The Topps Company, Inc. is an American company best known for producing chewing gum, candy, and collectibles, especially trading cards. Topps is responsible for such iconic products as Bazooka bubble gum and Cinnamon Flavor Gum, as well as sports and entertainment trading cards, including Major League Baseball cards. Topps has been a dominant force in the trading card industry since the 1950s and helped popularize baseball cards as a collectible commodity.
Topps was founded in 1938 by brothers Ira and Lisbeth Kroopf in Brooklyn, New York. They started out making gummed stickers and trading cards for distribution in local candy stores and started producing gum soon after. In 1947, Topps launched its famous Bazooka bubble gum brand, which became a popular item for children. This helped Topps establish itself as a premiere candy and gum company.
However, Topps would find its greatest success in the trading card space. In 1951, Topps secured the exclusive rights to produce plastic encapsulated baseball cards for the first time. Previously, baseball cards were produced via tobacco companies like Bowman, Leaf, and Wheaties cereal boxes. Topps decided to market the cards separately from tobacco products to appeal more to children. They produced a set of 107 cards as their 1951 Topps Baseball Card set.
The 1951 Topps Baseball Card set helped kickstart collecting baseball cards as a popular hobby. Each pack of bubble gum came with a single card that could be part of a full set. Kids eagerly traded and swapped cards with their friends to complete their collections. Topps was able to corner the market and outcompete tobacco competitors who no longer received the licensing rights. The scarcity value of certain cards and the competitive aspect of collecting made baseball cards a phenomenon among American youth.
In the following years, Topps continued minting new sets each season, helping build on the popularity of baseball card collecting. More sets meant more new cards for kids to find. In 1952, Topps released its second complete baseball card set featuring 126 cards. Highlights included rookie cards of future Hall of Famers like Willie Mays. Subsequent 1950s sets from Topps included Mickey Mantle’s iconic 1952 Topps rookie card.
As the 1950s progressed, Topps released larger sets to satiate voracious collector appetites. The 1958 Topps Baseball Card set featured a then-high of 520 individual cards. Also in 1958, Topps issued its first partial season update set. Known as “Extended Series”, it featured 30 additional cards of players new to teams or who had good seasons. This helped keep collector’s albums current through the end of the baseball season that year.
By the 1960s, Topps had near-total market dominance over the baseball card industry. Every year their wax paper packed gum resulted in the standard annual release that children coveted. Topps’ meticulous tracking of statistics and players’ team changes helped keep collector’s albums extremely accurate representations of the current MLB rosters. Sets increased further to 660 cards for the 1968 Topps issue.
Where the 1950s saw trading cards primarily marketed towards children, the 1960s saw collecting start to appeal to both adults and kids. The accumulation of rarer and more valuable vintage cards helped drive up the commercial aspect of the hobby. Entire teams’ complete sets started demanding premium prices. Top rookies and specimens received greater attention as potential long-term investments. Meanwhile, Topps released its first annual football card set in 1950 and made forays into other sports like NASCAR.
Through the 1970s and 80s, Topps stayed on top of the trading card game with massive annual baseball releases well above 1,000 cards in size. The company began experimenting with specialty sets like Topps Traded in 1985, which focused on featuring cards of players new to teams through trades versus their drafted teams. Other sets incorporated team logos, action photos, and oddball cards to mix things up. Wax packs gave way to the more rigid stick form as the standard packaging.
In the modern era, Topps has faced increased competition from other trading card companies like Upper Deck, Score, and Fleer. However, Topps remains the industry standard, recognized brand behind MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, and global soccer licenses. Topps brought back retro designs and smaller serialized sets for niche collectors. In 2007, Topps achieved the largest sports card release ever with an eye-popping 1,980 card MLB set. Topps’ production techniques have also evolved with the addition of photo variations, autographs and memorabilia cards of today’s athletic superstars.
Through over 80 collective years in the business, Topps has emerged as the longest running and most iconic brand in the trading cards sector. Its MLB licenses dating back to the very first complete modern set in 1951 are what really cemented Topps’ position of leadership. Topps baseball cards allow collectors to tangibly hold history from baseball’s storied past in their hands. And for millions of people worldwide, Topps trading cards continue fueling fond childhood memories – and multi-million dollar industry – centered around sports collecting. Topps has without a doubt left an indelible mark on popular culture.
The Topps Company has played a seminal role in popularizing baseball cards as coveted collectibles since the 1950s. Through tenacious pursuit of MLB licensing rights and rolling out ever-larger annual sets, Topps cornered the youth market and helped launch the baseball memorabilia industry. While competitors have come and gone, Topps remains synonymous with America’s favorite pastime in card form after over 70 years of excellent stewardship. Few brands are as iconic or instantly recognizable within the collecting community as the Topps name on a pack of baseball cards.
