In 1990, the venerable Topps Company released a new line of baseball cards unlike anything baseball card collectors had seen before – cards featuring holograms. While holograms had been appearing on various commercial products in the preceding years, their use on trading cards was truly groundbreaking and captured the imagination of many young collectors at the time. The 1990 Topps Hologram baseball card series would prove highly innovative yet also quite controversial among the baseball card collecting community.
Topps utilized a new hologram technology developed by E-Pro, Inc. that allowed for motion graphics and 3D effects to be embedded directly into each card. The holograms were produced using a process called anisotropic multi-layer projection, in which a series of laser beams projected images onto photosensitive film that was then laminated between thin plastic sheets. When viewed at different angles, the embedded holograms appeared to move or change perspective. For the 1990 baseball card series, Topps embedded holograms of various baseball action scenes directly onto special printed card stock.
Some of the holograms depicted things like a baseball being thrown and hit, fielders catching fly balls, or base runners advancing around the bases. Each card featured a different major league player along with career statistics on the front, while the back contained a standard player biography and cardboard-like stats on the back. The true innovations were the holograms themselves, which brought the sport directly to life in miniature 3D form when the cards were tilted and rotated in the light.
Not all collectors were pleased about the new hologram concept. Some argued the motion graphics detracted from the traditional static photograph focus of typical baseball cards. They also complained the hologram technology came at the expense of card design and production quality, as the special coating and process added significant costs that Topps recouped by using lower stock cards and reduced statistical information versus standard yearly issues. There were concerns about the long term viability and preservation of the holograms embedded in the cardboard card stock over time.
Nonetheless, the 1990 Topps Hologram baseball card series sold exceptionally well upon its initial release. Young collectors, in particular, were drawn in by the novelty and futuristic qualities of cards that appeared to move and change in the hand. Though just a 125-card base set without expansions was produced, demand remained high enough that Topps continued the concept in 1991. That follow up issue addressed some design complaints by using higher quality stock and enlarging player stats/bios. Additional parallels and insert sets were also introduced to add value beyond the base issue.
As the 1990s progressed, hologram technology continued advancing as well. Subsequent Topps Hologram issues in 1992 and 1993 featured more detailed graphics, animations, and even sound-inclusive cards. The series’ popularity began declining in step with larger downward trends then affecting the baseball card market overall. By the mid-1990s, production of Topps’ Hologram baseball cards ceased as interest waned and returns diminished. The advent of new 3D printers and inexpensive motion graphics also reduced the novelty aspect for newer generations of collectors.
Still, in retrospect, the 1990 Topps Hologram baseball card series stands out as perhaps the most innovative product the traditionally conservative but creatively risk-taking Topps Company had ever created. It boldly brought cutting edge technology directly to the hands and imaginations of baseball card collectors, even if the concept proved short-lived. The groundbreaking use of holograms paved the way for continued motion graphic experimentation on future trading cards for years. Today, vintage 1990 Topps Hologram issues retain dedicated followings and strong resell values among nostalgic collectors who remember them fondly as representatives of a innovative era in the evolution of sports collecting products. The hobby may have moved beyond holograms since, but Topps’ pioneering effort in 1990 ensured that baseball cards would never be static again.
