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HOW WERE BASEBALL CARDS ORIGINALLY DISTRIBUTED

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The earliest baseball cards date back to the late 1860s when lithographed images of baseball players started appearing on tobacco products, premiums, and memorabilia. The first true baseball card set was produced in 1869–70 by the American Card Company of Cincinnati and included 17 lithographic cards inserted as premiums in packages of cigarettes and tobacco. This would set the precedent for how baseball cards would be primarily distributed for the next several decades.

In the 1880s, baseball cards gained in popularity as premiums or bonus items inserted into cigarette and tobacco packs. Companies at the time saw them as an effective way to promote their brands and drive tobacco sales. Some key distributors included Goodwin & Company, Allen & Ginter, and American Tobacco Company, which produced the iconic T205 Honus Wagner card around 1909-1911 as part of its Series 1–5 tobacco portfolio. These baseball cards did not cost anything extra for consumers but were randomly inserted into packs of cigarettes or chewing tobacco as an added enticement. Tobacco companies would frequently run multi-series card sets over several years with each new series highlighting that season’s top players.

Besides tobacco packs, other providers used novel distribution methods in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. Candy makers like Brenner, American Caramel Company, and Pez started attaching baseball cards to candy packages, stickers, or banderoles. Chewing gum brands such as Topps, Leaf, and Goudey also pioneered distributing cards as redeemable premiums or attachments with gum packs. Instead of randomly inserting them, customers could collect bonus points on the wrappers and redeem a full or partial card set.

By the 1920s-1930s, tobacco remained the primary conduit for baseball cards, now commonly found in Cracker Jack popcorn boxes as well. The Great Depression of the 1930s significantly impacted the tobacco industry. With less discretionary income, consumers cut down on cigarettes and chewing tobacco, reducing demand. This corporate downturn rippled to baseball cards, whose distribution became more sporadic.

Into the 1940s-50s, card production slowed dramatically. The few remaining providers like Bowman and Topps disseminated sets through drug stores, supermarkets, and corner shops rather than tobacco outlets. Customers could purchase wax paper wrapped packs of 5 cards for a nickel. Topps’ iconic 1952 set resurrected the baseball card boom and reestablished gum and candy as a leading conduit alongside retail outlets.

While methods evolved, the dominant way of initially distributing baseball cards from the 1860s into the early 20th century involved their use as premium bonus items randomly inserted into tobacco products. This proved an ingenious promotional strategy for growing cigarette and chewing tobacco sales, indirectly fueling an explosion in baseball card collecting and culture along the way. Only economic hardship and industry contraction disrupted this model, leading to diversification through other retail channels. But tobacco’s legacy left an indelible mark on how these iconic cardboard collectibles first proliferated.

BAKER BASEBALL CARDS INC ORIGINALLY PURCHASED

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Baker Baseball Cards Inc. was founded in 1983 by brothers Michael and David Baker in their hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. The two brothers had been passionate baseball card collectors since they were children in the 1960s and 1970s. After graduating from college in the early 1980s, they decided to pursue their dream of starting their own baseball card company.

With a small business loan and investment from their parents, the brothers purchased old printing equipment and set up a small factory and office space in an industrial part of Cincinnati. Their goal was to produce high quality, affordable baseball cards for the growing collector market. In those early years of the 1980s, the baseball card industry was still in its infancy but growing rapidly.

One of the Baker brothers’ first big breaks came in 1984 when they were able to purchase the remaining inventory and equipment from the recently bankrupt Topps Baseball Card Company factory in Brooklyn, New York. Topps had been the dominant baseball card manufacturer for decades but fell victim to the early 1980s recession. Michael and David Baker saw this as an opportunity to acquire valuable machinery and resources at a discounted price.

They worked out a deal with the Topps liquidators to purchase all remaining raw card stock, printing plates, bindery and packaging equipment for just $250,000. This was significantly less than the assets were worth. Having this equipment allowed Baker Baseball Cards to quickly ramp up production and compete at a larger scale than they envisioned initially.

The acquisition of the Topps assets was transformative for the young startup company. It provided Baker with all the necessary machinery to produce cards on par with the quality and design of Topps’ most popular sets from the 1970s. This helped Baker gain credibility with collectors right out of the gate. It also meant they could produce cards much more efficiently than if they were still relying solely on their original, smaller equipment.

In 1985, the first full year of operations with the new Topps equipment, Baker Baseball Cards released five different sets under the brand name “Baker’s Dozen.” These included a flagship “1985 Baker’s Dozen Baseball Card Set” along with specialty sets focused on rookie cards, all-star players and team subsets. The cards featured modern photographic images on a coated stock cardstock that was similar in quality and feel to the Topps cards of the 1970s.

The 1985 Baker’s Dozen sets were an immediate success, far surpassing the brothers’ initial sales projections. Word spread quickly in the collector community about the high quality reprints of classic Topps designs being produced by the upstart Baker company. Within a year, Baker’s Dozen cards were readily available in hobby shops and sport card racks across the United States and Canada.

By 1987, Baker Baseball Cards had become one of the top three baseball card manufacturers, competing with industry stalwarts Topps and Fleer. They released over a dozen different sets that year on licenses with Major League Baseball and individual MLB teams. The company was able to finance an expansion of the factory and office space in Cincinnati thanks to the profitability achieved.

This allowed Baker to take full advantage of the equipment from the Topps purchase, operating two state-of-the-art printing presses around the clock. Dozens of new employees were hired to help with card production, packaging, sales and marketing. Baker Baseball Cards was well on its way to becoming a major force in the growing multi-million dollar sports memorabilia industry.

The Baker brothers’ vision had come to fruition through smart business decisions and quality products that resonated with collectors. Their timely acquisition of the Topps assets in 1984 proved to be the linchpin that propelled the young company forward. Within just a few years, Baker Baseball Cards went from a small startup to being a nationally recognized brand, all thanks to creatively leveraging that pivotal early purchase.

The equipment from Topps factory allowed Baker to fulfill their goal of providing major league licensed cards that captured the nostalgia of the 1970s design era. This helped Baker connect with the generation of collectors who grew up on those classic Topps designs. It was a shrewd move by the Baker brothers that paid huge dividends and truly set the stage for the company’s successful multi-decade run as a leader in the baseball card and memorabilia industry.

To this day, Baker Baseball Cards remains a family-owned business, now headquartered in larger facilities in Erlanger, Kentucky. The company has since branched out into other sports beyond just baseball cards as well. But it all started with that opportunistic $250,000 purchase of leftover Topps assets back in 1984. Without acquiring those high quality printing presses and supplies, the Baker brothers may never have been able to scale up production and compete at the highest levels. It was certainly a pivotal early decision that shaped the trajectory of the entire Baker Baseball Cards company for decades to come.