The earliest recognized commercially produced baseball cards date back to the late 1800s. The oldest complete baseball card set known to exist is the 1887 N172 Old Judge tobacco card series produced by the American Tobacco Company. It is believed that some earlier prototype baseball cards may have been produced on an experimental basis in the 1870s as the baseball card collecting hobby began to take shape.

In the post-Civil War era of the late 1860s and 1870s, baseball was rapidly growing in popularity across America. Cigarettes and other tobacco products were also starting to become widely popular consumer items. Several enterprising tobacco manufacturers sensed an opportunity to gain new customers by marketing their products toward baseball fans. In 1868, the American Colored Tobacco Company reportedly issued a set of thirty-six promotional photo cards of baseball players. While no examples are known to survive today, contemporary newspaper advertisements make reference to this pioneering effort, which are considered by historians to be the first true baseball cards produced specifically for promotional purposes.

In the mid-1870s, tobacco companies experimented further with baseball-themed promotions. The Allen & Ginter Tobacco Company issued various test baseball cards as part of their larger series of carte de visite photograph cards distributed through their cigarette packages. A small number of rare examples featuring stars like Al Spalding and Cap Anson from this developmental period still exist today. These did not constitute a complete dedicated baseball card set and were produced on a limited trial basis rather than mass-marketed nationwide.

The first true nationally distributed complete baseball card set put forth as a premium offer was the 1887 N172 Old Judge issue from American Tobacco. This landmark 48-card series featured leading professional players from the National League and American Association of the late 1880s. Players depicted included stars like Hawley, Brouthers, Ewing, Rowe, and Kelly. Cards carried factual information like team, position, and batting average. Inserted in packs of Old Judge tobacco, these cardboard cards achieved instant popularity among young baseball fans of the time. The 1887 set is credited as the first to commercially standardize the format and concept that defined trading cards as they developed going forward.

Over subsequent years through the late 1880s and 1890s, tobacco companies competed fiercely to offer new and better baseball card promotions. Allen & Ginter followed Old Judge in 1888 with a popular 90-card series called “Golden Fleece.” In 1891, Goodwin & Co. unveiled a mammoth 400+ card set known as Carlisle Indian Industry Schools. Also in 1891, Britain’s Ogden’s Guerilla War Cigarettes distributed an unusual 35-card player portrait and portrait of team owner John B. Day series. In 1890, Mayo Cut Plug released one of the rarest and most iconic early issues, a 100-card Baltimore Orioles set featuring stars of the legendary mid-1890s “Oriole” dynasty teams. Production and insertions became more sophisticated, and additional information like player biographies started to be included on cards.

By the late 1890s, tobacco companies regularly inserted complete baseball card sets as premiums with their products, usually numbering around 100 cards. Notable famous issues from this era included the 1896-97 style Old Mill and Murad cigarette card sets. Many early series uniquely captured iconic players from the 1800s whose careers pre-dated photography, relying on illustrated lithography techniques which granted additional historical significance. After 1900, the baseball card collecting hobby exploded in popularity among youth, driving further expansions and innovation in the format as companies designed card promotions to appeal to increased numbers of young fans nationwide.

While crude prototype baseball cards may have been produced experimentally in the 1870s, the dawn of truly commercial mass-market baseball card issues intended purely as promotions occurred with the landmark 1887 N172 Old Judge tobacco card set. This seminal 48-card offering standardized the newly established format and concept that fundamentally defined the entire baseball cards collecting hobby as it developed rapidly through the early 1900s Golden Age and remains beloved worldwide today. Those original Old Judge cardboard cards thus represent where the tradition of baseball cards truly began on a commercial basis over 135 years ago.

The earliest known baseball cards date back to the late 19th century during the late 1860s and 1870s. Some of the earliest documented baseball cards were issued during this period by tobacco companies as promotional materials included in cigar and cigarette packs. These early baseball cards were not nearly as sophisticated or widespread as the mass-produced baseball cards that later became popular collectibles.

The first true set of modern baseball cards that could be considered the origin of baseball card collecting was released in 1869 by the American Card Company. This set included 29 different cards featuring individual lithographic print portraits of baseball players from that era. Each card featured a portrait photo or illustration of a player from the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, which was the first fully professional baseball team. This 1869 set helped popularize baseball and gave collectors their first opportunity to showcase and trade individual baseball player cards.

In the 1880s, several tobacco companies began including small pieces of card stock featuring baseball players in their tobacco products as promotional materials and premiums. Brands like Faro Cigarettes, Sweet Caporal Cigarettes, and Allen & Ginter included these rudimentary baseball cards in their cigars and cigarettes. Between 1886-1887, Allen & Ginter released their most notable early tobacco era baseball card sets featuring individual cards of over 100 different players. These sets helped make baseball card collecting a mainstream hobby.

The 1890s are considered the true beginning of modern baseball card production and mass popularity. In 1887, the American Tobacco Company acquired Allen & Ginter and began mass producing baseball cards as premiums inserted in their most well-known brands like Old Judge Tobacco and Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. Between 1891-1892, they issued their most iconic early tobacco era baseball card set featuring cards of over 400 different players, managers, and teams. Production ramped up in the 1890s as tobacco manufacturers flooded the market with baseball cards to drive new customers.

Collectors devoured these early 1890s tobacco era baseball cards featuring colorful illustrated lithographic portraits of their favorite players from teams like the Boston Beaneaters, Baltimore Orioles, and New York Giants. Trading and discussing players became a popular pastime. By the late 1890s, tobacco cards were inserted in nearly every pack and became a familiar childhood experience for many growing up during the sport’s rise. The tobacco era lasting until the 1910s cemented baseball card collecting as a national craze that captured America’s obsession with the growing game.

In 1909, tobacco advertising and premium cards came under threat of restrictive laws, which led manufacturers to reduce sizes and find new premium options. In 1912, the American Tobacco Company issued what are considered the final great tobacco era baseball card sets before production halted due to the increasing legal pressure and expense. Through the late 1910s and 1920s, baseball card production mostly ceased as the sport transitioned between eras.

Starting in 1933, the Goudey Gum Company launched their pioneering modern gum card era by including baseball cards as premiums with their chewy gum products. The 1933 Goudey baseball card set reinvigorated the market and became one of the most coveted vintage issues due to the iconic Hall of Famers featured like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Jimmie Foxx. Baseball card production continued rising due to their growing popularity as a mass-produced premium in gum, candy, scrapbook, and various kids’ products.

By the late 1930s, several additional competitors joined the market like Play Ball from Fleer and Bowman Gum. As World War 2 shortages hit, card production halted again. But it resumed in a major way in the post-war 1950s as companies boosted output to keep up with the increased demand from the era’s booming interest in cards, fueled by America’s growing focus on family entertainment and pastimes. The explosive growth in the 1950s ushered in the modern golden age of sets which still retains huge nostalgia and demand to this day among collectors.

The rise of the internet age and online collecting community since the 1990s has brought unprecedented interest in all eras of vintage baseball cards from the formative tobacco era through the post-war golden age. While the boom and bust cycles have altered the market, today’s massive collectibles industry owes its origins to those first innovative baseball card releases from the 1860s-1870s that helpedspark a national phenomenonintertwining America’s two great 20th century pastimes – baseball and collecting.