Distribution of 19th century baseball cards

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Posted By: will watson

hello everyone,

i have a question that i haven't seen discussed before. it involves the distribution of 19th century (and even early 20th century) baseball cards. not how they were distributed - it's common knowledge that most cards, if not all, came from tobacco products. my question is where they were distributed. i assume that the highest concentration would be found in the northeastern United States, since most cigarette manufacturers were located around there. does anyone know if they were distributed nationwide (especially to regions where there were no baseball teams), or only in certain areas of the country?

i wonder this because of a recent conversation between my friends and i - if you could time travel to any time and any place in history, where would you go? some people said the Stone Age, some said the time when Jesus was around, some said WW2....not me. i would travel back to the late 1800's, find the closest tobacco vendor, and simply buy the place out.