Although many of the greatest players from the first decades of professional baseball are represented, the collection does not include individual cards for either Honus Wagner or Babe Ruth. Baseball cards were first issued during the 1880s when tobacco companies used them to promote sales. Two exceptions are the large format sets of Turkey Red Cabinets and Old Judge Cabinets , produced as premiums in exchange for coupons distributed in cigarette packs. More than one thousand major and minor league ballplayers, from teams in thirteen identified leagues and seventy-five cities in the United States and Canada, are represented in the collection. They include celebrated stars playing for storied major league clubs in Boston, Brooklyn, Cleveland, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, and St. Louis, along with more obscure minor leaguers performing in Birmingham, Little Rock, Memphis, Norfolk, Oakland, Providence, Richmond, Shreveport, Toledo, and elsewhere.
Canadian cities represented include Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and Victoria.
Rebel Oakes Major leaguers account for more than three-quarters of the images in the collection. Great pitchers from the period include Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Smoky Joe Wood, Chief Bender, Joe McGinnity, Eddie Plank, Rube Marquard, and Rube Waddell, among others. Hall of Fame field players include King Kelly, Cap Anson, Home Run Baker, Dan Brouthers, Ed Delahanty, Eddie Collins, Buck Ewing, Wee Willie Keeler, Napoleon Lajoie, and Zack Wheat. Researchers may also find notable player partnerships, such as the immortal Cubs infield trio of Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, and Frank Chance or the talented Red Sox outfield comprised of Tris Speaker, Duffy Lewis, and Harry Hooper. Connie Mack, John McGraw, and Charles Comiskey are among the game's outstanding early managers depicted.