125 years of the hobby (timeline)

Came upon this very interesting timeline of the sport card hobby from 1869-1994 in a Collectors Sports Look magazine.

1869 the first baseball card is made of the Cincinnati red stockings

1886 the first baseball cards as we know them today or released by a number of tobacco companies

1894 the first football cards are issued by the Mayo Cut plug tobacco featuring college players

1909 the monster T206 set is issued featuring the Honus Wagner card

1921 the exhibit supply Company of Chicago distributes the first exhibit cards through Penny arcades

1933 the Goudey gum company of Boston produces its first baseball cards containing one card and one piece of gum for a Penny. The same year, the company issues sport kings including the first cards of basketball players

1935 National Chicle issues first cards of football players

1939 the Topps Company of Brooklyn is founded

1947 Bond bread issues one of the first single player sets a 13 card Jackie Robinson issue

1948 Bowman begins in eight year run in baseball and football cards and issues it's only basketball court set. Leaf issues baseball and football cards sets and Topps issues its first novelty product called magic photos

1950 Topps issues its first football card set, a 100 card product of college stars

1951 Topps issues five different baseball sets and Parkhurst releases its first hockey card set

1952 Topps issues it's legendary set

1954 Topps issues its first hockey set

1955 Bowman issues its last baseball set before being purchased by Topps

1956 Topps releases its first NFL set

1957 Topps releases its first basketball set and it's the last one until 1969

1960 Fleer produces its first football set

1961 the first system for classifying cards is established when long time legendary collector Jefferson Burdick publishes the American card catalog

1961 fleer produces its first basketball set

1963 fleer issues a baseball card set using Topps exclusive players and enters a legal battle with Topps over use of exclusive players. Lacking resources to fight Topps, fleer settles and signed a 15 year non competition contract

1964 Philadelphia chewing gum takes over as manufacturer of NFL cards

1968 Topps licenses it's hockey designs in photos to OPC for the first time

1969 Topps returns to basketball after a 12 year hiatus

1974 Topps produces the first factory set for sale for its baseball product in the Sears Christmas catalog

Based on Burdick's American card catalog, the first edition of the sports collectors Bible is published by Burt Randolph Sugar

1979 the first comprehensive price guide is published by Jim Beckett and Denny Eckes

1980 District Court Judge Clarence C. Newcomber rules that Topps is in violation of the federal antitrust legislation and opens the door for Donruss and fleer to enter the baseball card market

August 28 to September 1, 1980 the national sports collectors convention starts when 6400 collectors gather in Los Angeles

1983 the Star company issues its first basketball cards

1984 the first issue of Beckett baseball club monthly is issued

1985 the rookie card craze hits the hobby in full force as that the 1984 Donruss Mattingly skyrockets

March 1986 sportflics debuts as the first premium card product

1986 fleer is granted a card license by the NBA and issues a legendary set

1987 Mickey Mantle cards begin a meteoric rise in price

1987 classic games issues its first set. The company will have a major impact in several years.

1988 major-league marketing releases its score baseball set

March 1989 fleer issues the Billy Ripken card

April 1989 upper deck issues the land mark baseball set

1989 pro set and score football are issued as well as hoops basketball. These sets are credited with bringing these two sports into the collecting mainstream

1990 upperdeck issues the first certified autograph card to be issued in a pack

1990 star pics invents the draft pick set

August 1990 leaf débuts and starts the premium card wars

1990 score signs hockey phenom Eric Lindros and makes him exclusive to their hockey product

June 1991 the premium priced card craze hits as ultra, pinnacle, and Topps stadium club debut to rave reviews. Impel marketing releases the first of its highly successful Marvel universe sets

July 9 -14 1991 more than 125,000 people pack the Anaheim convention Center for the 10th national sports collectors convention causing a fire hazard. People wait in lines for up to six hours to receive bags of free promo cards

1991 Topps sends batches of its regular issue cards to the military with a special gold stamp on them

September 1991 pro set issues the first redemption card in packs of platinum football for Paul Brown and Emmitt Smith platinum cards

October 1991 the trading card market experiences a crash as wholesale values plummet in new products start to sell for below factory cost

1991 NFL properties and NFL players Association begin issuing separate licenses for football cards set significantly increase the number of sets on the market. This led to an absolute glut of football products.

January 1992 Topps issues Topps gold versions of its regular cards, the first pack issued parallel cards

June 1992 Shaquille O'Neil signs exclusive deal with classic . No NBA card company can make his cards until January 1, 1993. This causes a major fight among the card companies and the league. O'Neal is credited with supercharging the basketball card market.

April 1992 the insert card craze sweeps the hobby fueled by inserts in ultra baseball series 1. Regular cards become virtually worthless as attention is shifted to inserts

August 1993 the Topps finest craze begins as packs with a three dollar SRP sell up to $25

July 1994 Topps and upperdeck announced a joint venture in which Topps cards of Ted Williams in Mickey Mantle will appear in upperdeck heroes of baseball Packs

September 1994 the MLB strike canceled the 1994 season and the World Series is not played for the first time since 1994 . Baseball Card sales plummet



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The first football card set was 1894, but not the first card

These should be added to the list:

1990 Upper Deck High Series had "Find The Reggie" promotion...the first pack issued autographed card

Instead of 1992 Topps, 1991 Wild Card Football issued the first pack issued parallel cards with different numbered stripes

I just basically copied the timeline adding a few things for this post.

The first modern day SET with an autograph is the 1982 Mickey Mantle product.

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Thanx for posting. Awesome read. Very interesting. Imagine what 1995-2015 timeline would look like.

Maybe I'm just blanking on something obvious, but the 1990 UD Reggie autos are the first cards I can think of that were serial numbered, too. Whenever it was, that's something of a landmark because card companies always kept production numbers secret, for some reason. And I think it was 1992 Collector's Edge Football that had the first completely serial-numbered product, including base cards.