Jackie Robinson RCs taking off

[DeanH3]

Here's some of the info from the research. If the market determines his Leaf card is his rookie card then that's fine. But it should at least be aknwoledged that the Bond Bread card was not a regional issue only. And, has the market finally decided that the Leaf card is not a 1948 issue date?

Taken from Shaun Fyffe's research. Obviously I didn't paste everything. Just pertinent info with regards to the portrait card.

The first card was the Portrait-Facsimile card with the bio back. This card was first seen in Harlem in June / July of 1947, and was distributed by grocery store owners, and also in promotional packages with two slices of bread and coupons.

It should be noted that, as early as June of 1947, African-American newspapers in all major baseball U.S. cities began running advertisements promoting Jackie's endorsement deal with Bond Bread, and also the availability of the promotional card. This is quite interesting, as it was initially believed that Branch Rickey would not allow Jackie to sign an endorsement deal until the season was over, as he didn't want it to be a distraction.

Come September of 1947, the card's distribution expanded to every major city from Montreal to St. Louis. This Bond Bread set should no longer be considered a regional set for that very reason. As such, the Bond Bread facsimile-signature card should be considered Jackie's true rookie card / first nationally distributed rookie card.

[rats60]

Originally Posted by DeanH3

Here's some of the info from the research. If the market determines his Leaf card is his rookie card then that's fine. But it should at least be aknwoledged that the Bond Bread card was not a regional issue only. And, has the market finally decided that the Leaf card is not a 1948 issue date?

Taken from Shaun Fyffe's research. Obviously I didn't paste everything. Just pertinent info with regards to the portrait card.

The first card was the Portrait-Facsimile card with the bio back. This card was first seen in Harlem in June / July of 1947, and was distributed by grocery store owners, and also in promotional packages with two slices of bread and coupons.

It should be noted that, as early as June of 1947, African-American newspapers in all major baseball U.S. cities began running advertisements promoting Jackie's endorsement deal with Bond Bread, and also the availability of the promotional card. This is quite interesting, as it was initially believed that Branch Rickey would not allow Jackie to sign an endorsement deal until the season was over, as he didn't want it to be a distraction.

Come September of 1947, the card's distribution expanded to every major city from Montreal to St. Louis. This Bond Bread set should no longer be considered a regional set for that very reason. As such, the Bond Bread facsimile-signature card should be considered Jackie's true rookie card / first nationally distributed rookie card.

Are you talking about the promotional card that was given away? What qualifies as a major city? Is it only MLB cities or were they available in the 5th and 7th largest cities in the US? Were they available throughout each city or only in African American neighborhoods? Why are there so few available if they were a national issue?

[DeanH3]

Originally Posted by rats60

Are you talking about the promotional card that was given away? What qualifies as a major city? Is it only MLB cities or were they available in the 5th and 7th largest cities in the US? Were they available throughout each city or only in African American neighborhoods? Why are there so few available if they were a national issue?

That's a lot of hairs to split. Again, if the market decides the '49 Leaf is his rookie then so be it. But we can at least acknowledge the Bond Bread wasn't a regional issue only.

I think another fair question is would the Leaf be so much more popular than the Bowman if the Leaf was correctly recognized as a '49 issue from the beginning? Don't get me wrong, the Leaf is a GREAT card. But would the Bowman still be looked at as second fiddle?

[rats60]

Originally Posted by DeanH3

That's a lot of hairs to split. Again, if the market decides the '49 Leaf is his rookie then so be it. But we can at least acknowledge the Bond Bread wasn't a regional issue only.

I think another fair question is would the Leaf be so much more popular than the Bowman if the Leaf was correctly recognized as a '49 issue from the beginning? Don't get me wrong, the Leaf is a GREAT card. But would the Bowman still be looked at as second fiddle?

If it wasn’t available across the US, it is considered a regional. The whole idea of rookie card is something that collectors universally can collect at issue. That was why early traded cards were given a xrc label instead of RC. The 1988 OPC Delino Deshields is not a RC. His 1990 Topps is because the OPC was only issued in Canada and US collectors didn’t have access to the card unless it was imported by a local dealer. I know a lot of people try to collect the earliest “card” of a player, but being a players first card doesn’t make it a rookie card, just his first card. The 1994 Pinnacle Sylvain Turgeon has a 6 year old Patrick Kane sitting on his dad’s lap in the crowd. That makes it a novelty not a RC.

The best I can figure out is that Bond Bread was a company in the northeast US. I live in Illinois and have never seen it for sale. Being sold in African American neighborhoods in Chicago and St Louis to take advantage of Jackie’s endorsement doesn’t give Illinois collectors access to the cards and doesn’t make it not a regional. The promo card is a promo card not a RC. The 44 player mlb set is a regional with questions about which cards were actually from 1947 and were printed later. The 12 card Jackie Robinson set clearly has cards released from 1949 or later, so how do we know which ones are from 1947? Any collector that obtained a Jackie Robinson card in 1947 knows they have one of his earliest cards. Anyone else is just hoping they do.

Both the Leaf and Bowman are RCs. The hobby has chosen the Leaf as the best card just like the 1984 Donruss Mattingly is favored over the Topps and Fleer. I think being the larger size card as well as being released earlier in the year than Bowman would still give it the edge. No doubt PSA mislabeling the card with the wrong year has helped its value as some collectors don’t know there is another RC.

The promo card was released in many other North American cities besides St. Louis and Brooklyn. Shaun’s exhaustive research in the thread previously referenced includes all the evidence of that. The fact that it wasn’t available in every single US city doesn’t make it a regional issue. At worst it was a multi-regional issue. The idea that the lay collector believes that the Leaf is his RC, largely because that’s what they’ve been spoon fed that as fact, is ignoring the reality that the distribution of the Bond Bread was far more widespread than previously believed. As I mentioned before, you could pick up the 1947 Bond Bread Jackie portrait w/ facsimile in PSA 6 for under $1k forever until the research Shaun provided was shared and basically overnight it became a $7-8k card because of it.