One of the earliest (and scarcest) commemorative baseball card sets issued by The Card Memorabilia Associates, Limited (TCMA) was the now near-half century old The Leading Players of the Base-Ball Season of 1890. While technically reprints of larger engravings made from woodcuts that originally appeared in late 19th century copies of HARPER'S WEEKLY, they were never issued as cards. Accordingly, we call them "commemoratives". (We should add that TCMA called them Reprints noting their year of publication, "1973".)

One interesting aspect of this set is the inclusion of Players League stars. Eighteen-ninety was the only year of operation by the Players League (noted as "Brotherhood" by Harper's Weekly). Most 19th century base-ball cards are unaffordable to average hobbyists so these commemoratives offer an alternative without pinching the purse. 

Card size is approximately 3-1/8" by 4-1/2". Cards of this rather unusual size will display well in standard 4-pocket sheets designed for smaller postcards (up to 3-1/2 by 5-1/2 inches) with full card coverage. While we could find no record of production numbers, our experience tells us Leading Players of the 1890 Base-Ball Season was likely produced in small quantities despite the fact that the current Standard Catalog of VINTAGE Baseball Cards reports reliably that the full set retailed for just $3.00 nearly a half century ago. 

Condition: Excellent or better  - check the high-resolution scans. A colored background is provided to assist in evaluating card corners and edges. Since we have just this one single example of this card, this is the card the buyer will receive.

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