In the late 1860s, sporting goods companies like Goodwin & Co. and tobacco manufacturers started placing illustrated cards in cigarette and tobacco products as advertisements to help promote their brands. These early cards often featured images of famous people from all walks of life, not just baseball players. Some experts argue the earliest all-sports cards distributed were lithographic prints produced by a British company called Allen & Ginter in 1874.
The 1880s are largely considered the foundational decade for what we now recognize as modern baseball cards. In 1886, the American Tobacco Company started inserting 30 different cards into packages of cigarettes and tobacco as premiums. Called “cigarette cards,” this series came to be known as the first major sports card set specifically devoted entirely to baseball players. Allen & Ginter also produced series in 1886 and 1887 that helped popularize the baseball card concept further.
As the popularity of baseball exploded in the 1890s, card manufacturers scrambled to meet skyrocketing demand from enthusiastic new collectors. Tobacco companies pumped out hundreds of sets highlighting star players from teams like the Boston Beaneaters, Baltimore Orioles, and Chicago Colts. Greats like “Pud” Galvin, Hugh Duffy, and “Cy” Young had their playing careers memorialized on these small cardboard cutouts.
The 1890s saw several innovations in baseball card design and production. In 1892, Goodwin & Company issued cards with text on the reverse side offering biographical details on players. Original Gibson Gum began the practice of serially numbered cards in 1887. Companies also started experimenting with color lithography, gilt borders, and other fineries that added visual appeal and attracted more customers.
Entering the new century, the baseball card boom hit its peak. Tobacco giant American Tobacco was the dominant manufacturer, issuing as many as 25 separate cigarette card sets focusing exclusively on the national pastime between 1900-1910. Stars of the Deadball Era like Honus Wagner, Nap Lajoie, and Walter Johnson gained legions of new fans via their widely distributed cardboard images nationwide.
Collectors organized and grew their holdings in albums, meticulously pasting cards into elaborate books. Some early “sets” took obsessive collectors years to complete as they tracked down elusive cards through swaps with peers. The speculative fever surrounding rare collectors’ items started becoming evident around this time as well.
The rise of organized baseball leagues like the National League and American League in the early 20th century dovetailed perfectly with the baseball card craze. More star players and bigger stadium crowds translated to surging interest. Popular new sets included T206 White Border and 1915 Cracker Jack issued by baseball card pioneer Frank Arthur Magie’s American Caramel Company.
World War I disrupted supply chains and marked a turning point for baseball cards’ popularity cycle. The postwar years of the 1920s saw production taper off somewhat as new entertainment technologies like movies, radio, and other consumer goods vied for people’s leisure time and hobby dollars. Tobacco companies largely abandoned sports cards by the 1930s as health concerns emerged.
While baseball cards nearly disappeared during the Great Depression era, the hobby was kept alive through nostalgia and the dedicated efforts of a small but enthusiastic collector base. Postwar mass production resumes in the late 1930s–1940s eventually brought baseball cards back to the mass market on the road to becoming a multi-billion-dollar industry that thrives worldwide today. The late 1800s through 1910s can properly be called the true founding era for baseball cards as we recognize the concept today based on their origins, purpose, and cultural impact at that time. The enduring love of the game and its heroes continue driving multi-generational fandom expressed through America’s favorite collecting pastime.
