The Origins of Baseball Card Scores – Before the Dawn of Modern Cards

The tradition of collecting and finding value in baseball cards can be traced all the way back to the late 19th century, before what we consider the modern baseball card era began in the late 1880s. Some of the earliest recognized precursors to modern baseball cards were small printed cards issued by tobacco companies to promote their products.

These tobacco cards usually featured only a small simplified portrait of a baseball player and basic career stats. They weren’t really intended as collectibles like modern cards would become. Instead, they were mostly just advertising gimmicks inserted in tobacco products mainly as rewards for their customers.

It wasn’t until the early 1880s when the American Tobacco Company began extensively issuing baseball cards as part of cigarette and chewing tobacco packs that collecting them started gaining popularity. These tobacco cards were printed on thicker stock than previous cigarette cards so they were more durable for handling and showing off in card collections.

Some of the earliest baseball tobacco sets issued in the mid-1880s included cards produced by companies like Goodwin & Company, Allen & Ginter, and N. & G. Taylor. These early tobacco sets lacked modern design conveniences like team logos or uniform photographs. Instead, most featured simpler illustrated portraits along with key career stats.

Even at this very early stage though, some collectors and hobbyists recognized the potential value that future rarity might bring to their card collections. The oldest documented organized baseball card collections date back to the 1880s, showing collecting had already become a recognized hobby.

The Dawn of Scorecards and the Rise of Modern Baseball Cards

By the late 1880s, tobacco companies realized that baseball had become hugely popular nationwide. This led publishers like Goodwin & Co. and Allen & Ginter to produce more extensive tobacco card series focused purely on baseball players. Several key developments in the late 19th century helped transform tobacco cards into more recognizable precursors to modern baseball cards:

The addition of uniforms/team logos to cards helped cement the visualization of players within the context of their major league teams. This made card imagery feel more authentic and accurate representations of the sport.

Tobacco companies began having full-body portraits professionally photographed specifically for their baseball cards rather than illustrated approximations. This gave a realistic view of each player never seen before on cards.

Standardization of player stats listing included new important details like career batting/fielding averages. This provided deeper insights appealing more to dedicated baseball fans and stat geeks.

Increased print runs provided more cards inserted in tobacco packs, satisfying growing demand as baseball fever took hold nationally. This vastly increased circulation and the potential size of card collecting communities.

By the late 1880s and early 1890s, tobacco inserts evolved distinctly focused on baseball itself and increasingly resembled the modern cards that followed. But a crucial missing piece remained – room on the cards for tracking scores and stats during games.

This is where cigarette cards transitioned into true baseball card scorecards that could be kept in pockets at the ballpark. Companies caught on that dedicated scorecard sets could appeal directly to the growing legions of devoted baseball fans attending games nationwide every weekend.

In 1887, the manufacturer Ogden issued the first known dedicated baseball scorecards. Distributed as a series of card sheets that could easily be pulled apart and had room for notetaking, they were an instant hit among fans wanting an easy way to record scores from the games they attended.

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