Posted By:
Ted ZanidakisOne of the earliest available Post-WWII baseball card sets is the 1947 Homogenized Bond Bread issue.
The 48 black and white cards in this set were found inserted in loaves of Bond Bread. And, in order to
package these cards inside the bread loaves, their four corners were die-cut beveled (or ROUNDED).
This set includes major rookie (or 1st) cards of Yogi Berra, Gil Hodges, Ralph Kiner, Stan Musial, Jackie
Robinson and Bobby Thomson. Major Stars include Joe DiMaggio, Bob Feller, and Ted Williams. Since
33 players (of the 44 BB cards) in this set are from NYC and Boston teams, this set is thought of as
a regional issue; however, Bond Bread was marketed nationwide and these cards were available as far
west as St Louis.
A controversy has existed in the hobby regarding the very available SQUARE corner versions of these
original cards. My findings are....
The ROUNDED cards are the real originals printed and issued in 1947....and they are tough to find.
The SQUARE cards fall into two categories......
(1) A second printing of only 24 of these BB cards was done when the manufacturer issued a Movie Star
set sometime in the 1950's.
(2) These same 24 BB players were again REPRINTED on inferior cardboard stock (date unknown, but before their
big FIND in the early 1980's).
In any event, the SQUARE cards are not to be regarded as the original 1947 issue. However, Grading Cos. are
grading them and erroneously labeling them as "1947 Homogenized Bond Bread".
Buyers beware....these SQUARE cards are not the real "rookies".
TED Z
SQUARE cornered cards issued in the 1950's
