The earliest known precursor to modern baseball cards date back to the late 1860s, shortly after the Civil War. These were small lithographed images, around the size of a business card, depicting individual baseball players. They were not originally intended as collectibles and were instead promotional items given away by cigar manufacturers, tobacco companies, and sports equipment sellers to help advertise and market their brands.

The first true baseball card sets began to emerge in the 1880s as the hobby of collecting player cards started to take hold. In 1880, a company called Goodwin & Co. produced what is considered the first true set of baseball cards printed specifically for collecting purposes. Their set featured 29 cards of stars from that era like Pud Galvin and Buck Ewing. These early card sets were still small and included in cartons of cigarettes or candy as advertising premiums or novelty items.

The oldest surviving baseball card is from 1887 and features Deacon White of the Pittsburgh Alleghenys. In 1888, a company called Old Judge produced what is considered the first major national release of baseball cards as the primary product, not a premium. Their set featured 22 stars of the National League from that season. These early cardboard cards helped spark widespread interest in collecting players as a hobby and souvenir among both children and adults alike.

In the 1890s, cigarette companies like Allen & Ginter and Pearl Bailey realized the growing popularity of baseball card collecting and quickly began using them as premiums to help sell more cigarettes. This trend helped take baseball cards truly mainstream as a popular national pastime. Their boxed sets from 1889-1891 helped introduce color lithography to cards as an early form of photography. Players gained more likenesses and stats on their cards as sets grew in size over time to around 100 cards.

The tobacco era is generally considered the “golden age” of early baseball cards as they established many of the key characteristics that persist in modern cards today like team logos, poses, colors, and photographic printing. Companies heavily promoted their cards to take advantage of baseball’s growing popularity in America at the time. In 1894, American Tobacco took over most tobacco card production and their release that year had over 200 cards and is considered the largest/most comprehensive tobacco card set ever issued.

From the late 1890s through the early 20th century, new card companies emerged regularly like Tip-Top and Topps to take advantage of the booming market. Tobacco companies still dominated production. Card quality and production values improved as full-color lithography became standard. More statistics and biographies were included on the cards as baseball itself grew into one of America’s most popular sports.

The tobacco era came to an end by the 1950s due to health concerns over marketing to children. Topps gained dominance as the lone producer with their 1952 and 1954 sets cementing the modern design style and specifications still used today on trading cards. While no longer used as premiums, post-war cards continued to grew massively in popularity as collecting had become a nationwide mainstream hobby.

This establishes the earliest origins and development of baseball cards from the late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century when they transitioned from novelty premiums to one of the biggest collecting categories. What started as small lithographed images quickly grew into a driving force in both the business of baseball and the formation of card collecting as a treasured American pastime.