You can’t fully understand this card without reading… This link about the 1948 Bowman set as a whole.
As we approach the end of the first 36 cards in the first series, there are some valuable highlights. The Red Holzman rookie card, #32, is a very in-demand card. Obviously, it doesn’t touch the George Mikan rookie card, but it stands strong alongside cards of Joe Fulks, Jim Pollard and Carl Braun. The 2001 Standard Catalog of Basketball Cards lists it at $425 compared to a common value of $50, giving a good relative price comparison. This card stayed very popular thanks to Holzman’s fame as a coach for the Knicks, leading them to championships in 1970 and 1973. He was even named to the Top Ten Coaches in NBA History list by the league in 1996. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1986. And this is the only card of the coaching legend as a player!!! All of this combined really increases the demand for the card.
The reverse of the card indicates Holzman’s first year in the BAA, but he was in a similar status as the #10 Bob Davies, actually being a champion veteran. He was part of the Royal’s National Basketball League championship teams of 1945-46 as well as the following season. So although this is his first basketball card, and his first as a BAA member, it certainly wasn’t his first year playing professional basketball.
Along with the #10 Bob Davies card, this is another wonderful snapshot of basketball history due to the team featured. The history in this card is incredible! As you already know from reading about the 1948 Bowman Set, the set features BAA players…so what’s the deal with the NBL championships referenced in this card? The card marks the debut of the Rochester Royals in the BAA. This is the first in a series of shuffles that led to the Sacramento Kings. Follow… Rochester Royals move from NBL to BAA, BAA becomes NBA, teams moves to Cincinnati in 1957 (Cincinnati Royals), team moves to Kansas City Missouri in 1972 playing some of its games in Omaha (Kansas City-Omaha Kings), team gives up on Omaha in 1975 (Kansas City Kings), team moves to Sacramento in 1985 (Sacramento Kings). A chain of events all started with the move mentioned in this card, the NBL to BAA switch. Bob Davies (#10) and Red Holzman (#32) are wonderful cards marking a dominant team who won the NBL Championship in 1945-46 and 1946-47 and an NBA Championship in 1951!
In Short: We’ve looked at some fun coach cards on this channel, like this Red Auerbach where even his cigar is embossed! And we also talked about the fun of collecting player cards of well known coaches. Well, for the legendary Knicks coach, Red Holzman, this is the only card of him produced while he was a player (as far as I know). It’s often referred to as a rookie, because obviously, it was the first card made of since 1948 Bowman was the first set dedicated entirely to professional basketball. But Holzman was only new to the BAA (Basketball Association of America), the league featured in this set. He was a well-established veteran having already won championships with the Royals in the National Basketball League Subscribe and collect with us at Cataloged Clutter, we try to enjoy and study every card in a set.
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