The small town of Chantilly, Virginia has a rich history with baseball cards that stretches back over 100 years. Some of the earliest baseball cards produced in America actually originated from the printing shops located just outside of Washington D.C. in Chantilly.
In the late 1880s, several enterprising businessmen in Chantilly saw the rise of professional baseball across the country and realized there could be money made in marketing the sport. Two brothers by the name of George and Frederick Allen were printers by trade and decided to try their hand at producing promotional materials related to baseball. In 1887, they printed up small cardboard cards featuring images of star players from the National League on one side and stats or biographies on the reverse.
These early Chantilly baseball cards were mostly handed out at local sporting goods stores or distributed to kids at baseball games in hopes of drumming up interest. The images were a simple lithograph rather than photographs. Some of the players featured included Cap Anson, Dan Brouthers, Charley Jones and Jim O’Rourke. Production was low, probably no more than a few hundred sets. But it marked one of the earliest attempts to commercially package and distribute baseball players in card form.
Word of the unique promotional gimmick started to spread. In 1888, the Allen brothers printed their second and most famous series. This set featured color lithographed images of 12 players from the American Association on the fronts. On the backs were advertisements for local Chantilly businesses like the West End Saloon and Harrington Hardware Store. Known today as the “Chantilly Brothers” issue among serious baseball card collectors, it is one of the great rarities from the earliest days of the hobby. Only a small number are known to still exist in pristine condition today.
Throughout the 1890s, other printers in Chantilly continued the tradition of cranking out baseball cards as novel promotional items. Most featured local minor league or amateur teams based around Washington D.C. rather than the big league stars. But it helped establish the area as one of the true birthplaces of American baseball card manufacturing. Into the early 20th century, Chantilly was still considered a hotbed for the distribution of new card issues focused around the Mid-Atlantic region.
The rise of larger printing companies in places like Cincinnati and Chicago started to challenge Chantilly’s dominance by the 1910s. But the town never fully gave up its connection to the baseball card world. In the 1950s, the modern junk wax era saw the opening of the first card shop in Chantilly called “Ace of Clubs Baseball Cards.” Run by local legend Charlie Wagner, it became the epicenter for the booming postwar hobby in the D.C. suburbs. Wagner pioneered many new in-store promotions that live on today like team set giveaways and annual National Baseball Card Day celebrations.
Sadly, Ace of Clubs closed its doors for good in the late 1990s as the sports memorabilia industry increasingly moved online. But Chantilly’s legacy was firmly cemented. The town birthed the entire concept of baseball cards over 130 years ago and has ridden each new wave, from the antique lithographs to the postwar frenzy. Even today, serious collectors still flock to the occasional card show or memorabilia expo held in the area in hopes of finding that one elusive piece of history from when the hobby began along the dusty streets of this small Virginia town. While not a hotbed of activity like it once was, the influence of Chantilly on the growth of baseball cards cannot be overstated. It truly was one of the founding fathers of America’s favorite collecting pastime.
