Baseball cards produced before the start of World War II in 1939 represent a special time in the history of the sport and the collectible card industry. During this pre-war era, numerous companies competed to produce and distribute baseball cards as an enjoyable diversion and marketing tool that helped spread the popularity of the national pastime.
Some of the earliest baseball cards date to the late 1880s when tobacco companies like Goodwin & Company and American Tobacco Company began inserting memorabilia cards in cigarette and tobacco packs. These so-called “tobacco era” cards from the 1880s-1890s are considered the great rarities of the hobby, with legendary players like Pop Lloyd, Pud Galvin and Hugh Daily depicted. It was really the beginning of the 20th century when the baseball card boom started in earnest.
In 1909, the American Tobacco Company started the most famous set of the tobacco era with its iconic T206 collection. Spanning from 1909-1911, the highly coveted and iconic T206 series featured future Hall of Famers like Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb and Walter Johnson. They came to epitomize the golden age of tobacco cards. Only a very small number survive in high grades today, putting high-value examples of Wagner, Cobb and others well out of reach of all but the deepest pocketed collectors.
Some of the other major tobacco brands that issued baseball cards during the early 1900s until the practice was banned in the 1950s included Piedmont, Fatima, Sweet Caporal, Murad and Cycle tobacco brands. Companies sought new creative ways to entice customers to purchase their products and baseball cards proved a hugely popular promotional vehicle. By mid-decade though, confectionary and gum makers were starting to muscle in on the baseball card trend and change its future course.
In 1913, the American Caramel Company began offering their 1015 Caramel baseball cards as prizes inside caramel bars and other confections to great success. Other early candy/gum producers included Venor Nut Company, Egyptian Gum Company and Breisch-Strebig Chocolates. It was the entry of the dominant candy-maker of the time, Good & Plenty maker George C. Miller, which really helped cement the transition of baseball cards to become a fixture inside chewing gum packs.
In 1915, Miller’s Gum Company issued their famous strip cards contained inside gum packs. These were the initial efforts by Miller and his brand, Play Ball, to popularize the use of baseball cards as a proven sales booster for chewing gum products. Their designs also featured a mix of baseball stars from the day along with lesser known minor leaguers in colorful strip card format.
Through the next two decades, Miller’s various gum brands like Goudey, Piedmont, Broadwalk, and other played a key part in shaping the baseball card collecting hobby. In 1933, Goudey issued one of the most popular and influential early card sets with its famous Goudey Gum large size cards depicting sluggers like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx. Errors and variations like the infamous ‘Babe Ruth bubblegum’ miscut also added to the appeal of Goudey gum issues.
During World War I years from 1917-1919, many companies consolidated or stopped baseball card production due to paper shortages from the war effort. Smaller specialty firms picked up some of the slack. Included were series from Dan-Dee Pretzels & Potato Chips and Hygrade Food Products among others issuing short runs of cards inserted in their products.
The late 1910s and roaring 1920s were a golden period overall for baseball cards and the sport’s growing appeal nationwide. Companies experimented with different sizes, materials and formats. They also sought to license famous players and capture the heroes and stats from America’s favorite pastime. Gum giant Topps Chewing Gum would later cite this boom period as the key inspiration for their influential baseball card issues beginning in 1950.
The Depression years of the 1930s provided some challenges for the baseball card industry amid the poor economy and reduced consumer spending. However, Goudey’s 1933 set proved there was still strong demand when times were tough. In 1936, a long out-of-print Honus Wagner T206 card surprisingly resurfaced and was purchased for the then-record price of $500, reflecting the iconic status some early 20th century cards had achieved within the growing hobby.
Through the late 1930s, companies such as Diamond Stars, Shell Oil and Independent Floor Wax kept delivering new baseball card issues to a steadily expanding collector base. But the growing tensions in Europe and Asia were about to profoundly impact America and the baseball card field. Soon after Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the U.S. entered World War II and non-essential industries were mandated to support the war production effort.
Scrap metal drives, paper shortages and other disruptions halted new baseball card production for the duration of the war. Existing inventories of older cards were pulled from store shelves to save resources. This created a multi-year gap without new issues that is still sometimes called the ‘War Years’. But as American GIs fought fascism overseas, they nourished their dreams of baseball’s return by exchanging and collecting the cards they held onto from before the conflict.
That nostalgia and anticipation would prove key after 1945 when the postwar boom helped make baseball more popular than ever across the country. Iconic names like Ted Williams, Willie Mays and Jackie Robinson captured the nation’s imagination and sparked unprecedented renewed demand for cards capturing their amazing exploits on the diamond back home. When production resumed after 1946, a new golden age was on the horizon for both America’s pastime and the baseball card collecting hobby tightly intertwined with its popularity.
The pre-World War II era from the 1880s to late 1930s established baseball cards as a ubiquitous and highly collectible promotional item inserted in cigarettes, candy, gum and other consumer products. Pioneering companies like American Tobacco, Goodwin, American Caramel, Goudey Gum and others drove the card boom and experimented with innovative designs. Iconic early tobacco and gum card issues were produced featuring legendary players who helped build baseball into the national institution it became by the postwar period. Collection of these classic vintage cards from before 1939 remains an extremely popular and historically significant area of the broader baseball card field to this day.
