Baseball cards have been collected by fans for over a century, chronicling the players, teams, and history of America’s pastime. While many associate baseball cards with large cities and regions with major league teams, the small city of Tupelo, Mississippi has its own rich history with America’s favorite collectible.
Some of the earliest baseball cards were produced in the late 1800s by tobacco companies as promotional items to be found in cigarette and chewing tobacco packs. In the early 20th century, Tupelo was still a small rural town, but baseball had begun to take hold locally. Children in Tupelo would eagerly await the arrival of new tobacco products, hoping to find prized baseball cards of the day featuring stars from the National League and American League.
Through the early decades of the 1900s, tobacco companies like American Tobacco, Goodwin & Company, and Allen & Ginter dominated the baseball card market. Their classic tobacco era issues from the late 1800s through the 1910s featured some of baseball’s first superstars like Cy Young, Honus Wagner, and Ty Cobb. Local collectors in Tupelo amassed collections of these early cardboard treasures, even if they couldn’t see the players perform live. The cards fueled their imaginations and passion for the national pastime.
In the post-World War II era of the late 1940s and 1950s, the modern baseball card boom began with the entrance of Topps Chewing Gum into the market. Their colorful cardboard photo cards embedded in bubble gum packs were a huge hit with children across America, including in Tupelo. Kids would swap, trade, and collect the Topps cards featuring their favorite players and teams. Local card shops even began to open in Tupelo to facilitate trades and sales among the growing number of collectors.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Tupelo gained its own minor league baseball team, the Tupelo Tigers, who were part of the Sally League. Having a hometown team to root for made baseball even more exciting for fans. The Topps cards of Tigers players like pitcher Jimmy Piersall added to the local interest. Tupelo natives began serious collections focused on Tigers cards as well as stars from across MLB.
In the 1970s, the baseball card boom entered a golden age as production and collecting rose to new heights. Competition between Topps and new issuer Fleer led to innovative designs and short print cards that increased chase factors. Tupelo saw its own card shops and an active trading network grow among collectors. The rise of organized tournaments and conventions gave collectors a place to interact, trade, and compete. National conventions were also attended by collectors from Northeast Mississippi seeking rare vintage and modern cardboard.
In the 1980s and 1990s, baseball cards became big business as issuers produced increasingly rare and premium card products. Tupelo native and card fanatic Ricky Carter amassed one of the finest collections in the South during this time. His prized possessions included a 1909-11 T206 Honus Wagner, a complete set of the ultra-rare 1975 Topps Traded, and Goudey R311 Babe Ruth rookie. Unfortunately, Carter’s collection was lost when his home burned down in 1998 in a tragic fire.
Today, while the baseball card market has declined from the boom years, there remains a dedicated core of collectors in and around Tupelo. Local card shops like Left Field Sports offer a place for collectors old and new to interact. Regional shows still attract collectors with Mississippi roots in search of deals and nostalgia. And the memories of baseball cards’ heyday in Tupelo live on, as does the hope of discovering another prized piece of cardboard history. From tobacco to gum to wax packs, baseball cards have been a constant thread connecting the people of Tupelo to America’s favorite pastime for over a century.