Cracker Jack began including prizes in every box in 1912. The promise of a small surprise helped distinguish the caramel-coated popcorn-and-peanut snack and became one of its defining features.
Cracker Jack was introduced in Chicago in the 1890s by Frederick and Louis Rueckheim. Its name and slogan were registered in 1896, and the product became associated with baseball after the 1908 song “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” mentioned Cracker Jack alongside peanuts. The prize tradition added another reason for customers to buy the snack.
Early prizes were inexpensive novelty items, including small toys, rings, booklets, stickers, and decoder devices. The company later produced baseball cards, including famous 1914 and 1915 sets that are now highly collectible. Until 1937, many of the toy prizes were manufactured in Japan; wartime production later shifted heavily toward paper items.
The answer is 1912, not 1896, which marks Cracker Jack's early product and trademark history. It is also not 1907, the year before the famous baseball song, or 1922, when the company's name changed to The Cracker Jack Company.