Andrew Peck

Andrew Peck (October 15, 1836 – March 21, 1918) was an American businessman who founded Peck & Snyder, a purveyor of sporting goods, in 1866. The company is considered to have been one of the earliest baseball card distributors in America.

Biography Early life Andrew Peck was born in New York City on October 15, 1836. He had no memory of his mother, who died when he was very young. His father left him at the Protestant Half Orphan Asylum when he was five years old, and afterwards died. Peck was then transferred to the Leake and Watts Orphan House. He apprenticed to a shopkeeper in Sharon Springs, New York at the age of fourteen, where he worked for almost two years. During this time, he joined the Eagles Baseball Club, where he met his close friend Henry Chadwick. At the beginning of the American Civil War, Peck enlisted with the Union Army. He served with the Army of the Potomac, which was known for its love of baseball. He served in the army for the duration of the war. Peck & Snyder Peck returned to New York in 1865, where he began selling baseball equipments and games as a street vendor. Chadwick would visit daily to encourage Peck, and his business soon grew. He remained actively involved with the business, which was then under the Spalding umbrella, until 1889.

He died of natural causes on March 21, 1918.