The 1916 Zeenut brand baseball cards were produced as promotional items by the Zeenut Candy Company based in Illinois. Zeenut was a popular candy producer in the early 20th century best known for their peanut brittle and caramels. In 1916, company executives decided to try branching out by producing collectible baseball cards as a way to promote their brands to young baseball fans.

They hired sports artist Carl Horner to design the front and back of each card, choosing to feature real photos of prominent major leaguers from 1915 on the front. Each photo was hand colored since color photography was still in its infancy. On the back was statistical and biographical information for each player as well as ads for Zeenut products.

The set features 50 total cards covering players from both the American and National Leagues. Some of the biggest stars featured included Ty Cobb, Joe Jackson, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, and others. The photos showed the players both in on-field action shots as well as portraits in their team uniforms. Each card stock was a thicker cardboard than previous bubble gum or tobacco issues to better withstand the rigors of young collectors.

While not the earliest baseball cards ever produced, the 1916 Zeenut set marked several milestones. It was the first set to be explicitly designed and marketed as a collectible for children rather than included randomly in candy or tobacco products. It was also among the first to use real color photos on the fronts rather than artwork or black-and-white images. Contemporary sources indicated the candy company had print runs estimated at over 500,000 sets produced.

The cards were inserted one per pack into Zeenut candy bars, caramels, and brittle sold across the Midwest and parts of the East Coast. Collectors could also purchase complete loose sets directly from Zeenut for $0.50, about average for a full new set at that time. This was an innovative direct-to-consumer sales approach not widely used for cards previously. A distinctive blue border wrapped around each 1 1⁄2” by 2 1⁄2” card sporting the Zeenut logo in one corner.

Although over a half million sets were distributed, the survival rate on the 1916 Zeenut cards has proven to be quite low given their age and the rough handling many received in kids’ hands and pockets over a century ago. Also, because they had no resale value initially and were simply promotional items, many were likely eaten, damaged, or thrown away without a second thought once collecting was done. Still, enthusiasts and experts consider any intact 1916 Zeenut card in above average condition to be a significant find today.

Grading and census data shows fewer than 150 examples are known to exist from the full 50-player set among all grades. The scarcest include stars like Home Run Baker, Edd Roush, and Smoky Joe Wood, with perhaps only a handful or two of each in collectors’ hands today. High grades of 8 or above are extremely rare, usually selling at auction for five figures or more when they surface. Even in lower grades of 3-5, individual common players can still fetch $1,000 due to their legendary status in the card collecting hobby.

What makes the 1916 Zeenuts particularly intriguing is the colorful and innovative concept behind their production that helped pave the way for the Golden Age of baseball cards in the 1920s. They represent a bridge between the early tobacco issues and modern design standards. Several grading services now recognize and encapsulate examples in the elite tier of pre-WWII cardboard. Major auction houses include selections when important vintage card collections come up for sale.

Overall the 1916 Zeenut baseball cards were an ambitious early experiment that brought the joy of card collecting to many young Midwestern baseball fans of the time through creative promotion and packaging. Despite over half a century of wear since then, their fragile remnants continue exciting collectors and historians with their blend of artistic and statistical early sports history on cardboard. Any extant examples pull strong bids as among the most coveted and challenging vintage pieces to secure in the modern marketplace.

The 1928 Zeenut baseball card set is one of the most unique and obscure issues from the early 20th century. Produced by the Zeenut Candy Company of Cleveland, Ohio as a promotion, the cards measured approximately 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches and each depicted a single baseball player from the American or National Leagues in 1928. While production numbers are unknown, collectors estimate only a few hundred complete sets were produced in 1928, making individual cards extremely rare finds nearly a century later.

Zeenut was a small, regional candy maker best known for their peanut brittle snacks. In 1928, they embarked on one of the more peculiar sports marketing promotions of the time by designing and printing a 72-card baseball card set—one card for each team in the majors at the time—and including them inside Zeenut peanut brittle boxes. Their aim was to attract new, younger customers to their brand by capitalizing on the rising popularity of both baseball and baseball cards during the late 1920s.

Each 1928 Zeenut card featured a black-and-white portrait photo of the player on the front with their name, team, and position printed below. On the back was printed brief biographical information for each player such as stats from 1927, career highlights to that point, and occasionally fun facts unrelated to baseball. Card stock was a thinner, lower quality than contemporary tobacco cards of the time. The photographs and production quality was quite good considering it was a minor candy promotion rather than a major national release from cigarette or gum companies.

Specific details on how the cards were distributed is unknown, but it’s believed the full 72-card set was included randomly in Zeenut brittle boxes sold at candy stores, corner markets, and general stores within about a 100-mile radius of Cleveland. With only a small initial run believed to be around 5,000 boxes that included the cards, finding a complete, intact 1928 Zeenut set in collectible grade today is exceedingly rare. Individual cards turn up for sale occasionally, but are highly sought by both vintage baseball card and Ohioana memorabilia collectors.

Some of the notable stars featured on 1928 Zeenut cards include Hall of Famers Ted Lyons of the Chicago White Sox,Mel Ott of the New York Giants,and Lefty Grove of the Philadelphia Athletics.Rookies like Jimmie Foxx of the Philadelphia Athletics and Earl Averill of the Cleveland Indians also earned cards in their debut seasons.Lesser known but important regional players like Zeenut’s hometown Cleveland Indians pair Ray Chaplin and Lee Fohl also received inclusion.

In the ensuing decades after their 1928 distribution, Zeenut cards became rapidly obsolete as the players retired and the company faded.Most ended up in attics,basement Cardboard box lots purchased by collectors in the 1950s and 60s would occasionally turn up a stray Zeenut amidst stacks of more prominently produced cards. The early vintage community began to catch wind of their existence but finding singles,much less a full set remained elusive.

It wasn’t until the spike of interest in regional and oddball issues in the late 20th century that Zeenuts started coming out of the woodwork with greater regularity. A 1983 Sloan auction sold one of the first confirmed complete sets to emerge in decades for over $10,000,catching the attention of serious vintage enthusiasts.Demand and prices escalated from there as awareness of the ultra-rare 1928 Ohio candy promotion grew.Today,a complete set in good centered,original condition would Command well into 6 figures at auction among bidders worldwide. Even common players like backup catchers can sell for thousands in high grades.

While still one of the great undiscovered grails for many collectors,the 1928 Zeenut baseball card set endures as a distinctive snapshot of the national pastime’s growth at a key moment before the Depression.Issued without fanfare by a small regional candymaker,they have nonetheless achieved great renown among those who appreciate the quirks and surprises that still emerge from early 20th century sports ephemera over 90 years later.For both Ohio collectors and serious students of pre-war baseball cards,Zeenuts represent the holy grail that many are still searching for piece by tiny piece.