Kaybee Toys was a five-and-dime store chain based in Philadelphia that operated from the early 1900s through the 1960s. While Kaybee sold a wide variety of toys, games, and novelties, the company is perhaps best remembered today for its production of inexpensive baseball cards from the 1930s through the 1950s.
Kaybee entered the baseball card market in the late 1930s looking to capitalize on the growing popularity of the sport and appetite among kids for collectible memorabilia featuring their favorite players and teams. Produced entirely in-house using simple chromolithographic printing techniques, Kaybee cards cost just a penny per pack and contained around 15 cards each. While the photos and stats featured on Kaybee cards weren’t as high quality as those released by more established card companies like Bowman and Goudey, their extremely low price point helped make them accessible to countless young baseball fans across the country.
Kaybee’s yearly baseball card releases were produced on a season-long basis rather than in calibrated sets like those of their competitors. As such, Kaybee cards from a given year could feature players from any team rather than dedicated sets focused on specific leagues or levels of play. This approach helped Kaybee amass a much more comprehensive collection of players in their yearly outputs. The downside, however, was a lack of organization that made completing full runs or sets more challenging for devoted collectors.
Nonetheless, the sheer numbers of Kaybee cards hitting the marketplace each year through five-and-dime racks and vending machines ensured they became a commonly encountered part of the baseball card landscape during their heyday from the late 1930s through the 1950s. Kaybee frequently produced multiple series within a single year, with their 1939, 1940, 1941, 1944 and 1948 outputs amounting to some of the largest single-season baseball card releases of the pre-war period in terms of sheer card count.
While the photos, stats and production values featured on Kaybee cards were often more basic than those of pricier card companies, they made up for it with comprehensive coverage of the sport. In addition to star players, Kaybee frequently featured cards of more obscure minor leaguers, Negro League stars who were excluded from the rosters of other brands, and non-players like managers, owners and stadium shots. Their inclusive approach helped Kaybee capture the entire scope of organized baseball throughout their run.
The early-mid 1940s marked the high-water mark for Kaybee’s baseball card prominence, as patriotic WWII themes and sporting events provided a major boost. Series from this period like their 1941 and 1944 outputs are quite common in today’s collector market given the sheer numbers produced. Notable rookie cards first featured included Dodgers greats Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson, as well as Hall of Famers like Phil Rizzuto and Early Wynn. The designs utilized patriotic color schemes and motif s befitting the era.
Following World War II, Kaybee continued to issue large multi-series baseball card outputs on an annual basis through the late 1940s and early 50s. Notable post-war Kaybee cards included the debuts of Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Sandy Koufax. Production values remained basic however, relying on black-and-white photos and uniform card designs that gradually began to appear quite dated as the 1950s wore on. Faced with rising production costs and new competitors like Topps entering the market via much slicker nationally distributed gum and candy promotions, Kaybee’s baseball cards began losing steam.
After a brief resurgence with their colorful 1948 photo featuring stars like Stan Musial and Ted Williams, Kaybee issued their final baseball card series in 1952. By this point the introduction of the modern glossy cardboard format by Topps had left Kaybee’s basic paper offerings looking quite antiquated. With five-and-dime stores also starting to fade from the American retail landscape, the company pulled the plug. A small commemorative run of local Philadelphia minor leaguers was attempted in 1953 but issued without much fanfare or lasting impact. And so ended Kaybee’s long run as a seminal early provider of accessible and comprehensive baseball cards toAmerica’s youth.
While their basic design and production approach hasn’t aged as well as some of their slicker competitors from the same era, Kaybee cards retain nostalgia value for capturing the full scope of baseball in the decades before television brought the sport into America’s living rooms. Their penny price tag and constant output ensured few young 1940s ball fans lacked at least a few Kaybee cards in their collections, even if completing full runs proved elusive. And they present historians and researchers with a uniquely wide-ranging snapshot of the players, teams and culture of the sport during their era. Seventy years on, tracing the legacy of baseball’s early stars through the basic but bombastic universe of Kaybee Toys baseball cards remains a unique link to the origins and growth of America’s national pastime.
