The history of baseball cards in Maryland dates back over 100 years when the earliest baseball cards first started appearing in the late 1800s. Some of the earliest cards depicting Maryland baseball players included those from the legendary Baltimore Orioles teams that dominated in the early decades of professional baseball.
Some key events and aspects of baseball cards in Maryland include:
The earliest baseball cards started appearing nationally in the late 1880s from companies like Goodwin & Company and Old Judge tobacco cards. One of the earliest known cards depicting a Maryland player is an 1887-1890 Goodwin & Company card showing Baltimore Orioles player John McGraw.
In the early 1900s, many tobacco companies like American Tobacco, Peerless, and Sweet Caporal started inserting baseball cards in their cigarette and tobacco packs. This helped popularize collecting cards and increased their production. Many of the top players from the dominant Baltimore Orioles teams of this era received cards.
In 1909, the Baltimore Orioles won the World Series, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates. Key players on this team like Nap Lajoie, Eddie Collins, and Babe Ruth all received numerous baseball cards in sets from that era, increasing interest in cards among Maryland fans. Babe Ruth got his first baseball card in 1914.
In the 1920s and 30s, the rise of gum and candy companies like Goudey and Play Ball starting regularly producing high quality, colorful baseball cards. These included many stars from the Baltimore Orioles and International League teams based in Maryland. Hall of Famers like Lefty Grove and Jimmie Foxx got some of their earliest prominent cards.
In the 1930s-1950s, the peak of baseball card production coincided with the rise of the minor league Baltimore Orioles in the International League and later the arrival of the modern Orioles franchise in 1954. Many homegrown Maryland stars received widespread distribution in sets.
Iconic Maryland players who were featured prominently in many 1950s-60s sets included Brooks Robinson, Jim Palmer, Boog Powell, and Frank Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles. Their rise to stardom paralleled renewed interest in collecting cards nationally.
In the late 1950s, Topps gained a monopoly on baseball cards and produced the first widely collected modern cards. Their design and production quality set the standard that remains today. Many stars of the dominant 1960s Baltimore Orioles “Oriole Magic” teams like Palmer, Powell and Robinson got legendary cards.
In the 1970s-80s, other companies like Fleer and Donruss challenged Topps and produced innovative parallel sets. This increased availability of cards of Baltimore Orioles stars like Eddie Murray, Cal Ripken Jr., and Mike Boddicker who all rose to stardom and received many popular cards.
The boom in collecting interest in the late 1980s-1990s saw the rise of the hobby’s modern era. Insert cards, autographs and memorabilia paralleled the success of the Baltimore Orioles and stars like Ripken, whose record-breaking 1995 card is one of the most iconic in the hobby.
Today, Maryland has a vibrant baseball card collecting community. Local card shows attract collectors pursuing stars current and past from the Baltimore Orioles like Manny Machado, Trey Mancini and Jonathan Schoop. Vintage Orioles stars remain some of the most popular cards for collectors in the region.
Over 100 years of baseball cards chronicle the rich history of baseball in Maryland from the early 20th century dominance of the Baltimore Orioles to modern stars of the current Orioles. The cards provide a visual timeline of the players and teams that have brought so much excitement to Maryland baseball fans for generations.
