Billy Sunday, Chicago White Stockings, 1887.

As has often been said, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

Baseball players come and go, teams move from city to city, even the rules of the game change from year to year.  But one thing that has changed relatively little is the baseball trading card.  Beginning in the late 19th century as a gimmick for selling the then-novel idea of pre-manufactured cigarettes (one card per pack), the baseball trading card retains much of its original format:  a picture of a player (listing team and position) on the front, with a statistical summary and/or anecdotes of his career on the back.

The trading card became so popular that it has spawned an industry.  Today, trading cards are available for all major sports like baseball, football, basketball, and hockey, even the likes of stock-car racing and wrestling.  The trading card was the forerunner of all sports collectibles.

We have assembled many of the trading card sets of the Houston Colt .45s and Astros over the years, and will be adding more in the future. Our immediate goal is to scan and upload the sets through the early Nineties.

Note: if you would like to see the cards for a particular player, go to that player's page on the All-Time Roster.