Andrew Peck and Irving Snyder started the Peck & Snyder Sporting Goods company in 1866. The business was located at 124-128 Nassau Street in New York. They found early success with their invention of the first rubber-soled and canvas tennis shoe as well as the two-wheeled inline skate.

At that time, both baseball and photography were in their infancy. The American public was exhausted from the Civil War that nearly tore it apart and they needed a release. Baseball was just the thing people needed to bring them together.

Although their emotions were still raw from the war, Americans found the rapidly spreading popularity of baseball was a common ground upon which to gather. Men that only a year earlier had tried to kill each other on the battlefield were now teammates on the ballfield. Peck & Snyder Sporting Goods seized the moment and combined sports and pictures into one. Baseball fans no doubt loved it.

As a sporting goods store, Peck & Snyder sold baseball equipment and supplies. Producing baseball cards as advertising material fit right in with the business they had already established. Other businesses, in an attempt to capitalize on the growing marketing trend, soon followed suit. They started distributing baseball cards with advertisements for their companies printed on the back even when their companies had absolutely nothing to do with baseball or athleticism. Cigarette cards like Old Judge and Allen & Ginter gained popularity before the century was over.

In 1849, the New York Knickerbockers sported the first known baseball caps which were, in fact, made from straw. Highly ineffective and most likely very itchy, the Knickerbockers ditched the straw caps a few years later for a wool cap produced by Peck & Snyder. This new cap featured a flat, panelled crown made from merino wool and a short visor to help shield the players’ eyes from the sun.