Topps is an American confectionery and trading card company currently based in New York City. Topps is best known as the dominant manufacturer of baseball trading cards in the United States for most of the 20th century and into the 21st century as well. Topps began manufacturing and distributing trading cards in 1938 and obtained the baseball card license in 1951. Since then, Topps has released new baseball card sets each year to build on its tradition as the leader in the baseball card industry.
Some key details on Topps and the history of their iconic baseball cards include: In the early 1950s, Topps negotiated exclusive deals with both major baseball leagues, the American and National Leagues, to produce uniforms sets of cards featuring current major league players. This granted Topps the sole right to produce cards with photos of major leaguers, dealing a blow to their main competitor at the time, Bowman. Topps’ monopoly on MLB player images would last for decades.
Topps became synonymous with the hobby of collecting baseball cards. Some of their most classic and valuable sets from the 1950s and 1960s include the 1952, 1955, 1956, 1959, and 1969 Topps sets. These remain extremely popular with collectors today due to the iconic photography and legendary players featured in the sets from that era. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Topps released larger annual sets each year and also began experimenting with new set concepts like high numbers, oddball designs, and parallel sets.
While Bowman and other competitors attempted to break Topps’ stranglehold on the baseball card market periodically over the decades, no other company was able to seriously challenge Topps’ dominance until the late 1980s. In 1981, Topps released its biggest and highest-printed set ever, the 792-card 1981 Topps set featuring a new design. The overproduction led to a crash in the baseball card bubble. In 1987, Topps lost its MLB player contract exclusivity. This opened the door for rival manufacturers like Upper Deck to start signing deals with players and leagues.
Upper Deck released hugely successful baseball card sets in 1989 that exceeded Topps in quality, photography, and production value. Whereas Topps sets had grown stale and bloated after decades as the lone provider, Upper Deck reinvigorated collector interest with innovative concepts. In response, Topps began improving set designs and features to better compete. For the rest of the late 80s through the 90s, Topps and Upper Deck dueled as the ‘Big Two’ in the industry. Although Topps lost some market share, it remained the consistent, traditional option.
Some other major developments for Topps baseball cards include the company launching parallel subsets like Topps Gold Label parallels in the early 90s, as well as more premium ‘premium’ sets like Topps Chrome. In the 2000s, Topps gained the exclusive MLB player imagery license back and became the sole supplier once more. This re-established Topps as the market leader going forward. Competitors like Bowman Draft/Prospects and Stadium Club still thrive by targeting niche demographics.
Throughout its decades as the dominant baseball card company, Topps has also produced some of the hobby’s most valuable and sought-after unique cards. For example, the iconic 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card is considered the crown jewel of the collecting world. Other monumentally significant Topps cards include the 1969 rookie cards of Johnny Bench, Tom Seaver, and Ted Williams amongst countless others. In the modern era, rookie cards of superstars like Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Mookie Betts and more in Topps flagship sets retain immense value and collectability.
So in summary, Topps revolutionized the baseball card industry when it obtained exclusive licensing rights from MLB in the early 1950s. For around seven decades it enjoyed clear market leadership by annually creating the sport’s definitive card sets. While competition has emerged, no other brand can match Topps’ history and place in pop culture as the most storied name in baseball cards. Whether measured in cards produced, championships covered, or legendary players featured, Topps is truly the standard bearer of the pastime.
