Posted By:
Ted ZanidakisOK guys, I am 66 years old and the one great feature of aging is that your
mind starts reverting back to your youth. And, believe it or not, recalling
happy events when you were 15 or 10 or even 5 years old becomes clearer as
you age. These 1947 Homogenized Bond Bread cards were the first BaseBall
cards I collected growing up in Hillside, NJ. I lived only two blocks away
from "The Scooter" Rizzuto. I mention this because obviously I was an avid
Yankee fan and was only interested in collecting the Yankee cards.
I do have the complete set (48 cards); and, the fronts of 5 Yankees
(Joe DiMag, Berra, Lindell, Keller, and Rizzuto) that are in the set are
identically derived from the 1947 Yankee Stadium Photo packs. The same goes
for the 7 Dodgers (Ebbets Field Pix) and the 7 NY Giants (Polo Grounds Pix).
Two additional Yankees (Joe Gordon and Aaron Robinson are action pictures
that were taken in spring training. At least 12 other player's pictures
reflect spring training backgrounds.
I clearly recall that I bought these Bread cards before the 1948 Bowmans were
available.
The fact that I also collected the three 1947 NY Team Photo packs and am able
to compare the pictures has me convinced that this set was issued either in
the summer, or for sure by the fall of 1947. The Johnny Lindell card in the
set, I vaguely recall trading for with a classmate while attending Greek
school in the fall of 1947. My sister would be able to confirm this and I
will inquire of her.
The Jackie Robinson Bond Bread set (13 cards) is a subset that had limited
distribution. Barry Sloate's take on this is probably pretty accurate.