Cigar Baseball Cards: A Unique Piece of Collectible History
Cigar manufacturers have a long history of including premiums, or small gifts, inside cigar boxes to help promote their brands. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when baseball was rapidly growing in popularity across America, many cigar companies decided to include small cardboard cards featuring photos and stats of famous baseball players as premiums. These unique collectibles became known as cigar baseball cards.
While they may not be as well known today as classic tobacco cards from the same era, cigar baseball cards offer a fascinating glimpse into the intersection between two iconic American pastimes – baseball and cigar smoking. They helped drive sales for cigar brands at the height of the Tobacco Trust era while also satisfying the growing demand from fans to collect images and information about their favorite ballplayers.
The Rise of Cigar Baseball Cards
The earliest known cigar baseball cards date back to the late 1880s, right as the modern baseball card collecting craze was taking shape. Companies like Allen & Ginter and Goodwin & Company, famous for their tobacco cards, began including baseball players in their premium offerings packaged with cigars. It was specialized cigar manufacturers who truly popularized the cigar baseball card trend.
Brands like Henry Clay and Bock & Company focused exclusively on baseball subject matter for their cigar premiums. This was a savvy marketing tactic, directly appealing to the passions of devoted baseball and cigar fans. The cards measured around 2.5 x 3 inches and typically featured a color lithograph image of a ballplayer on one side with stats and brief bios on the reverse. Production quality was generally higher than contemporary tobacco cards.
Golden Age of Cigar Baseball Cards
The decade from roughly 1895 to 1905 is considered the true “Golden Age” of cigar baseball cards when sets from brands like El Sidelo, La Flor de Portuando, and Principe de Gales flooded the market. Top stars of the era like Honus Wagner, Nap Lajoie, and Cy Young regularly graced these premium cards inserted by the thousands into premium cigar boxes.
While their rarity and condition varied wildly based on how well the fragile cards were cared for over a century, finding high grade examples from this period in their original wrappers is a true collector’s dream. Prices can soar into the tens of thousands for the most desirable issues, especially if they feature a pre-rookie card of an all-time great like a T206 Honus Wagner.
Decline and Rediscovery
As the first decade of the 20th century came to a close, cigar baseball cards began to fade in popularity. The rise of modern tobacco card sets directly marketed to collectors supplanted cigar manufacturers as the dominant producers. A combination of social factors like the anti-tobacco movement and two world wars that disrupted cigar production overseas also contributed to the decline.
For decades, cigar baseball cards remained obscure relics known mainly to serious cigar and tobacco memorabilia collectors. But beginning in the 1990s, a rediscovery and resurgence of interest took place. As the vintage sports card market boomed, more collectors began seeking out these unique pieces of baseball’s earliest promotion and premium history embedded within the cigar industry.
Today, while production of new cigar baseball cards is nonexistent, vintage examples remain highly prized by both cigar and sports collecting communities. Advanced grading services allow for accurate condition assessment, and auction prices at major card shows demonstrate the strong ongoing demand. Whether encased in a tobacco shop’s humidor or a climate-controlled collection vault, cigar baseball cards continue telling the intertwined stories of America’s pastimes over a century later.
Cigar baseball cards offer a truly unique glimpse into the intersection of baseball fandom and cigar culture during baseball’s formative years in the late 19th century. While their popularity waned after 1905, dedicated collectors ensured these small but historically significant memorabilia survived to be rediscovered and appreciated by modern fans. Examples from the true “golden age” of 1895-1905 featuring the earliest images of all-time greats remain among the most coveted pieces of baseball collectibles.
