Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Janzen
Hello all, and thanks to the administrators for letting me in. Although I have used OldCardboard.com and PreWarCards.com extensively these past few months, I only discovered this site yesterday after doing a Google search for "Bond Bread Baseball Cards". I'm thrilled to have read this insightful discussion and thank Ted for opening the thread with his experience and insight and Michael (ABCToo) for his great research.
I did not collect many pre-war cards until this year; but now I love all of the great old issues, especially these and Exhibits cards with all of there wonderful black and white photographic images. In buying some cards on Ebay I have done research on PSA, the grading site. It seemed obvious that there is confusion about the Homogenized Bond Bread issue and classification/origin. This group has opened my eyes to what reality is. I agree with most of the analysis of what is, and what isn't a Bond Bread card.
Ok, newbies first comment and/or question about the actual post: While I agree that many of these cards are infacto Rookie Cards of many of the ballplayers of the era, is it possible that this fact has been ignored because Bond Bread was not widely distributed throughout the USA in that era? It seems it may have been more of a regional bread and card distribution in the east coast areas (where admittedly most of the ball clubs existed in the 1940's). Please correct my assumption if this is inaccurate. Thanks
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Welcome Scott,
I much appreciate your post. To me, the Bond Bread insert set is a regional issue. I grew up in the Oakland area of California. In the late 1940s and into the 1950s, the three Big Leagues for me were the Pacific Coast League, the National League and the American League. We had no MBL until 1958, when two "regional" teams moved from New York, one to San Francisco and the other to Los Angeles.
Today, the 1946-1950 Oakland Oaks bread sets are listed in many catalogs "Remar Bread Oakland Oaks." By 1947, the name on the bread packages changed from the baking company's name of "Remar" to their brand name, "Sunbeam." Being so young then, I had never heard of "Remar Bread," only of "Sunbeam Bread." To go to an extreme, you could ask why the "Bond Bread" and "Tip Top Bread" sets are not called the "General Baking" sets after the name of their baking company.
Scott, I hope I'm not rambling too much, but you are right in raising the issue of what is a "rookie" card.
In the 1980s as the "rookie" card hype and demand rapidly increased, many started or returned to card collecting because they could find quantities of current cards and sell them at outrageous prices. In new cards issues, manufacturers even began to replace journeymen players with untried rookies and special "inserts." It was even debated whether the Mark Maguire Olympics baseball card from the 1984 Topps baseball set was his "rookie" card because he did not play in the Major Leagues until later. Desipte the tens of thousands of a single card being graded, Wow! -- the demand and prices just grew, with "rookie" cards and special inserts still a main selling factor of new sets today.
Well, if you can get that kind of money for a common card, what about the "rookie" cards of retired players, especially those in the Hall of Fame? But these weren't that easy to find as those few who had been collecting for years before had found out. Without an adequate supply to meet the hyped-up demand for "rookie" cards, what did they do? First, they dropped the idea that a "rookie" card had to be issued the first year a player played professional baseball (those playing in the minor leagues also get paid). Such cards just did not exist for too many players. Then, they sidestepped the idea that a "rookie" had to be the actual first card a player appeared on. No adequate supply of regionally issued cards existed to touch the "rookie" card demand for old players.
Well, what are often considered as "the major" companies had had wide scale distribution of cards with sets including these players. And, obviously while not available in the quantities of "rookie" cards of the 1980s, "rookie" cards could be found and sold to meet demand. The Jackie Robinson 1948 Leaf baseball card fit the requirement. Though this card is not from his first year playing in the Major Leagues (1947 was his Major League rookie year) and was issued a year after his 1947 Bond Bread insert card and some of his other Bond Bread giveaways, in the parlance of the trade, the 1948 Leaf Jackie Robinson card is his "rookie card."
Scott, again thank you for your post. Keep them coming. I took to heart what you said. You've helped me understand just how easily a label can be put on something that has different meanings to different people. That's one of the problems in distinguishing Bond Bread package insert and giveaway cards from the many others erroneously labeled as "Bond Bread" cards. In the future, I will attempt to not label cards merely as "rookie" cards, but will identify them as either: (1) issued during the player's first year playing professional baseball, (2) first year playing in the Major Leagues, (3) first card issued of player, or (4) first card issued by set manufacturer. That's a lot more words than saying "rookie" card, but at least it won't be so ambiguous that somebody could think we're talking about something.
Mike