Golden Press Baseball Cards: A Short-Lived Revolution in the Hobby
From the late 1960s through the early 1970s, a small publishing company called Golden Press shook up the baseball card industry through their innovative distribution model and unconventional card designs. Sold in foil packs alongside pieces of candy or gum at corner drugstores and candy counters, these Golden Press cards reached a massive non-collector audience and stimulated new interest in the hobby. Their short print run and unusual size and design left them little lasting impact in the wider collectibles market once distribution ended in the mid-1970s. Let’s take a deeper look at these unique “golden” cards from the past and their place in baseball card history.
Background and Distribution
Golden Press was a publishing division of Western Publishing, a company better known for children’s books, comics, and other printed materials. Seeking to branch out and capitalize on the booming popularity of traditional baseball cards in the late 1960s, Golden Press licensed player names and images from Major League Baseball and set out to produce their own bubble gum card sets. Rather than following the standard format of card packs sold through hobby shops and convenience stores, Golden Press devised a more innovative direct-to-consumer distribution model.
Their cards were sold in brightly colored foil wrappers alongside small pieces of penny candy or chewing gum. These individual packaged “treat cards” were meant to appeal directly to children and were stocked alongside other small candy items in drugstores, independent candy shops, corner markets – virtually any retail outlet with a candy counter or rack. By packaging the cards this way and selling them wherever candy was sold, Golden Press was able to expose their product to a far wider non-collector audience than the existing baseball card companies could reach. This novel approach proved highly successful at first, making Golden Press cards ubiquitous sights in many American communities during their brief heyday.
Card Design and Content
Despite finding mainstream success with their distribution innovation, the actual Golden Press card designs diverged substantially from established conventions and left many older baseball card collectors underwhelmed. Measuring a smaller 2 1⁄4” by 3 1⁄2” size compared to the standard 3 1⁄2” by 2 1⁄2” dimensions, the cards felt diminutive. More attention-catching were the use of vibrant colors and illustrations that dominated much of the card fronts, in contrast to the traditional headshot-focused photography of Topps, Fleer, and others.
Many cards sported drawings of players in cartoonish action poses or colorful team logo backgrounds that some critics argued detracted from realistic depictions of the players. Statistics were included on the backs but in a more basic format compared to competitors. Ultimately, while the novel designs succeeded at attracting younger children not previously in the hobby, serious adult collectors largely dismissed the Golden Press output as unconventional and not retaining noteworthy value long-term.
Rise and Fall
Through the late 1960s and into the early 1970s, Golden Press baseball cards were undoubtedly some of the most widely obtainable and least expensive on the market thanks to their non-traditional retail exposure. Multiple full-season card sets were released annually featuring both Major and Minor League talent from that year. Franchises like the 1969 and 1971 issues proved especially popular. For a time, the major traditional card companies worried about Golden Press cutting into their established market share.
However, Golden Press cards were ultimately a short-term fad phenomenon rather than a sustainable presence. Distribution through candy stores was at the whims of retailers, and once the initial novelty wore off such outlets had little incentive to continue stocking the cards. Meanwhile, traditional hobby shops and sports card buyers never fully embraced the Golden Press product lines. After approximately five years of annual sets, Golden Press ended their baseball card production sometime in the early-to-mid 1970s as interest tapered off. Overall print runs had been on the smaller side as well, so finding high-grade Golden Press cards today can prove quite challenging for collectors.
Legacy and Collectibility
Despite their transient popularity and limited lasting mainstream impact, Golden Press baseball cards still hold a unique place in the broader history of the hobby. They were truly trailblazers in devising a novel direct-to-consumer distribution network to reach audiences beyond hardcore collectors. Not all of their unconventional design choices have aged well either, but the company undeniably expanded the marketing boundaries of what a “sports card” could be during their brief lifespan. While finding a competitive niche proved difficult long-term against established competitors, Golden Press succeeded at introducing baseball cards to many new young fans.
For dedicated collectors, uncovering high-quality preserved Golden Press cards from their limited print runs remains quite challenging. Pricing often reflects their scarcity, with mint condition examples of key 1960s and 1970s sets frequently commanding hundreds of dollars on auction sites. While lesser condition common cards can be obtained more affordably, demand is strongest among vintage collecting enthusiasts seeking to completeness full representations of the basketball card output from that short window of time in the late 20th century. While a short commercial success, Golden Press left an indelible creative mark and remained an intriguing historical footnote within the world of baseball cards.
