A Century of Baseball Cards
Baseball memorabilia might just hold title as one of the most timeless and popular collectibles of this age. In collecting baseball cards, you can relive a treasured moment in the ballpark. And by unearthing cards bought and sold over the last century or so, you can trace the summer sport and its players that have become such a large part of our culture. "Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball," observed philosopher Jacques Barzun.
Most credit Civil War general Abner Doubleday with baseball's invention. However, they might be giving Doubleday more credit than he deserves. Rudiments of baseball, in fact, are similar to the British game of "rounders," and even further back to a stick and ball game played by ancient Egyptians.
It's clear, on the other hand, that the baseball card originated in the 1880s as a sales gimmick for the tobacco industry's new machine-made, paper wrapped cigarette. Illustrations on the 1-1/2 by 2-1/2-in cards showed players posed formally with artificial backgrounds. Other colorful trading cards were enhanced with flags, flowers, boxers, actors, actresses and the like. They were used as stiffeners for the 5-cent cigarette packs sold by Kimball, Goodwin, Allen & Ginter, Duke and Lorillard. These early "tobacco cards" were produced in the "classic period."
That period came to an end in 1895. Cigarette companies had formed the American Tobacco Trust to eliminate competition, and the need for trading card promotions. By 1903 a threat arose from New York City's backroom Greek, Turkish and Egyptian tobacconists, who managed to capture 25 percent of the market. By 1909, the American Tobacco Trust had been broken up, and Liggett & Myers and R.J. Reynolds became American Tobacco's chief competition. American Tobacco then reached back to the 1880s and revived the baseball trading card.
The baseball card's golden age commenced with a white-bordered baseball series of 1909-10. This set included 523 different players in three categories: major league, minor league and southern league. Also produced during that period:
- A gold-bordered baseball series, known as T-205s. These National League cards featured facsimile autographs on their face and were among the first to give player bios and statistics on the back.
- The American League version, T-205 depicted crossed bats with the player's portraits within a center diamond.
- Hassan Triple Folders, T-202s, were among the most distinctive of all cards. Produced in 1912, they offered 76 different action center sections added to end panels from the 1911 gold-bordered T-205s.
- Mecca Double Folders, 1912, T-201s, pictured two players on each of 50 different cards. The cards fold over to form the second player who uses the same feet and ground area as the first.
- A Brown-Background baseball series, produced in 1912, is known as T-207s. This set, packed with Recruit Little Cigars, was also issued with Broadleaf, Cycle and Napoleon brands. The 196 hand-colored cards make up one of the rarest sets of the golden age.
- Sporting Life magazine distributed a hand-colored photographic set of 288 cards in 1911. The 12 different cards from each of 24 different teams could be ordered by coupon for 96 cents.
Pictured above: Ty Cobb, White bordered baseball series known as T-206s, 1909-10; Hal Chase, gold bordered baseball series, T-205, 1911; and Mike "King" Kelly, Goodwin's Champions, 1888.
The tobacco card disappeared with World War I. Red Man chewing tobacco would offer sets in the early 1950s, but in the meantime, caramel candy, gum, baked goods, magazines and clothing store chains began using baseball cards — or coupons for them — to promote products.
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