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1947 Tip Top Bread is a 163-card regional issue that’s known for its quantity of obscure players, many of whom played during the talent-lean WWII years.
I stumbled across an example from this set recently and wanted to share it with you. 1947 Tip Top Bread hails from a time when advertisements were still the most popular real-estate filler for card backs. It’s a nice surprise to flip a baseball card over and find an advertisement for a bread company. Granted, there were plenty of food issues released throughout the years, this particular release features a full picture of the actual product – a loaf of bread.
After doing some research, I’ve learned that this set is likely one of the rarest WW-II era baseball card releases. It’s also thought that the St. Louis Browns are the most common in the set. Although not clearly stated, these cards are thought to have been distributed geographically respective to a teams location. For example, all of the Browns cards were released in St. Louie, all the Yankees cards were released in Brooklyn, and so on. If this is the case, this would perhaps account for the scarcity of cards of players from certain teams.
For those of you attempting to complete a set of 1947 Tip Top Bread, hats off to you, it’s a monster task. It shouldn’t be impossible however… I read of one collector doing it and it only took him 23 years.
To see what’s currently on eBay from 1947 Tip Top Bread, click here.
Checklist:
| Card # | Player(s) | Card # | Player(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bill Ayers | 83 | “Mickey” Livingston |
| 2 | Floyd Baker | 84 | Carroll Lockman |
| 3 | Charles Barrett | 85 | Jack Lohrke |
| 4 | Eddie Basinski | 86 | Ernie Lombardi |
| 5 | John Berardino | 87 | Vic Lombardi |
| 6 | Larry Berra | 88 | Edmund Lopat |
| 7 | Bill Bevens | 89 | Harry Lowrey |
| 8 | Robert Blattner | 90 | Marty Marion |
| 9 | Ernie Bonham | 91 | Willard Marshall |
| 10 | Bob Bragan | 92 | Phil Masi |
| 11 | Ralph Branca | 93 | Edward J. Mayo |
| 12 | Alpha Brazle | 94 | Clyde McCullough |
| 13 | Bobbie Brown (Bobby) | 95 | Frank Melton |
| 14 | Mike Badnick | 96 | Cass Michaels |
| 15 | Ken Burkhart | 97 | Ed Miksis |
| 16 | Thomas Byrne | 98 | Arthur Mills |
| 17 | Earl Caldwell | 99 | Johnny Mize |
| 18 | “Hank” Camelli | 100 | Lester Moss |
| 19 | Hugh Casey | 101 | “Pat” Mullin |
| 20 | Phil Cavarretta | 102 | “Bob” Muncrief |
| 21 | Bob Chipman | 103 | George Munger |
| 22 | Lloyd Christopher | 104 | Fritz Ostermueller |
| 23 | Bill Cox | 105 | James P. Outlaw |
| 24 | Bernard Creger | 106 | Frank “Stub” Overmire |
| 25 | Frank Crosetti | 107 | Andy Pafko |
| 26 | Joffre Cross | 108 | Joe Page |
| 27 | Leon Culberson | 109 | Roy Partee |
| 28 | Dick Culler | 110 | Johnny Pesky |
| 29 | Dom DiMaggio | 111 | Nelson Potter |
| 30 | George Dickey | 112 | Mel Queen |
| 31 | Chas E. Diering | 113 | Marion Rackley |
| 32 | Joseph Dobson | 114 | Al Reynolds |
| 33 | Bob Doerr | 115 | Del Rice |
| 34 | Ervin Dusak | 116 | Marv Rickert |
| 35 | Bruce Edwards | 117 | John Rigney |
| 36 | Walter “Hoot” Evers | 118 | Phil Rizzuto |
| 37 | Clifford Fannin | 119 | Aaron Robinson |
| 38 | “Nanny” Fernandez | 120 | “Preacher” Roe |
| 39 | Dave “Boo” Ferriss | 121 | Carvel Rowell |
| 40 | Elbie Fletcher | 122 | Jim Russell |
| 41 | Dennis Galehouse | 123 | Rip Russell |
| 42 | Joe Garagiola | 124 | Connie Ryan |
| 43 | Sid Gordon | 125 | John Sain |
| 44 | John Gorsica | 126 | Ray Sanders |
| 45 | Hal Gregg | 127 | Fred Sanford |
| 46 | Frank Gustine | 128 | Johnny Schmitz |
| 47 | Stanley Hack | 129 | Joe Schultz |
| 48 | Mickey Harris | 130 | “Rip” Sewell |
| 49 | Clinton Hartung | 131 | Dick Sisler |
| 50 | Joe Hatten | 132 | “Sibby” Sisti |
| 51 | Frank Hayes | 133 | Enos Slaughter |
| 52 | “Jeff” Heath | 134 | “Billy” Southworth |
| 53 | Tom Henrich | 135 | Warren Spahn |
| 54 | Gene Hermanski | 136 | Verne Stephens (Vern) |
| 55 | Kirby Higbe | 137 | George Sternweiss (Stirnweiss) |
| 56 | Ralph Hodgin | 138 | Ed Stevens |
| 57 | Tex Hughson | 139 | Nick Strincevich |
| 58 | Fred Hutchinson | 140 | “Bobby” Sturgeon |
| 59 | LeRoy Jarvis | 141 | Robt. “Bob” Swift |
| 60 | “Si” Johnson | 142 | Geo. “Birdie” Tibbetts (Tebbetts) |
| 61 | Don Johnson | 143 | “Mike” Tresh |
| 62 | Earl Johnson | 144 | Ken Trinkle |
| 63 | John Jorgensen | 145 | Paul “Diz” Trout |
| 64 | Walter Judnick (Judnich) | 146 | Virgil “Fire” Trucks |
| 65 | Tony Kaufmann | 147 | Thurman Tucker |
| 66 | George Kell | 148 | Bill Voiselle |
| 67 | Charlie Keller | 149 | Hal Wagner |
| 68 | Bob Kennedy | 150 | Honus Wagner |
| 69 | Montia Kennedy | 151 | Eddy Waitkus |
| 70 | Ralph Kiner | 152 | Richard “Dick” Wakefield |
| 71 | Dave Koslo | 153 | Jack Wallaesa |
| 72 | Jack Kramer | 154 | Charles Wensloff |
| 73 | Joe Kuhel | 155 | Ted Wilks |
| 74 | George Kurowski | 156 | Mickey Witek |
| 75 | Emil Kush | 157 | “Jerry” Witte |
| 76 | “Eddie” Lake | 158 | Ed Wright |
| 77 | Harry Lavagetto | 159 | Taft Wright |
| 78 | Bill Lee | 160 | Henry Wyse |
| 79 | Thornton Lee | 161 | “Rudy” York |
| 80 | Paul Lehner | 162 | Al Zarilla |
| 81 | John Lindell | 163 | Bill Zuber |
| 82 | Danny Litwhiler |
I love the old cards, especially the food issues.
Me too! Some even kinda make me hungry. 😛
wow 23 years. It almost sounds worth it.
Right? 😀