For over a century, baseball fans in St. Louis have enjoyed collecting and trading unique baseball cards produced by the city’s daily newspaper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Although they never achieved the same national popularity as Topps or Bowman cards, Post-Dispatch Cardinal baseball cards hold a special place in the history and nostalgia of the St. Louis baseball fanbase.
The Post-Dispatch began including small baseball cards as promotional inserts in their newspaper starting in the 1890s, making them some of the earliest baseball cards in existence. These early prototypes usually featured just a black and white image of a player on the front with basic stats on the back. They captured the local fan’s passion for the newly established St. Louis Cardinals franchise in its early American Association and National League years.
In the 1920s, the Post-Dispatch started producing higher quality, glossy baseball cards as color printing technology advanced. These multi-player “taxi squad” cards showed 4 or 5 Cardinal players per card and included more detailed stats and bios. They became highly coveted collectors items for fans to swap and trade throughout the season. Legendary stars of the 1920s Cardinals dynasties like Rogers Hornsby, Jim Bottomley, and Bob O’Farrell were some of the first Cardinal legends to be memorialized on Post-Dispatch cards.
In the 1930s, the Post-Dispatch began issuing single player cards on thicker stock paper similar to modern card designs. Notable Hall of Famers immortalized in the 1933 and 1934 issues included pitcher Joe Medwick and outfielders Frankie Frisch and Jesse Haines. While crude by today’s standards, these eye-catching renderings of Cardinals stars dressed in pinstriped 1930s uniforms have endured as some of the most visually appealing of the early Post-Dispatch sets.
After a hiatus during World War 2, the Post-Dispatch resumed their beloved baseball card insert program in 1947 introducing them on a much wider scale. Over 500,000 cards of top current and past Cardinals were inserted into the newspaper per issue that season, making collection and trades a mainstream phenomenon among local youth. Rookie Cards of future stars like Stan Musial in 1941 and Enos Slaughter in 1938 have high demand among collectors today.
The early 1950s saw Post-Dispatch experiment with innovative new card designs like the popular “red-frame” or “zip strip” cards featuring mini bios. These cards helped Memoralize the glorious “Gashouse Gang” era champions and immortalized the legendary pitcher-outfield combiniation of Ted Wilks and Enos Slaughter that led the team. The cards attained a high-gloss, near-magazine quality finish by this point.
As the 1950s rolled on, the Post-Dispatch cards began to showcase more photography and action shots on thick, durable card stock. Future Hall of Famers like Musial, Schoendienst, Gibson, and Brock were prominently featured in their prime. Beloved stars of the 1960s championship cores like Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, and Tim McCarver came to define the Post-Dispatch aesthetics during this peak period for Cardinals fandom in St. Louis.
Although competitors like Topps gained more ground nationally in the 1960s, the Post-Dispatch still distributed over 1 million cards per year inserted in the newspaper read by millions of area fans. Innovations like “traded” variation cards showing players on new teams kept collectors engaged year-round. Beloved coach/broadcaster Joe Garagiola even received his own player card in 1967 a testament to his influence.
By the 1970s, age had caught up to newspaper inserts as a viable business model for sports cards. Topps attained the exclusive MLB license and mass produced packaging won out. The Post-Dispatch ended decades of Cardinals card inserts, with the final issues spotlighting stars of the 1970’s NL pennant winners like Lou Brock, Joe Torre, and Garry Maddox. They had secured their place in baseball and St. Louis history as the original chroniclers of the Cards franchise.
While no longer in production, vintage Post-Dispatch Cardinals cards remain popular with collectors today. Exceptional early 20th century examples can fetch thousands. Even common 1970s issues hold nostalgia value for generation of St. Louis fans. Periodic reprint sets by independent companies help preserve the iconic Post-Dispatch design legacy. No other city’s sports franchise has been so thoroughly documented from its earliest days through visual collectables by its local newspaper. For over 100 years, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch brought the Cardinals directly to fans’ doorsteps and memories through the universal tradition of the baseball card. Their unique chronicle of Cardinals history will forever remain a cherished chapter in the story of America’s pastime in St. Louis.
