Collecting the Northern Hall: Pre-war Canadian Content in the Hobby That Defined Our Childhoods

My baseball card collection and by extension this article focuses on the pre-war era of card collecting and its connection to Canada. Discussion of cards from this era often includes cards manufactured until 1952 as Topps’ 1952 set is generally considered the first ‘modern’ set. The paper will start with a discussion of Canadian Baseball Hall of Famers and Canadian teams represented in some of the more sought-after American sets. Many pre-war sets featured minor league teams including several Canadian teams. We will then examine Canada’s early contribution to the hobby by describing cards issued by early Canadian companies. Lastly, no good article about baseball cards is complete without a good Top 10 list, so I will propose a list of the Top 10 ‘Holy Grail’ Canadian related vintage cards.