[Archive]

Posted By: barrysloate

Hi all- I've been off the board for a few weeks. As Corey said, the Jordan and Co. cards have nothing at all to do with baseball. They are a set of cricket cards only; the issue is clouded only because Harry Wright is one of the four pictured and he played both baseball and cricket. The baseball game scheduled for the day the cards were to be distributed was rained out and never played, so there is no way to determine if the other three cricket players pictured would have participated. You can argue that these card/tickets were the first of their kind distributed in America, but in no way can they be called baseball cards. I also agree with Corey that the Jim Creighton is arguably the first baseball card, but because all the other Peck and Snyders were issued between 1868-70, his date of 1863 seems too early. I doubt there was a five year gap between the first and second issue. Finally. Hal's Resolutes card, a CdV, was probably issued around 1864, and there are earlier CdV's known, such as the 1861 Atlantics. I still think the definition of what a baseball card is and which is the first depends upon who owns it. Each owner seems to feel that his is the first, and not the other guy's.