Timeline of Topps
Founded by the Shorin family.
1948
The first set of baseball cards came out and has since become one of the most legendary sets ever.
The Topps 1952 mickey mantle rookie card is the most valuable card ever, it sold for a record setting 12.6 million dollars in 2022.
1938
came out with “magic photo cards” which featured many subjects including baseball players.
1952
Fleer, another baseball card company, filed a lawsuit against Topps for violating federal antitrust laws by unfairly preventing competition in the baseball card market.
1956-1980
Topps acquired competing company bowman.
The two companies had been fighting for exclusive contracts with players
This meant that Topps had acquired Bowmans contracts.
1956
For the next 24 years Topps was by far the biggest and most profitable baseball card company.
Fleer won the case, opening the door for other companies to break into the market
Topps regained a sort of monopoly by getting the mlb’s sole licence.
1975
1990's
1980
cards got so popular that it dropped their market value.
Topps responded to this boom in popularity by making premium cards like Topps chrome which were higher quality and meant for serious collectors.
2009
Today Topps is widely recognized as the most iconic and influential trading card company in history, having dominated the industry for decades with its collectables.