The sports trading card hobby essentially began more than 150 years ago. The first baseball card, a team photo of the Cincinnati Red Legs, was issued by New York-area sporting goods company Peck & Snyder in 1869.
So the concept of sports trading cards was still in its relative infancy when the first lacrosse card was produced in 1878.
Similar to the Peck & Snyder issue, the inaugural lacrosse card contained an advertisement for its producer on the back. This card happened to be part of a 12-card multi-sport set issued by the European biscuit company, Huntley & Palmers, and it kicked off a period of more than 100 years when lacrosse cards were issued but were rarely released in the form of a dedicated lacrosse set with national distribution.
The only exception to this trend occurred from 1910-1912, when the Canadian Imperial Tobacco Company issued three annual sets featuring the top lacrosse players of the day. Similar in size and design to the cigarette cards featuring baseball players of the same era, these cards are also popular with vintage hockey collectors as many Canadian athletes played both sports during that time.
Edouard “Newsy” Lalonde is the most desirable player in all three sets, but other notables include J.B. “Bouse” Hutton, Clint Benedict, Jack Laviolette, Tommy Gorman, Mickey Ions, Paddy Moran, Joe Malone and Joe Cattarinich, all members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The only other cards from this period to feature specific players were individual cards from multi-sport sets. They are the 1903 Ogden’s Tabs (C.H. Scott), 1924 Willard’s Chocolates (Buck Johnson, Charlie Querrie and Gordon Thom), 1925 Dominion Chocolates (Johnny Laing and Newsy Lalonde, though the latter is pictured as a hockey player) and 1930 J.A. Pattreiouex (G. Percy Seed, A.J.C. Balkwill and F.S. Helme).
Practically all other lacrosse cards issued between 1878 to 1990 primarily picture the sport in one of two distinct forms: general images of lacrosse action (both artistic renderings and photographic images), and depictions of the sport being played by Indigenous people.
In early years the cards were primarily issued as a means of advertising a variety of products: cigarettes and tobacco, bread, soap, candy, margarine, cereal, tea and more. This card from 1932 came from the Sanella Margarine company.
However, trading card sets that focused on Indigenous life often included specific depictions of lacrosse (more on this later).
Many years later, and before covering a Wheaties box was a measuring stick for athlete prominence, companies like Kellogs used lacrosse in trading cards as advertisements.
And by 1976, Nabisco confectionaries got into the mix as well.
LACROSSE AS GOVERNED SPORT
Multi-sport card sets were very common during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and were issued all across the world. Generally speaking these sets used illustrations to display one sport per card with a brief write-up on the reverse and typically with an advertisement for a given product.
This one from 1917 was distributed by the Village Maid Tobacco Company.
A single series of images could be used several times over the years by different companies. For example, the Sports and Pastimes art series was used to produce 13 different card sets between 1905 and 1925. The result is that the Sports and Pastimes lacrosse card can be found with 13 different back styles. While some collectors might want to complete a set of all sports from a particular issue, others might attempt to obtain every back variation for their favourite sport.
LACROSSE AND INDIGENOUS LIFE
It is important to note that goal of showing these images is simply to explain the history of the cards, not to promote or endorse their use. Many of these Indigenous cards contain out-dated representations of Indigenous life, and can be construed as potentially disrespectful.
Especially during the first half of the 20th century, several trading card sets were dedicated to the broad topic of Indigenous life. The cards pictured notable individuals, survival practices, hunting, and daily life, often in a manner that reflected stereotypes of the era. Some of these cards included depictions of lacrosse.
Like the cards detailed above, these Indigenous card sets have been issued in many different countries such as the U.S., Canada, Spain and Germany. Perhaps the most well known of these many cards is #35, Ah-No-Je-Nahge, of the 1933 Goudey Indian Gum set.
This card can be found with five different variations, primarily due to slightly differing information on the back of the cards. A brief write-up on the back states that Ah-No-Je-Nahge is “the most proficient ball player of the Sioux Tribe” and “It is said that no white man ever became proficient at this game.”
Other cards from the mid 20th century continued to use Indigenous imagery.
Stay tuned next week as we look at early postcards and their somewhat surprising use of lacrosse imagery.