Baseball Cards in the 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 wares. By the early teens, 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 political 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. By that same token, the 1994 players' strike caused a decline in interest and industry consolidation.