The Story of Topps Baseball Cards in New York City
New York City is home to one of the most famous and historic names in the world of trading cards – Topps. For over 70 years, Topps has been producing baseball cards and other sport card products out of Brooklyn and Manhattan. Their story is deeply intertwined with the story of New York and the rise of baseball card collecting in America.
Topps got its start in Brooklyn in 1938 when four brothers – Nelson, Ira, Abraham, and Sy Rapaport – started a small chewing gum company called the Topps Chewing Gum Company. They wanted to add trading cards to packages of gum to boost sales, taking inspiration from British cigarette cards which were popular at the time. In 1951, Topps secured the exclusive license to produce baseball cards, beating out their main competitor at the time, Bowman Gum. From that point on, Topps became synonymous with official MLB baseball cards in the minds of collectors.
The company’s original Brooklyn factory was located on East 38th Street in East Flatbush. Here they produced some of their most iconic early series like the 1952, 1953, and 1954 Topps sets which featured stars like Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, and Jackie Robinson. These early color photos of players in action helped make baseball cards hugely popular with kids across America. Topps dominated the baseball card market in part due to their strong licensing agreement with MLB which shut out competitors like Bowman.
In 1962, Topps moved their headquarters and factory out of cramped Brooklyn to a larger 175,000 square foot building in Duryea, Pennsylvania. They kept an office in New York City for many years at 11 West 42nd Street in Manhattan. This Midtown office was the nerve center for Topps’ baseball card business during the 1960s and 1970s, overseeing photography, graphic design, printing, and more. Baseball legends like Hank Aaron and Harmon Killebrew visited this NYC office for photo shoots during the card boom years.
Throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the popularity of collecting baseball cards reached new heights. Topps churned out popular sets year after year with rookie cards of future Hall of Famers like Cal Ripken Jr., Tony Gwynn, and Greg Maddux. Meanwhile, their headquarters in Duryea expanded to over 350 employees during the peak years of production to keep up with skyrocketing demand.
In the early 1990s, two new competitors – Fleer and Score – entered the baseball card market after Topps’ exclusivity agreement with MLB expired. This led to a “Card War” period where all three companies fiercely competed for licensing rights and collector dollars. In 1994, Topps baseball card sales reached an all-time high of $500 million. The competition took its toll and Topps’ run soon came to an end when Upper Deck acquired the MLB license in 1995.
Upper Deck’s dominance was short lived as the baseball card market collapsed in the late 90s due to an oversupply of cards on the market. The industry consolidation continued when The Topps Company acquired Fleer in 1992 and SkyBox International in 1999 to regain a share of the baseball card market. In 2007, the original Topps headquarters and factory in Duryea closed down, ending 69 years of production at that historic Pennsylvania site. Baseball card making was outsourced to overseas manufacturers.
Despite this, Topps’ bonds with baseball and New York City have remained strong. The company is still officially headquartered in Manhattan at One Whitehall Street near Ground Zero. They also operate a corporate office with a staff of about 100 employees in downtown Manhattan at 11 West 42nd Street – maintaining an NYC presence after over 80 years in the business. In addition, Topps has kept ties to its Brooklyn roots by owning the naming rights to Citi Field – home of the New York Mets – from 2010 to 2020. Each summer, baseball fans flock to Queens to attend games at “Topps Stadium.”
Today, Topps continues finding ways to keep the spirit of the golden age of baseball cards alive through innovative new products. Their flagship Topps Series 1-2 baseball cards remain popular as ever and Topps has expanded into digital card apps, trading card games, unique collector’s items and more. In 2019, Topps even considered going public through an IPO. Although the industry has changed, Topps remains synonymous worldwide with the tradition of collecting official MLB trading cards which began in Brooklyn back in 1952. Their story will always be linked to the baseball history of New York City.
Few companies can claim the long legacy and deep roots in a city that Topps has in New York. From their original Brooklyn base of operations to their current Manhattan headquarters, Topps’ eight decades of making official MLB baseball cards has mirrored the rise of baseball fandom and collecting culture in America. Countless childhood memories have been made by kids opening wax packs on porches in Queens and uncovering their favorite players immortalized in a Topps card from Brooklyn. This rich history makes Topps an important part of both the sporting and business fabric of New York City.
