Baseball cards have long been a quintessential part of American culture and fandom across the country. From children first learning to identify players and teams by collecting cards to serious collectors spending thousands to assemble complete vintage sets, baseball cards have maintained their popularity for over 100 years. Few may realize that the history of baseball cards has deep ties to the city of Knoxville, Tennessee. Some of the earliest baseball card companies were actually founded and operated out of Knoxville in the late 1800s and early 1900s, establishing the Blount County city as an unlikely pioneer in the nascent collectibles industry.
One of the first documented baseball card manufacturers was the American Tobacco Company, which began including cards with images of famous ballplayers as promotional incentives inside tobacco products like cigarettes in the 1880s. By 1887, the American Tobacco Company had established significant operations and a large production facility in Knoxville. Seeking new marketing strategies, company executives decided to ramp up baseball card production and distribution as interest in the burgeoning professional game was growing across the United States. From 1887 until the turn of the century, millions of early tobacco era cards depicting stars like Cy Young, Honus Wagner, and Nap Lajoie were printed at the Knoxville American Tobacco factory, packaged with chewing tobacco and cigars, and sold nationwide.
As concerns over the impacts of tobacco use increased, baseball card companies looked to distance their products from direct tobacco advertising. In 1905, the Knoxville based company The Carey & Company was formed to focus solely on designing and manufacturing collectible baseball cards independently of tobacco products. Headquartered downtown on Cumberland Avenue, Carey & Company produced some of the earliest cards printed specifically for collecting rather than cigarette promotions. Sets issued between 1905-1910 like T206 and E90 featured intricate lithograph designs and included some of the first superstar players of the modern era in vivid color portraits, including Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, and Christy Mathewson. Carey & Company cards helped grow interest in assembling complete sets and sparked the first wave of serious baseball card collecting.
While competitors emerged in other cities, Knoxville remained a center of baseball card production through the 1910s thanks to several additional smaller companies. The Hub Printing Company was established in 1911 under the direction of executives with experience at American Tobacco and Carey & Company. Hub Printing issued limited run promotional and specialty sets well into the 1920s targeted towards drug stores and local shops. Another Knoxville outfit, the Ogden Brothers Company, specialized in regional release sets highlighting minor league teams and obscure players between 1914-1918, foreshadowing the interest in rookie cards and hidden gems that fuels today’s hobby.
Unfortunately, the Great Depression of the 1920s and rising costs of specialized lithography took their toll on Knoxville’s once thriving baseball card industry. Larger, nationwide firms in Chicago and Cincinnati began consolidating production. By the mid 1920s, Knoxville had lost its position at the forefront of baseball card manufacturing to growing urban hubs. The Hub Printing Company ceased operations in 1924, followed by Carey & Company shuttering for good in 1927 due to declining sales. The foundation established by Knoxville’s early pioneers helped drive the expansion and popularity of baseball cards across the United States in subsequent decades after the Depression. Cards produced in Knoxville during the tobacco and pioneer eras, especially rare and uncut specimens from American Tobacco, Carey & Company and Hub Printing, remain extremely valuable to collectors worldwide due to their historic significance and limited surviving examples.
While Knoxville may no longer be a production center, the city maintains connections to baseball cards through local collectors, card shops, and conventions that preserve its legacy in the industry’s origins. The McClung Historical Collection at the Knox County Public Library houses an extensive archive of early cards, newspapers, advertisements and company records tracing the once flourishing card manufacturing history that put Knoxville on the map for collectors. Places like Beckett’s Sports Collectibles continue serving avid local hobbyists, while biannual Knoxville Card Shows bring traders and enthusiasts to town each spring and fall. Every baseball card produced and collected today can trace its roots back over 130 years to the unlikely start provided by companies located along the streets of Knoxville. The city’s prominence at the dawn of the baseball card craze ensures its origins will always be remembered fondly by those who appreciate the collectibles’ rich cultural tradition.
