Fleer was once one of the major manufacturers of baseball cards in the United States along with Topps and Donruss. However, Fleer went through some major business challenges and declines in the late 1990s and 2000s that ultimately led to them losing their MLB license and exiting the baseball card market.
Fleer began producing baseball cards in 1948 and was able to compete successfully with Topps for many decades. They obtained an exclusive license from MLB in 1981 which allowed them to be the only company producing baseball cards during that time period. In late 1987 Topps was able to regain its MLB license and re-entered the baseball card market. This led to a “card war” between Fleer and Topps through the late 1980s and early 1990s as both companies tried to one-up each other and recruit the best rookie cards and photography.
During this time period, Fleer was owned by Fleer Corporation which was a large manufacturer of chewing gum and trading cards. In 1992 the Fleer Corporation encountered serious financial problems and was purchased by Cardille Communications. Under new ownership, Fleer was able to continue producing baseball cards through the 1990s but faced new challenges from competitors like Upper Deck and Score who entered the market in 1989. These new companies pushed Fleer to the number 3 spot in baseball card market share behind Topps and Donruss.
As the 1990s went on, the baseball card speculative bubble that had driven massive interest and sales in the late 1980s started declining. Many retailers like Walmart and Target also stopped carrying baseball cards which significantly reduced Fleer’s distribution avenues. On top of that, Cardille Communications proved to not have the same expertise or dedication to the baseball card business that the original Fleer Corporation owners had. As a result, Fleer’s quality and design began to fall behind competitors.
In 1996, Cardille sold Fleer to Playmates Toys. However, Playmates did not have much experience or passion for the trading card industry. They focused more on achieving short term profits over long term brand maintenance. Under Playmates ownership, Fleer started cutting costs in dangerous ways like cheapening materials, eliminating premium hit chances for rare cards, and underproducing to save on printing costs. All of these decisions damaged Fleer’s reputation among collectors.
Through the late 1990s, Fleer lost more market share to Upper Deck who became the clear #2 brand behind Topps. Card quality continued to slip at Fleer which caused collectors to lose interest. In 2000 Playmates lost Fleer’s exclusive MLB player license to produce trading cards after the license expired and MLB awarded the license to just Topps starting in 2001.
Without the MLBPA license, Fleer’s demise in the baseball card world was sealed. They tried producing some cards using retired players from the 1990s but interest and sales were very low. In 2002, Playmates officially exited the baseball card market by selling off the remaining Fleer assets. Various attempts were made afterwards to restart Fleer but none gained much traction. So after over 50 years, Fleer was gone from the baseball card sector largely due to mismanagement under multiple parent companies in the 1990s that led to declining quality, reputation and ultimately the loss of the all-important MLB license.
So in summary, Fleer was once a major force but faced challenges from new competitors in the late 80s/early 90s. Ownership changes in the 1990s failed to properly invest in and maintain the brand, leading to quality declines. Ultimately the MLB license moved exclusively to Topps, ending Fleer’s long run of producing America’s pastime on trading card form after the turn of the 21st century. Many collectors today still look back nostalgically at the classic Fleer sets of the 1970s and 1980s before business struggles removed them from the baseball card industry.
