Topps has been producing baseball cards since 1938 and remains the dominant force in the baseball card industry to this day. As the longtime exclusive partner of Major League Baseball for producing sealed packs of baseball cards for retail sale, Topps holds the exclusive license to include MLB team logos and player likenesses on its baseball cards. This license agreement with MLB grants Topps exclusive worldwide rights to produce stickers, trading cards, games and other related products featuring current major league players, team logos and trademarks through the 2030 season.
Topps’ flagship baseball card product each year is the release of its new Series 1 trading card set coinciding with the start of the Major League Baseball season in April. The Series 1 cards feature the newest photos of players from Spring Training as well as rookie cards for players who made their MLB debuts the previous season. A few months later in July, Topps follows up with its Series 2 card release which contains additional cards not included in Series 1, sometimes featuring updated photos of players from the current season. Later in the season in either August or September, Topps rounds out its annual baseball card release cycle with a Series 3 checklist of cards before moving on to special subset and insert sets like Topps Chrome, Photography Photo variations and various parallels.
In addition to its core Series 1, 2 and 3 Sets released each season under the Topps brand name, Topps also produces separate high-end and premium baseball card offerings. These include products like Topps Finest, Topps Tribute and Topps Five Star which feature rare refractors, autographs, memorabilia cards and low printed parallel versions of the base card designs. Topps also holds licenses to produce specialty baseball sets themed around milestone statistics anniversaries or containing special photo variations. Products like Topps Heritage and Topps Opening Day recreate vintage designs from Topps’ early baseball card years while Topps Archives uses high quality reproductions of historically significant cards.
As a long-established leader in the baseball card market, Topps has the financial resources and licensing relationships necessary to produce very limited premium products aimed at serious adult collectors with substantial disposable income. For example, Topps Inception and Topps Transcendent boxes guarantee rare 1/1 autograph or memorabilia cards personalized and game-used pieces to command five figures or more from enthusiastic collectors.
While physical printed cardboard remains its core product, Topps has also transitioned baseball cards into digital form. Since 2015, Topps has offered its BUNT and TOPPS NOW apps compatible with iOS, Android and Facebook devices. Through these apps, collectors can collect and trade virtual cards containing the same MLB photography seen on physical cards. Topps BUNT essentially replicates the baseball card collecting experience through a mobile app interface while TOPPS NOW allows users to collect timely Limited Edition cards commemorating iconic MLB moments within a matter of hours or days of them occurring during the season.
Alongside its digital initiatives, Topps’ brick and mortar presence in the baseball card market remains strong as well. Each year, collectors flock to specialized hobby shops nationwide stocked with the latest Topps Series Sets, retail blaster and hobby boxes as well as related collectibles like autographed memorabilia, stacks of commons/uncommons and sealed vintage repack boxes. Through such retail avenues, Topps ensures its MLB-licensed baseball cards remain available and promote an in-person social experience for collectors of all ages to participate in the time-honored tradition alongside others with a shared interest.
As the exclusive licensee for physical and digital MLB trading card rights through 2030, Topps’ future in producing baseball cards looks very secure. After first establishing itself in the late 1930s, Topps has sustained its position as the leading name in the industry through continuous innovation, adapting to collectors’ changing interests while retaining nostalgia for its historic designs and brands. Whether sealed in retail packs, commemorated in limited app releases or acquired raw in hobby shop bins, Topps MLB cards will certainly continue to occupy a prominent role within the rich culture of baseball collecting for many seasons to come.
