Discussion Topic & Your Opinions: What is the first baseball card

[Baseball Rarities]

Originally Posted by rainier2004

So what exactly does that make the other P/S's, some of which we know were made earlier...

Which do we know were made earlier? The 1868 Atlantics Trade card has a advertisement on the reverse that seems to date it to 1870. There is also an 1870 newspaper advertisement that offers all of the trade cards, including the 1868 Atlantics. The Atlantics card has never been seen offered earlier than 1870.

There is an 1869 ad that offers the Cincinnati team, but only in CDV form. This ad has Peck and Snyder listed on Ann St. IMHO, all of the Peck and Snyder trade cards were issued after the Cincinnati CDVs that were issued in 1869 when Peck and Snyder was on Ann St. I have posted these ads before, but I can dig them up if anyone cares.

[drcy]

Thank you for the info, Kevin.

What about the 1863 Harry & George Wright cricket/baseball ticket? (I'm awaiting the response "It's a ticket." I'm also expecting "What part of '1863 comes after 1860' don't you understand?")

There's also a circa 1865 Mathew Brady CDV of the Harry and George Wright. It could have been a personal CDV for the Wrights, but Mathew did make and commercially sell to the public CDVs of celebrities . . . Obviously, one of the issues with this subject is there are unanswered questions and another is the earliest card known (even if there is consensus on what it is) is only the earliest card known. A third is that many of our hobby terms and rules for old cards, including 'rookie card' and its definition, are modern terms and rules applied retroactively.

As I've often said, the earlier you get, the more it becomes baseball card theory. There are even regular debates on what constitutes a baseball card. Which is why I appreciate everyone's points of view and opinions.