The Origins of Baseball Cards
The tradition of collecting and trading baseball cards can be traced back to the late 1800s when cigarette manufacturers began including premiums in their products to help boost sales and brand awareness. In 1869, the American Tobacco Company started including illustrated cards depicting famous actors and actresses in packs of cigarettes. Other companies soon followed suit with premiums of their own. In 1886, the Goodwin & Company tobacco company became the first to include baseball players on cards inserted in packs of cigarettes and tobacco. These early baseball cards helped popularize the sport and introduced fans to star players from around the country.
The Goodwin cards featured individual players from the National League on small printed cards. Each card contained an image of the player in uniform along with their name and the team they played for. The cards did not include any statistics or biographical information about the players. They were meant primarily as a marketing tool to help sell more cigarettes rather than serve as collectibles. They helped spark the interest that would lead to the golden age of baseball cards in the late 19th century.
In 1887, the Allen & Ginter tobacco company began producing sets of baseball cards as premiums in their products. Unlike the Goodwin cards which featured individual players, the Allen & Ginter sets contained multiple cards showing different players. Their 1887 set included 35 cards featuring players from both the National League and American Association. This was the first true baseball card “set” and helped establish the concept of collecting entire teams that is still followed today. The Allen & Ginter cards also contained more detailed images than previous issues and were the first to include players’ positions on the cards.
In 1888, the American Tobacco Company entered the baseball card market with its famous “White Borders” series. Considered some of the most iconic early baseball cards, the American Tobacco issues featured intricate color lithographic images of players in elegant uniforms and batting poses. They contained more information than previous issues, including each player’s team, position, and batting average from the previous season. The colorful and visually appealing White Borders helped make collecting baseball cards a popular nationwide pastime.
In 1889, the Allen & Ginter company issued its most famous and valuable set containing 50 cards. Known as the “Pioneer Tobacco Set,” it included the first cards made for several legendary players like Cap Anson, Buck Ewing, and Old Hoss Radbourn. The intricate color lithographs and statistical information established the template that future baseball card issues would follow. Other tobacco companies like Goodwin & Company and Mayo Cut Plug also issued sets in the late 1880s, helping cement baseball cards as an integral part of the tobacco business.
The 1890s saw the golden age of baseball card production as cigarette manufacturers competed fiercely to attract new customers. Allen & Ginter issued their most extensive set to date in 1890 containing an astounding 123 cards. In 1891, the American Tobacco Company responded with a mammoth 400+ card “Magazine” set featuring multiple images of each player. Other memorable early sets include the 1892 Mayo Baseball Card Premiums and 1894 Leaf Baseball Cards. These issues featured stunning color illustrations, statistics, and helped document the evolution of uniforms and equipment from season to season.
As the 19th century drew to a close, baseball had exploded in popularity across America thanks in large part to the promotion and documentation provided by tobacco premium cards. The colorful illustrated cards helped make the sport’s biggest stars household names while serving as early collectibles. The tradition of assembling complete sets and trading duplicates with friends was born. Into the new century, tobacco companies would continue producing the cards that helped drive the growth of baseball’s fanbase nationwide. The origins of baseball cards from the 1880s established a tradition that still lives on strongly today over 130 years later.
