Baseball cards are small rectangular pieces of thick paper or cardboard that traditionally feature images of baseball players. Beginning in the late 19th century, baseball cards were primarily included as promotional incentives in packages of cigarette and chewing tobacco. Over time, they evolved into a popular collectible item and an art form in their own right.
Some key things to know about the history and development of baseball cards include:
The earliest known baseball cards date back to the late 1860s and 1870s but were not mass produced until the 1880s. Starting in 1869, tobacco companies like Goodwin & Company and Allen & Ginter began inserting lithograph cards into their products to help advertise and sell more cigarettes and chewing tobacco.
In 1887, the American Tobacco Company and others began regularly inserting baseball cards as incentives into tobacco products. This helped lead to the golden age of baseball cards from the late 1800s through the 1910s as production greatly increased with competition between tobacco brands.
During this period, the cards became more visually dynamic with color lithographs and photos replacing simple black and white illustrations. Players signed affordable licensing deals to have their likeness included on cards produced by tobacco companies.
As interest in the fledgling modern major league game grew in the early 20th century, so too did the popularity of collecting baseball cards as a hobby. Sets from this era featuring stars like Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, and Babe Ruth became some of the most sought-after cards decades later.
In the 1930s-50s, the gum and candy industries like Topps, Bowman, and Fleer began regularly producing and distributing baseball cards as promotional incentives. This led to the decline of tobacco companies’ dominance in the market. Cigarettes still produced cards into the 1960s.
The post-World War II economic boom and rise of television helped skyrocket the popularity of the sport, which further entrenched baseball cards as a mainstream collecting phenomenon during this time period. Technological innovations allowed for color photographs on cards.
A landmark event was the 1952 Topps set which featured 682 player cards and was the first complete modern baseball card set since 1941 due to cardboard shortages during the war years. This helped cement Topps’ dominance of the baseball card industry going forward.
In the late 1950s, Topps obtained an exclusive licensing agreement with Major League Baseball to use team logos and league trademarks on its cards, preventing competitors like Bowman from using this intellectual property. This essentially wiped Bowman and others out of the baseball card market.
The 1960s-70s were considered the ‘golden age’ of modern baseball cards as new generations became obsessed with collecting cards featuring their favorite players like Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Nolan Ryan. Innovations included foil wrappers, bubblegum, and cellophane packs for distribution.
Starting in the 1980s, third-party grading services like PSA and BGS emerged to place numerical quality grades on collectors’ cards to establish agreed-upon condition standards within the lucrative auction marketplace. This led to dramatic increases in the prices vintage and especially high-grade cards could fetch.
The boom of sports card speculation in the 1980s-’90s saw the rise of expensive premium ‘rookie cards’ chronicling future Hall of Famers like Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Bonds that sold for tens of thousands ungraded and hundreds of thousands graded mint condition. Widespread counterfeiting also became an issue.
After the speculative bubble burst in the 1990s, the baseball card industry declined along with card values through the 2000s but has experienced a resurgence in popularity driven by renewed nostalgia, independent craft producers, and strong auction prices for rare vintage icons like the famed 1909-11 T206 tobacco card set featuring Honus Wagner.
Today, Topps remains the exclusive Major League Baseball licensee producing annual card sets and special releases yearly featuring current stars and prospects. The marketplace has diversified with the rise of collector-friendly alternative brands offering high-end products and unique throwback designs attracting hobbyists of all ages.
Baseball cards have evolved from simple premiums and advertisements included with tobacco to become a collectible art form documenting over a century of the game’s history in an affordable, accessible format. While the market fluctuates, rare vintage examples continue appreciating Millionaire status, keeping the allure of the cardboard chase as compelling as ever for baseball fans and investors alike. The steady rise of independent brands and rekindled passion for the pastime ensures baseball cards will retain their cultural significance for generations to come.
