Baseball cards have been an integral part of American culture and childhood nostalgia since the late 19th century. For over a century, kids and collectors alike have been amassing collections of these small pieces of cardboard that capture moments from the national pastime. While the epicenter of baseball card history and production has largely been situated in larger metropolitan areas, smaller towns and cities across the country have their own unique stories to tell about these iconic collectibles. Cumberland, Maryland is one such community that has deep roots in the rich history and tradition of baseball cards.
Located in western Maryland along the Potomac River, Cumberland has a population of just over 20,000. As an important transportation hub throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the city played a role in the distribution and collection of early baseball cards across the region. Some of the first documented baseball card collections in Cumberland date back to the late 1800s during the period when tobacco companies began inserting cards as prizes into their cigarette and chewing tobacco packs. Young boys at the time would eagerly await finding rare cards of star players from the National League and American Association hidden amongst their tobacco products.
Throughout the early decades of the 1900s, general stores in Cumberland maintained a steady supply of cigarette packs and other products containing baseball cards that fed the growing hobby. Popular brands like Allen & Ginter, Old Judge, and Sweet Caporal could frequently be found on store shelves, beckoning kids to try their luck at pulling a Ty Cobb, Nap Lajoie, or Honus Wagner from inside. In the post-World War II era, the rise of bubble gum companies like Topps, Bowman, and Fleer further fueled the baseball card craze in Cumberland. Grocery stores and corner markets stocked racks with wax packs promising a random assortment of gum and cardboard treasures within.
By the 1950s, dedicated baseball card shops had begun to emerge in Cumberland to cater specifically to the collector market. Harry’s Sporting Goods, located downtown on Baltimore Street, was one of the pioneering establishments that stocked complete sets and boxes of the newest releases to satisfy avid collectors. Harry’s hosted frequent baseball card shows and swap meets in their store where kids could come trade, sell, and compare collections. They also maintained extensive back stock of older series that collectors sought to fill holes in their albums. As the demand grew, additional shops like Bob’s Baseball Cards and Cobb’s Sportscards opened over the following decades.
Into the 1960s and 70s, the baseball card boom reached new heights in Cumberland. The advent of colorful, photograph-adorned designs on cards from Topps, Fleer, and others made collecting even more enticing. Meanwhile, the Orioles’ success during this period sparked new interest in baseball throughout Maryland. Local card shops stayed busy supplying products and hosting promotional events. The rise of graded card slabbing services and online auction sites in the 1980s and 90s brought a renaissance to the hobby in Cumberland as collectors sought rare and valuable vintage cardboard.
Today, while the brick-and-mortar card shop presence has diminished, the tradition of collecting remains strong in Cumberland. Local card shows are still regularly hosted at venues like the Allegany County Fairgrounds, drawing hundreds of collectors from across the region annually. Vintage card collections handed down through generations of Cumberland families maintain a tangible connection to memories of visiting corner stores for packs as kids. And the new wave of online collecting platforms has created renewed enthusiasm, keeping the hobby that first took root over a century ago an integral part of the city’s culture. Through changing trends and technology, Cumberland continues carrying on baseball card history.