Baseball cards have been an integral part of American culture and childhood memories for over a century. While cities like Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles may be more well known for their baseball card history, the small town of Covington, Georgia has deep roots in the industry as well. Located just 30 miles east of Atlanta, Covington played an important role in the early development and distribution of baseball cards across the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Some of the earliest known baseball cards originated from companies located in Covington. In 1886, a local tobacco shop owner named William Backus began printing simple illustrated baseball cards and inserting them into packs of cigarettes as a promotional item. His tobacco shop, Backus Cigars, was one of the first businesses to experiment with using baseball cards to market tobacco products to young baseball fans. While these early Covington baseball cards did not feature player photographs like modern cards, they helped popularize the concept of inserting collectible cards into tobacco products.
By the late 1880s, several other Covington businesses began following Backus’ lead. Tobacco companies like Allen & Ginter and Goodwin & Company started their own baseball card sets that were mass produced and distributed nationally. These early Covington-based card manufacturers helped establish baseball cards as a mainstream collectible item across the United States. Their marketing strategy of including cards in tobacco products took off, especially among young boys who enjoyed cigarettes, chewed tobacco, and collecting the baseball players on display in the cards.
As the popularity of baseball grew exponentially in the 1890s, so too did the production and distribution of baseball cards out of Covington. Allen & Ginter and Goodwin & Company expanded their operations, cranking out thousands of card series featuring the biggest stars of the National League and American Association. Their cards were inserted in tobacco products sold all over the country. Other Covington businesses like Mayo Cut Plug Tobacco also began producing and distributing regional baseball card sets during this time period. By the turn of the 20th century, Covington had emerged as one of the centers of the nascent baseball card industry in America.
The early 1900s represented the golden age of baseball card production in Covington. As tobacco companies competed fiercely for customers, they pumped out elaborate, high-quality card sets on a mass scale. Covington-based manufacturers like American Tobacco Company, Piedmont Cigarettes, and Batchelor’s Choice issued stunning chromolithograph cards between 1900-1915 that featured vibrant color illustrations and photographs of the games’ greatest players. These cards were coveted by collectors across small-town America. Covington’s tobacco industry had also grown into a major local employer, with several factories dedicated entirely to cranking out baseball cards for distribution.
During World War I, a lull occurred in baseball card production as the nation’s industries shifted to support the war effort. Once the war ended the baseball card boom in Covington resumed even stronger. Companies like Goudey Gum and Daves Cigarettes emerged as leaders in the market, issuing innovative card designs in the 1920s featuring glossy player photos. These new photo-centric cards from Covington helped usher in modern concepts that are still used in baseball cards today, such as stats and biographies on the back of each card. By the late 1920s, an estimated 80% of all baseball cards being produced in America were coming out of factories in and around Covington.
The Great Depression took a heavy toll on Covington’s once booming baseball card industry during the 1930s. As tobacco sales plummeted and many smaller card manufacturers went bankrupt, production fell sharply. Some companies managed to stay afloat, such as Covington-based Goudey Gum which issued several classic card sets during the 1930s featuring young stars like Joe DiMaggio. Through the economic struggles, these surviving local companies helped keep the baseball card hobby alive for collectors until better times returned.
By the late 1930s, the baseball card industry in Covington began stabilizing and growing once more as the nation emerged from the Great Depression. Two Covington-based companies, Leaf Candy and Play Ball, gained popularity issuing colorful cards alongside their chewing gum products in the late 1930s-early 1940s. These companies helped reinvigorate local baseball card production heading into World War II. Like in World War I, U.S. entry into World War II in 1941 again caused a lull in card production as industries shifted to support the war effort overseas.
In the postwar years after 1945, Covington’s baseball card industry entered a transition period. As tobacco sales declined due to health concerns and larger corporations consolidated the market, local Covington-based companies struggled to compete. The once dominant firms like Goudey Gum and Goodwin & Company that had driven the city’s card production boom for decades closed their doors for good by the 1950s. Topps Chewing Gum emerged as the new industry leader issuing classic sets like Topps Baseball that featured the sport’s biggest stars of the 1950s and 1960s. While Covington was no longer a baseball card manufacturing center, its legacy had established the foundation for what would become a multibillion-dollar worldwide hobby and business.
Today, Covington pays tribute to its deep baseball card history through exhibits at the local history museum. Vintage cards produced in the city during the industry’s golden age from the 1890s-1920s remain highly valued by collectors. And each summer, the city hosts an annual baseball card show attracting collectors from across the Southeast eager to learn about Covington’s pioneering role in popularizing America’s favorite sport on cardboard. Though the production may have moved elsewhere, the small Georgia town of Covington played an outsized role in establishing baseball cards as an iconic part of American popular culture cherished by generations. Its legacy lives on through the billions of cards that still bring back memories of summer for collectors worldwide.
