The Origins of Baseball Cards
The earliest known baseball cards date back to the late 1860s, just a few years after the Civil War and in the early formative years of professional baseball. These initial cards were not produced specifically as baseball cards. Rather, they were trade cards inserted in cigarette packs and produced by tobacco companies to promote their brands. These early trade cards usually featured generic images either of baseball players or generic baseball scenes and were not specifically associated with any major or minor league team.
The first company to produce baseball cards specifically to promote the sport was the American Tobacco Company in 1869. Their “1869 Stoneham Cigarettes” card set included lithographic cards depicting players from the prominent early professional teams like the Cincinnati Red Stockings, Brooklyn Atlantics, and Boston Red Stockings. Each card featured a portrait image of a single player. Production of these early baseball card sets was sporadic and inconsistent. Tobacco companies produced baseball cards on and off in the 1870s but they were not yet a major promotional product.
The Modern Baseball Card Era Begins
The true beginning of modern baseball cards as a widespread collectible item dates to the 1880s. In 1886, the cigarette manufacturer Goodwin & Company began regularly inserting baseball cards into packs of cigarettes and tobacco as promotional materials. Their cards were lithographic and included images of star players from the National League and American Association. Goodwin’s cards helped popularize the hobby of collecting baseball cards among both children and adults. Their success spurred other tobacco brands to follow suit with their own baseball card productions in the late 1880s.
In 1889, the American Tobacco Company began regularly mass producing color lithographic baseball cards as part of their series called “Large Baseball Cards”. These cards featured more detailed color portraits and player stats on the reverse. They were inserted in packs of cigarettes and became immensely popular. Their success cemented baseball cards as an essential part of the tobacco advertising business model that would continue for decades. Many other tobacco brands soon joined in, each featuring their own card designs promoting both the tobacco products and professional baseball.
The Proliferation of Baseball Card Sets
By the 1890s, baseball cards had truly taken off as a widespread collectible. Nearly every major tobacco company produced numerous baseball card sets each year. Prominent early producers in the 1890s included Allen & Ginter, Mayo Cut Plug, Goodwin & Company, and Sweet Caporal. These early card issues featured color lithographic images of star players from both the National League and upstart rival leagues of the time like the Players’ League. The reverse sides usually included limited stats and occasionally brief biographies of the players depicted.
As the popularity of collecting baseball cards grew, producers sought new ways to attract customers. In 1894, American Tobacco issued what is considered the first “complete” baseball card set with its 50 card “Old Judges” issue. It included images of players from every team in the National League that season. This helped spark the desire of collectors to try and obtain a full set. Other innovations in the late 1890s included the first cards featuring non-players like managers and team owners.
The early 20th century saw the golden age of tobacco baseball cards. Nearly every major cigarette and chewing tobacco brand issued colorful lithographic card sets each year from about 1902 to about 1915. Prominent brands included T206 White Border cards, T205 Gold Border cards, and cards produced by companies like Turkey Red, Sweet Caporal, Hassan Triple Fold, and Star. These issues featured the biggest stars of the Deadball Era and early modern baseball like Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, and Honus Wagner. Their rarity and condition makes some of the most coveted cards for collectors today.
The Decline of Tobacco Baseball Cards
As anti-smoking sentiments grew in the early 20th century, the practice of inserting trading cards in tobacco products came under scrutiny. States began banning or restricting trading cards in cigarettes and chewing tobacco due to concerns they targeted minors. The federal government also became involved due to antitrust investigations into the tobacco industry. This led to the major manufacturers cooperating to end the golden age of tobacco cards.
The last great tobacco card issues were produced around 1915 by companies like American Caramel, Bunte Brothers, and Goodwin & Company. The tobacco industry would not produce cards again on a widespread scale until the 1930s and 1940s. By then, the cards inserted in Camel cigarettes and other brands featured mainly movie stars instead of ballplayers. The cigarette card era that made baseball cards a national phenomenon was over by the 1920s due to changing attitudes around tobacco advertising and targeting youth.
Baseball cards had become a firmly established part of American popular culture by then. While tobacco companies no longer dominated production, card companies like Goudey and Play Ball issued new baseball card sets in the 1930s to keep the hobby alive between the world wars. And the baseball card collecting phenomenon was set to explode again after World War 2 with the dawn of the modern glossy photo card era in the 1950s. Today, over 125 years after those first cigarette trade cards, baseball cards remain one of the most popular collectibles in the world.
