Baseball cards have a long and rich history in Chicago dating back to the late 19th century. Some of the earliest baseball cards were produced featuring players from Chicago’s two pioneering professional baseball teams – the Chicago White Stockings (now the Cubs) and the Chicago White Sox. These early cards helped grow the popularity of the national pastime in Chicago and across the country as baseball mania took off.
In the early 1880s, cigarette and tobacco companies began inserting promotional cards into their packs and rolls featuring professional baseball players as a way to market their brands. This is considered the first mass production of baseball cards. Companies like Goodwin & Company and American Tobacco Company issued sets featuring star players from major league teams, including many members of the Chicago White Stockings who were one of the dominant early clubs. Stars like Cap Anson, Adrian “Cap” Anson, and Jimmy Ryan who played for the White Stockings appeared on some of the earliest widely distributed baseball cards in the 1880s and helped make the White Stockings one of the most popular early franchises.
In 1888, a Chicago-based tobacco company called Buck Card Company issued the first true baseball card “set” with cards only featuring players rather than a mix of athletes and non-sports celebrities. This set had cards of Chicago White Stockings players mixed with other teams, one of the earliest single-subject baseball card releases. This helped establish Chicago as an early epicenter for baseball card production and collecting as the city’s teams were among the most successful and popular in professional baseball’s early decades.
In the 1890s and early 1900s, cigarette companies like Allen & Ginter, Goodwin & Company, and American Tobacco continued cranking out new baseball card sets each year featuring the biggest stars from Chicago and around the major leagues. Chicagoans could find cards of the White Stockings/Orphans/Remnants/Colts (later Cubs) and White Sox mixed in with the top players from other clubs. Stars like “King” Kelly, Cap Anson, Ed Delahanty, Ed Williamson, Fielder Jones, and Doc White who shone for Chicago’s teams were some of the most popular cards nationwide in the early 20th century.
As baseball grew even bigger in the early 20th century, new card companies emerged like Cleveland-based American Caramel Company which had a virtual monopoly on baseball cards from 1908-1911. Their cards featured many Chicago players and helped drive interest in the two clubs among collectors in Chicago and beyond. In the 1920s, Chicago-based card manufacturer Batter Up Company issued sets focused on the major leagues including both Chicago teams which were staples for collectors in the city during the Deadball Era.
The golden age of baseball cards arrived in the 1930s-1950s. By then, gum and candy companies like Goudey, Play Ball, and Topps had taken over production and their colorful and vibrant cards were a childhood rite of passage for many kids. Chicagoans collected cards depicting the heroes from the Cubs and White Sox teams during this period. Icons like Gabby Hartnett, Billy Herman, Bill Veeck, Luke Appling, Ted Lyons, Nellie Fox, Minnie Minoso, and others who starred for Chicago’s teams were hugely popular in the city on baseball cards during this time period.
Chicagoans also had a special affinity for sets that focused specifically on their hometown White Sox and Cubs. In 1933, Goudey issued the first modern set devoted solely to one team – the Chicago Cubs. This 80-card beauty set the standard for modern team-centric sets and was a must-have for young Cub fans in Chicago. In 1951, Bowman issued a 129-card set devoted to the White Sox which had a similar impact on the South Side. These were some of the most coveted and valuable sets for Chicago-area collectors during the golden age of cards in the mid-20th century.
Even as the baseball card boom faded in the late 1950s after the advent of television, Chicagoans maintained their passion for cards of their hometown heroes. Iconic Chicago players like Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams, Luis Aparicio, and others graced the cardboard in the 1960s from Topps and other producers. And in 1969, Topps issued one of the most famous and valuable baseball card sets ever which included rookie cards of future Hall of Famers like Hank Aaron and Nolan Ryan – as well as Chicago native Fergie Jenkins in a Cubs uniform on one of the most iconic rookie cards in the history of the hobby. This cemented Chicago’s place as one of the epicenters of baseball card fandom and collecting nationwide.
In the 1970s-1980s, Chicagoans snapped up cards from the many new producers like Donruss, Fleer, and Score showing future stars like Ryne Sandberg, Harold Baines, Carlton Fisk, and others. And in the late 1980s, the baseball card market exploded into the modern era. Chicago was at the center of this boom as collectors eagerly sought rookie cards of hometown heroes like Frank Thomas, Jack McDowell, Wilson Alvarez, and others who would lead the “New Look” White Sox and Cubs to success in the 1990s. This boom period cemented Chicago as one of the biggest baseball card markets in the country.
Today, Chicago remains a hotbed of baseball card collecting activity. Both the Cubs and White Sox have large and active fan bases among card collectors seeking the latest stars like Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Lucas Giolito, Eloy Jimenez, and more. Vintage sets remain popular as collectors seek out heroes from the past. And Chicago is home to some of the largest and most prestigious sports card shows and conventions nationwide that draw collectors from around the world. From the earliest tobacco cards to the modern era, Chicago has played a pivotal role in the history and culture of baseball cards for well over a century. The Windy City remains a vibrant hub of the baseball card hobby.
