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davidcyclebackYou might be correct, Barry. The problem in picking the first is there might be some regional color issue I hadn't thought of. The 51 and 52 Bowmans and 53 Topps are all from paintings
I'm not sure, but I thought that Upper Deck Studio had insert cards that were actual color photos (not lithos but photos). Those actually might have be first color photograph cards. I've seen in person one of these cards, so I'm not certain they were photos but they advertised as if they were.
I know for some of the recent painting-style cards, the original art is digital/computer. Donruss or Fleer or Topps auctioned of the original art for some of their baseball cards, and some of them were digital. Some also were the traditional paintings.