 | |
| Type | Baseball card |
|---|---|
| Company | Topps |
| Country | United States |
| Availability | 1951–present |
| Features | Baseball players |
The Topps Company has created a number of different baseball card products during its existence. They originally started as a chewing gum company, using the baseball cards as a sales gimmick to make the gum more popular, but today it is primarily a baseball card company.
Topps remains the only baseball card company today to still offer factory sets of their base brand. Their first factory set was offered in 1974 exclusively in the J.C. Penney catalog, but Topps would not begin releasing factory sets again until 1982. The 1982 Topps Factory Set is rare due to J.C. Penney's failure to sell them. J.C. Penney factory sets were available in 1982 in a color box and 1983 (SKU 672–1203), 1984 (SKU 672–1641), and 1985 (SKU 672–2029) in brown boxes. From 1986 to 1992, Topps factory sets came in two designs, Retail (or Christmas) and Hobby dealer. Retail factory sets were in very colorful boxes and were typically released near Christmas time (and for that reason are sometimes called Christmas sets). Hobby dealer sets were in much plainer boxes until 1993. Topps continues to this day to offer not only retail, hobby, and Christmas sets, but also team themed factory sets (starting in 2004) with bonus cards exclusive to each one.
From 1984 to 1991, Topps released a limited edition version of both their regular and traded sets called "Tiffany" sets. These sets were released in hobby dealer exclusive factory set format only and are identical to the regular cards, but these were printed in Ireland with white cardboard (instead of the then-standard gray cardboard) with a glossy finish on the front. The color of the inner boxes the Tiffany sets came in as well as the estimated number of sets produced (according to the annual Beckett price guide) are:
Bowman was Topps' main competitor from 1951 until Topps bought out Bowman after the 1955 season. Almost 35 years later, in 1989, Topps resurrected the Bowman brand and created a new annual baseball card set which was unique in two ways. First, the 1989 Bowman cards were 2.5" x 3.75" instead of the standard 2.5" x 3.5" card size (they went back to standard size from 1990 onwards however) and second, its main focus was on upcoming minor league players who Topps believed had a good chance of making it to the majors someday, which continues to be the focus of the Bowman set today. Although the Bowman sets were not very popular in its first three years, that changed in 1992 when Bowman was upgraded to a premium quality set (with UV coating on both sides and a special subset with bronze foil borders), and very limited production. Since then, Bowman has become more and more oriented towards prospects and rookies. New sets from several sister brands, as well as the core Bowman brand itself, continue to be released each year. [1]
Since the mid-1990s the vast majority of the MLB's top stars were featured on a Bowman card prior to appearing in any other set. The incredible sustained level of success enjoyed by the Bowman brand has spurred a number of spin-off products, including Bowman Chrome, Bowman Sterling, Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects, Bowman's Best, Bowman Originals, and most recently, Bowman Platinum. The key to the brand's success lies in the fact that Bowman and Bowman Chrome rookie cards are typically the most valuable and sought after of all rookie cards. [2] This is especially true for its baseball card releases.
Topps released their first "premium" set in 1991 called Stadium Club. This was the very first major baseball card set to feature glossy UV coating on both sides of the card as well as gold foil stamping on the front and a borderless (or "full-bleed") Kodak photo on the front. The back of the card also featured an image of the player's first Topps card. This set was a major hit at the time with packs costing $5 or more. In 1992, Topps released three different series of Stadium Club cards. There was also a factory set from 1992 in which cards were packed in a reproduction dome stadium, made of plastic, but this was not the same as the regular 1992 Stadium Club set. [3]
Topps released their first "super premium" set in 1993 called Topps Finest (or just Finest for short). These were issued in six card packs with 18 packs in a box and 12 boxes per case, and only 4,000 cases were produced. This set was also a major hit with packs costing around $25 at the time. Many hobbyists, however, frowned upon such an expensive set thinking that it was driving the hobby away from younger collectors. Topps also included a Finest All-Star jumbo card (limited to about 1455 of each) in each box (a 4" x 6" version of the All-Star subset) and randomly inserted (1 in 18 packs) a Refractor insert card which was exactly like the regular card but with a rainbow sheen on the front with some of them worth over $1000 at that time. Only 241 of each Refractor were produced and continue to this day to be highly sought after.
In 2001, Topps (for its fiftieth anniversary) released two new retro themed brands, Topps Heritage and Bowman Heritage, as part of its baseball, football and hockey card product lines. The novelty was that the brands had modern players with designs from past years. The baseball cards had the design from 1952 for its 2001 selection of Heritage baseball cards, 1953 design for 2002, 1954 design for 2003, and so on. Bowman Heritage was also started in 2001 and used the following throwback designs:
The Bowman Heritage brand was retired after the 2007 release, replaced by the much more popular and emerging Allen & Ginter brand that captivated collectors with its 2006 debut. In 2019, Bowman Heritage returned as an online-only exclusive product using the 1953 Bowman design. [4] Topps Heritage became a baseball exclusive brand in 2007 where it is still an active brand to this day. [5] It is widely considered to be one of the most popular perennial preseason baseball card release.
The T206 name (originally issued in 1909-11 by the American Tobacco Company) has been revived by Topps (under the "Topps 206" brand) a total three times, the first in 2002 with a second revival in 2010. [6] Again in 2020, the company released a new collection divided into five different series, with the first (50 cards) being released in May 2020. [7] The collection, named "Topps 206", include players from both, Major and Minor League. The 5th series was released in September 2020. [8]
The T206 Honus Wagner card was reissued by Topps in 2002, with variations on its background color. The card was printed with the original orange color of 1909 (#179), and also in blue (#307) and red (#456). [9] In 2020, a new Honus Wagner card was issued by the company (#45) as part of the second wave (of 5) released that year. [10]
In 2020 Topps released Project 2020, a 400 card online exclusive set which featured 20 artists rendition of 20 iconic Topps Cards. [11]
A Canadian licensed version of the Topps set was produced by candy company O-Pee-Chee from 1965 until 1992. From 1970 onward, the cards were bilingual in order to comply with Canadian language laws. [12] There were also licensed version Topps sets issued in Venezuela from 1959 to 1977, with some changes and the addition of winter league players. [13] In the late 1980s, Topps issued two sets for the United Kingdom market of American baseball players, complete with explanations of key baseball terms on the cards.
Each year, Topps faced the challenge of designing new cards to distinguish them from the year before. The 1952 - 56 sets were varied in presentation, but each were the same size, 2 5/8" x 3 3/4". The '52, '53 and '54 sets were vertical, the '55 and '56 sets horizontal. In 1957, the 2 1/2 x 3 1/2" size card became standard. Also, the design changed dramatically and was now a photograph of the player and not a painting (particularly 1953). The 1957 set is one of the most sought after by hobbyists due to the photographic quality and simple card design. The 1957 set is almost borderless, and the player name, team name, and position are printed in small letters so the photograph of the player is the dominant feature. More colorful designs and larger borders resumed again until the highly popular 1961 set, which again has smaller borders and less obtrusive team names, player names, and positions.
Until 1964, the colors of the borders, print, letters, etc. was random. Starting with the '64 set, Topps began a trend where each team had their own color scheme. For example, every Dodger card in the 1964 set featured the team name "Dodgers" in red across the top of the card, with the player name and position written in a powder blue field along the bottom of the card. Topps generally had 10 different color scheme designs per year, one for each team in their respective league (National and American). Thus, one team in each league shared the same color scheme with one team in the other league.
Starting in 1966, Topps assigned a color scheme to each team that would repeat itself in the 1968 and 1969 sets. The schemes were as follows:
The 1969 set introduced two new color schemes to accommodate the expansion teams that began play in that year:
Players generally gave multiple poses for Topps, and Topps chose which one to put on a card. Among these were head shots of the player with no cap, in case he was traded or the team moved. In 1966, the Braves moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta, so every card of a Braves player in the early series of cards is a head shot with no cap, or the cap logo is obstructed or hidden in some way (profile or cap tilted up). Only in the later series are there cards with Braves players wearing the new cap with the letter "A". The same is true for the Angels, whose move from Los Angeles to Anaheim caused a change in their cap logo from and "LA" to a "CA" as they switched from being called the Los Angeles Angels to the California Angels. In later years, Topps developed an airbrush technique where the cap logo would be manually altered or blacked out. For example, the 1968 Athletics, after moving from Kansas City to Oakland, are pictured wearing blacked out caps with green bills.
Topps generally put the biggest stars on card numbers ending in x00 or x50. For example, in the 1966 set, Mickey Mantle is card #50 and Sandy Koufax is card #100. In 1965, Willie Mays is card #250. Other star players were put on card numbers ending in zero (10, 20, 140, 270, etc.) and minor stars were put on cards ending in "5". Topps continues this numbering system (at least to a degree) today.
A trading card is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing and a short description of the picture, along with other text. There is a wide variation of different types of cards.
A baseball card is a type of trading card relating to baseball, usually printed on cardboard, silk, or plastic. In the 1950s, they came with a stick of gum and a limited number of cards. These cards feature one or more baseball players, teams, stadiums, or celebrities.
The Topps Company, Inc. is an American company that manufactures trading cards and other collectibles. Formerly based in New York City, Topps is best known as a leading producer of baseball and other sports and non-sports themed trading cards. Topps also produces cards under the brand names Allen & Ginter and Bowman.
The Fleer Corporation, founded by Frank H. Fleer in 1885, was the first company to successfully manufacture bubble gum; it remained a family-owned enterprise until 1989.
Non-sport trading cards are a particular kind of collectible card designated as such because trading cards have historically prominently featured athletes from the world of sports as subjects. Non-sports cards are trading cards whose subjects can be virtually anything other than sports-themed.
Wacky Packages are a series of humorous trading cards featuring parodies of consumer products. The cards were produced by Topps beginning in 1967, first in die-cut, then in peel-and-stick sticker format. There were 16 series produced between 1973 and 1977, with some reprints and several new series released up to the present day.
Donruss was a US-based trading cards manufacturing company founded in 1954 and acquired by the Panini Group in 2009. The company started in the 1950s, producing confectionery, evolved into Donruss and started producing trading cards. During the 1960s and 1970s Donruss produced entertainment-themed cards. Its first sports theme cards were produced in 1965, when it created a series of racing cards sponsored by Hot Rod Magazine.
The Goudey Gum Company was an American chewing gum company started in 1919. The company was founded by Enos Gordon Goudey (1863–1946) of Barrington Passage, Nova Scotia. Formerly an employee of Beemans, he opened a factory in Boston, Massachusetts in 1919 and later in Allston. It operated there from 1924 until it closed in 1962. Goudey sold the business in 1932 but he retained an interest as a consultant. On his retirement in 1933, William Wrigley Jr. dubbed him the "penny gum king of America". Today the Goudey name is mainly associated with its collectible baseball cards which were introduced in 1933. Goudey was the first American company to issue baseball cards with each stick of gum.
The O-Pee-Chee Company, Ltd. was a Canadian confectionery company founded in 1911 based in London, Ontario. The company was best known as a maker of trading cards. It entered into a marketing agreement with the Topps Company in 1958, releasing several collections of baseball, gridiron football and ice hockey cards.
Bowman is a brand of trading cards owned by Topps.
T206 is a tobacco card set issued from 1909 to 1911 in cigarette and loose tobacco packs through 16 different brands owned by the American Tobacco Company. It is a landmark set in the history of baseball card collecting, due to its size and rarity, and the quality of its color lithographs. The first series of cards were issued beginning in 1909. From 1909 to 1911 cards of over 500 major minor-league players in 16 different cigarette brands. The set featured Honus Wagner, Eddie Plank and the error cards of Larry Doyle and Sherry Magee. Several of the cards are among the most expensive sports cards ever sold.
In the trading card collecting hobby, an error card is a card that shows incorrect information or some other unintended flaw. It can contain a mistake, such as a misspelling or a photo of someone other than the athlete named on the card. Depending on whether the manufacturer noticed the problem while the cards were still being produced, a card may exist in both correct and incorrect versions. If the correction is made sufficiently early in the print run, the error card may be significantly rarer and more valuable than the corrected version. However, the opposite may be true if the error is corrected late in the printing cycle, resulting in a smaller population of the corrected version of the card compared to the error version.
An American football card is a type of collectible trading card typically printed on paper stock or card stock that features one or more American football players or other related sports figures. These cards are most often found in the United States and other countries where the sport is popular.
A rookie card is a trading card that is the first to feature an athlete after that athlete has participated in the highest level of competition within their sport. Collectors may value these first appearances more than subsequent card issues. Athletes are often commemorated on trading cards which are highly collected based on the popularity of the athlete. Prices for rookie cards fluctuate based on consumer interest, supply and demand and other factors, but can surpass thousands of dollars.
Pinnacle Brands, Inc. was a US-based manufacturing company of trading cards, focused on sports-related items. Pinnacle produced American football, baseball, hockey and motor sports cards.
The T206 Honus Wagner baseball card depicts the Pittsburgh Pirates' Honus Wagner, known as "The Flying Dutchman,” a dead-ball era baseball player who is widely considered to be one of the best players of all time. The card was designed and issued by the American Tobacco Company (ATC) from 1909 to 1911 as part of its T206 series. Wagner refused to allow production of his baseball card to continue, either because he did not want children to buy cigarette packs to get his card, or because he wanted more compensation from the ATC. The ATC ended production of the Wagner card, and a total of only 50 to 200 cards were ever distributed to the public, as compared to the "tens or hundreds of thousands" of T206 cards, over three years in sixteen brands of cigarettes, for any other player. In 1933, the card was first listed at a price value of US$50 in Jefferson Burdick's The American Card Catalog, making it the most expensive baseball card in the world at the time.
T201s, also known as Mecca Double Folders, were a type of cigarette card issued in 1911 by the Mecca Cigarette Company, then part of the American Tobacco Company. The collection featured color drawings of professional baseball players. The T201 designation comes from the American Card Catalogue, an authoritative guide to trading cards issued prior to 1951..
Prizes are promotional items—small toys, games, trading cards, collectables, and other small items of nominal value—found in packages of brand-name retail products that are included in the price of the product with the intent to boost sales, similar to toys in kid's meals. Collectable prizes produced in series are used extensively—as a loyalty marketing program—in food, drink, and other retail products to increase sales through repeat purchases from collectors. Prizes have been distributed through bread, candy, cereal, cheese, chips, crackers, laundry detergent, margarine, popcorn, and soft drinks. The types of prizes have included comics, fortunes, jokes, key rings, magic tricks, models, pin-back buttons, plastic mini-spoons, puzzles, riddles, stickers, temporary tattoos, tazos, trade cards, trading cards, and small toys. Prizes are sometimes referred to as "in-pack" premiums, although historically the word "premium" has been used to denote an item that is not packaged with the product and requires a proof of purchase and/or a small additional payment to cover shipping and/or handling charges.
A refractor card is a trading card that has a reflective coating and displays a rainbow when held at a specific angle. They are parallels of base set issues and were introduced with the release of the 1993 Topps "Baseball's Finest" set. Later releases have confirmation of a Refractor on the back of the card in the form of either an R or the word 'Refractor' printed, usually, beside or beneath the card number, but the first Refractors did not include this designation and are therefore sometimes more difficult to differentiate from base issues.
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