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.

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 that produced the set. The system implemented by Jefferson Burdick in American Card Catalogue has become the de facto method in identifying and organizing trade cards produced in the Americas pre-1951. The catalogue itself extends into many other areas of collecting beyond the sport of baseball. There are two major shortcomings of this system: it does not include classifications for non-American cards and there are numerous mistakes and inconsistencies in the system. However, sets like 1909-11 White Borders, 1910 Philadelphia Caramel’s, and 1909 Box Tops most commonly referred to by their ACC catalogue numbers. They are respectively T206, E95, and W555.

Baseball Cards

A baseball card is one type of trading card 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 United States, but are also popular in countries such as Canada, Cuba, and Japan, where baseball is a popular sport and there are professional leagues.