By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
It’s a rough-and-tumble competitive world in the baseball card business and trading card collectible industry these days. You have your nostalgic boomers, serious flippers seeking to make a quick buck and Wall Street-style investors who look at high-profile baseball cards as stocks.
New York-based Topps, which began its baseball card sets in 1952 and dominated the industry through 1980 until other trading card brands emerged, made a stop in Las Vegas Wednesday to hold something called, “Celebration of the Decades,” at a club inside Allegiant Stadium.
With new digital trading card products like the NBA Top Shot hitting the market to allow fans to buy moments in games, Topps is also moving ahead with innovative products and even cards of performers in other sports.
LVSportsBiz.com chatted with Dave Leiner, Topps Global general manager, to get a handle on how the trading card company based in Manhattan’s financial district is competing in this competitive market, especially after baseball card collectors were stunned when Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association picked sports retailer Fanatics as their official trading card partner instead of Topps after 70 years. The agreement goes into effect in 2026.
Leiner used his cell phone to show art images of iconic Topps baseball cards that were the result of collaborations between artists and Topps on 20 well-known baseball cards like the 1989 Ken Griffey, Jr. rookie cards.
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Five years ago, Topps started making cards based on last night’s plays called Topps Now and has branched out internationally with trading cards on soccer and Formula 1 racing.
Tonight, fans who bought Topps baseball cards and found golden tickets enjoyed a party of baseball cards and a session with former MLB greats Wade Boggs and Frank Thomas, along with current star Yordan Alvarez.
Andy Clogston, 38, and his son, Ethan, 9, came from western Massachusetts to enjoy the night. Clogston recalled finding the golden ticket at 1 AM back in early 2020 and waking up his son to deliver the news.
And then there were Mike Lindecamp, 64, and his grandson, Ethan Burchard, 13, who traveled from Aberdeen, Maryland for the Topps party after finding their golden ticket in a pack of 50 cards.
Boggs, who grew up in Tampa’s Davis Islands, joked that he had a Topps 1983 rookie card, but he actually broke into the big leagues in 1982. Boggs, who amassed more than 3,000 hits, lamented that today’s Major Leaguers strike out way too much as they swing for the fences.
“They swing and miss way too much,” Boggs said. “Maybe guys need to have their eyes checked.”