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Baseball Cards: A History

It started as an advertising campaign for a small sporting goods store in New York.

Pocket-sized cardboard cutouts featuring photographs of local professional and club baseball players served as excellent parchment to promote the latest merchandise from the Peck and Snyder sporting goods store.  The items became popular collectibles and, as the game of baseball evolved into America's pastime, so marked the dawn of a new hobby - collecting baseball cards.

It took nearly 20 years after Peck and Snyder's 1868 debut set until the next set of baseball cards were produced.  In 1886, New York based Goodwin and Co. produced the first tobacco cards.  Each pack of cigarettes was lined with a card from the set and, like its predecessors, the miniature cardboard relics fast became collectible items.  This trend continued with several small manufacturers until 1909 when the American Tobacco Company created one of the most popular sets of all time, the T206 White Border Set.  This sharp looking and surprisingly durable set has been aptly deemed by many to be the most popular set of the 20th century due almost exclusively to the fact that the most valuable card of all time rests within it---the 1909 T-206 Honus Wagner card.  Wagner was one of ball's greatest players during the early 1900's but it was not his Hall of Fame credentials alone that has boosted the value of this card to the six and seven figure values that one fetches in today's market.

Several other companies got into the mix of issuing player cards as and addendum to products like tobacco, Cracker Jacks, gum, ice cream and chocolates.  The depression stymied the production of baseball cards until 1933 when Goudey Gum Co. launched a 230 player set that could be collated through purchasing individual packs of randomly assorted cards with a stick of gum as the added feature.  The production of this set  marked the beginning of the baseball card pack, a trend that continues to this day.  Goudey continued producing sets for the next eight years and another gum company, World Wide Gum Inc., jumped into the mix producing a set called Play Ball that offered the first official cards of Ted Williams and Joe Dimaggio.  From 1941 to 1948 production of baseball cards waned as the bulk of paper provisions were allocated to the U.S. efforts in WWII.  In 1948, Bowman Inc. and The Leaf Candy Co. each manufactured sets and the baseball card hobby was once again ignited.  For the next couple of years both companies produced their individual sets until 1952 when Topps Inc. produced its inaugural set, one that featured a young switch-hitting outfielder in pinstripes by the name of Mickey Mantle.  Though Bowman produced The Mick's first card one year earlier, the 1952 version by Topps is widely considered his rookie card and today is the most valuable baseball card of the modern era.  To this day, only three Gem Mint copies of this card graded at a 10 by Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) exist and a sale of one of these specimens fetched a price of $275,000 in 2001.

The immense popularity of the Topps sets led to its acquisition of Bowman in 1956 and the demise of Leaf as a baseball card manufacturer.  These events gave the Topps company unilateral control of the baseball card market and the hobby blossomed under a new found beneficiary, kids.  At an affordable price of a nickel per pack, the 2.5 inch by 3.5 inch cardboard treasures became a medium of many child derived utilities.  Baseball cards were swapped amongst friends, collated into sets, frisbeed into boxes, tacked into bedroom walls or bulletin boards, and even jammed into bike spokes to create the perfect purr of a motorcycle engine.

For 25 years Topps had exclusive run of the baseball card industry until 1981 when two other companies, Donruss and Fleer, entered the industry with sets of their own.  Things were difficult for Donruss and Fleer in the early going.  With bland set designs and 660 card sets (compared to Topps' 792 card offerings),  neither set seemed to pose a threat to the multi-generational trademark that Topps had established.  Donruss began to highlight rookie cards by designating certain cards within their sets as "rated rookies".  Topps counter-punched with a special supplemental set called "traded sets" which presented players who were traded during the season in their new team's uniforms.  These sets also launched the prominence of rookie prospect cards as Topps began to feature cards of players who had not yet made their major league debuts.  The Extended Rookie Card, or XRC, became a highly sought commodity and soon all three sets were creating similar post season sets.

By 1984, the baseball card industry was operating at full steam as each of the three major manufacturers saturated the market with millions of cards from their sets.  It is at that time that a statistician by the name of Dr. James Beckett began publishing a monthly price guide called Beckett Baseball Monthly.  Each price guide offered a pricing synopsis of every card created by a major manufacturer in the modern era.  Pricing information was gathered from an assortment of vendors from various parts of the United States and then rounded into low and high aggregate values.  Cards of non-star players were assigned a base value and became more colloquially known as "commons"  A player's first year card was denoted as a rookie card (or RC) and these labels are still prevalent 25 years later.

Beckett's monthly publication sparked a new era to the sports card industry as a definitive value was ascribed to each and every card.  Packs once opened in search of a favorite player or team were now being shredded in copious amounts in search of high dollar cards.  Since the value of a baseball card largely depended on its overall physical condition, a new market for preservationist items popped up as three ringed binders with nine-count soft sleeves, hard plastic sleeves, and the infamous monster box became staples of virtually every collection.  The valuation of cards also altered the way in which collectors traded with one another as transactions became monetarily motivated.

During this period, sports card shops began popping up all over the U.S. as the demand for baseball cards and sports memorabilia surged to all time highs.  Shop filled their display cases with more than just cards as autographed memorabilia, collectibles like bobbleheads, pennants, posters, and many other items were being churned out in copious amounts.  To a young collector, the local sports card shop was a paradise of wish list items, good sports banter, and the occasional trade with a fellow collector.  While most sports card proprietors were reputable, there were also many that weren't.  Counterfeits of high dollar cards, forged autographs, and lopsided trades were common exploitations suffered by baseball card collectors both young and old at the hands of unscrupulous proprietors.  Despite more stringent card manufacturing standards, vast influxes of internet available information, and well regarded authenticators, scams and schemes still exist today.  1988 brought a new baseball manufacturer into the arena as Score debuted with its first set.  It, along with other brands like Pinnacle, Pacific, Aurora and others failed to snatch a large enough piece of the market from the other three and soon faded out.

1989 saw the emergence of a new superstar into baseball and with his emergence came the introduction of a new baseball card industry superpower.  Upper Deck launched their first set, a high-tech set that featured high quality photography of players in action or candid poses.  Each card from the 700 count set had a clean design, a holographic water mark on the back, and was packaged in shimmering foil wrappers rather than the wax paper or cellophane of its competitors.  As revolutionary as this new product was, the biggest and most enduring draw to this set can be found in card #1 of the set.  As many of the other sets were busy promoting the likes of high profile rookie prospects like Gregg Jefferies, Mark Grace, Tom Gordon, and others, Upper Deck cast their lot with the first pick of the 1987 MLB draft, Ken Griffey Jr.  The card design was a simple head shot of the teenager.  A brace faced smile indicated his youth, the gold chain around his neck signaled fame yet to come.  The Mariners gave Griffey the starting center field job in 1989 and as his career took off, so did the popularity of the Upper Deck set

As the 80's turned into the 90's, baseball cards remained popular but the overinflated production numbers began to take effect on the industry.  Values of sets from previous years were not appreciating and, in many cases, several sets experienced precipitous losses.  Many collectors turned investors found themselves selling at net losses and becoming increasingly disillusioned with the hobby.  As a result, several small sports card shops liquidated their supplies and closed their doors.  The major manufacturers tried to combat overproduction by creating short printed cards and insert sets that would be considerably rarer than the the cards from the base sets.  Collectors responded positively to the new concept but eventually this too ran its course.

Upper Deck initiated the next phase of baseball card collecting by randomly inserting autographs of future Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson and Nolan Ryan into packs. Subsequent sets offered the likes of Ken Griffey Jr. and Mickey Mantle on autographed cards (including a very limited supply that featured both of them on the same card).  The cards were hand signed by the players and featured a hand written serial number indicating the rareness of the card.  This golden ticket-like promotion did in fact resurrect the interest in the hobby but not nearly to the levels of the mid-late 1980's.

As the new millennium hit and the internet was finding its way into more and more households, eBay ushered in a completely new phase of the baseball card hobby.  For the first time in its history, individual collectors decided the true market values of sports cards and memorabilia.  Prices that were once updated on a monthly basis now ebbed and flowed in real time similar to a stock market ticker.  Baseball card collectors had an opportunity to sell dispensable items from their collection to then purchase other items.  Trading forums, websites and blogs have done volumes for the industry by connecting collectors from around the globe to a common meeting place to exchange sports cards and sports memorabilia.

The technological era  brought new blessings and challenges to baseball card manufacturers.  On the plus side, they enjoyed greater and much cheaper exposure of their products to consumers as online auctions and scanned photos of cards provided free marketing.  This gave cause for baseball card manufacturers to focus on developing better visual quality to their cards.  Basic cardboard cards became infused with high tech foil or chrome designs, laser color quality and refractive surfaces.  The rookie card also increased in popularity as access to online information sources and sites allowed for more collectors to do advanced scouting of minor league prospects, thus becoming the initial investors in their first year cards.  Topps, deemed King of the Rookie Card, was the most prominent in addressing this market niche by creating Bowman and Bowman Chrome sets featuring hundreds upon hundreds of prospects in each annual set.

Perhaps a larger impact has been felt by the phenomenon of game used memorabilia and autographed cards.  In 1998 Donruss randomly inserted autographed cards from more than 100 current MLB players into random packs similar to the promotion executed by Upper Deck seven years earlier.  Unlike Upper Deck, the odds of pulling an autograph were much better.  Around the same time, Upper Deck announced that the company had purchased a bat used by Babe Ruth in a major league game and would be cutting the bat into small chips and placing individual pieces on commemorative cards.  Like the autographs, the bat cards were placed into random packs and the market responded with frenzied excitement.

These events sparked a competition that still exists today between the major manufacturers, continue to innovate and offer top value to collectors.  Donruss and Fleer both folded in 2006, leaving Topps and Upper Deck to duke it out as the top baseball card manufacturers.  Each corporation has several various sets it offers throughout the year, each with a purpose and design to cater to a specific collecting demographic.  Those looking for rookie cards can find them in the Bowman Draft sets.  Vintage collectors oscillate towards Allen and Ginter or Turkey Red products.  High dollar thrill seekers may decide to rip into a box of SP Authentic or SPX.  Each set offers various perks to pique the interests of collectors.  Game used memorabilia, autographs, serial numbered cards, refractors and printing plates are a few of the stalwarts of today's industry but as those approach market maturity, baseball cards producers find ways to tweak and reform their products enough to nurture the growing interests of collectors.

As the stakes have risen, so have the prices for cards.  Individual packs of cards have grown from nickel prices in the 1950's to as high as four figures, making what was once a youth driven hobby, one that now caters to an older and more financially solvent crowd.  The baseball card industry despite its tics and mistakes, continues to thrive because of its willingness to adapt to change and its patrons' passionate attachment to the game that they love.