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Originally Posted by barrysloate
Interesting. I would have assumed Manhattan, but surprised the cards were available in all those other cities. If that is the case, then why isn't the Bond Bread Jackie's rookie card? It really should be.
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Barry, I think there are 4 reasons as to why it hasn't picked up more steam as being Jackie's official rookie card.
1) Jackie was the only player featured in the set of 13. I could be wrong, but I feel like most widely accepted RCs come from sets with multiple players.
2) The confusion on the release date. Because it was incorrectly believed for quite some time that all 13 cards were released in 1947, it is likely that most collectors didn't know which card should be considered his RC, so thereby figured the Leaf/Bowman options would be easier to classify as such.
3) While the card wasn't regional in terms of city distribution, it was primarily distributed in neighborhoods / suburbs with larger black / African-American populations. This doesn't mean that it wasn't available in neighborhoods where the demographic was primarily white, but the majority of distribution did happen where there was a larger black demographic. I think this is why the regional label does still stick.
4) Low pop numbers in comparison to the Leaf / Bowman issues. While the reported distribution numbers of the Bond Bread white borders portrait card were very high, the pop reports would lead one to believe otherwise. I think that the low pop numbers contribute as well to the regional label. As I mentioned in a previous reply, I believe that many of the people that received this card, and the other Bond Bread white border cards (D302) weren't necessarily baseball card collectors. As we know, Jackie's importance went well beyond the game, and would thus make this promotional item attractive to those that never bought a pack, etc.
I believe that there are many more of at least the white border portrait card out there. As for the remaining 12 - I'm not really sure. The distribution areas were the same, though the distribution #s aren't as clear on those just yet.