Baseball bails on Topps, tradition

From Mickey Mantle to Pete Rose to George Brett to Barry Bonds to Mike Trout and Aaron Judge, the Topps trading card company has been there every step of the way for baseball fans the last 70 years.

Since 1951, Topps and Major League Baseball have been synonymous with each other. Still, I wondered just how far that partnership reached.

So I asked my wife, who knows next to nothing about baseball, and certainly the same about baseball cards.

“Yes, I’ve heard of Topps,” she said, with the look of ‘Duh!?’

Point taken, but I wanted to be sure.

In case you missed it, on Aug. 20 news broke Topps was losing its licensing deal with MLB and the MLB Players Association in favor of a deal with Fanatics, a reported $18 billion company that’s known as a big-time hats, hoodie and other sports merchandise provider.

Now, it’s ready to dive into the sports cards market. For Topps — founded in 1938 — this might not mean the end. More on that in a bit.

Topps reportedly was blindsided by the move. Its contract for player images reportedly expires in 2022, and for MLB team logos in 2025. Andy Redman, an executive chairman at Topps, said in a statement the company was left in the dark, and added in mid-July at the All-Star Game there was no indication the players association was negotiating with another company.

For a sport built on tradition, baseball struck out big-time on this one kicking a cornerstone institution to the curb.

Topps is baseball. Baseball is Topps. Or at least I thought.

The sports card company is the most popular — by a wide margin — card company in history. This is like McDonald’s getting out of the fastfood business. Or Hershey’s saying goodbye to chocolate. Or Budweiser saying no more beer.

With Topps, though, there is a huge difference between it and McDonald’s, Hershey’s and Budweiser.

Topps needs baseball and its players.

A more applicable comparison is college football parting ways with the Rose Bowl. Despite the ever-changing world of that sport, one thing is certain: Those of us in the Midwest can turn on the TV at 5 p.m. on New Year’s Day, and the Rose Bowl is there.

Eventually, that might change. Like Topps getting ditched by baseball, it would be disappointing if that happened. As is this decision.

Baseball as a sport is no doubt losing popularity among the masses — especially younger fans — but don’t tell that to old-school fans and card collectors.

As fun and nostalgic it is for a baseball fan to have a hot dog and a beer at a game, there was a day when a trip to the corner store to buy a pack of Topps baseball cards was just as fun.

Ask anyone over the age of 35 or 40 the thrill of buying a bunch of packs for a quarter apiece and ripping them open. Today’s youth might not understand that, and perhaps that’s a reason why this decision was made.

Tradition might have been the only factor standing in the way of this deal, and of course money won out.

There were also reports Topps was about to go public with its company. The Wall Street Journal reported those plans are over. There are also rumors Fanatics might use its enormous wealth to absorb the likes of Topps, Upper Deck or Panini.

So don’t close the book on Topps, the company which has been the staple of baseball cards for 70 years. Don’t forget, Topps has long been the leader — at various points in time — for all types of trading cards. It produced football, basketball and hockey cards, and the 1970s and ’80s were a boon for the company producing non-sports cards such as Star Wars, and popular TV shows.

Where Topps goes from here is the big question. For long-time collectors such as yours truly, it’s a sad day without Topps in the baseball game.

Mark Podolski