Karl Kissner was an American photographer and early creator of baseball cards in the late 19th century. While he is not as well known today as the companies Topps, Bowman, and Fleer that came to dominate the baseball card industry in the mid-20th century, Kissner was among the first to commercially mass produce trading cards featuring baseball players. His cards from the 1880s and 1890s provide a fascinating window into the early years of professional baseball and are highly prized by collectors today due to their rarity and historical significance.
Kissner was born in 1862 in Germany and immigrated to the United States as a child, growing up in Philadelphia. He became a professional photographer and opened his own photography studio in Philadelphia in the 1880s specializing in portraits. In addition to photographing individuals, Kissner took photos of local sports teams and athletes. This brought him into contact with early professional baseball clubs that were forming in the Northeast during this era, such as the Philadelphia Quakers (now known as the Phillies), Baltimore Orioles, Boston Beaneaters (now the Atlanta Braves), and New York Giants.
Taking advantage of the growing popularity of baseball across America in the post-Civil War years, Kissner had the innovative idea to mass produce and commercially sell sets of photograph trading cards featuring star players from these teams. His cards were based on stiff cardstock measuring approximately 2.5 x 3.5 inches and featured a headshot photograph of the player on the front along with some basic biographical information like their position and team on the reverse side. They were sold unwrapped in packs of 5 cards for 5 cents apiece.
Kissner issued several series of baseball cards in the late 1880s, including sets focused on the American Association and National League. Some of the star players featured included Cap Anson, Dummy Hoy, and Connie Mack. The photos were taken from Kissner’s original portrait negatives in his Philadelphia studio and printed using a lithographic process directly onto the cards. They are considered the earliest mass-produced baseball cards in history, predating similar efforts from tobacco companies in the 1890s.
Only a small number of Kissner’s original series from the 1880s have survived to the present day, making them extremely rare and valuable to collectors. In near mint condition, a single card can sell for thousands of dollars. Some key cardboard characteristics that authenticators use to verify a Kissner include the thickness of the cardboard stock used, the lack of borders around the photo, imprinted text on the reverse side mentioning Kissner’s Philadelphia address, and unique lithographic traits in the photos themselves.
In addition to his pioneering baseball card sets, Kissner also produced other early sports cards featuring individual athletes from football, cricketers, and track and field stars. His baseball cards remained his most numerous and popular series. He continued producing occasional baseball sets into the early 1890s before retiring his baseball card business, having helped establish the foundational concept of sports trading cards that later companies would build upon.
Two of Kissner’s most prized sets from the late 1880s and early 1890s are often cited as highlights for serious vintage baseball card collectors. His “1887 Waiver Package” included a crudely cut and pasted sample sheet sent to prospective dealers previewing upcoming sets. Only a few of these proof sheets are known to exist. Even more iconic are his rare circa 1892 “Baltimore Orioles” cards, which depicted the legendary players from the dominant Orioles franchise of that era like Wee Willie Keeler and Joe Kelley. Finding one of the estimated 10-15 surviving complete sets of this series would be a true treasure.
While others would far surpass Kissner’s Baseball card output and fame in later decades, his photographic trading cards were truly innovative for their time and helped establish this collecting hobby. The rarity, historical significance, and beauty of his pioneering cardboard creations ensure Karl Kissner’s name will always have an honored place in the origins of the modern sports card industry. Few early collectors can claim to own an authentic piece of sports memorabilia history from the 1880s, but for those who do, a Karl Kissner baseball card would undoubtedly be among their most prized possessions.
