Baseball cards have been collected by fans for over 150 years and the hobby of baseball card collecting remains popular today. The small town of Bend, Oregon has had a rich history with baseball cards dating back to the early 20th century. While not as large of a baseball card hotspot as some major metropolitan areas, Bend developed a vibrant local card collecting scene over the decades that helped fuel the popularity of America’s pastime.
One of the earliest mentions of baseball cards in Bend came in a 1912 newspaper article discussing young boys trading and swapping their recently acquired cards from cigarette packs and bubble gum. Brands like Fatima, Sweet Caporal and Allen & Ginter were popular inserters of baseball memorabilia in their tobacco products at the turn of the century. By the 1920s, the mass production of baseball cards really took off. Companies like American Caramel began inserting cards in candy bars and gum, making collections much more accessible to the youth of Bend.
Local drug stores and general stores started stocking full sets of cards that could be purchased. In 1929, the opening of Bend’s first hobby shop, Jim’s Sporting Goods, gave collectors a dedicated place to peruse cards and trade with other fans. Jim’s quickly became a popular weekend destination for card shows and meetups. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, the store sponsored local Little League teams and gave cards as prizes to help grow the game. They also organized the first annual Bend Baseball Card Show in 1937, still held today as a beloved community event.
Top players of the day like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio had their likenesses proliferating in collections around Central Oregon. In the post-World War 2 boom of the 1950s, baseball card production went into overdrive with the advent of modern printing techniques allowing full color photos on thinner cardboard stock. Iconic sets from Topps, Bowman and others were readily available at local drug stores and supermarkets. This helped inspire a new generation of Bend kids to document their favorite players and teams in album books.
During the 1960s, card collecting expanded beyond just kids. Adults started joining the hobby in larger numbers, seeking out rare vintage cards to showcase the early history of the game. Shops in Bend dedicated more shelf space to accommodating the growing collector base. The rise of special Goudey and Kellogg’s 3D cards in the latter half of the decade also captured the imagination of collectors. In 1968, the first dedicated sports card shop, S&S Sportscards, opened in downtown Bend and immediately became a popular hangout.
Into the 1970s and 1980s, baseball card production and speculation reached a fever pitch. Iconic rookie cards of future Hall of Famers like George Brett, Mike Schmidt and Nolan Ryan were hot commodities. The rise of superstar athletes in other sports also expanded the cardboard collecting landscape beyond just baseball. Shops in Bend stocked full lines of NBA, NFL and NHL cards as well. The boom resulted in stores dedicating entire buildings to cards and related memorabilia. Regional card shows grew larger, drawing collectors from across Oregon.
The sports card speculative bubble would burst in the late 1980s with an oversupply of glossy but largely uninteresting cards. Many shops in Bend were forced to close or downsize. But the local collecting community persisted, with a core of dedicated fans keeping the hobby alive through local card shows and swaps. In the 1990s, there was a resurgence as collectors sought vintage cardboard from the golden era of the 1950s-1970s. Valuable unopened wax packs and sets fetched high prices at regional auctions.
Today, Bend has two dedicated sports card shops that have been mainstays for decades, Cascade Cards and Central Oregon Sportscards. They host frequent trading events, autograph signings with retired players, and price guide listings that help collectors appraise their vintage collections. The annual Bend Baseball Card Show, now in its 80th year, regularly draws hundreds of collectors from across the Pacific Northwest. While the industry has certainly evolved, baseball cards remain a cherished connection to summers past for collectors in Bend and around the world. The history of the hobby in Bend demonstrates how a small town can foster a rich cardboard collecting culture of its own.
