The History of Dubuque Baseball Cards
Baseball cards have long been an iconic part of American culture and fandom. While many associate baseball cards primarily with the biggest brands like Topps and Bowman, the city of Dubuque, Iowa also played an important role in the early history of these collectibles. For over 50 years in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Dubuque was home to multiple companies that produced baseball cards sold across the country. These lesser known Dubuque brands helped popularize and standardize the modern baseball card at a pivotal time in the sport’s growth.
One of the first Dubuque companies to issue baseball cards was the Tobacco Card Company, which operated from around 1886 to 1891. Like most early card producers, they included baseball images as part of cigarette and tobacco packaging incentives. They also sold sets of baseball cards on their own. Featuring stars from the American Association and National League like Hugh Duffy and King Kelly, these pioneer Tobacco Card Company sets helped fuel the rising interest in collecting players’ photos during baseball’s formative years.
In 1890, the Allen & Ginter Company began producing some of the most elaborate and artistic baseball cards of the era from their Dubuque factory. Lavishly illustrated with embossed foil and intricate backgrounds, Allen & Ginter cards featured a wide array of sports and non-sports subjects. Their baseball cards from this period are now highly coveted by collectors. Players depicted included future Hall of Famers Cap Anson, Pud Galvin, and Amos Rusie. Allen & Ginter’s ornate card designs from Dubuque helped elevate baseball cards as a genuine collectible hobby.
The Hubinger Brothers Company operated in Dubuque from around 1893 to the early 1900s. They issued several series of baseball cards as premiums with other products like cigarettes and candy. Hubinger cards are notable for their colorful illustrated backgrounds and early use of action poses, with players depicted swinging bats or throwing. Stars of the 1890s like Kid Nichols and Jesse Burkett had their likenesses spread across the country in Hubinger Brothers sets produced in Dubuque.
In 1891, the Mayo Cut Plug Tobacco Company began using Dubuque as a manufacturing base. Over the next two decades, Mayo issued over a dozen series of baseball cards as incentives. Famous players featured included Nap Lajoie, Cy Young, and Honus Wagner. Mayo cards are notable for their consistency in size and design elements over many years of production in Dubuque. They helped standardize the modern baseball card format that would be solidified by the time the tobacco industry shifted to gum and candy premiums in the early 1900s.
The Dubuque Baseball Card Company had a short run making cards between 1899-1901, but issued high quality lithographed images of stars like Willie Keeler and Jack Chesbro. In the early 1900s, the Breisch-Wade Company and the G.H. Wade Company of Dubuque also produced several series of tobacco-era cards as premiums. Future Hall of Famers Ty Cobb and Walter Johnson had their rookie cards included in sets issued from Dubuque by these companies during the game’s deadball era.
The most famous Dubuque card producer was arguably the E-Z Cut Tobacco Company, which operated from around 1909 to 1915. Based in the city, E-Z Cut issued over a dozen series that helped define the transition from tobacco to the fledgling gum and candy card era. Their high quality 1911 and 1912 sets included the earliest cards for superstars like Shoeless Joe Jackson and Home Run Baker. E-Z Cut also issued some of the earliest cards featuring teams and managers rather than just individual players.
While the larger card companies eventually overshadowed local brands, Dubuque’s role in the early development of baseball cards should not be overlooked. For over 50 years starting in the 1880s, the city was a hub of the tobacco and confectionery industries that helped spread baseball fandom through collectible cards across the nation. Featuring top players of their eras and experimenting with new designs and formats, companies like Allen & Ginter, Mayo Cut Plug, Hubinger Brothers, and E-Z Cut helped establish baseball cards as a mainstream part of American popular culture during baseball’s formative years. Though lesser known than bigger national brands today, Dubuque’s local card companies were vital pioneers in the history of this beloved baseball collectible.
