Baseball cards have been an integral part of American culture and childhood nostalgia since the late 19th century. While the hobby grew rapidly across the United States in the mid-20th century, Salem, Oregon developed a unique history with baseball cards that helped shape the city’s identity.
Some of the earliest baseball cards were included in packages of tobacco in the 1880s as a marketing promotion. It wasn’t until the 1930s when gum companies like Goudey Gum Company and Bowman Gum began inserting baseball cards in packs of chewing gum that the hobby truly started to take off. Salem was no exception, as kids could be seen trading and collecting cards throughout neighborhoods in the 1930s and 1940s.
By the 1950s, Salem had developed a thriving baseball card collecting scene. The rise of Topps as the dominant trading card company in the post-war era meant that kids in Salem had access to the same new sets that were popular nationwide each year. Places like Eilers Confectionery and Drug Store downtown became important local hubs where kids would gather to trade, buy, and sell cards.
Salem native Dick Stuart, who went on to play in the major leagues from 1954-1967, recalled how integral baseball cards were to his childhood in the 1950s. “All the kids in my neighborhood were obsessed with cards. We’d spend hours sorting through our collections, making trades to try and get the players we wanted. It was really how we bonded and spent our summers.”
As the 1960s rolled around, card shops started popping up in Salem dedicated solely to sports cards rather than being attached to drugstores or candy shops. Pioneer Card Shop opened in 1962 and was a pioneer (pun intended) in the region as one of the earliest specialty card shops. Kids flocked there on weekends and after school to check out the latest releases.
The 1970s represented the golden age of baseball cards in Salem. Production was at an all-time high, with companies like Topps, Fleer, and Donruss all competing for licensing deals. This created a massive boom in interest and collecting across the country. In Salem, new shops opened to keep up with demand and the existing shops expanded their inventory. Kids could spend hours poring over the vast selections of 1970s cards at places like Hawley’s Sports Cards, Bill’s Baseball Cards, and Hobby Headquarters.
Salem native Bobby Grich, an all-star second baseman who played from 1970-1986, said “I spent every dime I had as a kid at Hawley’s. They had row after row of boxes organized by year and team. It was sensory overload. I must have put together five complete 1970 Topps sets just from searching through their commons boxes over and over.”
The 1980s saw baseball cards transition from the penny-per-card bubblegum era to the rise of higher-end wax packs, factory sets, and special parallel insert cards. Shops in Salem adapted by stocking supplies for the evolving collecting trends like magnetic holders, toploaders, and binders. They also capitalized on the emerging phenomenon of sports memorabilia and began selling autographed items alongside the cards.
Salem resident and former MLB player Scott Spiezio recalled how the card shops were a big part of his baseball journey. “I got my first autograph from a Portland Beavers player when I was 8 years old at Hobby Headquarters. That’s really what sparked my love for the game. Those shops helped foster the baseball passion in so many kids in our area.”
Into the 1990s and 2000s, the baseball card industry experienced ups and downs with overproduction issues but Salem’s shops stayed resilient through it all. They expanded into other sports and trading card games. Places like Stadium Cards and Sports and Showcase Cards are still going strong today, providing the same sense of nostalgia, community, and childhood discovery for new generations of collectors in the Salem area.
So while baseball cards may have started as a small tobacco promotion, they grew to become a defining part of American pop culture and childhood experience over the past century. Here in Salem, Oregon, the history and role of cards holds a special significance, in no small part due to the dedicated shops that fostered the hobby for generations of local kids and helped shape the city’s strong baseball traditions that still resonate today.
