MLB says Topps is no longer in the cards

Major League Baseball is ending a 70-year relationship with trading card company Topps after signing a new partnership with a rival company.

The loss of the MLB partnership immediately scuttled a deal announced earlier this year that would have made Topps a publicly traded company.

The special-purpose acquisition company Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corporation II said Friday that its agreement to merge with Topps to take the company public was terminated by mutual agreement after it found out that MLB and the league’s players’ union would not be renewing their respective agreements with The Topps Co. when they come up for renewal at the end of 2025 and 2022, respectively.

ESPN reported on Thursday that it obtained a memo from the Major League Baseball Players Association that a company created by the sports merchandise company Fanatics that has yet to be named will be the exclusive licensee for baseball cards once its current licensing agreements expire at the end of next year. The Fanatics deal also includes the players’ unions for the National Basketball League and the National Football League, ESPN reported.

NFL: Cardinals 11-time Pro Bowl receiver Larry Fitzgerald says he currently doesn’t have the desire to play an 18th NFL season, though he left the possibility open that he might resume his career. In an interview on SiriusXM Radio with Jim Gray on Mad Dog Sports Radio, Fitzgerald said he’s currently focused on being a radio broadcaster.

Tennis: Top-ranked Ash Barty defeated Barbora Krejcikova 6-2, 6-4 Friday to reach the semifinals of the Western & Southern Open. Barty will next face two-time Cincinnati finalist Angelique Kerber, who won her quarterfinal when two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova retired during the second set because of a stomach problem.