OT: Revisiting the D302 Jackie Robinson Bond Bread Release Date

[CharleyBrown]

Originally Posted by tedzan

Hi Shaun

OK, our small town didn't have any black neighborhoods, and that may explain why the Jackie Robinson cards were not available to us.


" Out of curiosity, did markets ever sell prepackaged bread by the slice ? " ..........

Not in our area....the markets in our town only had the full bread loaf packages. I was lucky in that my Father and my Uncle owned restaurants
which bought a lot of Bond bread. Hence, I collected a lot of these cards, and I still have them. Here's an original 1947 BOND BREAD wrapper......











TED Z
.

Incredible pieces Ted. Were the set of 48 cards wrapped in individual plastic packages, or were they loose in the bread packaging? Do you have the full set from the original cards you obtained from your father and uncle?

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by CharleyBrown

Incredible pieces Ted. Were the set of 48 cards wrapped in individual plastic packages, or were they loose in the bread packaging? Do you have the full set from the original cards you obtained from your father and uncle?

Shaun

1st....I'm not sure, but the cards were not loose inside the bread loaf (otherwise they would have had "bread stains" on them). It's almost 70 years ago,
and my recollection is somewhat fuzzy on how these cards were inserted. Perhaps, my sister remembers..

2nd....I have the 44 baseball cards. I must have traded away the 4 boxers years ago.



TED Z
.

[h2oya311]

awesome research and thanks for the follow-up note about the Old Gold cards. I missed this post last year and I am so glad that it has been bumped back to the front page.

This is what Net54 is all about! Oh, and to show off our cool stuff too!

[Leon]

Originally Posted by h2oya311

awesome research and thanks for the follow-up note about the Old Gold cards. I missed this post last year and I am so glad that it has been bumped back to the front page.

This is what Net54 is all about! Oh, and to show off our cool stuff too!

Ted (hey Ted) has done some of the best research on this board of anyone. Showing off cards is a close second.. ......

Timely bump due to discussion regarding the Bond Bread's, particularly the Jackie Robinson RC. Too bad the pictures are all gone as they made the research even more compelling

[CharleyBrown]

It has been a long while since I posted in this thread. I now have access to archives to historical black newspapers, and have already found more evidence related to this issue's timeline and release range:

Here's a newspaper article from July 1947 from New York Amsterdam News (I have a PDF of the original that is much larger and easier to read if anyone wants it. This article shows that the original Facsimile card was distributed for free to the majority of Black families in Harlem, NY prior to July 1947. In July 1947, it was distributed in promo packages with 2 slices of bread. ANYBODY that wrote to General Baking / Bond Bread was given for free a copy of the card. While I am still researching, this article also indicates that other "picture cards", which I now believe to be the other six attributed to 1947 were distributed at newsstands, candy stores, ice cream stands, etc. This makes sense, given that 6 of the photos were taken with Jackie prior to the start of the 1947 season. At the end of the article, it states clearly that this issue was not limited to NY, but rather distributed in other cities with large Black communities, including but not limited to Philadelphia, Washington DC, Baltimore and Detroit. This covers essentially all the MLB cities in 1947, indicating that this issue was not regional as it was once believed to be.

[CharleyBrown]

Will consolidate all my recent findings in a new thread, and I probably should do an official write-up for collecting publications, but here's some tidbits:

Jackie was first approached by Dixie Walker in early May informing him of a nationally-known bread company's desire to secure his endorsement. Jackie turned down that company. It is unclear if it was General Baking / Bond Bread, or Wonder Bread (which had already signed Dixie Walker).

It was reported on May 31 that Jackie had signed a deal for $500 with General Baking / Bond Bread, a nationally known bakery to endorse their bread. This was Jackie's first endorsement deal. He would later sign on with Old Gold Cigarettes later in 1947, after the facsimile Bond Bread card was released.

By July 1947, 2 million copies of the facsimile card were printed. Distribution began in Harlem, but by October, copies were distributed from Montreal to St. Louis. Cities such as Montreal, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Detroit, Norfolk, Baltimore, Washington D.C., New York, Cleveland and St. Louis were areas of distribution.

General Baking / Bond Bread, along with companies like Phillip Morris, Pepsi-Cola, and Royal Crown Cola (R-C Cola), made a push in 1948 to make more connections to the Black community and reach their market, starting a new trend that featured prominent Black athletes, actors, etc. in various phases of everyday life. This would explain the "At-Home" advertisement featuring Jackie, Rachel and Jackie Jr. in the kitchen, Jackie showing Jackie Jr. how to bat, and Rachel carrying groceries.

Past articles about the issue stated that Bond Bread was succumbed to pressure / backlash for their endorsement agreement with Jackie Robinson. Those articles said that Bond Bread ended their deal with him and pulled all their cards, which is why the issue is so scarce.

I believe that to be incorrect, though I am still looking for concrete proof / evidence to dispute that claim. Given the trend of major companies to make inroads / expand their reach into the Black community / market in 1948, it makes little sense that they would immediately reverse course. Furthermore, Jackie went on to endorse Chesterfield Cigarettes in 1949 and Borden's Evaporated Milk in 1950 (which distributed a facsimile autographed 8x10 photo of Robinson in exchange for 3 labels and 10 cents).

For that reason, I believe Jackie signed onto a 2-3 year deal with General Baking / Bond Bread and at the completion of that deal's terms, the agreement was not renewed.