The history of baseball cards is intertwined with the rise of the bicycle industry in late 19th century America. In the 1880s, the safety bicycle was invented, featuring two same-sized wheels of nearly equal diameter and a chain-driven rear wheel. This newfangled “safety cycle” became extremely popular for transportation and recreation. Meanwhile, baseball was growing into America’s national pastime in the post-Civil War era.
To promote their products and build brand loyalty, early bicycle companies sought novel ways of marketing to consumers. In 1885, the American Tobacco Company pioneered the concept of including premiums or prizes inside cigarette and tobacco packaging to entice customers. This sparked an idea for Goodwin & Company, a prominent New York-based cigarette producer. In 1886, Goodwin & Company included small cardboard trading cards with facts and stats about popular baseball players inside packs of cigarettes and chewing tobacco tins.
These original baseball cards measured approximately 2 inches by 3 inches and featured images of star players from the National League and American Association on the front, with advertisements for Goodwin & Company’s tobacco products on the back. They were meant to be collected and traded by consumers, especially young boys who idolized baseball heroes of the day like Mike “King” Kelly and Jim O’Rourke. The cards were a massive success and helped boost tobacco sales. Soon, other tobacco brands followed suit by including baseball cards in their products.
Meanwhile, the booming bicycle industry took notice of how baseball cards engaged customers. In 1887, the Consolidated Tobacco Company, makers of Mayo Cut Plug tobacco, produced a groundbreaking series known as the Mayo Brothers Baseball Card Set. Unlike previous years’ cards which were inserted at random, this new 120-card series featured complete rosters of teams and was designed to be collected in its entirety. The cards measured a larger size of approximately 21⁄2 inches by 31⁄2 inches, making images and stats easier to view.
More significantly, the backs of the Mayo Brothers cards prominently promoted the Consolidated Tobacco Company’s products but also included advertisements for leading bicycle brands of the era like Columbia, Cleveland, and Rambler. This was a savvy marketing tactic, as the young baseball card collecting demographic heavily overlapped with the core bicycle riding consumer base. Associating baseball cards with bicycles helped boost sales for both tobacco products and the growing bicycle industry.
This successful cross-promotion of baseball cards and bicycles would continue in subsequent years. In 1888, the Goodwin & Company American Tobacco base ball card series included ads for leading “safety bicycles” on the backs, such as the Iver Johnson Safety Bicycle. By the 1890s, nearly all tobacco premium baseball cards prominently featured bicycle brand advertisements. Companies like Cleveland, Rambler, and Columbia understood that baseball card collecting boys represented a huge potential market as they aged into the prime bicycle buying demographic of teenage boys and young men.
The integration of baseball cards and bicycles reached its peak around the turn of the 20th century. Tobacco companies produced elaborate card sets with enlarged images, colorful lithography, and premium paper stock. Series like Allen & Ginter (1889-1891), Mayo Cut Plug (1890-1891), and Old Judge (1880s-1890s) included cards measuring up to 31⁄2 inches tall. The detailed back advertisements promoted not just tobacco products, but the latest bicycle models from Columbia, Cleveland, Rambler, and others.
By the 1890s, the safety bicycle had become a true mass consumer product in America. Bicycle brands saw baseball card collecting youth as a prime target market and heavily advertised in the premium cards. In turn, the inclusion of baseball cards inside tobacco products helped boost overall sales. The symbiotic relationship between baseball cards, tobacco companies, and the booming bicycle industry had reached its peak. While tobacco inclusion ended in the early 20th century, baseball cards have remained a popular collectible to this day, commemorating over a century of America’s national pastimes.
