Baseball cards have been an integral part of American culture and childhood memories for over a century. The small trading cards that featured images of baseball players became popular starting in the late 1800s as a promotional item for cigarette and chewing gum companies. While the roots of baseball cards are nationwide, the small city of Creve Coeur, Missouri has its own rich history with these collectible cards.
Located just west of St. Louis, Creve Coeur was a suburban community that really started to grow after World War II as many veterans chose to settle down and start families in the area. As the baby boom generation came of age in the 1950s and 1960s, baseball cards were an extremely popular hobby for many young boys in Creve Coeur. Whether it was opening a fresh pack of Topps or Fleer cards from the corner store or trading duplicates with friends on the playground, nearly every young boy had at least a small collection.
For some kids, their interest in baseball cards grew into a serious collecting hobby. Several shops opened in Creve Coeur during this time catering to the booming collector market, including Creve Coeur Sport Cards and the Olde Card Shoppe. These stores sold new packs of cards as well as boxes filled with older vintage cards that collectors sought to fill in the missing pieces of their sets. The stores also hosted trading card shows on weekends where collectors from around the region would gather and browse tables filled with cards available for sale or trade.
One of the most well-known collectors from Creve Coeur was Robert Lang. Even as a young boy in the 1960s, Lang was obsessive about collecting and carefully organizing not just the current year’s cards but chasing down older cards to complete sets back to the 1930s. Lang amassed an immense collection of over 500,000 individual cards with a focus on vintage stars like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and Honus Wagner. In the 1970s, Lang’s collection was considered one of the finest in private hands. He would loan prized cards to local card shows and museums to be displayed.
Lang’s passion for the hobby inspired many other young collectors in Creve Coeur. Brothers Mark and Steve Wilson began collecting in the 1960s and voraciously pursued vintage cards, often buying collections that had been passed down through family estates in the area. By their high school years in the mid-1970s, the Wilsons had assembled two of the finest vintage collections in the Midwest with a combined value estimated at over $1 million even by the standards of the time.
The heyday of baseball card collecting in Creve Coeur continued strong through the 1970s and early 1980s. Stores like Creve Coeur Sport Cards became more than just retailers – they were also important community gathering spots. The shops hosted frequent trading sessions, trivia contests and giveaways to keep the collecting spirit alive. Some of the most popular modern star players of the era like Reggie Jackson, George Brett and Nolan Ryan became the new vintage stars as their rookie cards from the late 1960s and early 1970s skyrocketed in value.
As the 1980s progressed, the baseball card market began to change. Many factors including overproduction of modern cards and speculation drove prices down. The shops in Creve Coeur started to feel the pinch as fewer new collectors were getting into the hobby. By the late 1980s, both Creve Coeur Sport Cards and the Olde Card Shoppe were forced to close their doors after nearly three decades in business. Many longtime local collectors also gradually lost interest or sold off large portions of their collections.
The legacy and impact of baseball cards on Creve Coeur’s history cannot be overstated. Generations of residents developed fond memories and life-long friendships through their shared hobby. Many cards that were collected locally in the 1950s-1970s have since been rediscovered in attics and sold at major auctions for six figure prices. Periodically, local estate and garage sales will still surface long dormant collections with treasures waiting to be found. While the heyday has passed, the connection between Creve Coeur and baseball cards remains an important chapter in the story of sports collecting in America.