Posted By:
jay behrensHere is the discussion on the earliest CdVs going on in the SABR 19c e-list:
As an answer to the question what is the earliest base ball CdV, things have changed since the BB Cartes book was published in 1988.
At that time the trade card issued by Peck and Snyder Sporting Goods
Co. (not technically a CdV) from circa 1863, was the earliest listing, with a mid-Civil War player image coming in at the same c.1863 date. Since then, a team carte of the Atlantics of Brooklyn surfaced, from 1861. It was an exciting find, and has moved the genre back a few years. The CdV was invented by Disderi in Paris in 1859, so we are approaching the early limit. I would ask the members to share any other discoveries with the group.
--Mark Rucker
My guess is that this 1861 Atlantics carte was produced for officers
and players, and not for public distribution. The Peck and Snyder
advertising cards issued first for Jim Creighton, c.1863, and later in the decade for the Empires, Atlantics, Athletics, Mutuals and Red
Stockings could be viewed as 'baseball cards,' since they could have
been "collected" after they were issued. But technically they are
trade cards, made to promote the store. Though beautifully made, they were not designed to be saved.
--Mark Rucker