A
trading card is a small card, usually made out of
paperboardPaperboard is a thick paper based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker than paper. According to ISO standards, paperboard is a paper with a basis weight above 224 g/m2, but there are exceptions. Paperboard can be single...
or thick
paperPaper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....
, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other text (attacks, statistics, or trivia). There is wide variation among different types of cards as to the configuration of objects, the content on the card, and even the material used to make the card.
Trading cards are traditionally associated with
sportA Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
s;
baseball cardA 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...
s are especially well-known.
Cards dealing with other subjects are often considered a separate category from sports cards, known as non-sports trading cards. These often feature
cartoonA cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
s,
comic bookA comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
characters, television series and film stills. In the 1990s, cards designed specifically for playing games became popular enough to develop into a distinct category,
collectible card gamethumb|Players and their decksA collectible card game , also called a trading card game or customizable card game, is a game played using specially designed sets of playing cards...
s. These tend to use either
fantasyFantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
subjects or sports as the basis for game play.
Pre-history
Trade cards are the ancestors of trading cards. Some of the earliest
prizesPrizes are promotional items—small toys, games, trading cards, collectables, and other small items of nominal value—found in packages of brand-name retail products that are included in the price of the product with the intent to boost sales...
found in retail products were cigarette cards — trade cards advertising the product (not to be confused with trading cards) that were inserted into paper packs of cigarettes as stiffeners to protect the contents. Allan and Ginter in the U.S. in 1886, and British company
W.D. & H.O. WillsW.D. & H.O. Wills was a British tobacco importer and cigarette manufacturer formed in Bristol, England. It was one of the founding companies of Imperial Tobacco.-History:...
in 1888, were the first tobacco companies to print advertisements and, a couple years later, lithograph pictures on the cards with an encyclopedic variety of topics from nature to war to sports — subjects that appealed to men who smoked. By 1900, there were thousands of tobacco card sets manufactured by 300 different companies. Children would stand outside of stores to ask customers who bought cigarettes if they could have their card. Following the success of cigarette cards, trade cards were produced by manufacturers of other products and included in the product or handed to the customer by the store clerk at the time of purchase. World War II put an end to cigarette card production due to limited paper resources, and after the war cigarette cards never really made a comeback. After that collectors of prizes from retail products took to collecting tea cards in the UK and bubble gum cards in the US.
Early "baseball" cards
The first baseball cards were trade cards printed in the late 1860s by a sporting goods company, around the time baseball became a professional sport. Most of the baseball cards around the beginning of the 20th century came in candy and tobacco products. In fact it is a baseball set, known as the T-106 tobacco card set, distributed by the
American Tobacco CompanyThe 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...
in 1909 that is considered by collectors to be the most popular set of cigarette cards. In 1933,
Goudey Gum CompanyThe 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...
of Boston issued baseball cards with players biographies on the backs and was the first to put baseball cards in bubble gum.
Bowman GumBowman 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...
of Philadelphia issued its first baseball cards in 1948.
Modern trading cards
Topps Chewing Gum, Inc., now known as The Topps Company, Inc., started inserting trading cards into bubble gum packs in 1950 — with such topics as TV and film cowboy
Hopalong CassidyHopalong Cassidy is a fictional cowboy hero created in 1904 by the author Clarence E. Mulford, who wrote a series of popular short stories and twenty-eight novels based on the character....
; "
Bring 'Em Back AliveBring ‘Em Back Alive was Frank Buck’s first book, a huge best seller that catapulted him to world fame and was translated into many languages. Buck tells of his adventures capturing exotic animals....
" cards featuring
Frank BuckFrank Howard Buck was a hunter and "collector of wild animals," as well as a movie actor, director, writer and producer...
on big game hunts in Africa; and All-American football cards. Topps introduced the topic of baseball in trading cards in 1951, and
Sy BergerSy Berger was an employee of the Topps company for over 50 years. He is credited as being the co-designer of the 1952 Topps baseball series.-Topps:Berger's first day at Topps was also the first day that Topps began to produce Bazooka Gum...
created the first modern baseball card, complete with playing record and statistics, produced by Topps in 1952. Topps purchased the Bowman Gum company in 1956. Topps was the leader in the trading card industry from 1956 to 1980, not only in sports cards. Many of the top selling non-sports cards were produced by Topps, including
Wacky PackagesWacky Packages are a series of trading cards and stickers featuring parodies of North American consumer products. The cards were produced by the Topps Company beginning in 1967, usually in a sticker format. The original series sold for two years, and the concept proved popular enough that it has...
(1967, 1973–1977),
Star WarsThe Star Wars canon consists of the six Star Wars feature films, along with all officially licensed, non-contradicting spin-off works to the six films. As once defined by Lucas Licensing:- History :...
(beginning in 1977) and
Garbage Pail KidsGarbage Pail Kids , "La Pandilla Basura" or "Basuritas" in Latin America, "Gang do Lixo" in Brazil, "Sgorbions" in Italy, "Les Crados" in France and "Die total kaputten Kids" in Germany) is a series of trading cards produced by the Topps Company, originally released in 1985 and designed to parody...
(beginning in 1985). Topps inserted baseball cards as
prizePrizes are promotional items—small toys, games, trading cards, collectables, and other small items of nominal value—found in packages of brand-name retail products that are included in the price of the product with the intent to boost sales...
s into packs of gum through 1981, when the gum became a thing of the past and the cards were sold without the gum.
Value
Today, the development of the Internet has given rise to various online communities, through which members can trade collectible cards with each other. Cards are often bought and sold via
eBayeBay 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...
and other online retail sources. Many websites solicit their own "sell to us" page in hopes to draw in more purchase opportunities.
The value of a trading card depends on a combination of the card's condition, the subject's popularity and the scarcity of the card. In some cases, especially with older cards that preceded the advent of card collecting as a widespread
hobbyA hobby is a regular activity or interest that is undertaken for pleasure, typically done during one's leisure time.- Etymology :A hobby horse is a wooden or wickerwork toy made to be ridden just like a real horse...
, they have become collectors' items of considerable value. In recent years, many sports cards have not necessarily been appreciated as much in value due to
mass productionMass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines...
, although some manufacturers have used limited editions and smaller print runs to boost value. Trading cards, however, do have a true monetary value. Cards are only worth as much as a collector is willing to pay.
Condition
Card condition is one aspect of trading cards that determine the value of a card. There are four areas of interest in determining a cards condition. Centering, corners, edges and surface are taken into consideration, for imperfections, such as color spots and blurred images, and wear, such as creases, scratches and tears, when determining a trading cards value. Cards are considered poor to pristine based on their condition, or in some cases rated 1 through 10. A card in pristine condition, for example, will generally be valued higher than a card in poor condition.
| Condition |
Description |
| Pristine |
Perfect card. No imperfections or damage to the naked eye and upon close inspection. |
| Mint condition |
No printing imperfections or damage to the naked eye. Very minor printing imperfections or damage upon close inspection. Clean gloss with one or two scratches. |
| Near Mint/Mint |
No printing imperfections or damage to the naked eye, but slight printing imperfections or damage upon close inspection. Solid gloss with very minor scratches. |
| Near Mint |
Noticeable, but minor, imperfections or wear on the card. Solid gloss with very minor scratches. |
| Excellent Mint |
Noticeable, but minor, imperfections or wear on the card. Mostly solid gloss with minor scratches. |
| Excellent |
Noticeable imperfections or moderate wear on the card. Some gloss lost with minor scratches. |
| Very Good/Excellent |
Noticeable imperfections or moderate wear on the card. Heavy gloss lost with very minor scuffing, and an extremely subtle tear. |
| Very Good |
Heavy imperfections or heavy wear on the card. Almost no gloss. Minor scuffing or very minor tear. |
| Good |
Severe imperfections or wear on the card. No gloss. Noticeable scuffing or tear. |
| Poor |
Destructive imperfections or wear on the card. No gloss. Heavy scuffing, severe tear or heavy creases. |
Popularity
Popularity of trading cards is determined by the familiarity, or content of the card, and is usually
subjectiveSubjectivity refers to the subject and his or her perspective, feelings, beliefs, and desires. In philosophy, the term is usually contrasted with objectivity.-Qualia:...
.
Scarcity
Often, certain trading cards will be printed less often than others; this then makes the specific less printed card more valuable than others. Sometimes, each card will be labeled in some way in order to indicate its scarcity. Time can also make cards more scarce due to the fact that cards may be lost or destroyed.
Terminology
| Phrase |
Definition |
Ref. |
| 9-Up Sheet |
Uncut sheet of nine cards, usually promos. |
|
| Autograph Card |
Printed insert card that also bear an original cast or artist signature. |
|
| Base Set |
Complete set of base cards for a particular card series. |
|
| Box |
Original manufacturer's container of multiple packs, often 24 packs per box. |
|
| Box Topper Card |
Card included in a factory sealed box. |
|
| Blister Pack |
Factory plastic bubble pack of cards or packs, for retail peg-hanger sales. |
|
| Case |
Factory-sealed crate filled with card boxes, often six to twelve card boxes per case. |
|
| Chase Card |
Card, or cards, included as a bonus in a factory sealed case. |
|
| Common Card |
Non-rare cards that form the main set. Also known as base cards. |
|
| Factory Set |
Card set, typically complete base sets, sorted and sold from the manufacturer. |
|
| Hobby Card |
Item sold mainly to collectors, through stores that deal exclusively in collectible cards. Usually contains some items not included in the retail offerings. |
|
| Insert Card |
Non-rare to rare cards that are randomly inserted into packs, at various ratios (e.g. 1 card per 24 packs). An Insert Card is often different from the base set, in appearance and numbering. Also known as chase cards. |
|
| Master Set |
Not well defined; often a base set and all readily available insert sets; typically does not include promos, mail-in cards, sketch, or autograph cards. |
|
| Oversized Card |
Any base, common, insert, or other card not of standard or widevision size. |
|
| Parallel Card |
A modified base card, which may contain extra foil stamping, hologram stamping that distinguishes the card from the base card. |
|
| Pack |
Original wrapper with base, and potentially insert, cards within, often called 'wax packs', typically with two to eight cards per pack. Today the packs are usually plastic or foil wrap. |
|
| Retail Card |
Cards, packs, boxes, and cases sold to the public, typically via large retail stores, such as K-mart or Wal-MartWal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
. |
|
| Rack Pack |
Factory pack of unwrapped cards, for retail peg-hanger sales. |
|
| Promo Card |
Cards that are distributed, typically in advance, by the manufacturer to promote upcoming products. |
|
| Redemption Card |
Insert Card found in packs that are mailed (posted) to the manufacturer for a special card or some other gift. |
|
| Sell Sheet |
Also 'ad slicks'. Usually one page, but increasingly fold-outs, distributed by the manufacturers to card distributors, in advance, to promote upcoming products. |
|
| Sketch Card |
Insert Card that feature near-one-of-a-kind artists sketches. |
|
| Swatch |
Insert Card that feature a mounted swatch of cloth, such as from a sports player's jersey or an actor's costume. |
|
| Tin |
Factory metal can, typically filled with cards or packs, often with inserts. |
|
| Unreleased Card |
Card printed by the manufacturer, but not officially distributed for a variety of reasons. Often leaked to the public, sometimes improperly. Not to be confused with promo cards. |
|
| Uncut Sheet |
Sheets of uncut base, insert, promo, or other cards. |
|
| Wrapper |
Original pack cover, often with collectible variations. |
|
Sports cards
Sports card is a generic term for a trading card with a sports-related subject, as opposed to non-sports trading cards that deal with other topics. Sports cards were among the earliest forms of
collectibleA collectable or collectible is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector . There are numerous types of collectables and terms to denote those types. An antique is a collectable that is old...
s. They typically consist of a picture of a player on one side, with statistics or other information on the reverse. Cards have been produced featuring most major sports, especially those played in
North AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, including, but not limited to, association football (soccer),
baseballBaseball 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...
,
basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
,
boxingBoxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
,
footballGridiron football , sometimes known as North American football, is an umbrella term for related codes of football primarily played in the United States and Canada. The predominant forms of gridiron football are American football and Canadian football...
,
golfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
,
hockeyIce hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
,
racingA sport race is a competition of speed, against an objective criterion, usually a clock or to a specific point. The competitors in a race try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time...
and
tennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
.
The first stage in the development of sports cards, during the second half of the 19th century, is essentially the story of
baseball cardA 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...
s, since baseball was the first sport to become widely professionalized. Hockey cards also began to appear early in the 20th century. Cards from this period are commonly known as
cigarette 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 or tobacco cards, because many were produced by
tobaccoTobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
companies and inserted into
cigaretteA 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...
packages, to stiffen cigarette packaging and advertise cigarette brands. The most expensive card in the hobby is a cigarette card of
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....
in a set called 1909 T-206. The story told is that Wagner was against his cards being inserted into something that kids would collect. So the production of his cards stopped abruptly. It is assumed that less than 100 of his cards exist in this set. The 1909 T-206 Honus Wagner card has sold for as much as $2.8 million.
Sets of cards are issued with each season for major professional sports. Since companies typically must pay players for the right to use their images, the vast majority of sports cards feature professional athletes. Amateurs appear only rarely, usually on cards produced or authorized by the institution they compete for, such as a
collegeA college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
.
Many older sports cards (pre-1980) command a high price today; this is because they are hard to find, especially in quality condition. This happened because many children used to place their cards in bicycle spokes, where the cards were easily damaged. Rookie cards of Hall of Fame sports stars can command thousands of dollars if they have been relatively well-preserved.
In the 1980s, sports cards started to get produced in higher numbers, and collectors started to keep their cards in better condition as they became increasingly aware of their potential investment value. This trend continued well into the 1990s.
The proliferation of cards saturated the market, and by the late 1990s, card companies began to produce scarcer versions of cards to keep many collectors interested. The latest trends in the hobby have been "game used memorabilia" cards, which usually feature a piece of a player's jersey worn in a real professional game; other memorabilia cards include pieces of bats, balls, hats, helmets, and floors. Authenticated autographs are also popular, as are "serially numbered" cards, which are produced in much smaller amounts than regular "base set cards".
Autographs obtained by card manufacturers have become the most collected baseball cards in the hobby's history. This started in 1990 in baseball when
Upper DeckUpper 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....
randomly inserted autographs of Reggie Jackson into boxes. They are commonly referred to as "Certified Autographed Inserts" or "CAI's". Both the athlete's and card company's reputations are on the line if they do not personally sign these cards. This has created the most authentic autographs in existence. These cards all have some form of printed statements that the autographs are authentic, this way, no matter who owns the autograph there is no question of its authenticity. CAI's have branched out into autographs of famous actors, musicians, Presidents, and even Albert Einstein. Mostly these autographs are cut from flat items such as postcards, index cards, and plain paper. Then they are pasted onto cards. In 2001, a company called Playoff started obtaining autographs on stickers that are stuck on the cards instead of them actually signing the cards. There is strong opposition against these types of autographs because the players never even saw the cards that the stickers were affixed to.
The competition among card companies to produce quality sports cards has been fierce. In 2005, the long-standing sports card producer
FleerThe 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 DeckUpper 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....
. Not long after that,
DonrussDonruss, 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 its MLB baseball license.
Association football
The first Association football (soccer) cards were produced in 1898 by Marcus's Tobacco in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The set consisted of over 100 cards and was issued under the title of "Club Colours". They featured illustrated images of players on the front of the card, and a tobacco advertisement on the back of the card. The next series of cards were produced in 1934 by Ardath, which was a 50-card set called
Famous Footballers featuring images of players on the front of the card, and a tobacco advertisement and short biography of the player on the back of the card.
Modern Association football trading cards were sold with bubble gum in the United Kingdom from 1958 to 1975 by A&BC, and later by
Topps, UKThe 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...
from 1975 to 1981. Similar smaller sized cards were issued in Spain and Italy beginning in the late 1940s. Cards have been produced from 1981 to present, save 1985 and 1986. Other variations of football products exist, such as marbles, cut-outs, coins, stamps and stickers, some made of light cardboard and attached with glue or
stickerA sticker is a type of a piece of paper or plastic, adhesive, sticky on one side, and usually with a design on the other. They can be used for decoration, depending on the situation. They can come in many different shapes, sizes and colours and are put on things such as lunchboxes, in children's...
s, into albums specifically issued for the products.
Baseball
Baseball cards will usually feature one or more
baseballBaseball 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...
players or other baseball-related sports figures. The 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. Cards are most often found in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
but are also common in countries such as
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
,
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, and
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, where baseball is a popular sport and there are professional leagues.
The earliest baseball cards were in the form of trade cards produced in 1868. They evolved into tobacco cards by 1886. In the early 20th century other industries began printing their own version of baseball cards to promote their products, such as bakery/bread cards, caramel cards, dairy cards, game cards and publication cards. Between the 1930s and 1960s the cards developed into trading cards, becoming their own product. In 1957,
ToppsThe 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...
changed the dimensions of its cards slightly, to 2-1/2 inches by 3-1/2 inches, setting a standard that remains the basic format for most sports cards produced in the United States.
Basketball
Basketball cards will feature one or more players of the
National Basketball AssociationThe National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
,
National Collegiate Athletic AssociationThe National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
, Olympic basketball,
Women's National Basketball AssociationThe Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of twelve teams. The league was founded on April 24, 1996 as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association...
,
Women's Professional Basketball LeagueThe Women's Professional Basketball League was a professional women's basketball league in the United States. The league played three seasons from the fall of 1978 to the spring of 1981...
, or some other basketball related theme. The first basketball cards were produced in 1910, in a series cataloged as
College Athlete Felts B-33. The complete series included ten different sports, with only 30-cards being associated with basketball. The cards were issued as a cigarette redemption premium by Egyptiene Cigarettes. The number of cigarette packages needed to redeem for the tobacco cards is not known.
The next series of basketball cards were issued in 1911, in two separate series;
T6 College Series, measuring approximately 6" by 8", and
T51 College Series, measuring approximately 2" by 3". These series included a variety of sports, with only 6-cards being associated with basketball. One card from the T6 series, and five cards from the T51 series. Both series were produced in two variations; one variation reading "College Series", the other, "2nd Series". The cards were acquired in trade for fifteen Murad cigarette coupons. The offer expired June 30, 1911.
Basketball cards were not seen again until 1932, when C.A. Briggs Chocolate issued a 31-card set containing multiple sports. In exchange for a completed set of cards, Briggs offered baseball equipment. The number of basketball cards in the set is not known.
Boxing
According to Tallent, one of the first boxing cards on record in "America's Greatest Boxing Cards", and encyclopedia and check-list of boxing cards, was of John C. Heenan issued by Charles D. Fredericks in the 1860s.
Gridiron Football
A
footballGridiron football , sometimes known as North American football, is an umbrella term for related codes of football primarily played in the United States and Canada. The predominant forms of gridiron football are American football and Canadian football...
card is a type of collectible trading card typically printed on paper stock or card stock. An example will usually feature one or more
American footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
,
Canadian footballCanadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...
or
World League of American FootballThe World League of American Football was founded in 1990 with support from the National Football League to play professional American football in North America, Europe and later possibly Asia...
players or other related sports figures. These cards are most often found in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
where the sport is popular.
Most football cards features
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
players. There are also
Canadian Football LeagueThe Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
and
college footballCollege football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
cards. Player cards normally list the player's statistics. Some special edition packs of cards include authentic autographs or jersey cards. Some may include bubblegum or a special edition player card. Many cards are now serial-numbered, meaning that there are only so many of that particular card produced. These include unique prints (numbered 1/1). Included in these are printing plates, used in the actual production of the card.
Along with baseball cards, football cards began gaining popularity after
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. 1948 saw two sports card producers,
Bowman GumBowman 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
Leaf Candy CompanyLeaf 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...
produce their first football card sets, each consisting of about 100 cards of then-current players from the
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
. Leaf only went on to produce one more set. a skip-numbered set in 1949. However, Bowman continued producing sets, from 1950 through 1955. Bowman was bought out by the
ToppsThe 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...
Chewing Gum Company in 1956. That year, Topps produced its first regular football card set (after producing sets of historic college players in 1950, 1951, and 1955) and still produces football cards today. Other popular companies are
Upper DeckUpper 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....
, Panini
Hockey
The first hockey cards were included in cigarette packages from 1910 to 1913. After
World War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, only one more cigarette set was issued, during the 1924-25 season by Champ's Cigarettes.
NHLThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
player
Billy CoutuWilfrid Arthur Coutu was a professional Canadian ice hockey defenceman who played ten seasons in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens, the Hamilton Tigers, and the Boston Bruins...
's biography includes an example of one of the 40 cards issued at that time.
During the 1920s, some hockey cards were printed by food and candy companies, such as Paulin's Candy, Maple Crispette, Crecent, Holland Creameries and La Patrie.
Through 1941,
O-Pee-CheeThe 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...
printed hockey cards, stopping production for
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Presumably, the 1941 involvement of the US in the war affected the hockey card market, since Canada had been in the war since 1939.
Hockey cards next appeared during 1951-52, issued by Shirriff Desserts, York Peanut Butter and Post Cereal. Toronto's Parkhurst Products Company began printing cards in 1951, followed by Brooklyn's Topps Chewing Gum in 1954-1955.
O-Pee-CheeThe 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...
and Topps did not produce cards in 1955 or 1956, but returned for 1957-58.
Manufacturers
| Sports Card Manufacturers |
| This list contains companies that produce, or have produced, sports trading cards. This list does not contain all the brand names associated with their respected manufacturers. |
| Manufacturer | Association
Football | Baseball | Basketball | Boxing | Football | Golf | Hockey | Racing | Tennis |
| Ace Authentic Ace Authentic, based in Duluth, GA, manufactures tennis trading cards and memorabilia, and sells other items such as photographs and posters. They have partnered with more than 350 active tennis players and legends to provide items, such as autographs and game worn material, not found through other...
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| Allworld |
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| Best |
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| 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...
[Gum, Inc. from 1939 to 1941. Bowman Gum from 1948 to 1955. Includes trading cards manufactured under Play Ball. Topps acquired the company in 1956.] |
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Classic Games, Inc.[Includes trading cards manufactured under Classic Games, Inc., Classic/Scoreboard and Score Board.] |
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| Collect-A-Card |
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| Collector's Edge |
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| Courtside |
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| 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...
[Includes trading cards manufactured under Donruss and Donruss/Playoff.] |
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| Extreme Sports |
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| 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....
[Manufactured trading cards from 1959 to 2005, save 1964, 1965 and 1967. Upper Deck acquired the brand name in 2005.] |
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| Futera Futera is a trading card publisher founded in 1989. It is a privately-owned company, its main markets being Asia, Europe, Australasia, USA and with headquarters in Dubai.-Licences:...
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| Front Row |
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| Genuine Article |
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| Goodwin & Company Goodwin & Company was an American tobacco manufacturer from New York City. Initially E. Goodwin and Brother, the company was founded before the American Civil War. It was known for its cigarette brands "Gypsy Queen" and "Old Judge"...
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| 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...
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| Grand Slam Ventures |
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| Grandstand |
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| Hi-Tech |
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| JOGO Inc. |
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| Just Minors |
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| Kayo Kayo boxing cards was the name of a brand of boxing trading cards that were released in 1991. The cards were named "Kayo" because kayo, being the sound produced when someone spells k.o., is an alternative word to knockout...
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Leaf, Inc.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...
[Manufactured trading cards from 1948 to 1960.] |
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| Maxx |
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| Miller Press |
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| Multi-Ad |
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| National Chicle |
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| NetPro |
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| 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...
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Pacific Trading Cards[Manufactured trading cards from 1984 to 2005. Donruss/Playoff acquired their brand names in 2005.] |
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| Parkhurst Products Parkhurst Hockey Cards were manufactured by Parkhurst Products, a Canadian manufacturer of sports cards. Their cards were primarily for ice hockey but also featured Canadian wrestlers...
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| 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...
[Includes trading cards manufactured under Sportflics and Pinnacle/Score.] |
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| Press Pass, Inc. Press Pass, Inc. is a trading card and licensed sports die-cast company that was founded in 1992. Press Pass was the first company to insert a game used jersey into basketball cards, and inserted a race-used tire into their NASCAR trading cards in 1996....
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| Pro Set |
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| ProCards |
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| Razor Entertainment Razor Entertainment Group , founded in 2005, was a private company that produced trading cards and collectibles. Based in Dallas, Texas, it was best known as a producer of baseball cards and other lithographic products....
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| Rittenhouse |
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| Royal Rookies |
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| SA-GE Collectibles, Inc. |
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| Signature Rookies |
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| SkyBox International SkyBox International Inc. was an American trading card manufacturing company based in Durham, North Carolina. A subsidiary of Vector Group, it was originally formed as Impel Marketing in 1989. In 1990, the company was renamed SkyBox International...
[Manufactured trading cards from 1990 to 1995. Fleer acquired SkyBox in 1995.] |
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| Star Co. |
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| Star Pics |
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| Superior Pix |
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| Superior Rookies |
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ToppsThe 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...
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| Traks |
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| TRISTAR TRISTAR Productions, Inc. promotes sports collectible events, distributes autographed sports memorabilia, and manufactures and distributes trading cards. The company was founded in 1987, in Houston, Texas, by Jeffrey R. Rosenberg....
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| 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....
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| USA Baseball |
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| Wild Card |
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Wizards Of The CoastWizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
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Wonder BreadWonder Bread is the name of three North American brands of white bread: One produced by George Weston Bakeries in Canada, another by Hostess Brands in the United States, and the third by Grupo Bimbo in Mexico.- United States :...
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Notes
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Non-sports cards
Non-sports trading cards feature subject material relating to anything other than sports, such as comics, movies, music and television.
Manufacturers
| Non-Sports Card Manufacturers |
| This list contains companies that produce, or have produced, non-sports trading cards. This list does not contain all the brand names associated with their respected manufacturers. |
| Manufacturer | Cartoon | Collectable
Card Game | Comic
Book | Historic | Music | Movie
and/or
Television |
CartamundiCartamundi, also called Carta Mundi, is a Belgian company, based in Turnhout, that produces and sells board games, card games, collectible card games, packages and playing cards through its manufacturing and sales subsidiaries...
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| Cryptozoic Entertainment Cryptozoic Entertainment is an American-based publisher of games, comics, and magazines primarily based on popular culture. The company's flagship franchise is the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, a collectable card game based on the World of Warcraft online game from Blizzard Entertainment...
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| Dart Flipcards |
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| Digimon , short for , is a Japanese media franchise encompassing digital toys, anime, manga and video games. The franchise's eponymous creatures are monsters of various forms living in a "Digital World", a parallel universe that originated from Earth's various communication networks.-Conception and...
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| 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...
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| Futera Futera is a trading card publisher founded in 1989. It is a privately-owned company, its main markets being Asia, Europe, Australasia, USA and with headquarters in Dubai.-Licences:...
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| Hidden City Games Hidden City Entertainment, formerly known as Hidden City Games, Inc., was founded in 2004 by Peter Adkison and Jesper Myrfors. The company, started in Seattle, Washington was originally founded for the sole purpose of publishing Clout Fantasy a game invented by Jesper Myrfors.Hidden City...
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Konamiis a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
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MonsterwaxMonsterwax is a trading card company that specializes in Science Fiction and horror themes. It was established in 1992, making it the oldest American card company still in business exclusively producing non-sports sets. Many trading card companies like Topps are corporate subsidiaries that...
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| Nintendo is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
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| Press Pass A press pass grants some type of special privilege to journalists. Some cards have recognized legal status; others merely indicate that the bearer is a practicing journalist...
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| Score Entertainment Score Entertainment was a trading card design and manufacturing company based in Arlington, Texas. Their first card game was the Dragon Ball Z: Collectible Card Game in 2000. Score Entertainment was a member of the Donruss Playoff LP family of companies...
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ToppsThe 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...
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| 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....
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| Webkinz Webkinz are toy stuffed animals that were originally released by the Canadian Ganz company on April 29, 2005. The toys are similar to many other small plush toys, however, each Webkinz toy has an attached tag with a unique "Secret Code" printed on it that allows access to the "Webkinz World" website...
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Wizards of the CoastWizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
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See also
- Artist trading card (ATC)
- Cigarette card
Cigarette 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...
- Error card
In the trading card collecting hobby, an error card is a card that shows incorrect information or some other unintended flaw. It can contain a mistake, such as a misspelling or a photo of someone other than the athlete named on the card...
- List of collectible card games
- Prizes
Prizes are promotional items—small toys, games, trading cards, collectables, and other small items of nominal value—found in packages of brand-name retail products that are included in the price of the product with the intent to boost sales...
- 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...