Misplaced Pages

#819180

74-528: In 2002, nearly 100 years after the original T206 cards were created, Topps rebooted the brand with Topps 206. The set paid tribute to the original T206 design and artwork, leaning heavily on nostalgic elements. Topps has released several collections of 206 cards over the years, including the first wave of its 2023 series (the “Low Series”). Each pack is filled with star athletes, retired legends, and talented rookies including rare parallels, image variations and limited-edition autographs. The name T206 refers to

148-450: A "rookie card" is typically the most valuable for any given player, the companies now competed to be the first to produce a card of players who might be future stars. Increasingly, they also included highly touted minor league players who had yet to play in the major leagues. For example, Topps obtained a license to produce cards featuring the U.S. Olympic baseball team and thus produced the first card of Mark McGwire prior to his promotion to

222-438: A 132-card set (the number of cards that fit on a single sheet of the uncut cardboard used in the production process), it would contain a number of rookie players who had just reached the major leagues and not previously appeared on a card. They also included a few single cards of players who previously appeared in the regular set on a multi-player "prospects" card; one notable example is the 1982 Topps Traded Cal Ripken Jr. Since

296-497: A 67-card set of currently active players in 1963. However, Topps held onto the rights of most players and the set was not particularly successful. Stymied, Fleer turned its efforts to supporting an administrative complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission , alleging that Topps was engaging in unfair competition through its aggregation of exclusive contracts. A hearing examiner ruled against Topps in 1965, but

370-523: A byproduct of this history, Topps continues to use individual player contracts as the basis for its baseball card sets today. This contrasts with other manufacturers, who all obtain group licenses from the MLBPA. The difference has occasionally affected whether specific players are included in particular sets. Players who decline to sign individual contracts will not have Topps cards even when the group licensing system allows other manufacturers to produce cards of

444-530: A dozen others. Other manufacturers later followed, but Topps remains one of the leading brands in the baseball card hobby . In response to the competition, Topps began regularly issuing additional "Traded" sets featuring players who had changed teams since the main set was issued, following up on an idea it had experimented with a few years earlier. While "Traded" or "Update" sets were originally conceived to deal with players who changed teams, they became increasingly important for another reason. In order to fill out

518-551: A few years later, releasing a Marvel trading card app in the spring of 2019 and their Disney trading card app in November of that same year. In March 2020, Topps announced a collaboration with WAX.io to make their cards tradable on the blockchain . As of December 2020, Topps has only made Garbage Pail Kids cards available to traders via blockchain but they have announced Alien Quadrilogy collectibles will be coming soon. In April 2021, Topps announced plans to go public via

592-427: A lot of young players with bright prospects. Also beginning in 1989 with the entry of Upper Deck into the market, card companies began to develop higher-end cards using improved technology. Following Topps's example, other manufacturers now began to diversify their product lines into different sets, each catering to a different niche of the market. The initial Topps effort at producing a premium line of cards, in 1991,

666-447: A merger with Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corporation II , a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) . Michael Eisner's firm The Tornante Company planned to roll its stake into the new company while Mudrick Capital would lead an additional investment of $ 250 million. The deal valued Topps at $ 1.3 billion. However, reports surfaced within six months of their initial plans that Mudrick Capital Management had backed out of

740-401: A much larger (407 total) set of baseball cards and packaging them with its signature product, bubble gum . The company also decided that its playing card model was too small (2 inches by 2-5/8 inches) and changed the dimensions to 2-5/8 inches by 3-3/4 inches with square corners. The cards now had a color portrait on one side, with statistical and biographical information on

814-413: A new product but take advantage of the company's existing distribution channels. To do this, they relaunched the company as Topps, with the name meant to indicate that it would be "tops" in its field. The chosen field was the manufacture of chewing gum . At the time, chewing gum was still a relative novelty sold in individual pieces. Topps's most successful early product was Bazooka bubble gum , which

SECTION 10

#1732783455820

888-480: A product, the cards immediately became its primary emphasis. The "father of the modern baseball card" was Sy Berger . In the autumn of 1951, Berger, then a 28-year-old veteran of World War II, designed the 1952 Topps baseball card set with Woody Gelman on the kitchen table of his apartment on Alabama Avenue in Brooklyn . The card design included a player's name, photo, facsimile autograph, team name and logo on

962-605: A publicly traded company in 1987, now renamed to The Topps Company, Inc. In this incarnation, the company was reincorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law for legal reasons, but company headquarters remained in New York. Management was left in the hands of the Shorin family throughout all of these maneuverings. On October 12, 2007, Topps was acquired by Michael Eisner's The Tornante Company and Madison Dearborn Partners . Under Eisner's direction, Topps began to expand into

1036-482: A record price for the card. That record was broken in October 2016 when the card was sold at auction for $ 3.12 million. In May 2021, a Wagner from a private collection sold for $ 3.75 million at auction, again setting a new sales record for the card. In August 2022, a Wagner sold for $ 7.25 million, resetting the record for the card. In 2002, nearly 100 years after the original T206 cards were created, Topps rebooted

1110-550: A site for online stock-market style card trading. The purchase was for $ 5.7 million cash in August 2001 after Topps had earlier committed to invest in a round of venture capital financing for the company. This undertaking was not very successful, however, and Topps unloaded the site on Naxcom in January 2006. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed, but Topps charged a $ 3.7 million after-tax loss on its books in connection with

1184-414: A trademark on the word "baseball" in connection with the sale of gum, and disposed of the unfair competition claim because Topps had made no attempt to pass its cards off as being made by Bowman. The contract issue proved more difficult because it turned on the dates when a given player signed contracts with each company, and whether the player's contract with one company had an exception for his contract with

1258-494: A user of chewing tobacco , allowed his image to appear on cigar boxes and other tobacco-related products prior to 1909 and may have objected to the card simply because he wanted more financial compensation for the use of his image. A high-quality example of the Wagner card was sold at auction on eBay in 2000 for US$ 1.265 million. In February 2007, the same card was sold for a record US$ 2.35 million. In September 2007,

1332-412: Is best known as a leading producer of baseball and other sports and non-sports themed trading cards. Topps also produces cards under the brand names Allen & Ginter and Bowman . In the 2010s, Topps was the only baseball card manufacturer with a license with Major League Baseball . Following the loss of that license to Fanatics, Inc. in 2022, Fanatics acquired Topps in the same year. Topps

1406-400: Is often mistakenly referred to as Mantle's rookie card, but that honor belongs to his 1951 Bowman card (which is worth less than the 1952 Topps card). The combination of baseball cards and bubble gum was popular among young boys, and given the mediocre quality of the gum, the cards quickly became the primary attraction. In fact, the gum eventually became a hindrance because it tended to stain

1480-456: Is pleased with his investment." He added "the citizens of Arkansas deserve to see this treasure and I intend to make the card available to the public." In November 2010, a group of nuns from Baltimore sold a Wagner card for $ 262,000 in auction to Doug Walton, a sporting card store owner. In April 2013, a T206 "jumbo" Wagner, so-called because it measured slightly larger than most other known examples, sold at auction for $ 2.1 million, reported to be

1554-410: Is set for February 2023 and will feature art work from original race posters from 1923 to current day. In 1951, Topps produced its first baseball cards in two different sets known today as Red Backs and Blue Backs . Each set contained 52 cards, like a deck of playing cards , and in fact the cards could be used to play a game that would simulate the events of a baseball game. Also like playing cards,

SECTION 20

#1732783455820

1628-484: The 1994 baseball strike , since they are barred from union membership and participation in the group licensing program. A semblance of competition returned to the baseball card market in the 1970s when Kellogg's began producing "3-D" cards and inserting them in boxes of breakfast cereal (originally Corn Flakes , later Raisin Bran and other Kellogg's brands). The Kellogg's sets contained fewer cards than Topps sets, and

1702-690: The Fleer Corporation to compete in the market. That let Fleer and another company, Donruss , enter the market in 1981. Fleer and Donruss began making large, widely distributed sets to compete directly with Topps, packaged with gum. When the ruling was overturned on appeal in August 1981, Topps appeared to have regained its monopoly, but both of its competitors instead began packaging their cards with other baseball items—logo stickers from Fleer, and cardboard puzzle pieces from Donruss. The puzzles, created by baseball artists Dick Perez for Perez Steele, included Warren Spahn, Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle and

1776-461: The 2003/04 to 2006/07 seasons. Match Attax , the official Premier League trading card game, was the biggest selling boys’ collectible in the UK three years running. Being sold across the globe in a number of countries, the collection also holds the title of the biggest selling sports collectible in the world. It is estimated that around 1.5 million children collect it in the UK alone. Following on from

1850-526: The Atlantic Ocean. The cards included Mickey Mantle's first Topps card, the most valuable card of the modern era. No one at the time, of course, knew the collector's value the cards would one day attain. On August 28, 2022, the Mickey Mantle baseball card (Topps; #311; SGC MT 9.5) was sold for $ 12.600 million. The company began its existence as Topps Chewing Gum, Inc., a partnership between

1924-461: The Commission reversed this decision on appeal. The Commission concluded that because the contracts only covered the sale of cards with gum, competition was still possible by selling cards with other small, low-cost products. However, Fleer chose not to pursue such options and instead sold its remaining player contracts to Topps for $ 395,000 in 1966. The decision gave Topps an effective monopoly of

1998-663: The Kick soccer app in August 2014, Huddle Football app in April 2016, and Skate hockey app in 2017. Along with sports cards, Topps also expanded its marketplace for collectors of digital goods to include non-sports cards on mobile devices. In March 2015, they released their Star Wars Card Trader app, and in May 2016 they released a Walking Dead trading card app. Following the success of their assortment of digital trading card apps, they once again expanded their marketplace for digital collectors

2072-750: The Topps Company Inc. completed its takeover of Merlin Publishing . Merlin's official company name changed to Topps Europe Limited, but its products still carried the Merlin brand until 2008 as it was easily recognized by consumers. Topps Europe Limited continues to produce a wide and varied range of sports and entertainment collectibles across Europe. Its range of products now includes stickers, albums, cards and binders, magazines, stationery, and temporary tattoos. Topps Europe Ltd. has continued to launch hugely successful products across Europe. Some of

2146-417: The Wagner card changed hands again when SCP Auctions of Mission Viejo, California, which had bought minority ownership, brokered a new sale—this time for US$ 2.8 million, to a private collector. On August 1, 2008, noted memorabilia dealer John Rogers of North Little Rock, Arkansas paid US$ 1.6 million for a Professional Sports Authenticator 5MC (miscut) Wagner. Rogers stated he "was prepared to go much higher and

2220-637: The acquisition of Premier League trading cards rights, in the spring of 2008 Topps acquired the exclusive rights to the DFL Deutsche Fussball Liga GmbH for trading cards and stickers until the Bundesliga Season 2010/11. Bundesliga Match Attax was launched in January 2009 and is now available in over 40,000 stockists. The collection is the first of its kind in Germany and has become one of the biggest selling collections in

2294-442: The artist who created the Wagner lithograph. The most commonly accepted theory is that the card was pulled from production because Wagner himself objected to the production of the card, but his motivation is unclear. Reports at the time indicated Wagner did not wish to associate himself with cigarettes, possibly because he did not want to encourage children to smoke. However, some collectors and historians have pointed out that Wagner,

T206 - Misplaced Pages Continue

2368-567: The baseball card market. That same year, however, Topps faced an attempt to undermine its position from the nascent players' union , the Major League Baseball Players Association . Struggling to raise funds, the MLBPA discovered that it could generate significant income by pooling the publicity rights of its members and offering companies a group license to use their images on various products. After putting players on Coca-Cola bottlecaps for $ 120,000,

2442-530: The basic format for most sports cards produced in the United States. It was at this time Topps began to use color photographs in their set. The cards were released in several series over the course of the baseball season, a practice Topps would continue with its baseball cards until 1974. However, the last series of each year did not sell as well, as the baseball season wore on and popular attention began to turn towards American football . Thus cards from

2516-443: The brand with Topps 206. The set paid tribute to the original T206 design and artwork, leaning heavily on nostalgic elements. Topps has released several collections of 206 cards over the years, including the first wave of its 2023 series (the “Low Series”). Each pack is filled with star athletes, retired legends, and talented rookies including rare parallels, image variations and limited-edition autographs. The iconic Honus Wagner card

2590-477: The card is offered for usually a week at the IPO price. The quantity sold depends on how many people offer to buy, but is limited to a certain maximum. After a sale, the cards are held in a climate-controlled warehouse unless the buyer requests delivery, and the cards can be traded online without changing hands except in the virtual sense. Topps also acquired ThePit.com, a startup company that earlier in 2000 had launched

2664-404: The cards had rounded corners and were blank on one side, which was colored either red or blue (hence the names given to these sets). The other side featured the portrait of a player within a baseball diamond in the center, and in opposite corners a picture of a baseball together with the event for that card, such as " fly out " or " single ." Topps changed its approach in 1952, this time creating

2738-456: The cards served as an incentive to buy the cereal, rather than being the intended focus of the purchase, as tended to be the case for cards distributed with smaller items like candy or gum. Topps took no action to stop them. The Topps monopoly on baseball cards was finally broken by a lawsuit decided by federal judge Clarence Charles Newcomer in 1980, in which the judge ended Topps Chewing Gum 's exclusive right to sell baseball cards , allowing

2812-437: The cards, thus impairing their value to collectors who wanted to keep them in pristine condition. It (along with the traditional gray cardboard) was finally dropped from baseball card packs in 1992, although Topps began its Heritage line, which included gum, in the year 2001. During this period, baseball card manufacturers generally obtained the rights to depict players on merchandise by signing individual players to contracts for

2886-468: The catalog designation assigned by Jefferson Burdick in his book The American Card Catalog . It is also known informally as the "White Border" set due to the distinctive white borders surrounding the lithographs on each card. The T206 set consists of 524 cards. Over 100 of the cards picture minor league players. There are also multiple cards for the same player in different poses, different uniforms, or even with different teams after being traded (since

2960-556: The company released a new collection divided into five different series, with the first (50 cards) being released in May 2020. The collection, named "Topps 206", include players from both, Major and Minor League. The 5th series was released in September 2020. Topps The Topps Company, Inc. is an American company that manufactures trading cards and other collectibles . Formerly based in New York City , Topps

3034-407: The country. Now they sell a lot more of football cards. As of February 2016 Topps Match Attax dominated the secondary UK card trading market occupying two out of the top three spots on the stickerpoints.com 'most popular soccer collection' list. In January 2023, Topps released both physical and digital trading cards for their latest partner the 24 Hours of Le Mans Motorsport event. The release

T206 - Misplaced Pages Continue

3108-598: The entertainment and media business with plans for a Bazooka Joe movie. Former television executive Staci Weiss was hired as Topps's head of entertainment to develop projects based on Topps properties, including Garbage Pail Kids , Wacky Packages , Dinosaurs Attack! , Mech Warrior and Attax . In 2012, Topps began creating digital sports cards, starting with the Topps Bunt baseball card mobile app. After releasing Bunt in 2013 and finding success with it, they expanded their sports card market into other apps including

3182-696: The four Shorin brothers. It later incorporated under New York law in 1947. The entire company originally operated at the Bush Terminal in Brooklyn , but production facilities were moved to a plant in Duryea, Pennsylvania , in 1965 (the Duryea plant closed in 1997). Corporate offices remained at 254 36th Street in Brooklyn, a location in the waterfront district by the Gowanus Expressway . In 1994,

3256-549: The front; and the player's height, weight, bats, throws, birthplace, birthday, stats and a short biography on the back. The basic design is still in use today. Berger would work for Topps for 50 years (1947–97) and serve as a consultant for another five, becoming a well-known figure on the baseball scene, and the face of Topps to major league baseball players, whom he signed up annually and paid in merchandise, like refrigerators and carpeting. The Shorins, in recognition of his negotiation abilities, sent Sy to London in 1964 to negotiate

3330-434: The headquarters relocated to One Whitehall Street in lower Manhattan . After being privately held for several decades, Topps offered stock to the public for the first time in 1972 with the assistance of investment banking firm White, Weld & Co. The company returned to private ownership when it was acquired in a leveraged buyout led by Forstmann Little & Company in 1984. The new ownership group again made Topps into

3404-649: The investment deal. In August 2021, it was reported that Fanatics acquired future exclusive licenses with Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association to produce baseball cards. In January 2022, Fanatics announced they had acquired Topps for US$ 500 million. Topps has a European division, which is based in Milton Keynes , UK. From this office products are launched across Europe, including Spain, France, Germany, Norway, and Italy. This division also co-ordinates products launches across

3478-509: The last series are much scarcer and are typically more valuable (even commons) than earlier series of the same year. Topps was left with a substantial amount of surplus stock in 1952, which it largely disposed of by dumping many cards into the Atlantic . In later years, Topps either printed series in smaller quantities late in the season or destroyed excess cards. As a result, cards with higher numbers from this period are rarer than low numbers in

3552-451: The major league level, and one that would become quite valuable to collectors for a time. This card from the 1984 squad appeared in Topps's regular 1985 set, but by the next Olympic cycle the team's cards had been migrated to the "Traded" set. As a further step in this race, Topps resurrected its former competitor Bowman as a subsidiary brand in 1989, with Bowman sets similarly chosen to include

3626-501: The major leagues. Although most of its products were distributed through retail stores and hobby shops, Topps also attempted to establish itself online, where a significant secondary market for sports cards was developing. Working in partnership with eBay , Topps launched a new brand of sports cards called eTopps in December 2000. These cards are sold exclusively online through individual " IPOs " (or, "Initial Player Offering") in which

3700-623: The many other international markets including the Far East, Australia, and South Africa. In 1994 Merlin acquired the Premier League license allowing the company to exclusively publish the only official Premier League sticker and album collection in the UK. The initial success of the Premier League stickers and album collection was so great that it took even Merlin by surprise, with reprint after reprint being produced. In 1995,

3774-460: The most successful licenses have included WWE , Pokémon , Doctor Who , High School Musical and SpongeBob. Topps Merlin branded Premier League sticker albums have been popular since their launch in 1994, and in 2007 Topps acquired the Premier League rights for trading cards. Previously, the trading card rights were held by Magic Box International who produced the Shoot Out cards from

SECTION 50

#1732783455820

3848-422: The next quarter-century. The next company to challenge Topps was Fleer , another gum manufacturer. Fleer signed star Ted Williams to an exclusive contract in 1959 and sold a set of cards oriented around him. Williams retired the next year, so Fleer began adding around him other mostly retired players in a Baseball Greats series, which was sold with gum. Two of these sets were produced before Fleer finally tried

3922-445: The other. As the contract situation was sorted out, several Topps sets during these years had a few "missing" cards, where the numbering of the set skips several numbers because they had been assigned to players whose cards could not legally be distributed. The competition, both for consumer attention and player contracts, continued until 1956, when Topps bought out Bowman. This left Topps as the predominant producer of baseball cards for

3996-404: The other. This set became a landmark in the baseball card industry, and today the company considers this its first true baseball card set. Many of the oil paintings for the sets were rendered by artist Gerry Dvorak, who also worked as an animator for Famous Studios . In 1957, Topps shrank the dimensions of its cards slightly, to 2-1/2 inches by 3-1/2 inches, setting a standard that remains

4070-457: The player, as happened with Alex Rodriguez early in his career. On the other hand, if a player opts out of group licensing, as Barry Bonds did in 2004, then manufacturers who depend on the MLBPA system will have no way of including him. Topps, however, can negotiate individually and was belatedly able to create a 2004 card of Bonds. In addition, Topps is the only manufacturer able to produce cards of players who worked as replacement players during

4144-494: The public, and fewer still have survived to the present day. Several theories exist as to why the card is so rare. One theory is that the printing plate used to create Wagner's card broke early on in the production process, but Wagner was a major star at the time and new plates would almost certainly have been created. Another theory is that there was a copyright dispute between the American Tobacco Company and

4218-610: The purpose. Topps first became active in this process through an agent called Players Enterprises in July 1950, in preparation for its first 1951 set. The later acquisition of rights to additional players allowed Topps to release its second series. This promptly brought Topps into furious competition with Bowman Gum , another company producing baseball cards. Bowman had become the primary maker of baseball cards and driven out several competitors by signing its players to exclusive contracts. The language of these contracts focused particularly on

4292-570: The rights for Topps to produce Beatles trading cards. They also tried hockey. Arriving without an appointment, Sy succeeded by speaking in Yiddish to Brian Epstein , the Beatles' manager. Berger hired a garbage boat to remove leftover boxes of 1952 baseball cards stored in their warehouse, and rode with them as a tugboat pulled them off the New Jersey shore. The cards were then dumped into

4366-419: The rights to sell cards with chewing gum , which had already been established in the 1930s as a popular product to pair with baseball cards. To avoid the language of Bowman's existing contracts, Topps sold its 1951 cards with caramel candy instead of gum. However, because Bowman had signed many players in 1950 to contracts for that year, plus a renewal option for one year, Topps included in its own contracts

4440-592: The rights to sell cards with gum starting in 1952 (as it ultimately did). Topps also tried to establish exclusive rights through its contracts by having players agree not to grant similar rights to others, or renew existing contracts except where specifically noted in the contract. Bowman responded by adding chewing gum "or confections" to the exclusivity language of its 1951 contracts, and also sued Topps in U.S. federal court . The lawsuit alleged infringement on Bowman's trademarks, unfair competition, and contractual interference. The court rejected Bowman's attempt to claim

4514-629: The sale. In 2002, Topps revived the T206 set originally released in 1909–11 by the American Tobacco Company under the "Topps 206" brand, with current players. That first revival included the T206 Honus Wagner iconic card, with blue background instead of the original orange. A second revival would be launched in 2010. Topps grabbed collectors' attention early in 2007 when the new card of Yankees ' shortstop Derek Jeter

SECTION 60

#1732783455820

4588-405: The same card having different backs, there are actually far more than 524 "different" T206 cards. The actual number of front/back combination is not fully known as collectors still discover new combinations from time to time. The 16 backs are: The 206 name has been revived by Topps (under the "Topps 206" brand) a total three times, the first in 2002 with a second revival in 2010. Again in 2020,

4662-425: The same set, and collectors will pay significantly higher prices for them. The last series in 1952 started with card No. 311, which is Topps's first card of Mickey Mantle , and remains the most valuable Topps card ever (and, as of August 28, 2022, the most valuable trading card of all ). On August 28, 2022, the Mickey Mantle baseball card (Topps; #311; SGC MT 9.5) was sold for $ 12.600 million. This 1952 Topps Mantle

4736-457: The set features many Baseball Hall of Fame members including Ty Cobb (who is pictured on four different cards ), Walter Johnson , Cy Young , and Christy Mathewson . The value of the cards has led to a great deal of counterfeiting over the years. The T206 Wagner is the most valuable baseball card in existence, and even damaged examples are valued at $ 100,000 or more. This is in part because of Wagner's place among baseball's immortals, as he

4810-457: The set was issued over a period of three years). The cards measure 1 + 7 ⁄ 16 by 2 + 5 ⁄ 8 inches (3.7 cm × 6.7 cm) which is considered by many collectors to be the standard tobacco card size. The T206 set is one of the most popular and widely collected set of the tobacco/pre-war era. The historical significance of the set as well as the large number of variations give it enormous appeal to collectors. In addition,

4884-480: The union before the 1968 season asked its members to stop signing renewals on these contracts, and offered Fleer the exclusive rights to market cards of most players (with gum) starting in 1973. Although Fleer declined the proposal, by the end of the year Topps had agreed to double its payments to each player from $ 125 to $ 250, and also to begin paying players a percentage of Topps's overall sales. The figure for individual player contracts has since increased to $ 500. As

4958-456: The union concluded that the Topps contracts did not pay players adequately for their rights. MLBPA executive director Marvin Miller then approached Joel Shorin, the president of Topps, about renegotiating these contracts. At this time, Topps had every major league player under contract, generally for five years plus renewal options, so Shorin declined. After continued discussions went nowhere,

5032-546: Was an original Hall of Fame inductee. More importantly, it is one of the scarcest cards from the most prominent of all vintage card sets. It is estimated that less than 50 copies of this card made it into circulation. While the American Tobacco Trust, over three years and sixteen brands of cigarettes, distributed "tens or hundreds of thousands" of T206 cards for any given player, it is estimated that only between 50 and 200 Wagner cards were ever distributed to

5106-450: Was called Stadium Club. Topps continued adding more sets and trying to distinguish them from each other, as did its competitors. The resulting glut of different baseball sets caused the MLBPA to take drastic measures as the market for them deteriorated. The union announced that for 2006, licenses would only be granted to Topps and Upper Deck, the number of different products would be limited, and players would not appear on cards before reaching

5180-474: Was extended in 2013, then extended again in 2018. It is currently scheduled to go through at least 2025. Again in 2020, the company released a new T206 collection divided into five different series, with the first (50 cards) being released in May 2020. The collection, named "Topps 206", include players from both, Major and Minor League. The fifth series was released in September 2020. T206 Honus Wagner Too Many Requests If you report this error to

5254-492: Was found to have been altered to include an image of Mickey Mantle standing in the dugout and President George W. Bush walking through the stands. In 2009, Topps became the first official baseball card of MLB in over thirty years. The first product to fall under the deal was the 2010 Topps Baseball Series 1. The deal gave Topps exclusivity for the use of MLB and club trademarks and logos on cards, stickers and some other products featuring major league players. The exclusive deal

5328-514: Was founded in 1938 by four brothers, Abram, Ira, Philip, and Joseph Shorin. The roots of Topps can be traced to American Leaf Tobacco , incorporated by the Shorin brothers’ father, Morris Shorin, in 1908. American Leaf Tobacco encountered difficulties during World War I, as it was cut off from Turkish supplies of tobacco, and later as a result of the Great Depression . Shorin's sons, Abram, Ira, Philip, and Joseph, decided to focus on

5402-455: Was packaged with a small comic on the wrapper. Starting in 1950, the company decided to try increasing gum sales by packaging them together with trading cards featuring Western character Hopalong Cassidy ( William Boyd ); at the time Boyd, as one of the biggest stars of early television, was featured in newspaper articles and on magazine covers, along with a significant amount of "Hoppy" merchandising. When Topps next introduced baseball cards as

5476-423: Was reissued by Topps in 2002, with variations on its background color. The card was printed with the original 1909 orange color, and also in blue (#307). In 2020, a new Honus Wagner card was issued by the company (#45) as part of the second wave (of 5) released that year. T206 cards were issued with 16 different backs, representing the 16 different brands of cigarettes/tobacco with which the cards were issued. Due to

#819180