Topps baseball card products facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Topps baseball cards

Type	Baseball card
Company	Topps
Country	United States
Availability	1951–present
Features	Baseball players

The Topps Company makes many different baseball card products. They started as a chewing gum company. Baseball cards were a fun way to make their gum more popular. Today, Topps is mostly known for its awesome baseball cards!

Cool Topps Card Collections

Factory Sets: Get the Whole Collection!

Topps is the only baseball card company that still sells "factory sets." These are complete sets of all the cards from a specific year. Imagine getting every card in one big box!

Topps first offered a factory set in 1974. It was sold in the J.C. Penney catalog. They started releasing them regularly again in 1982. Some early sets, like the 1982 one, are quite rare.

From 1986 to 1992, Topps made two kinds of factory sets. There were "Retail" sets, often called "Christmas" sets. These came in colorful boxes. "Hobby dealer" sets had plainer boxes. Today, Topps still offers retail, hobby, and even team-themed factory sets. Some even have special bonus cards!

Tiffany Sets: A Touch of Shine

From 1984 to 1991, Topps made special "Tiffany" versions of their regular cards. These were limited edition sets. They were only sold as factory sets.

Tiffany cards look like regular cards. But they were printed in Ireland. They used white cardboard instead of the usual gray. Plus, they had a cool, glossy finish on the front! These sets are quite special because they are rare.

Bowman: Spotting Future Stars!

Stubby Overmire on a Bowman card from 1951. Topps bought Bowman five years later.

Bowman used to be Topps' main competitor. That was from 1951 until Topps bought them in 1955. Almost 35 years later, in 1989, Topps brought the Bowman brand back.

The new Bowman cards were unique. The 1989 cards were a bit bigger than normal. But they went back to the standard size in 1990. The main goal of Bowman cards is to show future baseball stars. They focus on minor league players. These are players who might make it big in the major leagues!

At first, Bowman sets were not super popular. But that changed in 1992. Bowman became a high-quality set. It had a special shiny coating. It also had very limited production. Since then, Bowman has become famous for finding new talent. Many top MLB stars appeared on a Bowman card first. Bowman and Bowman Chrome rookie cards are often very valuable.

Stadium Club: Premium Cards with Style

In 1991, Topps released its first "premium" card set. It was called Stadium Club. These cards were really fancy for their time.

They were the first major baseball cards with a glossy, shiny coating on both sides. They also had gold foil on the front. The photos on the front went all the way to the edges. This is called "full-bleed." The back of the card even showed an image of the player's very first Topps card. This set was a huge hit! Packs cost $5 or more back then.

Topps Finest: Super Premium and Super Rare!

Topps released an even fancier set in 1993. It was called Topps Finest, or just Finest. These cards were considered "super premium."

Packs of Finest cards were expensive, around $25 each! Some collectors thought this was too much. They worried it would make the hobby less fun for younger fans. Topps also put special "Refractor" cards into some packs. These cards looked like regular ones but had a cool rainbow shine. Some Refractor cards were worth over $1000! Only a few hundred of each were made. They are still highly sought after today.

Topps Heritage and More: A Blast from the Past!

Jack Glasscock on an Allen & Ginter card from 1887. Topps uses the Allen & Ginter brand for heritage cards; (right): a reissued T206 Honus Wagner card with a blue background, from 2002.

In 2001, Topps celebrated its 50th anniversary. They released two new "retro" card brands. These were Topps Heritage and Bowman Heritage. The cool thing was that these cards featured modern players. But they used designs from old cards!

For example, the 2001 Topps Heritage baseball cards used the design from 1952. The 2002 cards used the 1953 design, and so on. Bowman Heritage also used old Bowman designs.

Bowman Heritage stopped in 2007. It was replaced by the popular Allen & Ginter brand. Allen & Ginter cards also use old designs. Topps Heritage is still a very popular baseball card brand today.

Topps T206: A Classic Returns

The T206 name comes from very old baseball cards. They were made from 1909 to 1911. Topps has brought back the "Topps 206" brand three times. First in 2002, then 2010, and again in 2020.

The 2020 collection had five different series. It included players from both Major and Minor Leagues.

The famous T206 Honus Wagner card was reissued by Topps in 2002. It came with different background colors. A new Honus Wagner card was also released in 2020.

Topps Project 2020: Art Meets Baseball Cards

In 2020, Topps launched "Project 2020." This was a special online-only set. It featured 20 different artists. Each artist created their own version of 20 classic Topps cards. It was a cool mix of art and baseball history!

Topps Cards Around the World

Topps cards were also made in other countries. A Canadian company called O-Pee-Chee made licensed Topps sets. This happened from 1965 to 1992. After 1970, the cards had both English and French words. This was to follow Canadian language laws.

Topps sets were also made in Venezuela from 1959 to 1977. These sets had some changes. They even included players from winter leagues. In the late 1980s, Topps made sets for the United Kingdom. These cards explained baseball terms for new fans.

How Topps Card Designs Changed Over the Years

Each year, Topps tried to make their cards look new and exciting. From 1952 to 1956, the cards were all the same size. But their designs changed a lot. Some were vertical, and some were horizontal.

In 1957, a new standard card size became popular. Also, the design changed a lot. Cards started using real photographs of players. Before that, many cards had paintings. The 1957 set is very popular with collectors. It has great photo quality and a simple design. The player's name and team were printed small. This made the player's photo the most important part.

Until 1964, the colors on the cards were random. But starting in 1964, Topps began a new trend. Each team got its own color scheme! For example, every Dodger card in 1964 had "Dodgers" in red. The player's name was in a light blue area. Topps usually had 10 different color designs each year. One for each team in the National and American Leagues.

Player Pictures and Card Numbers

Players often gave Topps many different poses for their cards. Topps would then choose which one to use. Sometimes, they used headshots without a cap. This was useful if a player was traded.

For example, in 1966, the Braves moved to Atlanta. So, early Braves cards showed players without caps. Or their cap logo was hidden. Later, cards showed Braves players with their new "A" cap. Topps even learned to airbrush out cap logos. This was done if a team changed its logo or moved.

Topps often put the biggest stars on special card numbers. These usually ended in 00 or 50. For instance, in 1966, Mickey Mantle was card #50. Sandy Koufax was card #100. Other star players were on cards ending in zero. Smaller stars were on cards ending in "5." Topps still uses this kind of numbering system today!