I'd be interested in the print numbers of various sets featuring Jackie from '48-50.
Obviously, we know the impact that WWII had on baseball. There was also a documented paper shortage that impacted the printing of trading cards and just about everything else, including congressional speeches.
General Baking was one of the largest and best-selling bread companies during that time and saw Jackie as an advertising goldmine from the jump. As early as May 1947, they approached Jackie with a reported significant offer to get him onboard... an offer he initially rejected:
He later accepted a follow-up offer in June, and Bond Bread / General Baking immediately went to work, with the first advertisements featuring the Portrait image appearing in newspapers. Despite the documented paper shortage, they printed a significant number of the Portrait card. It wasn't until 1948 that other companies like Bowman Gum Company, Leaf International, and Philadelphia Gum Company began to mass-print trading cards, with Bowman and Leaf distributing cards in packs and Philadelphia Gum Co. (Swell) offering cards for free with the purchase of 2 pieces of gum.
The Portrait cards began to be distributed in July 1947, starting in Harlem and expanding to much of the nation. It was reported that 2,000,000 cards were printed and distributed by shop owners, bread delivery drivers, by mail, and in packages of 2 slices of bread. See the following from the Baltimore Afro-American.
The success of the Bond Bread campaign was noted by other major corporations, including Phillip Morris, Pepsi-Cola, and more... as noted in this 1948 newspaper from Norfolk, VA. These corporations recognized the benefit of advertising in press that targeted African-Americans / the black community.
From a July edition of the New York Amsterdam:
The campaign, which started in Harlem, was aimed at both white and black families.
