Baseball cards have a long history in Lancaster, Pennsylvania dating back to the late 19th century. Some of the earliest baseball cards were produced in Lancaster during this time period. While the modern baseball card collecting hobby didn’t take off until the middle of the 20th century, Lancaster played an important early role in the development of baseball cards.
One of the first baseball card sets ever produced was called Old Judge tobacco cards, issued between 1887-1890 by the American Tobacco Company. While these cards did not picture specific baseball players, they helped establish the concept of trading cards inserted in tobacco products. In the 1890s, several tobacco companies based in Lancaster began experimenting with inserting actual baseball player portrait cards in their products.
One of the first Lancaster tobacco companies to issue baseball cards was the F. & T. Meurer Cigar Company. In 1891, they issued a set of 11 baseball portrait cards as premiums. Each card pictured a different star player and included their statistics. Some of the players featured included Cap Anson, Buck Ewing, and Amos Rusie. While production on these cards was small, they helped pave the way for baseball cards to become a mainstream insert in tobacco products over the next few decades.
In the late 1890s, another Lancaster tobacco company – Hausman Cigars – began issuing baseball cards as premiums. Their cards from 1896-1898 featured individual portraits of players from the Baltimore Orioles team. These early Hausman cards are considered some of the rarest and most valuable from the entire 19th century. Only a few examples are known to still exist today in collectible condition. The Hausman cards helped establish Baltimore as one of the first major league franchises to have their players featured on tobacco inserts.
The biggest producer of baseball cards in Lancaster during the early 20th century was the American Caramel Company. From 1911-1913, they issued sets totaling over 700 individual cards featuring players from the National League, American League, and Minor Leagues. The American Caramel cards had color illustrations and included stats/biographies on the back. They were inserted as premiums in caramel products like Cracker Jack. These sets contributed greatly to the growing popularity of baseball cards across the United States in the decade leading up to World War 1.
During World War 1 and the 1920s, several other Lancaster tobacco companies also experimented with baseball cards including Helme Cigars, York Cigars, and Eldorado Cigarettes. Production was limited due to economic conditions and competition from larger national brands. It wasn’t until the 1930s that Lancaster resumed its prominent role in the baseball card hobby.
In 1933, the Bell Cigar Company of Lancaster issued the first factory set cards ever produced. Their 1933 Goudey Baseball Cards included 81 player cards and 4 record breaker cards. This innovative new set helped spark a baseball card collecting craze across America in the 1930s. Over the next decade, Bell Cigar produced several additional classic Goudey sets. Their cards from 1933-1941 are some of the most popular and valuable in the entire hobby today due to their excellent color illustrations and scarce surviving population.
During World War 2, most baseball card production was suspended due to rationing of paper/glue products. In the postwar 1940s-1950s, Lancaster saw a resurgence of baseball card issuers. Companies like Fleer, Topps, and Bowman all had factories located in the city at various points producing some of the most iconic modern sets like 1951 Bowman, 1952 Topps, and 1956 Topps. This “Golden Age” of baseball cards greatly expanded the collecting hobby nationwide.
By the 1960s, Lancaster’s role in baseball card production was beginning to decline as operations consolidated at larger national factories. The city’s history of issuing some of the earliest tobacco/caramel insert cards in the 1890s-1910s helped establish the tradition. And Lancaster card manufacturers like Bell, Goudey, Fleer and others in the 1930s-1950s produced many of the most popular vintage sets that hardcore collectors still pursue today. As such, Lancaster permanently secured its place as one of the birthplaces of the beloved baseball card hobby.
