The tradition of including baseball cards as inserts or bonuses in books goes back decades. Some of the earliest examples date back to the late 19th century when publishers realized including an extra trading card could help sell more copies. While the specific purpose and execution has evolved over the years, baseball cards remain a popular inclusion in certain genres of books even today.
One of the first major publishers to experiment with including baseball cards was Grosset & Dunlap in the late 1880s. They issued a series of dime novels aimed at young baseball fans called “Diamond Dick” stories. Each story came with an extra bonus trading card of a popular player from that era tucked inside. This helped fuel the growing baseball card collecting craze among kids. The small cardboard inserts featured rudimentary black and white images but were a thrill for young readers.
The concept continued to grow in popularity through the early decades of the 1900s. Famous publishers like Grosset & Dunlap and Street & Smith included cards in anthologies of baseball stories and fact books. Often the cards would relate to the players or teams discussed in the specific book. This gave readers an extra tangible piece of memorabilia connecting them to the sports history they were learning about. By the 1920s, sets featuring cards from the biggest stars like Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb were common bonuses to keep children engaged.
In the post-World War 2 era, the golden age of baseball card inserts in books began. Publishers realized they had a valuable promotional tool. By including cards in books aimed at sports fans, it helped drive more sales. Major publishers like Golden Press and Random House began regularly inserting full baseball card sets into biographies, fact books, and how-to manuals. Often the cards would be serially numbered to add to their appeal as collectibles. Kids eagerly awaited finding “the card of the day” when reading their baseball books.
In the 1950s, Topps began directly partnering with book publishers to insert their hugely popular new baseball cards into sports-themed children’s books. Topps-branded card sets featuring the latest rookie stars like Willie Mays became standard bonuses. By the 1960s, most sports book publishers had multi-year deals with Topps to use their cards as incentives. Topps gained brand recognition while publishers saw a sales boost from collectors seeking to complete the inserted card sets chronicling each season.
The tradition carried into the 1970s but started facing more competition. The rise of dedicated sports card shops meant kids had more options to collect outside of books. In response, publishers tried to one-up each other with rarer bonus cards. Some inserted autographed cards or one-of-a-kind artist proofs. But rising paper and printing costs began eating into the profitability. By the late 1970s, baseball card inserts became less common except for certain high-profile book releases.
Publishers found a second wind in the 1980s and 1990s nostalgia boom. New retro-themed books catering to adults who grew up with baseball card bonuses as kids proved popular. Reprints of vintage books were also re-released with the original card sets intact. Nostalgia publishers like Tuff Stuff and Time-Life inserted new reproduction cards to capture this market. Major new releases from book clubs like Book-of-the-Month also featured premium card sets targeting collectors.
Today, baseball card inserts remain most common in niche releases but serve an important archival role. Reprints of out-of-print sports books help preserve the original bonuses. Card sets from vintage publishers like Grosset & Dunlap are reprinted. Nostalgia small presses like Summer Game Books continue the tradition with modern players. Digital book formats even allow “card” bonuses to be included. While the heyday has passed, baseball cards in books maintain their place in both the history of publishing and growth of baseball card collecting fandom. Their nostalgic appeal ensures they will likely remain a specialty inclusion appealing to fans of both books and baseball for generations to come.
