While baseball cards are deeply ingrained in American culture and history, their connection to Magic: The Gathering (MTG) is less well known. Baseball cards first emerged in the late 1800s as a popular collectible and a way for cigarette and confectionery companies to promote their brands. Over the next century they evolved into a multibillion-dollar industry. Along the way, they helped lay the groundwork for the collectible card game (CCG) genre that Magic: The Gathering would help pioneer in the early 1990s.
The first baseball cards were included as promotional materials inserted into packages of cigarettes beginning in 1869. Companies like Goodwin & Company and American Tobacco Company printed illustrated cards featuring baseball players on the front and statistics or biographical information on the back. These early examples were not particularly valuable and were primarily seen as novel advertising. They helped plant the seed of collecting sports memorabilia and cards featuring famous athletes.
In the 1880s and 1890s, the practice of including baseball cards in tobacco products became more widespread. Companies issued sets featuring entire teams as a way to promote both their brands and professional baseball. These early tobacco era cards are now highly valuable collectors items, with some dating back to the 1870s selling for over $1 million each. They established the tradition of collecting that would continue for over a century. The cards also helped raise the profile of baseball stars and teams nationwide by distributing their images and stats to a mass audience.
In the early 20th century, the popularity of baseball cards boomed as dedicated production of sets replaced the earlier giveaway cards. Companies like American Caramel began issuing high-quality illustrated cards as standalone products. The rise of dedicated card manufacturers established standardized sizes, card stock quality and statistical information on the backs. Sets from this era like 1909-11 T206 and 1911-13 T207 are considered some of the most iconic in the history of the hobby. They featured the games biggest stars of the deadball era like Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson and Honus Wagner.
During the 1930s-50s golden age of baseball, the sport’s popularity translated into booming business for card manufacturers. Gum and candy companies issued beautifully illustrated cards as premiums to entice kids to purchase their products. Brands like Goudey, Play Ball and Topps issued high-quality sets that captured the biggest stars of the day like Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Jackie Robinson. In the post-war era, Bowman and Topps emerged as the dominant manufacturers, issuing expansive sets on a yearly basis.
A key development was the rise of the modern baseball card in the 1950s. Topps secured the exclusive rights to produce Major League Baseball cards, standardizing the size at 2.5×3.5 inches. Their iconic design featuring a photo on the front and stats on the back became the industry standard template that is still used today. Topps issued expansive annual sets that became indispensable for any collector. They also pioneered innovations like the first modern rookie cards, uncut sheets and oddball promotional issues.
In the 1970s, the baseball card boom entered its golden age of speculation and investment. Fueled by the rise of star players like Reggie Jackson and excitement over the 1973 “Year of the Pitcher”, sets from the 1970s like Topps, Kellogg’s, Donruss and Fleer are highly valuable today. The era also saw the introduction of oddball issues from brands like O-Pee-Chee, Air Pirates and Bazooka gum. Major League Baseball also began selling licensed products, taking the hobby mainstream.
The 1980s saw trading cards go mainstream with sports network ESPN fueling interest and the rise of the modern memorabilia industry. Brands like Donruss, Fleer and Score issued expansive sets featuring star rookies like Cal Ripken Jr. and Mark McGwire. The era also saw the introduction of high-end premium sets from Upper Deck featuring holograms and autographed cards of superstars. The boom years helped cement baseball cards as a mainstream American pastime as well as big business.
It was against this backdrop in the early 1990s that Magic: The Gathering was first published by Wizards of the Coast. The CCG was directly inspired by trading card games of the time. It represented a paradigm shift by introducing strategic gameplay and rarity levels that treated cards as valuable collectibles. Richard Garfield drew upon his experience playing traditional card games and incorporated elements of luck, psychology and resource management.
When MTG was first released in 1993, it took the gaming world by storm with its innovative multiplayer format and customizable decks. The collectible element was a crucial part of its initial success and helped popularize the CCG genre. Players eagerly opened booster packs in search of rare and valuable cards to complete their decks and collections. The game’s rising popularity coincided with the peak of the early 90s baseball card boom.
MTG rode the coattails of that existing collectibles market and helped expand interest in strategic card games beyond just sports. It treated individual cards as valuable commodities rather than disposable play pieces. This was a novel concept at the time that drew upon the baseball card model of scarcity and speculation. The initial sets like Alpha, Beta and Unlimited are highly sought after today just like vintage sports issues.
In the decades since, Magic: The Gathering has grown into a billion-dollar franchise and remains the most popular trading card game. It has faced competition from Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh and others but remains the dominant force. Meanwhile, the baseball card industry has declined from its 90s peak but remains a multi-hundred million dollar business anchored by legacy brands like Topps.
Both industries have evolved in the digital age but retain devoted followings for their physical card products. Newer entrants like the Pokemon Trading Card Game, Digimon and Transformers Trading Card Game have all drawn upon the MTG model of integrating gameplay with collectibility. But the original blueprint was laid down by over a century of baseball cards establishing the tradition of amassing cardboard collections of favorite athletes and moments in sports history. In turn, Magic: The Gathering helped expand that tradition into the world of strategic card games where it thrives to this day.
