The 1947 Homogenized Bond Bread inserts and Cards and Photos from the era with like and similar pictures.
APPENDIX A – Part Two (Working)
1. The 48 card set (44 baseball players and 4 boxers) inserted in 1947-1948 into Homogenized Bond Bread packages.
Characteristics:
1. Printed on one side
2. White Paper Stock
3. Corners
a. Some with very crudely cut/die cut rounded corners
b. Most with distinctive die cutting, but not of the quality of playing cards
The confusion with look-a-likes and the lack of ability on the part of most people and grading services makes it quite often impossible to tell one apart from another. True Bond Bread cards are actually quite scarce if not rare. If I was one who actually took a card out of a Bond Bread package or obtained it from someone I knew conclusively actually did, then I would take a small card-size piece of paper, give it a heading of “DECLARATION,” and put in the following text: “I, [name] declare under penalty of perjury that I [or if appropriate insert the following phrase: “acquired this card from [name] who”] personally obtained the attached card from a package of Homogenized Bond Bread.,” then date and sign. I would keep the declaration with the card.
2. 1947 Team Photo Packs.
Before and after WWII, real photographs of members of individual baseball teams were available from several sources in a variety of sizes, such 5” x 7”, 6½” x 9” and 8” x 10”, and usually were sold at ballparks, by mail, on some news-stands and in some variety stores. The envelope containing a team set could vary by publisher, and different team sets from the same publisher could vary in the number of photographs from 8 to 31. Most of the team photo packs had printed on the outside of the envelope containing them at least an identification of the team by its name or team logo. Some were dated, but most were not. It was not an uncommon practice to not change a previous year's team photo set if all of the players pictured in the prior year still remained on the team. That was especially true during the early post-WWII years of 1946, 1947 and 1948. Publishers of these sets could be the team itself, the maker of the Team Photo Packs sold by ballpark concessioneer Harry M. Stevens, or others.
The printing and developing of the large quantity of photographs needed to supply the demand was no small task. The volume of photograph needed meant that the printing and developing would have begun long before the new baseball season started. Large photographic printing companies had machines that could print 10,000 glossy real photos from a single negative within an 8 hour day. A single team set containing 25 photographs could require the equivalent of twenty-five 8-hour workdays to produce. Of course, these companies had many more than just one machine to process negatives. Such machines ran 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (except when down for maintenance), to recoup their high purchase prices. Sets of more popular teams sold in larger quantities than those of other teams. To be ready for a new season, the quantities of sets made for an individual team could depend on how many of the previous year's sets had sold or still remained. That was determined long before the new season started, with new printings in a sufficient supply to last throughout the season. The timing can lead to interesting mix-ups in Team Photo Packs. For example, a portrait of Joe Gordon in a Cleveland Indians uniform was included in the 1947 Indians Team Photo Pack, and he does not appear in the 1947 Yankees Team Photo Pack – the pack of the team he actually played for in 1947. The Bond Bread insert set and look-a-likes show Joe Gordon in an action shot in a Yankees uniform, and not his portrait in an Indians uniform.
Similarly, the following pictures are from the 1947 Team Photo Packs sold by Harry M. Stevens in ballparks. The Bond Bread insert set and look-a-likes show actions shots instead. Below are such examples of the portrait type photographs in the initial printing of the player's respective team photograph sets sold in the ballparks – Bob Feller (Indians), Ken Keltner (Indians) and Gil Hodges (Dodgers).
A Duke Snider “rookie” is not in the Bond Bread set, but is in the Dodgers Team Photo Pack. He earned a tryout with the Brooklyn Dodgers during their Spring training in 1947. Snider played his first game with the Dodgers (and in the Major Leagues) on April 17, 1947, the second day of the season. In early July, he was sent down to the St. Paul Saints, but returned to the Dodgers at the end of the season in time to play against the New York Yankees in the 1947 World Series. In all, in 1947 he played 39 Major League games during the regular season. Timing is everything with production and distribution of products related to baseball. Snider's absence from the Bond Bread insert set could suggest the 1947 Dodgers Team Photo Sets were produced before Spring training without him, or were reprinted during the season because the existing supply did not meet the demand.
Very few, if any of the glossy photos from the Team Photo Packs ever get misdescribed as “Bond Bread” photos. Yet, much of the discussion about the source of the photos used on the Bond Bread cards and their look-a-likes can only compound the public's confusion about what is what. I've seen complete, individual Team Photo Sets from 1946 through 1950 on the internet at prices from $50 to $250 or more, with some hipping certain individual players for more.
We can all help clarify the Team Photo Pack issues. If anyone has a Team Photo Pack from 1946 through 1948 of any of the teams of players appearing on the “Bond Bread” insert set, please confirm that the picture in the individual teams set is or is not the same as that on the Bond Bread insert card. My limited access to such sets has led me to only the following identifications. I have used the word, “pix” to mean picture.
NEW YORK GIANTS
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JOHNNY MIZE (pix in the 1948 Giants Team Photo Pack)
SID GORDON (not yet determined)
LARRY JANSEN (pix in 1948 Team Photo Pack)
SHELDON JONES (pix in 1948 Team Photo Pack)
BUDDY KERR (pix in 1948 Team Photo Pack)
WHITEY LOCKMAN (pix in the Giants 1948 Team Photo Pack)
WILLARD MARSHALL (not yet determined)
BOBBY THOMSON (pix in the Giants 1948 Team Photo Pack)
Note: the Walker Cooper pix (not part of Bond Bread set) but discussed in this thread is in the 1948 Team Photo Pack
BROOKLYN DODGERS
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JACKIE ROBINSON (pix in 1947 Dodgers Team Photo Pack)
REX BARNEY (Not in the 1947 Team Photo Pack)
RALPH BRANCA (pix in 1947 Team Photo Pack)
BRUCE EDWARDS (not yet determined)
CARL FURILLO (pix in 1947 Dodgers Tetam Photo Pack)
JOE HATTEN (pix in 1947 Dodgers Team Photo Pack)
GIL HODGES (card is different picture than 1947 Dodgers Team Photo Pack)
PEE WEE REESE (pix in 1947 Dodgers Team Photo Pack)
NEW YORK YANKEES
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JOE DiMAGGIO (same as Team Photo Pack)
LARRY BERRA (same as Team Photo Pack)
JOE GORDON (NOT IN Yankees Team Photo Pack, but in Indians uniform in 1947 Indians Team Photo Pack, he was traded by the Indians to the Yankees Oct. 11, 1946 for Allie Reynolds)
CHARLIE KELLER (same as Team Photo Pack)
JOHNNY LINDELL (same as Team Photo Pack)
PHIL RIZZUTO (same as Team Photo Pack)
AARON ROBINSON (unknown pix included in Team Photo Pack)
BOSTON RED SOX
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TED WILLIAMS 1947-47 Red Sox Team Photo Pack has portrait of Williams, not action shot as Bond Bread card)
DOM DIMAGGIO (1947-47 Red Sox Team Photo Pack has portrait of Dom DiMaggio , not action shot as Bond Bread card)
BOBBY DOERR (1947-47 Red Sox Team Photo Pack has portrait of Doerr, not action shot as Bond Bread card)
JOHNNY PESKY
CLEVELAND INDIANS
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BOB FELLER (The 1947 Indians Team Photo Pack has a portrait of Bob Feller, not an action shot like the Bond Bread set)
LOU BOUDREAU (1948 Indians Team Pack has portrait of Boudeau, Feller and Keltner, not action shots)
KEN KELTNER (The 1947 Indians Team Photo Pack has a portrait of Ken Keltner, not an action shot like the Bond Bread set)
GEORGE (BIRDIE') TEBBETTS (not yet determined)
ST LOUIS CARDINALS
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STAN MUSIAL (not yet determined)
HARRY BRECHEEN (not yet determined)
ENOS SLAUGHTER (not yet determined)
BOSTON BRAVES
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JOHNNY SAIN (not yet determined)
BOB ELLIOTT (not yet determined)
TOMMY HOLMES (not yet determined)
CINCINNATI REDS
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EWELL BLACKWELL (not yet determined)
JOHNNY VANDERMEER (not yet determined)
CHICAGO CUBS
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ANDY PAFKO (not yet determined)
PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS
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EDDIE JOOST (not yet determined)
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
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DEL ENNIS (not yet determined)
PITTSBURGH PIRATES
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RALPH KINER (not yet determined)
ST LOUIS BROWNS
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VERN STEPHENS (not yet determined)
Let's put an end to the serious “Bond Bread” debacle. Your contributions can help prevent collectors from being misled and paying too much for a mislabeled item, and can increase the value of other cards that have been cast aside as merely “Bond Bread” ones. Today, I saw on the internet a card called “Ted Williams Card From Bond Bread,” which is pictured below. [Ted said to “show us your cards.”] If I even said its the wrong picture, would I be saying too much?
To not overload an individual post, this Appendix is being split into parts, and will continue with the posting of Part Three.
Copyright 2020, by Michael Fried, P.O. Box 27521, Oakland, California 94602-0521