Topps Still Tops In Baseball Card Biz
By Kevin Reed
Relatively speaking, baseball card collectors have always seemed to be split among two camps -
Those with the foresight to envision the future value of all those shoeboxes full of 2 1/2-by-3 1/2 inch pieces of cardboard, who hoarded them like Midas as youngsters and scrutinized their value with all the shrewdness of a stock market guru as adults.
Then of course, there are those poor souls who's mothers pitched their cache while spring-cleaning or ruined their investment by attaching them to the spokes of bicycles to produce that cool clacking sound.
Misfortunes aside, the chance to re-acquire some of those relicks from ones childhood presents itself with the latest edition of Topps baseball cards, who this year are celebrating their 50th Anniversary by inserting more than 30,000 vintage cards into packs of this season's 405-card base set, along with redemption vouchers for three 1952 Mickey Mantle rookie cards, a specimen so valued by hobbists that one recently sold at auction for an impressive $121,000.
Not bad for a company that began pushing baseball cards as a gimmick to help sell Bazooka Bubble Gum.
It's those familiar slabs of pink chewy stuff which Topps removed from packs ten years ago when collectors began complaining that they were staining the cards - an ironic example that has seen the once passive hobby evolve into a cutthroat business.
But it wasn't always that way.
Baseball cards began appearing just before the turn of the 19th Century as a giveaway item packaged with cigarettes,it was not until the 1930s when the Gaudy Gum Co. began marketing cards to children that the collectability factor began to take hold.
In 1951 Topps distributed their first series of cards as a means to both boost gum sales and as a direct challenge to Bowmans, the leader at the time in the baseball card business.
In an effort to make their cards stand out from the rest, Topps began including career statistics, team logos, and personal information on the back of each players cards, an innovation that was copied by competitors and soon became the industry standard.
The Topps-Bowman rivalry intensified when the two began solisiting players to sign contracts to appear on their respective cards, with Topps often topping Bowmans by offering $125 for exclusive rights.
Todays players now receive $500 per appearance, smallchange considering the spat of mega-million dollar contract signings.
Still, it's not always about the money. For many, a card contract is often a players first endorsement deal as well as the first real sign that they have truely arrived in the big leagues.
About the Author:
A native of San Diego, California, I now make my home in Illinois with my wife and two daughters and work as a freelance writer. Suite 101 has been a part of my " favorites" list from the day I first ran across it and became a member. I look forward to joining the ranks of these talented editors and bringing a bit of a fun and interesting subject to share with everyone.
Article courtesy of Suite101.com.
