Goodwin & Company 1886 Baseball Card Set

The Goodwin & Company baseball card set from 1886 is one of the earliest and most iconic sets of baseball cards ever produced. The set featured 29 cards highlighting important players from the National League in its 1885 season. While rudimentary compared to modern cards, the Goodwin issues helped spark collecting baseball cards as a hobby that remains hugely popular today.

Background on Goodwin & Company

Goodwin & Company was a prominent American publisher and trading card producer based in New York City in the late 19th century. Prior to 1886 they had issued various other sports-related trading cards as promotional items for products like cigarettes and tobacco. Goodwin saw an opportunity to capitalize on the growing popularity of professional baseball and decided to produce a specialized set focused entirely on star players.

The 1886 set marked one of the earliest attempts to specifically collect baseball players onto card stock in an organized fashion. While some contend tobacco cards from the 1870s depicted baseball players, the Goodwin issues are universally acknowledged as the first true baseball card set. They helped establish the foundational concept of collecting cards showing professional athletes that has lasted well over 130 years.

Card Design and Production

Each Goodwin baseball card measured approximately 2.5 x 3.5 inches in size, smaller than modern cards. They were printed lithographically in color on thick gray cardboard. Most cards prominently featured a small pictured portrait of the player in their uniform. Additional details included their name, position, team, and occasionally their batting average from 1885.

All the cards possessed a uniform design with only the portrait and textual information varying. They had no gum or candy inclusion, as would become standard later. Production methods were still relatively primitive, resulting in some issues with registration and fading over time compared to later card production technologies.

Famous Players Included

The 1886 Goodwin set highlighted some of the biggest names playing in the National League during its 1885 season:

Cap Anson: Considered one of the best players of the 19th century and player-manager of the dominant Chicago White Stockings. Anson was a true baseball pioneer and one of the first superstars.

Patsy Tebeau: Star catcher for the St. Louis Browns who led the league with a .340 batting average in 1885. Tebeau held the career records for games caught and putouts by a catcher upon his retirement.

Mike “King” Kelly: Legendary leadoff hitter and catcher for the Boston Red Stockings renowned for his baserunning skills. Kelly is credited with popularizing the slide-step when batting and is considered a key early star who helped baseball’s popularity rise.

Bug Holliday: Speedy center fielder for the New York Giants who hit .309 in 1885 and stole 96 bases, still among the highest single-season totals. Considered one of the best defensive outfielders of the 19th century.

Dave Orr: Third baseman for the Detroit Wolverines who hit .303 in 1885 and led all players in fielding percentage at third base. Orr committed only 13 errors at the hot corner all season.

Bobby Mathews: Shortstop for the St. Louis Maroons who batted .288 in 1885 and was renowned as an excellent defender and team leader on the field.

Rarity and Grading

Only around 50-100 examples of complete 1886 Goodwin baseball card sets are believed to still exist today in various states of preservation. Many were lost, damaged or destroyed over the ensuing 130+ years. This extreme rarity makes high grade examples enormously valuable.

In the modern PSA/BGS collectible grading scale, even low-grade examples tend to fetch tens of thousands. A PSA 5 or BGS 3.5 might sell for $50,000-100,000 depending on the card, while a high grade PSA 8 or BGS 6 could command seven figures or more due to their extreme scarcity. The set is one of the “holy grails” sought by serious vintage baseball card collectors.

Legacy and Impact

While rudimentary compared to modern finely polished cardboard, the 1886 Goodwin set helped launch a collecting craze that persists today. They established many foundational concepts like focusing on recent star athletes that subsequent card producers emulated. Goodwin were among the first entities to recognize the potential commercial popularity of capitalizing on America’s burgeoning national pastime through collectible cards.

While other 19th century tobacco cards occasionally included baseball players, Goodwin produced the first cards solely and explicitly highlighting professional baseball’s biggest stars in an organized set solely devoted to the sport. In the process they helped spark the growth of baseball card collecting as both a hobby and lucrative business. The Goodwin 1886 issues remain iconic touchstones acknowledged as the first true baseball cards over 130 years later. Their immense rarity only adds to their legendary status for collectors worldwide.

The Goodwin & Company 1886 baseball card set was a pioneering effort that helped launch the entire modern industry of collecting baseball cards as both a hobby and lucrative business. Despite their humble printed beginnings, these early cardboard issues established many foundational concepts still seen in today’s highly polished modern card sets over a century later. Their extreme rarity makes high quality survivors extraordinarily valuable, cementing the Goodwin 1886 issues as one of the most prized sets in vintage sports card history.