Capstone Baseball Cards: A Senior Project Done Right
Baseball cards have been a beloved hobby and pastime for generations. For many kids who grew up in the 1980s and 90s, collecting and trading baseball cards was a rite of passage. Even as the popularity of physical cards has waned in the digital age, the nostalgia and history embedded in vintage cardboard remains strong. For one group of high school seniors, baseball cards provided the perfect vehicle for a meaningful capstone project that combined history, design, business, and community.
At John F. Kennedy High School in suburban Chicago, the capstone project is a graduation requirement for all seniors. It’s meant to allow students the freedom to explore a topic of personal interest through independent research and a tangible final product. For friends Danny, Mike, Steve, and Jeff, their shared love of baseball led them to propose creating an original set of baseball cards showcasing the history of their hometown. With guidance from their capstone advisor Mr. Wilson, they got to work researching the local minor league teams and players from the 1950s through the 1980s who had ties to the community.
Their research took them to the local library and newspaper archives, where they poured through microfilm dating back decades to uncover the stories of long forgotten local heroes. They found box scores, game recaps, and even a few old black and white photos. To their surprise, the small town had actually been home to multiple minor league franchises and had sent several players on to the major leagues over the years. “It was really cool to learn about these guys who came from the same streets as us but got to live their dreams playing professional baseball,” said Mike. For each player they profiled, they recorded stats, career highlights, and any personal anecdotes that brought the individuals to life beyond just numbers on a card.
With over 50 players identified, the next challenge was designing cards that did justice to the history they had uncovered. After experimenting with digital templates, the group decided authenticity was most important and that the cards should be printed on traditional stock to match the classic look and feel of the era they were honoring. They worked to get card designs just right, choosing a color scheme, layout, and fonts that stayed true to 1950s/60s baseball card aesthetics while also including all the important stats and facts they had researched. Each small detail from the team logos to position of the stats was carefully crafted.
To fund production, they launched a Kickstarter campaign promoting the project as a way to preserve local sports history and support their high school. With help from Mr. Wilson, they created a compelling video and social media presence that generated significant buzz and far exceeded their funding goal. The response showed just how meaningful paying tribute to community was for local residents. They used the extra funds to produce high quality, professionally printed cards in full color on traditional stock at a local printing shop.
The capstone culminated with the group officially launching their baseball card set with a display at the local library and historical society. Residents came out to learn about the players and teams they never knew existed from the town’s past. The boys even included cards of the four of them in the set as the “creators.” Mr. Wilson couldn’t have been prouder of the work they put in and how they brought the community together through their project.
All these years later, the “Kennedy Kings Baseball Cards” remain treasured by locals and a testament to how impactful taking ownership of learning can be. The four friends stayed in touch after graduation and continue to support each other’s careers and families. Most importantly, they proved how a passion project focusing on history and community can be the perfect way for high schoolers to spend their final year leaving a lasting legacy. Their capstone baseball cards showed what great things can happen when students are empowered to follow their interests and make meaningful contributions however they see fit.
