hal Newhouser, Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige, Phil Rizzuto, Warren Spahn and Ralph Kiner.
Upon distribution each card had the words “All-Star Baseball Gum” printed across the bottom of the card followed by one of three premium offers for collectors. The offers were as follows:
Submit 10 wrappers to the vendor they bought from and receive a 5 ½” x 7 ½” black-and0white portrait of one of eight hall of famers (Glover Alexander, Mickey Cochrane, Lou Gehrig, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, John McGraw, Babe Ruth and Ed Walsh.)
Mail five wrappers and 10 cents to Leaf to obtain a 12” x 6” pennant of their favorite big league team.
Send in five wrappers and 25 cents to obtain an album that would hold up to 168 cards.
The Card:
1948 Leaf Spahn card back
No. 32 Warren Spahn of the 1948 Leaf Baseball set has a solid bold orange background with a colorize portrait of Spahn’s face emblazoned on the front; Spahn is in the Boston Braves ballcap. Surrounding the orange background is a thin white border. At the base of the card Spahn’s name can be found in all capitals within a black strip that runs across from right to left within the background.
The card’s reverse contains much more information than its front. The first thing that is seen across the top is the card number (32) and player’s name. Directly below with a center justification Spahn’s position and team can be found. Continuing down the card collectors can find the pertinent biographical information including but not limited to age, height, and weight.
Most of the back is filled with a blurb about the player, Spahn’s reads:
One half of Braves’ famous Sain-Spahn pitching combination that paced team to 1948 NL Pennant. Won one and lost one in World Series vs. Cleveland. During season’s play captured 15 decisions and dropped 12 with ERA of 3.71 – 13th best in the circuit. Led NL in ERA in 1947 with 2.33 mark; most innings pitched (290) and most shutouts (7). Won 21 and lost 10.
As mentioned above, the back of the card also contains one of the three promotions. No. 32 is printed with Promo 3 and reads:
Collect this series of Diamond Greats. You’ll be proud to show your gorgeous collection of Baseball cards in beautiful, specially-designed, 32 pg. album. Get it for only 5 Baseball Wrappers and 25c. Striking color cover. Large (11” x 8 ½”) heavy black pages. Can display 168 different Baseball cards. Send wrappers and coin to LEAF GUM CO., Box 5907 CHICAGO 80, ILL.
The copyright date across the bottom of the card is dated 1948.
The Player:
Bat: Left Throw: Left
Height: 6’0” Weight: 175lbs
Debut: 19 April 1942 Final: 1 October 1965
DOB: 23 April 1921 Death: 24 November 2003
Warren Spahn is the winningest left-handed pitcher in MLB history having captured 363 wins over the course of his career, including 13 seasons of 20 or more wins. Spahn would break into the league in 1942 with the Boston Braves and would later join the US Army that same year. During his service time he participated in the Battle of the Bulge and the Taking of the Bridge at Remagen. For his service he was awarded a Purple Heart (wounded in battle) and a Bronze Star (conspicuous bravery while under fire).
Spahn aged like fine wine, only getting better with age. In fact, he won at least 20 games in each of the 1956-61 seasons, led the league in complete games from 1957-63 and put together an extremely impressive 1963 campaign going 23-7 with a 2.60 ERA. In fact, the most memorable performance of his career came in 1963 against the San Francisco Giants on 3 July 1963. Spahn squared off against Juan Marichal and both pitched 16 innings of shutout baseball until Willie Mays took Spahn deep to win the game.
When it came to pitching Spahn once said “A pitcher needs two pitches – one they’re looking for and one to cross them up” when, in reality, he developed a number of off-speed pitches to go along with his fastball. When he started to lose his fastball later in his career, he added yet another pitch to his arsenal; the screwball.
Being a pitcher before 1973, when the Designated Hitter was introduced to the game, Spahn found himself having to hit at the plate. He was a career .194 hitter (not to shabby for a hurler) and he hit 35 homeruns, collected 189 RBI and scored 141 runs to help himself out. He ended his career having earned himself 363 career hits, one for each of his career wins! Altogether, Spahn would hit .200 or better in 8 seasons and posted a career high .333 BA in 1958 during which he hit 6 doubles, 1 triple, 2 homeruns and drove in 15 runs while scoring 10 himself.
Spahn’s election to the Baseball Hall of Fame was delayed. Fellow HOFer Stan Musial once said “I don’t think Spahn will ever get into the Hall of Fame. He’ll never stop pitching.” Spahn could have been elected in 1971, however, he pitched for the Mexico City Tigers (Mexican League) in 1966 and the Tulsa Oilers (Pacific Coast League) in 1967 delaying his election until 1973. He became the 6th player elected in his first year of eligibility (82.89%).
After his playing years he managed the Tulsa Oilers from 1967-71. During his years at the helm he compiled a record of 373-339 and was League Champion in 1968 with a 95-53 record. With just over one week remaining in the 1971 season Spahn was informed that his contract with the team would be terminated upon the conclusion of the season; he informed the team he would not manage the final 7 games of the season. In October 1970 Spahn was offered the position of pitching coach with the St. Louis Cardinals for the 1971 season after Billy Muffett had been fired by the organization, obviously Spahn turned in down to stay with Tulsa to only be fired at the end of the season. He also spent two years as the pitching coach for the Cleveland Indians.
Notable Achievements:
14x NL All-Star (1947, 1949-54, 1956-59 & 1961-63)
ML Cy Young Award Winner (1957)
3x NL ERA Leader (1947, 1953 & 1961)
8x NL Wins Leader (1949-50, 1953 & 1957-61)
NL Winning Percentage Leader (1958)
4x NL Innings Pitched Leader (1947, 1949 & 1958-59)
4x NL Strikeouts Leader (1949-52)
9x NL Complete Games Leader (1949, 1951 & 1957-63)
4x NL Shutouts Leader (1947, 1951, 1959 & 1961)
15 Win Seasons: 16 (1947-51 & 1953-63)
20 Win Seasons: 13 (1947, 1949-51, 1953-54, 1956-61 & 1963)
200 Inning Pitched Seasons: 17 (1947-63)
300 Innings Pitched Seasons: 2 (1949 & 1951)
World Series Championships: 1 (1957 Milwaukee Braves)
Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1973
Records Held:
Innings Pitched, Left-Hander, Career: 5243.2
Wins, Left-Hander, Career: 363
Starts Against Single Club, Career: 115 v. St. Louis
Also holds second place (108 v. New York) and tied third place (105 v. Detroit)
Population and Sales:
To date 26,245 cards from the 1948 Leaf Baseball set have passed through PSA in California. Of those, 945 are Warren Spahn (No. 32); a mere 3.6% of the graded population. The 945 can be broken down to 807 full grades, 107 half (+) grades and 31 qualifier (q) grades.
1948 Leaf Spahn Population Report
Of the 807 full grade cards 533 (66%) of them fall between PSA 3-6 and around 18% or 141 cards are PSA 7-8. There are only 5 cards graded PSA 9 or higher; four of which are in the PSA 9.
The current VCP of a PSA 1, like the one in my collection, is $185 with a high sale of $228 and low of $147.50. My purchase price back in 2020 was $149 so the card has seen a slight increase in value. The overall sales range from $49 for a PSA Authentic all the way to $31,200 for a PSA 9.
1948 Leaf Spahn price range
Work Cited
“1948 Leaf Baseball Cards: PSA Population.” Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), www.psacard.com/pop/baseball-cards/1948/leaf/41067.
“1948 Leaf Warren Spahn: PSA CardFacts®.” Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), www.psacard.com/cardfacts/baseball-cards/1948-leaf/warren-spahn-32/21555.
Admin. “Admin.” Society for American Baseball Research, Admin /Wp-Content/Uploads/2020/02/sabr_logo.Png, 4 Jan. 2012, sabr.org/bioproj/person/warren-spahn/.
“Baseball Cards - 1948 Leaf: PSA CardFacts®.” Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), www.psacard.com/cardfacts/baseball-cards/1948-leaf/144.
Guide, Baseball Card Value Price. “1948 Leaf Warren Spahn #32 (Hall of Fame).” 1948 Leaf Warren Spahn #32 Baseball - VCP Price Guide, vintagecardprices.com/card/baseball-card-values/1948-Leaf-Warren-Spahn-32/42400.
“Managers – Page 21.” RetroSimba, retrosimba.com/category/managers/page/21/.
“Tulsa Oilers (Baseball).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_Oilers_(baseball).
“Warren Spahn Stats.” Baseball, www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/spahnwa01.shtml.
“Warren Spahn.” Baseball Hall of Fame, baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/spahn-warren.
“Warren Spahn.” Warren Spahn - BR Bullpen, www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Warren_Spahn.