Jackie Robinson’s first baseball cards were issued as part of a promotion by Bond Bread during his rookie year in Major League Baseball.
Unfortunately, full color cards of the game’s new star were still a few years away and the fans of the Bond sets have to settle for a black-and-white image.
Make that ‘had to’.
Digital artist Marina Amaral has created a colorized version of the ’47 Bond Bread Robinson to kick off a special feature we’ll be showcasing. Based in Brazil, Marina specializes in taking black and white photographs and transforming them through research into colorized versions. She has worked with historic photos from decades past as well as sports images.
While Robinson’s official rookie cards are in the 1948-49 Leaf and 1949 Bowman sets, the Bond cards, especially this one which was part of a set of big leaguers, is Robinson’s first collectible card.
You can learn more about Marina Amaral’s work on her website.