Topps has been producing baseball cards since 1951 and to this day remains the dominant force in the baseball card industry. Each year, Topps produces and distributes several baseball card series and products featuring current Major League Baseball players, teams, logos, and branding rights. At the heart of their business model are exclusive licensing agreements with MLB, the MLB Players Association, and individual teams and leagues that allow Topps sole rights to use official logos, uniforms, and player likenesses on their physical and digital baseball cards.
The annual Topps baseball card release cycle typically begins in late winter/early spring when Topps designs their various card sets for the upcoming season. Key sets in recent years have included Topps Series 1, Series 2, Heritage, Allen & Ginter, Stadium Club, and Topps Chrome. Topps works closely with team photographers, graphic designers, and licensed digital image providers to acquire thousands of high resolution photos of players and action shots to use on the cards. After design approval from MLB/MLBPA, Topps then works with printing plants to produce billions of card fronts and backs using specialized card stock.
Once printed and cut, the individual cards are then sorted, packaged, and prepared for distribution by Topps. The backbone of their business remains the distribution of physical wax packs, boxes, and cases of cards to licensed sports shops, mass retailers like Walmart, and specialty hobby stores. Topps sales reps work to stock these outlets with the new releases throughout the spring and summer months leading up to the MLB postseason. Simultaneously, Topps also furiously produces special inserts, parallels, autographs, and memorabilia cards for high-end hobby boxes targeted towards avid collectors.
At the retail level, customers can purchase various form packs containing anywhere from 5 to 20 random cards at price points usually between $1-5 per pack. Multi-pack boxes containing 24-30 packs and specialty “hobby” boxes containing autographed memorabilia cards start at $20 and go up to hundreds or thousands. When customers open these packs for the “hobby” experience of the chase, the probability method Topps uses ensures certain parallels, inserts, and stars are scarcer than common players to create micro-markets. For the highest-value 1/1 cards, Topps works individually with players and teams to produce autographed memorabilia cards showcasing game-used uniforms, bats, balls, etc.
With a large enough print run each season of billions of individual cards being put into circulation, Topps over time has established track records and statistics around different players’ “rookie cards” from their early career years in particular. These rookie cards take on immense historical value as elite players establish Hall of Fame careers over decades since those were their first MLB cards produced. The “print runs” or specific quantities that Topps produces of certain rare rookie cards or parallel/refractor versions also factor greatly into their long-term worth to collectors.
On the collectors’ secondary market, the value of vintage and modern Topps cards fluctuates greatly based on the thousands of factors around a players’ career, the specific card’s condition grade when professionally “slabbed” and encapsulated by authenticators like PSA/BGS, and strict supply vs. ongoing demand. Working in conjunction with major auction houses like Goldin, Heritage, and PWCC, Topps tracks how certain players’ cards from their portfolios perform under the hammer over the long run too. High-value vintage rookie card sales in the 5-6 figure range help sustain a booming multi-billion dollar sports collectibles industry where Topps remains the undisputed ruler of baseball cards.
Through exclusive licenses with MLB/MLBPA and proven business model of producing and distributing physical and digital baseball cards featuring the current season’s rosters and storylines, Topps has endured as the leading brand in this space for 70+ years. By continuing to establish key flagship sets and insert hit probabilities each year that drive the iconic hobby experience opening packs in search of stars and heroes, Topps ensures the annual production cycle and secondary market allow for new generations of fans and collectors to enjoy collecting officially licensed baseball cards year after year.
