1945-50 Remar Bread Sets (D317) and Checklist

Posted on December 14, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	Remar Bread (D317)
Year	1945-50
Size	Varies
Images	Black and White
Type	Bakery
Number in Set	Varies

1945-50 Remar Bread Sets Overview

1949 Remar Bread Billy Martin Remar Bread issued these cards for the Oakland Oaks minor league baseball team. They are among the earliest cards produced after World War II. In all, a total of six different sets exist — one printed in each year from 1945 through 1950.

The cards varied from year to year. While most have a similar look, they also vary a good bit, too, helping to make it easier to distinguish among the various sets. All cards were black and white, featuring players on the front and a mix of biographies, statistics, and advertisements on the backs, depending on the year.

In two years, 1945 and 1948, only team-issued cards were printed. These were slightly oversized cards, compared to the rest of the cards in the sets, and were closer to postcard-sized. It should be noted that the 1945 card is sometimes considered a 1946 issue as the back contains either year-end statistics or statistics that were printed close to the end of the year. If they were entirely year-end statistics, the cards could have been technically printed the following year. Most, however, list this as a 1945 card.

The other four years (1946, 1947, 1949, and 1950) included team sets, varying in the amount of cards each season. The cards have a standard look with a black and white image of the subject on the front as well as his name, team (Oaks), and position at the bottom. Each back contains a picture of Remar Baking’s loaf of bread as well as their name.

As these are minor league sets, many of the players are not too notable. But a few standouts are included. Hall of Fame manager Casey Stengel appears in the 1946 and 1947 sets. His cards are among the more valuable of all of the Remar Bread cards. The 1949 set boasts a minor league card of legendary manager Billy Martin as a player. Also in that set is a card of Hall of Famer George ‘High Pockets’ Kelly, who was a coach for the team.

Identifying the Sets

So, how can you tell these cards apart? Fairly simple.

Starting with the later years first, the 1949 and 1950 sets both show the player’s previous year of statistics. 1949 cards show 1948 statistics and 1950 cards show 1949 statistics.

1946 and 1947 sets have player biographies instead. But the 1946 cards have an orange and blue loaf of bread while 1947 cards have only a loaf printed in blue ink. Additionally, some (if not most/all) 1946 cards will reference what a player did in 1945 while 1947 cards discuss a player’s 1946 season.

Images

Here are pictures of cards from the four years with complete team sets.

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American Card Catalog Referencing and Subcategories

All six are identified as D317 issues, which is their American Card Catalog designation. However, that book did not include the 1945 team issue — likely because it was not known to the book’s author, Jefferson Burdick

Instead, the sets are listed as D317-1 (1946), D317-2 (1947), D317-3 (1948), D317-4 (1949), and D317-5 (1950).

That has caused a minor issue when you add the 1945 set in and specific classification can be handled a few different ways. The easiest is probably identifying the 1945 issue as D317-0, which is what Old Cardboard has done. Others, however, may instead choose to the numbering with D317-1 as the 1945 set and changing all of the other years.

Regardless, all Remar Bread cards are considered as D317 cards.