Baseball card
Encyclopedia
A baseball card is a type of trading card
relating to baseball
, usually printed on some type of paper stock or card stock. A card will usually feature one or more baseball players or other baseball-related sports figures. Cards are most often found in the US but are also common in countries such as Canada, Cuba, and Japan, where baseball is a popular sport and there are professional leagues. The companies that are popular for making these cards are Topps and Upper Deck.
s displayed advertisements for a particular brand or company on the back. Tobacco companies were the most instrumental in the proliferation of baseball cards, which they used as value added bonuses and advertisements for their products. Although the function of trading cards had much in common with business card
s, the format of baseball cards most resembled that of playing card
s - at least initially. For an example, one need look no further than the design of 1951 Topps Baseball.
While there are no firm standards that limit the size or shape of a baseball card, most cards of today are rectangular, measuring 2½ inches by 3½ inches (6.4 cm by 8.9 cm).
has become the de facto standard in identifying and organizing trade cards produced in the Americas pre-1951. The catalog itself extends into many other areas of collecting
beyond the sport of baseball. Sets like 1909–1911 White Borders, 1910 Philadelphia Caramels, and 1909 Box Tops are most commonly referred to by their ACC catalog numbers (T206
, E95, and W555, respectively).
A rare card generally must be kept in good condition in order to be valuable, although the rarest cards can be worth tens of thousands of dollars even in poor condition. Price also increases if there is an autograph on it. Rare baseball cards or the vintage baseball
cards do not have a certain price established. Their value is judged upon their quality, condition, rarity and upon the number of collectors that are seeking them.
.
Rare baseball cards may also be purchased at major baseball card shows. These events are held each year in different cities, allowing baseball card collectors and dealer to meet. The rare baseball cards do not have a specific price and they are worth what other collectors are willing to pay for, and in order to establish a price, the collector takes into consideration the condition of the card. The price of the rare cards depends as well on market demands. If there are many collectors who are looking to get a specific rare card, the one who gets it is the one who pays more for it regardless of its predetermined value.
During the mid-19th century in the United States, baseball and photography were both gaining popularity. As a result, baseball clubs
began to pose for group and individual pictures, much like members of other clubs and associations posed. Some of these photographs were printed onto small cards similar to modern wallet photos. As baseball increased in popularity and became a professional sport during the late 1860s, trade card
s featuring baseball players appeared. These were used by a variety of companies to promote their business, even if the products being advertised had no connection with baseball. In 1868, Peck and Snyder, a sporting goods store in New York, began producing trade cards featuring baseball teams. Peck and Snyder sold baseball equipment, and the cards were a natural advertising vehicle. The Peck and Snyder cards are sometimes considered the first baseball cards.
Typically, a trade card of the time featured an image on one side and information advertising the business on the other. Advances in color printing increased the appeal of the cards. As a result, cards began to use photographs, either in black-and-white
or sepia, or color artwork, which was not necessarily based on photographs. Some early baseball cards could be used as part of a game, which might be either a conventional card game
or a simulated
baseball game.
By early 1886, images of baseball players were often included on cigarette cards with cigarette packs
and other tobacco products. This was partly for promotional purposes and partly because the card helped protect the cigarettes from damage. By the end of the century, baseball had become so popular that production had spread well beyond the Americas and into the Pacific Isles
. Soon after, several other companies began to advertise their products with baseball cards. This included, but was not limited to, the American Tobacco Company
, the American Caramel Company, the Imperial Tobacco Company of Canada, and Cabañas. a Cuban cigar manufacturer.
The American Tobacco Company decided to introduce baseball advertising cards into their tobacco products with the issue of the T206
White Border Set in 1909. The cards were included in packs of cigarettes and produced over a three-year period until the ATC was dissolved. The most famous card, and most expensive for the grade, is the Honus Wagner
from this set. Another famous one, from 1911, is Joe Tinker.
At the same time, many other non-tobacco companies started producing and distributing baseball trade cards to the public. Between 1909 and 1911, The American Caramel Company produced the E90-1 series and 1911 saw the introduction of the ‘Zee Nut’ card. These sets were produced over a 28-year span by the Collins-McCarthy Company of California. By the mid-teens companies such as The Sporting News
magazine began sponsoring card issues. Caramel
companies like Rueckheim Bros. & Eckstein were among the first to put 'prizes' in boxes. In 1914, they produced the first of two Cracker Jack
card issues, which featured players from both major leagues as well as players from the short lived Federal League
. As the teens drew to a close, the Chicago-based Boston Store Department company also issued a set.
finally hit. The twenties produced a second influx of caramel cards, a plethora of postcard issues, and a handful of cards from different regions of the world. During the first two years, an influx of strip cards hit the market. These cards were distributed in long strips and often cut by the consumer or the retailer in the store.
The American Caramel Company re-emerged as a producer of baseball cards and started to distribute sets in 1922–1923. Few, if any cards, were produced in the mid-twenties until 1927 when companies like York Caramel of York, Pennsylvania
started producing baseball cards. Cards with similar images as the York Caramel set were produced in 1928 for four ice cream companies, Yuengling's
, Harrington's, Sweetman and Tharp's.
In 1921, the Exhibit Supply Company of Chicago started to release issues on post card stock. Although they are considered a post card issue, many of the cards had statistics and other biographical information on the back.
1920 saw the emergence of the foreign markets after what was essentially an eight-year hiatus. Canadian products found their way to the market, including products branded by the Peggy Popcorn and Food Products company of Winnipeg, Manitoba from 1920 to 1926, and Willard’s Chocolate Company from 1923 to 1924. Other Canadian products came from ice cream manufacturers in 1925 and 1927, from Holland Creameries and Honey Boy, respectively. Billiken Cigars, a.k.a. “Cigarros Billiken”, were distributed in Cuba from 1923 to 1924.
issue, which included cards of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, best identifies this era. In contrast to the economical designs common in earlier decades, this card set featured bright, hand-colored player photos on the front. Backs provided brief biographies and personal information such as height, weight, and birthplace. The 240-card set, quite large for the time, included current players, former stars, and prominent minor leaguers. Individual cards measured 2 3/8" by 2 7/8", which Goudey printed on 24-card sheets and distributed throughout the year. The bulk of early National Baseball Hall of Fame
inductees appear in this set.
1933 also saw the delivery of the World Wide Gum issue. World Wide Gum Co. was based in Montreal and clearly had a close relationship with the Goudey Gum Company, as each of their four issues closely resembled a Goudey contemporary. Goudey, National Chicle, Delong and a handful of other companies were competitive in the bubble gum and baseball card market until World War II began.
After 1941, cards would not be produced in any significant number until a few years after the end of the war. Wartime production transitioned into the post-war civilian consumer goods, and in 1948 baseball card production resumed in the US with issues by the Bowman Gum
and the Leaf Candy Company
. At the same time, Topps Gum Company
issued their Magic Photos set, four years before they issued their first “traditional” card set. By 1950, Leaf had bowed out of the industry.
Japanese baseball cards became more numerous in 1947 and 1950. The cards were associated with Menko
, a Japanese card game. Early baseball menko
were often round, and were printed on thick cardboard stock to facilitate the game.
Topps and Bowman then competed for customers and for the rights to any baseball players' likeness. Two-years later, Leaf stopped producing cards. In 1956, Topps
bought out Bowman and enjoyed a largely unchallenged position in the US market for the next two decades. From 1952–1969, Topps always offered five or six card nickel wax packs and in 1952–1964, also offered one card penny packs.
In the 1970s Topps increased the cost of wax packs from 10–15 cents (with 8–14 cards depending on year) and also offered cello packs (typically around 18–33 cards) for 25 cents. Rack packs containing 39–54 cards could also be had for between 39–59 cents per pack.
This did not prevent a large number of regional companies from producing successful runs of trading cards. Additionally, several US companies attempted to enter into the market at a national level. In 1959, Fleer
, a gum company, signed Ted Williams
to an exclusive contract and sold a set of cards featuring him. Williams retired in 1960, forcing Fleer to produce a set of Baseball Greats cards featuring retired players. Like the Topps cards, they were sold with gum. In 1963, Fleer produced a 67 card set of active players (this time with a cherry cookie in the packs instead of gum), which was not successful, as most players were contractually obligated to appear exclusively in Topps trading card products. Post Cereals issued cards on cereal boxes from 1960 to 1963 and sister company Jell-O issued virtually identical cards on the backs of its packaging in 1962 and 1963.
In 1965, Topps licensed production to Canadian candy maker O-Pee-Chee
. The O-Pee-Chee sets were essentially identical to the Topps sets until 1969, when the backs of the cards were branded O-Pee-Chee. In 1970, due to federal legislation, O-Pee-Chee was compelled to add French-language text to the backs of its baseball cards.
In the 1970s, several companies took advantage of a new licensing scheme, not to take on Topps, but to create premiums. Kellogg’s
began to produce 3D-cards inserted with cereal and Hostess printed cards on packages of its baked goods.
In 1976, a company called TCMA, which mainly produced minor league baseball cards, produced a set of 630 cards consisting of Major League Ball players. The cards were produced under the name the Sports Stars Publishing Company, or SSPC. TCMA published a baseball card magazine named Collectors Quarterly which it used to advertise its set offering it directly via mail order. The cards were available directly from TCMA, and were not made available again, like other sets issued by TCMA, due to a manufacturers agreement.
sued Topps in 1975 to break Topps' monopoly on baseball cards and won. In 1981, Fleer and Donruss
issued baseball card sets, both with gum. An appeal of the Fleer lawsuit by Topps clarified that Topps' exclusive rights only applied to cards sold with gum. After the appeal, Fleer and Donruss continued to produce cards issued without gum; Fleer included team logo stickers with their card packs, while Donruss introduced "Hall of Fame Diamond Kings" puzzles and included three puzzle pieces in each pack. In 1992, Topps' gum and Fleer's logo stickers were discontinued, with Donruss discontinuing the puzzle piece inserts the following year. With the issuance of a high quality card set in 1984, Donruss began to take hold as one of the most popular card brands in competition with Topps. In particular, several rookie cards in the 1984 Donruss set are still considered the most desirable cards from that year of any brand. Also in 1984, two monthly price guides came on the scene. Tuff Stuff
and Beckett Baseball Card Monthly, published by Dr. James Beckett
, attempted to track the approximate market value of several types of trading card
s.
More collectors entered the hobby during the 1980s. As a result, manufacturers such as Score (which later became Pinnacle Brands
) and Upper Deck
entered the marketplace in 1988 and 1989 respectively. Upper Deck introduced several innovative production methods including tamper-proof foil packaging, hologram-style logos, and higher quality card stock. This style of production allowed Upper Deck to charge a premium for its product, becoming the first mainstream baseball card product to have a suggested retail price of 99 cents per pack. In 1989, Upper Deck's first set included the Ken Griffey, Jr.
rookie card. The card became highly sought-after until Griffey's persistent injury troubles caused his performance level to decline.
The other major card companies followed suit and created card brands with higher price point
s. Topps resurrected the Bowman
brand name in 1989. Topps produced a Stadium Club issue in 1991. 1992 proved to be a breakthrough year as far as the price of baseball cards was concerned, with the previous 50-cents per pack price being replaced by higher price points, overall higher-grade cardboard stock, and the widespread introduction of limited edition "inserts" across all product lines. 1992 was the beginning of the collectors' chase for "gold foil," which was commonly stamped on the limited edition "insert" cards. Notable examples from 1992's "insert" craze include Donruss Diamond Kings, which included gold-foil accents for the first time ever, and Fleer's host of gold foil-accented "insert" cards, including All-Stars and Rookie Sensations. 1992 was also the first year that "parallel" cards were introduced. In 1992, Topps produced Topps Gold "insert" cards of each card in the standard base set. The "parallel" Topps Gold cards had the player's name and team stamped in a banner of "gold foil" on the card front. The "parallel" moniker became popular to describe these cards because each and every card in the standard base set had an accompanying "insert" variation. In 1993, the card companies stepped up the "premium" card genre with "super premium" card sets, with Fleer debuting its "Flair" set and Topps debuting its "Topps Finest" set. Topps Finest was the first set to utilize refractors, a technology that utilized a reflective foil technology that gave the card a shiny "rainbow" appearance that proved extremely popular among hobbyists. Other notable "premium" card sets from the 1990s are as follows: Donruss issued its Leaf
brand in 1990; Fleer followed with Fleer Ultra sets in 1991; and Score issued Pinnacle brand cards in 1992.
Starting in 1997 with Upper Deck, companies began inserting cards with swatches of uniforms and pieces of game-used baseball equipment as part of a plan to generate interest. Card companies obtained all manner of memorabilia, from uniform jerseys and pants, to bats, gloves, caps, and even bases and defunct stadium seats to feed this new hobby demand. It is also in 1997 that the first "one-of-one" cards were released by Fleer, beginning with the 1997 Flair Showcase "Masterpieces" (the Ultra set would begin to include purple 1-of-1 masterpieces the following year). Both kinds of inserts remain popular staples in the hobby today.
The process and cost of multi-tiered printings, monthly set issues, licensing fees, and player-spokesman contracts made for a difficult market. Pinnacle Brands folded after 1998. Pacific, which acquired full licensing in 1994, ceased production in 2001. In 2005, Fleer
went bankrupt and was bought out by Upper Deck
, and Donruss
lost the MLB license in 2006 (they also did not produce baseball cards in 1999 and 2000). At that time, the MLBPA limited the number of companies that would produce baseball cards to offset the glut in product, and to consolidate the market. As a result of the measure that included revoking the MLB/MLBPA production licenses from Donruss, only two companies remained; Topps and Upper Deck.
Topps and Upper Deck are the only two companies that retained production licenses for baseball cards of major league players. In a move to expand their market influence, Upper Deck purchased the Fleer brand and the remnants of its production inventory. After purchasing Fleer, Upper Deck took over production of the remaining products that were slated to be released. Upper Deck
continues to issue products with the Fleer name, while Topps continues to release Bowman and Bazooka card products. Topps is also the only company that continues to produce pre-collated factory sets of cards.
Card companies are trying to maintain a sizable hobby base in a variety of ways. Especially prominent is a focus on transitioning the cards to an online market. Both Topps and Upper Deck have issued cards that require online registration, while Topps has targeted the investment-minded collector with its eTopps offering of cards that are maintained and traded at its website. Also, since the late 1990s, hobby retail shops and trade-show dealers found their customer base declining, with their buyers now having access to more items and better prices on the Internet. As more collectors and dealers purchased computers and began trusting the Internet as a "safe" venue to buy and sell, the transformation from the traditional retail shops and shows to Internet transactions changed the nature of the hobby.
During the same time period, MLBPA also introduced a new guideline for players to attain a rookie card. For years, players had been highlighted in previous sets as a rookie while still in the Minor Leagues. Such players would sometimes remain in the Minor Leagues for considerable time before attaining Major League status, making a player's rookie card released years before their first game as a major leaguer. The new guideline requires players to be part of the a Major League team roster before a rookie card would be released in their name, and a designated "rookie card" logo printed on the face of the card. The rookie card logo shows the words "rookie card" over a baseball bat and home plate with the Major League Baseball logo in the top left corner.
Baseball cards garnered national media attention again in early 2007, when it was found that Topps' new Derek Jeter
card had allegedly been altered just prior to final printing. A reported prankster
inside the company had inserted a photo of Mickey Mantle
into the Yankees
' dugout and another showing a smiling President George W. Bush
waving from the stands. Topps Spokesman Clay Luraschi later admitted that it was done on purpose by the Topps creative department.
In February 2007, the hobby's most expensive card, a near mint-mint professionally graded and authenticated T206 Honus Wagner
, was sold to a private collector for $2.35 million. The card was sold again later that same year for a record-setting $2.8 million.
The market in the United States has been particularly affected by issues both sports and non-sports related. Economic effects of World War I, World War II, and the Great Depression have all had a major impact on the production of cards. For example, World War I suppressed baseball card production to the point where only a handful of sets were produced until the economy had transitioned away from wartime industrialization.
The 1994 players' strike caused a decline in interest and industry consolidation. Yet, with the advent and acceptance of third party grading companies (c. 1997) bringing greater objectivity in the grading of baseball cards (coupled with online marketing), the vintage baseball card business has become quite popular again, with sales in the multi-millions of dollars recorded every year for at least ten years.
Over the years, there was also a great deal of resistance from other companies. In 1967, Topps faced an attempt to undermine its position from the Major League Baseball Players Association
, the League’s nascent players' union
. Struggling to raise funds, the MLBPA discovered that it could generate significant income by pooling the publicity rights of its members and offering companies a group license
to use their images on various products. After initially putting players on Coca-Cola
bottlecaps, the union concluded that the Topps contracts did not pay players adequately for their rights.
Fleer even filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission
alleging that Topps was engaged in unfair competition through its aggregation of exclusive contracts. A hearing examiner ruled against Topps in 1965, but the Commission reversed this decision on appeal. The Commission concluded that because the contracts only covered the sale of cards with gum, competition was still possible by selling cards with other small, low-cost products. However, Fleer chose not to pursue such options and instead sold its remaining player contracts to Topps for $395,000 in 1966.
Soon after, MLBPA executive director Marvin Miller
then approached Joel Shorin, the president of Topps, about renegotiating these contracts. At this time, Topps had every major league
player under contract, generally for five years plus renewal options, so Shorin declined. After continued discussions went nowhere, before the 1968 season, the union asked its members to stop signing renewals on these contracts, and offered Fleer the exclusive rights to market cards. Although Fleer declined the proposal, by the end of 1973, Topps had agreed to double its payments to each player from $125 to $250, and also to begin paying players a percentage of Topps' overall sales. The figure for individual player contracts has since increased to $500. Since then, Topps used individual player contracts as the basis for its baseball cards.
, were thus allowed to begin making cards in 1981. Fleer's legal victory was overturned after one season, but they continued to manufacture cards, substituting stickers with team logos for gum. Donruss distributed their cards with a Jigsaw puzzle
piece.
both produced major sets during the 1930’s.
In 1952, Topps started distributing its American made cards in Canada. In 1965 O-Pee-Chee re-entered the baseball card market producing a licenced version of the Topps set. From 1970 until the last Topps based set was produced in 1992 the cards were bi-lingual French/English to comply with Canadian law
From 1985 until 1988, Donruss
issued a parallel Canadian set under the Leaf
name. The set was basically identical to the Donruss issues of the same years however it was bi-lingual. All the Leaf sets were produced in the United States.
There were several promotional issues issued by Canadian firms since Major League Baseball began in Canada in 1969. There were also several public safety sets issued, most notably the Toronto Blue Jays
fire safety sets of the 1980s and early 1990s and the Toronto Public Libraries "Reading is fun" set of 1998 and 1999. These sets were distributed in the Toronto area. The cards were monolingual and only issued in English.
cards also became popular at the time.
NPB branded baseball cards are currently widely available in Japanese toy stores, convenience stores, sports stores, and as bonus items included in certain packages of potato chips.
issued two series of American baseball cards featuring cards from American and Canadian Major League Baseball
teams in the UK. The full colour cards were produced by Topps Republic of Ireland subsidiary company and contained explanations of baseball terms. Given the baseball's lack of popularity in the United Kingdom, the issues were unsuccessful.
In Cuba, sets were issued first in the early 1900s. By the 1930s various candy, gum and chocolate makers were offering cards, most notably Baguer Chocolate. The post-World War Two era had cards issued by magazines, candy makers, Coca-Cola
, and of course a gum company. In post revolution
Cuba, baseball cards were still issued.
Several sets of Mexican League baseball cards have been issued in the past few years.
Trading card
A trading card is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing and a short description of the picture, along with other text...
relating to baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, usually printed on some type of paper stock or card stock. A card will usually feature one or more baseball players or other baseball-related sports figures. Cards are most often found in the US but are also common in countries such as Canada, Cuba, and Japan, where baseball is a popular sport and there are professional leagues. The companies that are popular for making these cards are Topps and Upper Deck.
Production
While baseball cards were first produced in the United States, as the popularity of baseball spread to other countries, so too did the production of baseball cards. Sets appeared in Japan as early as 1898, in Cuba as early as 1909 and in Canada as early as 1912.Attributes
The obverse (front) of the card typically displays an image of the player with identifying information, including, but not limited to, the player's name and team affiliation. The reverse of most modern cards displays statistics and/or biographical information. Many early trade cardTrade card
Trade card describes small cards, similar to the visiting cards exchanged in social circles, that businesses would distribute to clients and potential customers. Trade cards first became popular at the beginning of the 17th century in London...
s displayed advertisements for a particular brand or company on the back. Tobacco companies were the most instrumental in the proliferation of baseball cards, which they used as value added bonuses and advertisements for their products. Although the function of trading cards had much in common with business card
Business card
Business cards are cards bearing business information about a company or individual. They are shared during formal introductions as a convenience and a memory aid. A business card typically includes the giver's name, company affiliation and contact information such as street addresses, telephone...
s, the format of baseball cards most resembled that of playing card
Playing card
A playing card is a piece of specially prepared heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic, marked with distinguishing motifs and used as one of a set for playing card games...
s - at least initially. For an example, one need look no further than the design of 1951 Topps Baseball.
While there are no firm standards that limit the size or shape of a baseball card, most cards of today are rectangular, measuring 2½ inches by 3½ inches (6.4 cm by 8.9 cm).
Baseball card classification: the type card
Since early baseball cards were produced primarily as a marketing vehicle, collectors began to classify those cards by the 'type' of company producing the set. The system implemented by Jefferson Burdick in The American Card CatalogThe American Card Catalog
The American Card Catalog is a reference book for American trade cards produced before 1951, compiled by Jefferson Burdick.It has become the de facto method in identifying and organizing trade cards produced in the Americas pre-1951. The book catalogues sports and non-sports cards, but is best...
has become the de facto standard in identifying and organizing trade cards produced in the Americas pre-1951. The catalog itself extends into many other areas of collecting
Collecting
The hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever items are of interest to the individual collector. Some collectors are generalists, accumulating merchandise, or stamps from all countries of the world...
beyond the sport of baseball. Sets like 1909–1911 White Borders, 1910 Philadelphia Caramels, and 1909 Box Tops are most commonly referred to by their ACC catalog numbers (T206
T206
The tobacco card set known as T206 was issued from 1909 to 1911 in cigarette and loose tobacco packs through 16 different brands owned by the American Tobacco Company...
, E95, and W555, respectively).
Rare cards
The rare baseball cards are the ones which are difficult to find and also the most expensive ones. The rare type of cards are the oldest baseball cards and those from limited edition sets.A rare card generally must be kept in good condition in order to be valuable, although the rarest cards can be worth tens of thousands of dollars even in poor condition. Price also increases if there is an autograph on it. Rare baseball cards or the vintage baseball
Vintage base ball
Vintage Base Ball is baseball presented as being played by rules and customs from an earlier period in the sport's history. Games are typically played using rules and uniforms from the 1850s, 1860s and 1880s. Vintage baseball is not only a competitive game, but also a reenactment of baseball life...
cards do not have a certain price established. Their value is judged upon their quality, condition, rarity and upon the number of collectors that are seeking them.
Card collector
Vintage baseball cards have been a prime focus of countless collectors and historians of one of America's favorite pastimes. Some baseball card collectors pay large sums of money to gain possession of these cards and they may also put a lot of time into it. Since rare baseball cards are difficult to find, collectors seek for ways to be aware of the rare cards that come into the trading or selling market. Baseball card collectors normally obtain them from other card collectors or from specialized dealers. Some collectors may sell rare baseball cards over the internet and very often on eBayEBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
.
Rare baseball cards may also be purchased at major baseball card shows. These events are held each year in different cities, allowing baseball card collectors and dealer to meet. The rare baseball cards do not have a specific price and they are worth what other collectors are willing to pay for, and in order to establish a price, the collector takes into consideration the condition of the card. The price of the rare cards depends as well on market demands. If there are many collectors who are looking to get a specific rare card, the one who gets it is the one who pays more for it regardless of its predetermined value.
Pre-1900
Team
A team comprises a group of people or animals linked in a common purpose. Teams are especially appropriate for conducting tasks that are high in complexity and have many interdependent subtasks.A group in itself does not necessarily constitute a team...
began to pose for group and individual pictures, much like members of other clubs and associations posed. Some of these photographs were printed onto small cards similar to modern wallet photos. As baseball increased in popularity and became a professional sport during the late 1860s, trade card
Trade card
Trade card describes small cards, similar to the visiting cards exchanged in social circles, that businesses would distribute to clients and potential customers. Trade cards first became popular at the beginning of the 17th century in London...
s featuring baseball players appeared. These were used by a variety of companies to promote their business, even if the products being advertised had no connection with baseball. In 1868, Peck and Snyder, a sporting goods store in New York, began producing trade cards featuring baseball teams. Peck and Snyder sold baseball equipment, and the cards were a natural advertising vehicle. The Peck and Snyder cards are sometimes considered the first baseball cards.
Typically, a trade card of the time featured an image on one side and information advertising the business on the other. Advances in color printing increased the appeal of the cards. As a result, cards began to use photographs, either in black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
or sepia, or color artwork, which was not necessarily based on photographs. Some early baseball cards could be used as part of a game, which might be either a conventional card game
Card game
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...
or a simulated
Simulation
Simulation is the imitation of some real thing available, state of affairs, or process. The act of simulating something generally entails representing certain key characteristics or behaviours of a selected physical or abstract system....
baseball game.
By early 1886, images of baseball players were often included on cigarette cards with cigarette packs
Cigarette
A cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...
and other tobacco products. This was partly for promotional purposes and partly because the card helped protect the cigarettes from damage. By the end of the century, baseball had become so popular that production had spread well beyond the Americas and into the Pacific Isles
1900–20
By the turn of the century, most baseball cards were produced by confectionery companies and tobacco companies. The first major set of the 20th century was issued by the Breisch-Williams Company in 1903. Breisch-Williams was a confectionery company based in Oxford, PennsylvaniaOxford, Pennsylvania
Oxford is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. Oxford is the closest town to Lincoln University. The population was 4,315 at the 2000 census.-History:The borough was once called Oxford Crossing and Oxford Village....
. Soon after, several other companies began to advertise their products with baseball cards. This included, but was not limited to, the American Tobacco Company
American Tobacco Company
The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company...
, the American Caramel Company, the Imperial Tobacco Company of Canada, and Cabañas. a Cuban cigar manufacturer.
The American Tobacco Company decided to introduce baseball advertising cards into their tobacco products with the issue of the T206
T206
The tobacco card set known as T206 was issued from 1909 to 1911 in cigarette and loose tobacco packs through 16 different brands owned by the American Tobacco Company...
White Border Set in 1909. The cards were included in packs of cigarettes and produced over a three-year period until the ATC was dissolved. The most famous card, and most expensive for the grade, is the Honus Wagner
T206 Honus Wagner
The T206 Honus Wagner baseball card depicts Pittsburgh Pirates' Honus Wagner, a dead-ball era baseball player who is widely considered to be one of the best players of all time. The card was designed and issued by the American Tobacco Company from 1909 to 1911 as part of its T206 series...
from this set. Another famous one, from 1911, is Joe Tinker.
At the same time, many other non-tobacco companies started producing and distributing baseball trade cards to the public. Between 1909 and 1911, The American Caramel Company produced the E90-1 series and 1911 saw the introduction of the ‘Zee Nut’ card. These sets were produced over a 28-year span by the Collins-McCarthy Company of California. By the mid-teens companies such as The Sporting News
The Sporting News
Sporting News is an American-based sports magazine. It was established in 1886, and it became the dominant American publication covering baseball — so much so that it acquired the nickname "The Bible of Baseball"...
magazine began sponsoring card issues. Caramel
Caramel
Caramel is a beige to dark-brown confection made by heating any of a variety of sugars. It is used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons, and as a topping for ice cream, custard and coffee....
companies like Rueckheim Bros. & Eckstein were among the first to put 'prizes' in boxes. In 1914, they produced the first of two Cracker Jack
Cracker Jack
Cracker Jack is a U.S. brand of snack consisting of strong molasses flavored candy-coated popcorn and peanuts, well known for being packaged with a prize of nominal value inside. Some food historians consider it the first junk food...
card issues, which featured players from both major leagues as well as players from the short lived Federal League
Federal League
The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that operated as a "third major league", in competition with the established National and American Leagues, from to...
. As the teens drew to a close, the Chicago-based Boston Store Department company also issued a set.
1920–1930
After the end of World War I in 1918, baseball card production lulled for a few years as foreign markets were not yet developed and the United States’ economy was transitioning away from wartime production. This trend would continue until the late 1930s when the effects of the Great depressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
finally hit. The twenties produced a second influx of caramel cards, a plethora of postcard issues, and a handful of cards from different regions of the world. During the first two years, an influx of strip cards hit the market. These cards were distributed in long strips and often cut by the consumer or the retailer in the store.
The American Caramel Company re-emerged as a producer of baseball cards and started to distribute sets in 1922–1923. Few, if any cards, were produced in the mid-twenties until 1927 when companies like York Caramel of York, Pennsylvania
York, Pennsylvania
York, known as the White Rose City , is a city located in York County, Pennsylvania, United States which is in the South Central region of the state. The population within the city limits was 43,718 at the 2010 census, which was a 7.0% increase from the 2000 count of 40,862...
started producing baseball cards. Cards with similar images as the York Caramel set were produced in 1928 for four ice cream companies, Yuengling's
D. G. Yuengling & Son
D. G. Yuengling & Son is the oldest operating brewing company in the United States, established in 1829. It is one of the largest breweries by volume in the country, and is the second largest American-owned brewery after the Boston Beer Company, makers of Sam Adams beer...
, Harrington's, Sweetman and Tharp's.
In 1921, the Exhibit Supply Company of Chicago started to release issues on post card stock. Although they are considered a post card issue, many of the cards had statistics and other biographical information on the back.
1920 saw the emergence of the foreign markets after what was essentially an eight-year hiatus. Canadian products found their way to the market, including products branded by the Peggy Popcorn and Food Products company of Winnipeg, Manitoba from 1920 to 1926, and Willard’s Chocolate Company from 1923 to 1924. Other Canadian products came from ice cream manufacturers in 1925 and 1927, from Holland Creameries and Honey Boy, respectively. Billiken Cigars, a.k.a. “Cigarros Billiken”, were distributed in Cuba from 1923 to 1924.
1930–50
In the early 1930s, production soared, starting with the 1932 US Caramel set. The popular 1933 Goudey Gum Co.Goudey
The Goudey Gum Company was an American chewing gum company started in 1919. The company was founded by Enos Gordon Goudey of Barrington Passage, Nova Scotia. Formerly an employee of Beemans, he opened a factory in Boston, Massachusetts in 1919 and later in Allston. It operated there from 1924...
issue, which included cards of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, best identifies this era. In contrast to the economical designs common in earlier decades, this card set featured bright, hand-colored player photos on the front. Backs provided brief biographies and personal information such as height, weight, and birthplace. The 240-card set, quite large for the time, included current players, former stars, and prominent minor leaguers. Individual cards measured 2 3/8" by 2 7/8", which Goudey printed on 24-card sheets and distributed throughout the year. The bulk of early National Baseball Hall of Fame
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, the display of...
inductees appear in this set.
1933 also saw the delivery of the World Wide Gum issue. World Wide Gum Co. was based in Montreal and clearly had a close relationship with the Goudey Gum Company, as each of their four issues closely resembled a Goudey contemporary. Goudey, National Chicle, Delong and a handful of other companies were competitive in the bubble gum and baseball card market until World War II began.
After 1941, cards would not be produced in any significant number until a few years after the end of the war. Wartime production transitioned into the post-war civilian consumer goods, and in 1948 baseball card production resumed in the US with issues by the Bowman Gum
Bowman Gum
Bowman Gum was a Philadelphia-based manufacturer of bubble gum and trading cards in the period surrounding World War II founded by Jacob Warren Bowman. Originally known as Gum, Inc., the company produced a series of cards known as the "Play Ball" sets each year from 1939 to 1941...
and the Leaf Candy Company
Leaf Candy Company
Leaf International BV is a market leader in candy, chewing gum and pastilles in Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland and Belgium and has a number two position in Norway, Denmark, Belgium and Italy. In total Leaf products are sold in more than 50 countries worldwide...
. At the same time, Topps Gum Company
Topps
The Topps Company, Inc., manufactures chewing gum, candy and collectibles. Based in New York, New York, Topps is best known as a leading producer of baseball cards, football cards, basketball cards, hockey cards and other sports and non-sports themed trading cards.-Company history:Topps itself was...
issued their Magic Photos set, four years before they issued their first “traditional” card set. By 1950, Leaf had bowed out of the industry.
Japanese baseball cards became more numerous in 1947 and 1950. The cards were associated with Menko
Menko
Menko is a Japanese card game played by two or more players. It is also the name of the type of cards used to play this game. Each player uses Menko cards made from thick paper or cardboard, with one or both side printed with images from anime, manga, etc...
, a Japanese card game. Early baseball menko
Baseball Menko
Baseball menko are an early type of Japanese baseball card, originally designed for use in the children's game of menko, but now avidly collected by baseball fans and card collectors. The earliest known baseball menko, a generic baseball player, was from 1897...
were often round, and were printed on thick cardboard stock to facilitate the game.
1948–80
Bowman was the major producer of Baseball cards from 1948 to 1952. In 1952, Topps began to produce large sets of cards as well. The 1952 Topps set is the most sought-after post-World War set among collectors because of the scarcity of the Mickey Mantle card, the first Mantle card issued by Topps. Although it is not his true rookie card (that honor belongs to his 1951 Bowman card), it is still considered the ultimate card to own of the post-war era.Topps and Bowman then competed for customers and for the rights to any baseball players' likeness. Two-years later, Leaf stopped producing cards. In 1956, Topps
Topps
The Topps Company, Inc., manufactures chewing gum, candy and collectibles. Based in New York, New York, Topps is best known as a leading producer of baseball cards, football cards, basketball cards, hockey cards and other sports and non-sports themed trading cards.-Company history:Topps itself was...
bought out Bowman and enjoyed a largely unchallenged position in the US market for the next two decades. From 1952–1969, Topps always offered five or six card nickel wax packs and in 1952–1964, also offered one card penny packs.
In the 1970s Topps increased the cost of wax packs from 10–15 cents (with 8–14 cards depending on year) and also offered cello packs (typically around 18–33 cards) for 25 cents. Rack packs containing 39–54 cards could also be had for between 39–59 cents per pack.
This did not prevent a large number of regional companies from producing successful runs of trading cards. Additionally, several US companies attempted to enter into the market at a national level. In 1959, Fleer
Fleer
The Fleer Corporation, founded by Frank H. Fleer in 1885, was the first company to successfully manufacture bubblegum; it remained a family-owned enterprise until it was taken private in 1989....
, a gum company, signed Ted Williams
Ted Williams
Theodore Samuel "Ted" Williams was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year Major League Baseball career as the left fielder for the Boston Red Sox...
to an exclusive contract and sold a set of cards featuring him. Williams retired in 1960, forcing Fleer to produce a set of Baseball Greats cards featuring retired players. Like the Topps cards, they were sold with gum. In 1963, Fleer produced a 67 card set of active players (this time with a cherry cookie in the packs instead of gum), which was not successful, as most players were contractually obligated to appear exclusively in Topps trading card products. Post Cereals issued cards on cereal boxes from 1960 to 1963 and sister company Jell-O issued virtually identical cards on the backs of its packaging in 1962 and 1963.
In 1965, Topps licensed production to Canadian candy maker O-Pee-Chee
O-Pee-Chee
The O-Pee-Chee Company, Ltd. was a 20th-century Canadian confectionery company that produced candy until the mid 1990s. The company, based in London, Ontario, was originally owned by the McDermid family . The company was later owned by Frank Leahy and then, sold to his son in law, Gary Koreen...
. The O-Pee-Chee sets were essentially identical to the Topps sets until 1969, when the backs of the cards were branded O-Pee-Chee. In 1970, due to federal legislation, O-Pee-Chee was compelled to add French-language text to the backs of its baseball cards.
In the 1970s, several companies took advantage of a new licensing scheme, not to take on Topps, but to create premiums. Kellogg’s
Kellogg Company
Kellogg Company , is a producer of cereal and convenience foods, including cookies, crackers, toaster pastries, cereal bars, fruit-flavored snacks, frozen waffles, and vegetarian foods...
began to produce 3D-cards inserted with cereal and Hostess printed cards on packages of its baked goods.
In 1976, a company called TCMA, which mainly produced minor league baseball cards, produced a set of 630 cards consisting of Major League Ball players. The cards were produced under the name the Sports Stars Publishing Company, or SSPC. TCMA published a baseball card magazine named Collectors Quarterly which it used to advertise its set offering it directly via mail order. The cards were available directly from TCMA, and were not made available again, like other sets issued by TCMA, due to a manufacturers agreement.
Since 1981
FleerFleer
The Fleer Corporation, founded by Frank H. Fleer in 1885, was the first company to successfully manufacture bubblegum; it remained a family-owned enterprise until it was taken private in 1989....
sued Topps in 1975 to break Topps' monopoly on baseball cards and won. In 1981, Fleer and Donruss
Donruss
Donruss, currently known as Panini America and owned by Panini Group, manufactures sports cards. The company started in the 1950s, producing confectionery, evolved into Donruss and started producing trading cards. During the 1960s and 1970s Donruss produced entertainment-themed trading cards...
issued baseball card sets, both with gum. An appeal of the Fleer lawsuit by Topps clarified that Topps' exclusive rights only applied to cards sold with gum. After the appeal, Fleer and Donruss continued to produce cards issued without gum; Fleer included team logo stickers with their card packs, while Donruss introduced "Hall of Fame Diamond Kings" puzzles and included three puzzle pieces in each pack. In 1992, Topps' gum and Fleer's logo stickers were discontinued, with Donruss discontinuing the puzzle piece inserts the following year. With the issuance of a high quality card set in 1984, Donruss began to take hold as one of the most popular card brands in competition with Topps. In particular, several rookie cards in the 1984 Donruss set are still considered the most desirable cards from that year of any brand. Also in 1984, two monthly price guides came on the scene. Tuff Stuff
Tuff Stuff
Tuff Stuff is a magazine publishing prices for trading cards and collectibles from a variety of sports.The magazine was launched in April 1984 by store owner Ernie White, who named the magazine for his ability to offer the "tough stuff" to find in his store and to write about in the magazine. The...
and Beckett Baseball Card Monthly, published by Dr. James Beckett
James Beckett
James Beckett is a statistician, author, editor, and publisher. His publications are well known in the hobby of sports card collecting.Beckett earned a Ph.D. degree in statistics at Southern Methodist University in 1975 and then joined the faculty of Bowling Green State University as an Associate...
, attempted to track the approximate market value of several types of trading card
Trading card
A trading card is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing and a short description of the picture, along with other text...
s.
More collectors entered the hobby during the 1980s. As a result, manufacturers such as Score (which later became Pinnacle Brands
Pinnacle Brands
Pinnacle Brands was a trading card company from 1988 to 1998. With its first baseball card set called Score, it changed the baseball card industry from the "Big Three" that had been in place for seven years prior...
) and Upper Deck
Upper deck
Upper deck may refer to :* The Upper Deck Company, an American trading card business* The upper deck is the highest level internal deck on a ship, i.e. just below the superstructure and open deck....
entered the marketplace in 1988 and 1989 respectively. Upper Deck introduced several innovative production methods including tamper-proof foil packaging, hologram-style logos, and higher quality card stock. This style of production allowed Upper Deck to charge a premium for its product, becoming the first mainstream baseball card product to have a suggested retail price of 99 cents per pack. In 1989, Upper Deck's first set included the Ken Griffey, Jr.
Ken Griffey, Jr.
George Kenneth "Ken" Griffey, Jr. , nicknamed "Junior" and "The Kid", is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and during his final years, designated hitter...
rookie card. The card became highly sought-after until Griffey's persistent injury troubles caused his performance level to decline.
The other major card companies followed suit and created card brands with higher price point
Price point
Price points are prices at which demand for a given product is supposed to stay relatively high.- Characteristics :Introductory microeconomics depicts a demand curve as downward-sloping to the right and either linear or gently convex to the origin...
s. Topps resurrected the Bowman
Bowman Gum
Bowman Gum was a Philadelphia-based manufacturer of bubble gum and trading cards in the period surrounding World War II founded by Jacob Warren Bowman. Originally known as Gum, Inc., the company produced a series of cards known as the "Play Ball" sets each year from 1939 to 1941...
brand name in 1989. Topps produced a Stadium Club issue in 1991. 1992 proved to be a breakthrough year as far as the price of baseball cards was concerned, with the previous 50-cents per pack price being replaced by higher price points, overall higher-grade cardboard stock, and the widespread introduction of limited edition "inserts" across all product lines. 1992 was the beginning of the collectors' chase for "gold foil," which was commonly stamped on the limited edition "insert" cards. Notable examples from 1992's "insert" craze include Donruss Diamond Kings, which included gold-foil accents for the first time ever, and Fleer's host of gold foil-accented "insert" cards, including All-Stars and Rookie Sensations. 1992 was also the first year that "parallel" cards were introduced. In 1992, Topps produced Topps Gold "insert" cards of each card in the standard base set. The "parallel" Topps Gold cards had the player's name and team stamped in a banner of "gold foil" on the card front. The "parallel" moniker became popular to describe these cards because each and every card in the standard base set had an accompanying "insert" variation. In 1993, the card companies stepped up the "premium" card genre with "super premium" card sets, with Fleer debuting its "Flair" set and Topps debuting its "Topps Finest" set. Topps Finest was the first set to utilize refractors, a technology that utilized a reflective foil technology that gave the card a shiny "rainbow" appearance that proved extremely popular among hobbyists. Other notable "premium" card sets from the 1990s are as follows: Donruss issued its Leaf
Leaf Candy Company
Leaf International BV is a market leader in candy, chewing gum and pastilles in Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland and Belgium and has a number two position in Norway, Denmark, Belgium and Italy. In total Leaf products are sold in more than 50 countries worldwide...
brand in 1990; Fleer followed with Fleer Ultra sets in 1991; and Score issued Pinnacle brand cards in 1992.
Starting in 1997 with Upper Deck, companies began inserting cards with swatches of uniforms and pieces of game-used baseball equipment as part of a plan to generate interest. Card companies obtained all manner of memorabilia, from uniform jerseys and pants, to bats, gloves, caps, and even bases and defunct stadium seats to feed this new hobby demand. It is also in 1997 that the first "one-of-one" cards were released by Fleer, beginning with the 1997 Flair Showcase "Masterpieces" (the Ultra set would begin to include purple 1-of-1 masterpieces the following year). Both kinds of inserts remain popular staples in the hobby today.
The process and cost of multi-tiered printings, monthly set issues, licensing fees, and player-spokesman contracts made for a difficult market. Pinnacle Brands folded after 1998. Pacific, which acquired full licensing in 1994, ceased production in 2001. In 2005, Fleer
Fleer
The Fleer Corporation, founded by Frank H. Fleer in 1885, was the first company to successfully manufacture bubblegum; it remained a family-owned enterprise until it was taken private in 1989....
went bankrupt and was bought out by Upper Deck
Upper deck
Upper deck may refer to :* The Upper Deck Company, an American trading card business* The upper deck is the highest level internal deck on a ship, i.e. just below the superstructure and open deck....
, and Donruss
Donruss
Donruss, currently known as Panini America and owned by Panini Group, manufactures sports cards. The company started in the 1950s, producing confectionery, evolved into Donruss and started producing trading cards. During the 1960s and 1970s Donruss produced entertainment-themed trading cards...
lost the MLB license in 2006 (they also did not produce baseball cards in 1999 and 2000). At that time, the MLBPA limited the number of companies that would produce baseball cards to offset the glut in product, and to consolidate the market. As a result of the measure that included revoking the MLB/MLBPA production licenses from Donruss, only two companies remained; Topps and Upper Deck.
Topps and Upper Deck are the only two companies that retained production licenses for baseball cards of major league players. In a move to expand their market influence, Upper Deck purchased the Fleer brand and the remnants of its production inventory. After purchasing Fleer, Upper Deck took over production of the remaining products that were slated to be released. Upper Deck
Upper deck
Upper deck may refer to :* The Upper Deck Company, an American trading card business* The upper deck is the highest level internal deck on a ship, i.e. just below the superstructure and open deck....
continues to issue products with the Fleer name, while Topps continues to release Bowman and Bazooka card products. Topps is also the only company that continues to produce pre-collated factory sets of cards.
Card companies are trying to maintain a sizable hobby base in a variety of ways. Especially prominent is a focus on transitioning the cards to an online market. Both Topps and Upper Deck have issued cards that require online registration, while Topps has targeted the investment-minded collector with its eTopps offering of cards that are maintained and traded at its website. Also, since the late 1990s, hobby retail shops and trade-show dealers found their customer base declining, with their buyers now having access to more items and better prices on the Internet. As more collectors and dealers purchased computers and began trusting the Internet as a "safe" venue to buy and sell, the transformation from the traditional retail shops and shows to Internet transactions changed the nature of the hobby.
During the same time period, MLBPA also introduced a new guideline for players to attain a rookie card. For years, players had been highlighted in previous sets as a rookie while still in the Minor Leagues. Such players would sometimes remain in the Minor Leagues for considerable time before attaining Major League status, making a player's rookie card released years before their first game as a major leaguer. The new guideline requires players to be part of the a Major League team roster before a rookie card would be released in their name, and a designated "rookie card" logo printed on the face of the card. The rookie card logo shows the words "rookie card" over a baseball bat and home plate with the Major League Baseball logo in the top left corner.
Baseball cards garnered national media attention again in early 2007, when it was found that Topps' new Derek Jeter
Derek Jeter
Derek Sanderson Jeter is an American baseball shortstop who has played 17 years in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees. A twelve-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion, Jeter's clubhouse presence, on-field leadership, hitting ability, and baserunning have made him a central...
card had allegedly been altered just prior to final printing. A reported prankster
Practical joke
A practical joke is a mischievous trick played on someone, typically causing the victim to experience embarrassment, indignity, or discomfort. Practical jokes differ from confidence tricks in that the victim finds out, or is let in on the joke, rather than being fooled into handing over money or...
inside the company had inserted a photo of Mickey Mantle
Mickey Mantle
Mickey Charles Mantle was an American professional baseball player. Mantle is regarded by many to be the greatest switch hitter of all time, and one of the greatest players in baseball history. Mantle was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.Mantle was noted for his hitting...
into the Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
' dugout and another showing a smiling President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
waving from the stands. Topps Spokesman Clay Luraschi later admitted that it was done on purpose by the Topps creative department.
In February 2007, the hobby's most expensive card, a near mint-mint professionally graded and authenticated T206 Honus Wagner
Honus Wagner
-Louisville Colonels:Recognizing his talent, Barrow recommended Wagner to the Louisville Colonels. After some hesitation about his awkward figure, Wagner was signed by the Colonels, where he hit .338 in 61 games....
, was sold to a private collector for $2.35 million. The card was sold again later that same year for a record-setting $2.8 million.
United States
Baseball cards in the United States have gone through numerous changes in everything from production and marketing to distribution and use. The earliest cards were targeted primarily at adults as they were produced and associated by photographers selling services and tobacco companies in order to market their wares. By the early 1910s, many cards were issued as part of games and confection companies began to distribute their own card sets.The market in the United States has been particularly affected by issues both sports and non-sports related. Economic effects of World War I, World War II, and the Great Depression have all had a major impact on the production of cards. For example, World War I suppressed baseball card production to the point where only a handful of sets were produced until the economy had transitioned away from wartime industrialization.
The 1994 players' strike caused a decline in interest and industry consolidation. Yet, with the advent and acceptance of third party grading companies (c. 1997) bringing greater objectivity in the grading of baseball cards (coupled with online marketing), the vintage baseball card business has become quite popular again, with sales in the multi-millions of dollars recorded every year for at least ten years.
The Topps Monopoly
Topps' purchase of Bowman led to a stranglehold on player contracts. Since Topps had no competition and there was no easy way for others to break into the national market, the company had a de facto monopoly. However, several regional sets featuring players from local teams, both major league and minor league, were issued by various companies.Over the years, there was also a great deal of resistance from other companies. In 1967, Topps faced an attempt to undermine its position from the Major League Baseball Players Association
Major League Baseball Players Association
The Major League Baseball Players Association is the union of professional major-league baseball players.-History of MLBPA:The MLBPA was not the first attempt to unionize baseball players...
, the League’s nascent players' union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
. Struggling to raise funds, the MLBPA discovered that it could generate significant income by pooling the publicity rights of its members and offering companies a group license
License
The verb license or grant licence means to give permission. The noun license or licence refers to that permission as well as to the document recording that permission.A license may be granted by a party to another party as an element of an agreement...
to use their images on various products. After initially putting players on Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
bottlecaps, the union concluded that the Topps contracts did not pay players adequately for their rights.
Fleer even filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
alleging that Topps was engaged in unfair competition through its aggregation of exclusive contracts. A hearing examiner ruled against Topps in 1965, but the Commission reversed this decision on appeal. The Commission concluded that because the contracts only covered the sale of cards with gum, competition was still possible by selling cards with other small, low-cost products. However, Fleer chose not to pursue such options and instead sold its remaining player contracts to Topps for $395,000 in 1966.
Soon after, MLBPA executive director Marvin Miller
Marvin Miller
Marvin Julian Miller is a former executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association , from 1966 to 1982. Under Miller's direction, the players' union was transformed into one of the strongest unions in the United States...
then approached Joel Shorin, the president of Topps, about renegotiating these contracts. At this time, Topps had every major league
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
player under contract, generally for five years plus renewal options, so Shorin declined. After continued discussions went nowhere, before the 1968 season, the union asked its members to stop signing renewals on these contracts, and offered Fleer the exclusive rights to market cards. Although Fleer declined the proposal, by the end of 1973, Topps had agreed to double its payments to each player from $125 to $250, and also to begin paying players a percentage of Topps' overall sales. The figure for individual player contracts has since increased to $500. Since then, Topps used individual player contracts as the basis for its baseball cards.
Fleer vs. Topps
In April 1975, Fleer asked for Topps to waive its exclusive rights and allow Fleer to produce stickers, stamps, or other small items featuring active baseball players. Topps refused, and Fleer then sued both Topps and the MLBPA to break the Topps monopoly. After several years of litigation, the court ordered the union to offer group licenses for baseball cards to companies other than Topps. Fleer and another company, DonrussDonruss
Donruss, currently known as Panini America and owned by Panini Group, manufactures sports cards. The company started in the 1950s, producing confectionery, evolved into Donruss and started producing trading cards. During the 1960s and 1970s Donruss produced entertainment-themed trading cards...
, were thus allowed to begin making cards in 1981. Fleer's legal victory was overturned after one season, but they continued to manufacture cards, substituting stickers with team logos for gum. Donruss distributed their cards with a Jigsaw puzzle
Jigsaw puzzle
A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of numerous small, often oddly shaped, interlocking and tessellating pieces.Each piece usually has a small part of a picture on it; when complete, a jigsaw puzzle produces a complete picture...
piece.
Canada
The history of baseball cards in Canada is somewhat similar to that of baseball cards in the United States. The first cards were trade cards, then cards issued with tobacco products and later candies and gum. World Wide Gum and O-Pee-CheeO-Pee-Chee
The O-Pee-Chee Company, Ltd. was a 20th-century Canadian confectionery company that produced candy until the mid 1990s. The company, based in London, Ontario, was originally owned by the McDermid family . The company was later owned by Frank Leahy and then, sold to his son in law, Gary Koreen...
both produced major sets during the 1930’s.
In 1952, Topps started distributing its American made cards in Canada. In 1965 O-Pee-Chee re-entered the baseball card market producing a licenced version of the Topps set. From 1970 until the last Topps based set was produced in 1992 the cards were bi-lingual French/English to comply with Canadian law
From 1985 until 1988, Donruss
Donruss
Donruss, currently known as Panini America and owned by Panini Group, manufactures sports cards. The company started in the 1950s, producing confectionery, evolved into Donruss and started producing trading cards. During the 1960s and 1970s Donruss produced entertainment-themed trading cards...
issued a parallel Canadian set under the Leaf
Leaf Candy Company
Leaf International BV is a market leader in candy, chewing gum and pastilles in Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland and Belgium and has a number two position in Norway, Denmark, Belgium and Italy. In total Leaf products are sold in more than 50 countries worldwide...
name. The set was basically identical to the Donruss issues of the same years however it was bi-lingual. All the Leaf sets were produced in the United States.
There were several promotional issues issued by Canadian firms since Major League Baseball began in Canada in 1969. There were also several public safety sets issued, most notably the Toronto Blue Jays
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are a professional baseball team located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Jays are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball 's American League ....
fire safety sets of the 1980s and early 1990s and the Toronto Public Libraries "Reading is fun" set of 1998 and 1999. These sets were distributed in the Toronto area. The cards were monolingual and only issued in English.
Japan
The first baseball cards appeared in Japan in the late 19th century. Unlike American cards of the same era, the cards utilized traditional Japanese pen and ink illustrations. In the 1920s, black-and-white photo postcards were issued, but illustrated cards were the norm until the 1950s. The 1950s brought about cards which incorporated photos of players, mostly in black and white. MenkoMenko
Menko is a Japanese card game played by two or more players. It is also the name of the type of cards used to play this game. Each player uses Menko cards made from thick paper or cardboard, with one or both side printed with images from anime, manga, etc...
cards also became popular at the time.
NPB branded baseball cards are currently widely available in Japanese toy stores, convenience stores, sports stores, and as bonus items included in certain packages of potato chips.
United Kingdom
In 1987 and 1988 the American company ToppsTopps
The Topps Company, Inc., manufactures chewing gum, candy and collectibles. Based in New York, New York, Topps is best known as a leading producer of baseball cards, football cards, basketball cards, hockey cards and other sports and non-sports themed trading cards.-Company history:Topps itself was...
issued two series of American baseball cards featuring cards from American and Canadian Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
teams in the UK. The full colour cards were produced by Topps Republic of Ireland subsidiary company and contained explanations of baseball terms. Given the baseball's lack of popularity in the United Kingdom, the issues were unsuccessful.
Latin America
Topps issued licensed sets in Venezuela from 1959 to 1977. Most of the set had Spanish in place of the English text on the cards and the sets included winter league players. There were locally produced cards depicting players from the winter leagues produced by Offset Venezolana C.A., Sport Grafico, and others which were in production until the late 1990s.In Cuba, sets were issued first in the early 1900s. By the 1930s various candy, gum and chocolate makers were offering cards, most notably Baguer Chocolate. The post-World War Two era had cards issued by magazines, candy makers, Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
, and of course a gum company. In post revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
Cuba, baseball cards were still issued.
Several sets of Mexican League baseball cards have been issued in the past few years.
See also
- Beckett MediaBeckett MediaBeckett Media is a privately held company. Founded in 1984 by James Beckett as Beckett Publications, the company focuses on the collectible industries, especially in the area of sports collectibles.-History:...
- Cigarette cardCigarette cardCigarette cards are trade cards issued by tobacco manufacturers to stiffen cigarette packaging and advertise cigarette brands.-History:Beginning in 1875, cards depicting actresses, baseball players, Indian chiefs, and boxers were issued by the US-based Allen and Ginter tobacco company. These are...
s - Football card
- Hockey cardHockey cardA Hockey card is a type of trading card typically printed on some sort of card stock, featuring one or more hockey players or other hockey-related editorial and are typically found in countries such as Canada, the United States, Finland and Sweden where hockey is a popular sport and there are...
- Rookie cardRookie card"Rookie card" is a relatively subjective term generally referring to an athlete's first appearance on a trading card made for collectible or informational purposes...
- Sports cards
- Trading cards
- Elliott Museum #Exhibits (at "Baseball Memorabilia")