Although baseball cards had been given away with tobacco products before, the practice exploded in popularity in 1909 when small and colorful cards were inserted into packs of cigarettes of leading brands like Sweet Caporal, Piedmont and Old Mill. The frenzy was noted by newspapers, which described how boys would loiter around tobacco shops and pester customers for cards. The popularity of cards coincided with the game's rise in stature during the Dead Ball Era, when Americans embraced new heroes like Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson and Honus Wagner —  each of whom is represented on this page. Candy companies like American Caramel also began producing cards, and by the early 1920s, they were the chief makers of them. The cards of the 1920s are far less colorful than their counterparts from a decade earlier. It's long been my theory that this was caused by the collapse of the German printing industry in WWI — there's nothing that rivals the artistic qualities of the 1914-15 Cracker Jack sets until 1933 when Goudey began making cards. Also displayed here are game cards from 1914-15, a card produced by Willard's Chocolates (Hippo Vaughan) and Exhibit cards, which were distributed by the Chicago-based Exhibit Supply Co. through vending machines in arcades. Most examples below come from 1927 (green tint) and 1928 (blue tint). The live ball was introduced in 1920, dramatically increasing scoring, and ushering in a new era with stars like Lou Gehrig and Rogers Hornsby, who are pictured here.