During the time before and after the American Civil War, baseball started becoming a very popular sport in the United States. Before the modern printing press, a type of baseball-theme picture card was invented. Usually a picture of a baseball player
             or team was pasted on a cardboard backing. It was called a 'cabinet card' or 'carte de viste.' The cabinet card was a large version and was meant to be displayed in a cabinet. The carte de viste was a smaller version. Most of the cards showed famous players and teams, while others would show amateur, local and youth teams. Sometimes a family picture would show a son in a baseball theme like wearing a uniform or holding a bat and ball. Unlike modern cards, these cards were used for nothing more than a keepsake. They are very rare and hard to find.
             In the late1860 's, a sporting good company called Peck and Snyder printed up baseball cards and used them for advertisements for their products. Peck and Snyder sold baseball equipment and these cards were a means for their advertising. These advertising cards are called "trade cards." A trade card is an advertising that is given away, rather that sold with the product. They are like free flyers that were handed out on the street corners. Usually the trade card had an image on one side and the advertising of a business or product on the other. Many businesses that used the baseball trade cards were advertising a product that had nothing to do with baseball at all.
             From the 1870's to the 1890's, trade cards became a popular form of advertising. The baseball theme cards only counted for a small portion of the total trade cards. The trade cards now had many subjects such as presidents, animals and comics. A very popular baseball theme card was the "comic baseball theme card." They put the baseball players into funny acting situations. Pretty soon, collecting trad...