Jackie Robinson RCs taking off

[rats60]

Originally Posted by G1911

I've never understood how the 1949 Bowman and 1949 Leaf are considered rookies at all. His rookie is the 1947 Bond Bread (the set dedicated to him, plus his card in the regular Bond set).

He also has a 1948 Swell. There are no less than 15 cards that pre-date the Bowman and Leaf.

It is believed that half the Bond Bread cards were issued after 1948. We know some of the photos were taken during the 1949 season. So there is some debate as to issue date. PSA has only graded more than 20 of 2 of the 12. The promo is believed to be a giveaway card, PSA has graded 109 of these. PSA doesn’t grade the regular Bond set. The Swell card is more a highlight card than a standard baseball card. Is the 1960 Topps World Series game 5 card Maury Wills RC? PSA has graded 156 of the Swell cards. PSA has graded 1344 of the 1949 Leaf cards. We can see by the numbers available that the Leaf cards were more of a national issue and the others regional. It is also from a traditional set with 98 different players, not a set only featuring 1 player or a set of highlight cards. That is why the hobby considers Leaf a RC instead of the others.