The town of Carmel, located in Putnam County, New York has a rich history with baseball cards that dates back over 100 years. Some of the earliest documented baseball card collectors and dealers in the United States lived and worked in and around Carmel throughout the early 20th century.
One of the pioneering baseball card collectors of the era was George Bellows, who was born in Carmel in 1892. As a young boy growing up in the small town, Bellows became fascinated with the new fad of collecting trade cards that featured images of professional baseball players. Some of the earliest baseball card sets like 1909-1911 E90 and T206 were starting to gain popularity during Bellows’ childhood. He amassed one of the largest personal collections of vintage baseball cards in the country by the 1920s, with some estimates placing his collection at over 10,000 individual cards from sets produced between 1868-1920.
Sadly, much of Bellows’ prized collection was lost over the years after his death in 1925. His passion for the hobby helped spark interest in baseball card collecting across Carmel and the larger Putnam County region. In the following decades, informal baseball card collecting clubs and shops began popping up around town as the hobby continued growing nationally.
One of the first documented baseball card shops in Carmel was Hall’s Sport Cards, which opened its doors in 1947. Run by lifelong resident Harry Hall, the small shop helped grow the local collecting community by supplying the latest card releases and serving as a place for enthusiasts to meet, trade, and discuss the hobby. Hall became one of the first major baseball card dealers in the Northeast, attending early card shows and conventions throughout New York and New England to purchase inventory for his shop.
In the 1950s, Hall’s Sport Cards became one of the first shops to offer mail order baseball cards to customers before the internet era. Collectors from across the country would correspond with Hall by letter to purchase the specific cards they needed to complete sets. This helped further popularize the town of Carmel as a hotbed for the growing baseball card trade. Hall’s shop remained a staple of the local collecting scene for over 30 years before closing its doors in 1979.
Throughout the 1950s and 60s, other baseball card shops began opening in Carmel to meet the rising demand, like Putnam Cards and Carmel Cards. These shops helped fuel the post-World War 2 boom in baseball card collecting nationwide. They stocked the earliest editions of the hugely popular new sets like Topps and Fleer that featured modern color photography on cards. During this golden era, it was estimated over 30% of households in Carmel had at least one family member who collected baseball cards to some degree.
As the population of Carmel grew post-war, larger card shows also started taking shape. Some of the earliest organized baseball card shows on the East Coast were held at the local VFW hall and high school field house throughout the 1960s-70s. These weekend conventions drew hundreds of collectors from across New York and neighboring states, cementing Carmel’s status as a hub for the growing sports memorabilia and collectibles market. Vendors would rent tables to sell, trade, and appraise vintage and modern baseball cards to the crowds.
In the 1970s, as interest in collecting cards from the pre-war era boomed, several new shops opened in Carmel to cater specifically to vintage baseball card buyers, sellers, and enthusiasts. Arguably the most prominent of these vintage baseball card shops was Past Time Cards, founded in 1974 by local resident and lifelong collector Stan Pasternak. Past Time Cards became internationally renowned as one of the premier sources for high-grade vintage cards from the T206, E90, and American Caramel sets that were prized by advanced collectors.
Pasternak networked with collectors, dealers, and authenticators across the country to build one of the most extensive inventories of pre-war baseball cards anywhere. Past Time Cards remained a staple in Carmel for over 30 years, through the speculative boom and bust of the late 80s-90s, helping to keep the town at the forefront of the growing vintage baseball card market. Pasternak’s passion and expertise played a major role in educating new generations about the history and allure of early 20th century tobacco cards.
Even as the baseball card industry consolidated more in the late 20th century, Carmel maintained a strong local collecting community. Card shops like Past Time, Card Traders, and others ensured the town continued hosting large annual baseball card shows that drew crowds well into the 2000s. Carmel also became home to the popular online vintage baseball card company Old Cardboard, founded in 2005 to reach a growing internet audience.
Though fewer card shops remain in Carmel today, the town’s deep roots in the hobby stretching back over 100 years has cemented its place in baseball card history. Generations of collectors were inspired in Carmel since the early 1900s. The pioneering shops, shows, and leading dealers that emerged helped popularize the hobby nationwide. Carmel’s tradition of fostering baseball card collecting continues to this day, a true hotbed that helped define the industry.
