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137-528: 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

274-410: A mint condition 1909 T206 Honus Wager baseball card, with a Piedmont cigarette brand back, at a Sotheby's auction. The card became known as the "Gretzky T206 Wagner" to the public. The Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) company graded this card a PSA 8 Near Mint-Mint (NM-MT) on their 10-point scale, the highest grade given to a T206 Honus Wagner card. Bill Hughes was the official grader of

411-400: A "master pressman with 5–10 years experience, and would require a machine which would cost between $ 500,000 and $ 2 million." Afterwards, an appraiser named Bob Connelly valued the card at $ 850,000, based on the two previous paper analysis reports. In November 2005, Cobb and Edwards put the card up for sale on eBay. They had to shut down the sale, however, because Connelly only agreed to appraise

548-450: 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

685-587: A $ 100,000 deposit to iEscrow.com in order to be pre-approved to make bids for the card. On July 15, the card was sold to Brian Seigel, a collector from California, for $ 1.265 million (equivalent to $ 2.238 million in 2023). In February 2007, the Associated Press announced that Seigel had sold the card privately and directly to an anonymous collector from Southern California for $ 2.35 million (equivalent to $ 3.453 million in 2023). Less than six months later, on September 6, 2007, SCP Auctions announced that

822-438: 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

959-504: A 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card sold for $ 49,500, more than three times the initial pre-auction price estimate. Pre-auction estimates placed Copeland's T206 Honus Wagner at a price of $ 114,000. Within minutes of the opening bid for the T206 Wagner card, the highest bidder had put down $ 228,000, twice the pre-auction estimate. A bidding competition between Mike Gidwitz, Mark Friedland and an unknown phone bidder ensued. Gidwitz dropped out of

1096-578: A 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card that sold for $ 5.2   million (equivalent to $ 8.11 million in 2023) in November 2020, until another T206 Wagner sold for $ 6.6   million (equivalent to $ 7.42 million in 2023) in August 2021, returning the T206 to the most expensive sports card. That is, until August 2022, when another 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card sold increased the record to $ 12.6   million to become

1233-487: 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

1370-539: A New Jersey cardiologist, who immediately agreed to buy the card for the same price. On December 20, 2010, after taking its 19.5 percent buyer's premium, the auction house sent $ 220,000 by bank wire to the School Sisters of Notre Dame. The religious order had already announced that the proceeds from the sale would go to its ministries in more than 30 countries. It is currently on display in the Rally Rd Showroom in

1507-510: A belief that many of the cards in the series had been altered at one point or another. In his work Inside T206: A Collector Guide to the Classic Baseball Card Set , Scot A. Reader wrote that "[i]t is not at all uncommon to find T206 examples that have been altered at some point during their near-century of existence." These discrepancies were taken advantage of by so-called "card doctors", who trimmed corners and dirty edges to improve

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1644-519: 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

1781-515: A card dealer in New York City, Mike Mangasarian, who was sent on behalf of a prominent collector to check the card out. Mangasarian said the card seemed authentic and stated he would attend the auction for the card later on if the card could be taken out of the thick lucite holder for a closer examination. A promise was made that this could be done the day of the auction in Binghamton, New York . After

1918-505: A cigar baseball trading card in 1899 and a newspaper ad for Murad cigarettes during the 1909 World Series . Another explanation surmised is that Wagner did not consent because he felt he was not receiving just compensation from the ATC for his baseball card. Wagner had a history of being a tough negotiator; he had announced his retirement from baseball in December 1907, but returned shortly before

2055-530: 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

2192-495: 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

2329-427: 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,

2466-447: 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

2603-465: A money situation," agreed to Mastro's terms of the deal. The circumstances regarding how Ray came into possession of the Gretzky T206 Wagner have been shrouded in mystery. He tried to avoid answering any questions regarding the matter but, in a 2001 interview, claimed to have received it from a relative, whose name he did not disclose. Inside the memorabilia community, there was speculation that

2740-401: 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

2877-478: A new plea agreement. Mastro was released in May 2017. A similar but unaltered card, the 'Jumbo Wagner' , also has a NM-MT grade quality for the majority of the card, but the lower quality edges have not been trimmed, lowering it from NM-MT to an overall grade of PSA 5 – one of only three (along with Mastro's trimmed card) rated PSA 5 or better – sold at a 2013 auction for $ 2,105,770.50. The Honus Wagner card

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3014-413: 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

3151-433: A number of card collectors who doubted the card contacted eBay and demanded that the card's listing on the website be removed. eBay officials decided to remove the listing the day before the auction was scheduled to begin. As a result, a number of previously interested collectors decided not to bid for the card at the auction the next day. As Connelly pointed out, the collectors chose not to make bids because "[w]hen eBay pulled

3288-475: 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

3425-596: 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

3562-504: A record $ 3.12   million (equivalent to $ 3.96 million in 2023). These transactions have made the Wagner card, at times, the most valuable baseball card in history. However, this record was first broken when a Mike Trout 2009 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Superfractors series rookie card with a card count of 1 sold in August 2020 for a new record of $ 3.93   million (equivalent to $ 4.63 million in 2023), and pushed further back by

3699-477: 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

3836-492: 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

3973-402: A sports memorabilia dealer who later founded Mastro Auctions and became one of the most powerful figures in the industry, heard the news, and immediately jumped on the offer. Mastro, with the financial backing of friend Rob Lifson, sought to improve the offer and had Ray add 50 to 75 of his other T206 series cards, including the rare T206 Eddie Plank , into the deal. Ray, who later stated he "had

4110-431: A substantial amount of money at the time (approximately equal to $ 325 in 2024), if he refused authorization for monetary reasons. The ATC had already produced a number of T206 Honus Wagner baseball cards; the exact number is unknown, but is speculated to be between 50 and 200. They stopped production of the card, however, after Wagner denied authorization. In 1991, National Hockey League player Wayne Gretzky purchased

4247-479: A sudden renewed interest in baseball card collecting. As Lifson commented, the Copeland deal revitalized the industry and "created an incentive to sell these great cards." Within five years, Copeland decided it was time to sell his card collection; he chose to sell his entire 873-piece collection in a single sale, through Mastro. Mastro contacted Sotheby's , the renowned New York auction house, and asked them to accept

T206 - Misplaced Pages Continue

4384-414: 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

4521-441: 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,

4658-501: Is always another buyer for something at the top end." In 1995, Gretzky sold the card to Walmart and Treat Entertainment for $ 500,000 (equivalent to $ 999,782 in 2023). The two companies intended to use the card as the grand prize in a promotional contest. The card was sent all across the United States, as part of Walmart's plan to rejuvenate the baseball card market. On February 24, 1996 (the 122nd anniversary of Wagner's birthday),

4795-412: 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

4932-514: Is held by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. In 2010, a rare Honus Wagner was found in a box left by the brother of Sister Virginia Muller, who left all her possessions to the Baltimore-based School Sisters of Notre Dame . The card came with her brother's handwritten note: "Although damaged, the value of this baseball card should increase exponentially throughout the 21st century!" The Roman Catholic nuns auctioned

5069-405: Is not a fake and, due to its excellent condition, should fetch over $ 1 million in an auction. Cobb and Edwards also have alleged that they have been dismissed because they are inner city black men in a hobby that has been dominated by successful white men. Cobb, like Mastro back in the late 1980s, does not divulge the exact details of how he came to own the card. He has variously stated he purchased

5206-400: 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

5343-456: 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

5480-410: 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,

5617-441: Is the "Gretzky T206 Honus Wagner" card. The card's odd texture and shape led to speculation that it was altered. The Gretzky T206 Wagner was first sold by Alan Ray to baseball memorabilia collector Bill Mastro, who sold the card two years later to Jim Copeland for nearly four times the price he had originally paid. Copeland's sizable transaction revitalized interest in the sports memorabilia collection market. In 1991, Copeland sold

T206 - Misplaced Pages Continue

5754-480: 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

5891-682: 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

6028-618: The Pittsburgh Pirates ' Honus Wagner , known as "The Flying Dutchman", a dead-ball era baseball player who is widely considered to be one of the best players of all time. The card was designed and issued by the American Tobacco Company (ATC) from 1909 to 1911 as part of its T206 series. Wagner refused to allow production of his baseball card to continue, either because he did not want children to buy cigarette packs to get his card, or because he wanted more compensation from

6165-458: 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

6302-529: The ATC was broken up into several major companies as part of the United States Supreme Court ruling in United States v. American Tobacco Company , 221 U.S. 106 (1911). The typical card in the T206 series had a width of 1 + 7 ⁄ 16 inches (3.65 cm) and a height of 2 + 5 ⁄ 8 inches (6.67 cm). Some cards were awkwardly shaped or irregularly sized, which prompted

6439-653: The ATC's request have been the subject of much speculation. The most commonly told account is that Wagner rejected the deal because he did not want young baseball fans to purchase the tobacco packs for his baseball card. Wagner held his fans in high regard, particularly the younger ones. His granddaughter, Blair, remarked that "[h]e loved children. He wanted to teach kids good sportsmanship. When it came time for that card to come out, it wasn't that he wasn't paid. He didn't want kids to have to buy tobacco to get his card." However, Wagner chewed tobacco , and he had previously appeared in advertisements for many tobacco products, including

6576-475: The ATC. The ATC ended production of the Wagner card, and a total of only 50 to 200 cards were ever distributed to the public (the exact number is unknown). In 1933, the card was first listed at a price value of US$ 50 in Jefferson Burdick 's The American Card Catalog (equivalent to $ 1,200 in 2023), making it the most expensive baseball card in the world at the time. The most famous T206 Honus Wagner

6713-512: 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

6850-473: The Christie's auction with a bid of $ 641,500 in 1996 (equivalent to $ 1,246,250 in 2023). Four years later, on July 5, 2000, Gidwitz partnered with eBay and Robert Edwards Auctions to start a 10-day online auction for the card. Robert Edwards Auctions, a division of MastroNet, set up a registration system in which they approved prospective individuals before they actually made bids. These individuals had to wire

6987-455: 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

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7124-410: The Copeland memorabilia collection on consignment . Sotheby's advertised Copeland's items as the "Copeland Collection of Important Baseball Cards and Sports Memorabilia" to attract hobbyists and other potential clients. The March 1991 auction attracted nearly 800 collectors who were interested in purchasing some of Copeland's rare memorabilia. The bidding prices far exceeded the pre-auction estimates, as

7261-606: 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

7398-576: The Piedmont and Sweet Caporal brands of cigarettes and were produced at Factory 25 in Virginia , as indicated by the factory stamp imprinted on the back of the cards. Starting from January 1909, the ATC sought authorization from baseball players for inclusion in the T206 series, which would feature 524 major league players, 76 of whom would later be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame . Wagner had been at

7535-503: The Soho section of New York City. In 2019, Rally Rd announced that it was going to begin selling shares in the card at $ 52 each. In May 2020, Gregorio Amor and a team of investors, purchased the card. Many of the remaining T206 Honus Wagner cards in existence have rated low on the PSA grading scale. Only three existing Wagner cards received a PSA rating of EX [5] or better. One such example is known in

7672-732: 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

7809-417: 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

7946-453: The accusations as "bullshit," adding that they would not have been made "if we were white." Card Collector Services graded the card and officially ruled that it was indeed a reprint . Cobb and Edwards dismissed the findings and went to Integrated Paper Services (IPS), an independent paper testing and analysis lab, in February 2003 to have their card's paper tested. An IPS expert determined that

8083-611: 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

8220-445: The appearance of the card. The front of all T206 series cards, including the Wagner card, displayed a lithograph of the player created by a multi-stage printing process in which a number of colors were printed on top of each other to create a lithograph with the appropriate design. The backs of the cards featured the monochromatic colors of the 16 tobacco brands for which the cards were printed. The Wagner cards in particular advertised

8357-442: 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,

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8494-401: The auction and by not bidding on the card Mangasarian revealed to HBO that he felt the back of the card was indeed real but in his opinion the front was not. He explained that all T-206s have dark brown letters printed for the team's name and player's name and this one was in black. Additionally, he stated that he was not comfortable with the print process exhibited on the card's front. Meanwhile,

8631-551: 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,

8768-400: The baseball card. In response to the authorization request letter sent by John Gruber, a Pittsburgh sportswriter hired by the ATC to seek Wagner's permission, Wagner wrote that he "did not care to have his picture in a package of cigarettes." He threatened to seek legal action against ATC if they went ahead and distributed his baseball card. The reasons for Wagner's strong negative reaction to

8905-467: 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

9042-443: 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

9179-627: The card ... it raised too many questions about its authenticity." As a result of the publicity generated from the financially successful Gretzky T206 Honus Wagner, a number of previously undiscovered legitimate T206 Wagner cards have surfaced. There are fewer than 60 authenticated Wagner cards in existence. An authentic card is part of the Leopold Morse Goulston Baseball Collection in The New York Public Library 's George Arents Collection. An authentic card

9316-566: The card at an estate sale from "an old couple" for $ 1,800 in 1983 or 1984; he claimed not to know who Honus Wagner was at the time of purchase. When Cobb and Edwards tried to sell the card on eBay in 2002, an attorney from Newport, Kentucky (part of the Cincinnati metro) filed a police report against the two men because he believed the card was a reprint that was stolen from his office months earlier. The police launched an investigation, but found no evidence of wrongdoing. An outraged Edwards dismissed

9453-405: The card dated back to 1910, which would be consistent to the time period when the card was distributed. The expert ruled that the "paper stock was consistent with the time that card would have been made." Cobbs and Edwards later went to an Ohio paper industry consultant who confirmed that the card was from 1909. The consultant stated that a decent counterfeit of the card could only be produced from

9590-408: The card had been cut from a printing sheet during the deal made with Mastro. Mastro has told colleagues in the memorabilia circuit that he purchased the card from a printer, which was not Ray's profession. Ray personally stated that Mastro might have been doing this to prevent others from trying to trace the card. Some also claim that Mastro bought the card from Sevchuk, not Ray. After the transaction

9727-528: The card had been sold once again to another anonymous collector for $ 2.8 million (equivalent to $ 4.1 million in 2023). The anonymous collector was later revealed to be Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick . Shortly after Gretzky's 1991 purchase, previously ignored allegations that the card had once been subject to alteration flared up again. This is when Gretzky approached the Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) company to grade

9864-399: The card if his report was printed in its entirety at the eBay card listing. A few months after the sale, Edwards asked Connelly if he would accept the card for his auction. Connelly consented and took the card across the country to prospective buyers. Meanwhile, HBO 's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel decided to cover the progress of Cobb and Edwards' struggles with the card. Connelly met

10001-474: 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

10138-465: The card privately to an anonymous collector for $ 2.35 million. Less than six months later, the card was sold to another anonymous collector for $ 2.8   million (equivalent to $ 4.11 million in 2023). In April 2011, that anonymous purchaser was revealed to be Ken Kendrick , owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks . A different card, named the "Jumbo Wagner", was sold at auction again in 2016 for

10275-487: The card to ice hockey figures Wayne Gretzky and Bruce McNall for $ 451,000. Gretzky resold the card four years later to Walmart and Treat Entertainment for $ 500,000 for use as the top prize in a promotional contest. The next year, a Florida postal worker won the card and auctioned it at Christie's for $ 640,000 to collector Michael Gidwitz. In 2000, the card was sold via Robert Edward Auctions to card collector Brian Seigel for $ 1.27 million. In February 2007, Seigel sold

10412-476: The card to Gibbs a few weeks later at a Walmart store in Miramar, Florida . Gibbs could not afford the taxes on the card, so she decided to consign the card to an auction later on. She consigned the card to Christie's, a New York-based auction house better known for selling famous artworks. Michael Gidwitz, the same individual who battled with Gretzky and Mark Friedland for the card at the Copeland auction in 1991, won

10549-443: The card, resulting in the aforementioned PSA 8 NM-MT grading. Despite PSA company president David Hall's personal statement that the card was "superb" and a "fantastic card in every way," a number of people in the memorabilia industry were not convinced that the card had not been altered at some point. Soon afterward, Alan Ray came back into the picture, claiming that he had proof the card had been doctored by Mastro at one point after

10686-405: The card, which despite its poor condition was expected to fetch between $ 150,000 and $ 200,000. On November 4, 2010, the final sale price exceeded the expectations of auctioneers at Dallas-based Heritage Auctions and sold for $ 262,000 to Doug Walton, a collector and card-shop owner. Walton, however, never paid, and Heritage Auctions subsequently contacted one of its longtime clients, Nicholas DePace,

10823-399: The card, working for PSA at the time. Hughes admitted to knowing that the card had been altered when he graded it. The Gretzky T206 Wagner first came to attention in 1985, when small-time Hicksville, New York card collector Alan Ray contacted Bob Sevchuk, the owner of a Long Island sports memorabilia store, to arrange a potential $ 25,000 deal for his T206 Honus Wagner card. Bill Mastro,

10960-404: 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

11097-456: 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

11234-437: 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

11371-468: 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

11508-422: The company came to monopolize the tobacco industry, ATC did not have to conduct advertising or promotions for its products. Since baseball cards were primarily used as a sales promotion, ATC removed them from its tobacco packs, almost driving the cards into obsolescence. During the presidency of " trust-buster " Theodore Roosevelt , the ATC was subjected to legal action from the government, in hopes of shutting down

11645-544: 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

11782-407: The competition when the bidding reached the $ 300,000 mark. As Friedland made each bid, the phone bidder would counter with a bid $ 5,000 or $ 10,000 higher. Friedland dropped out of the competition after the phone bidder countered with a $ 410,000 bid for the card. With Sotheby's 10% buyer's premium, the final price of the card came out to $ 451,000 (equivalent to $ 1,008,882 in 2023), nearly four times

11919-407: 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

12056-402: The deal, successfully selling this other Wagner card to New Jersey businessman Barry Halper for $ 30,000. (Halper sold that card and 200 other baseball memorabilia items in 1998 to Major League Baseball for over $ 5,000,000.) In 1987, Mastro sold the Gretzky T206 Wagner to Jim Copeland, a San Luis Obispo, California , sporting-goods chain owner, for $ 110,000. With that transaction, there was

12193-592: 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

12330-668: 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,

12467-549: 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

12604-510: The grand prize drawing for the card was held on CNN 's Larry King Weekend . At around 9:00   p.m., Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson , one of King's guests on the show, pulled out the name of one Patricia Gibbs, a postal worker living in Hollywood, Florida . After spending hours unsuccessfully trying to contact Gibbs, King's staff finally got through to her phone, and informed Gibbs of her prize. Treat Entertainment and Walmart gave

12741-434: 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

12878-427: The industry as the 'Jumbo Wagner' [shown on the right]. Graded EX 5 (MC) on the PSA grading scale, the card has unusually ample borders due to a miscut. These dimensions far exceed the standard size for a T206 baseball card, virtually preserving a Near Mint example within its boundaries. President of PSA, Joe Orlando said "The PSA EX 5 (MC) 1909-11 T206 Honus Wagner (serial number 15385994) is, without question, one of

13015-431: The initial $ 25,000 trade in 1985. He had a photograph of the card taken before the transaction with Mastro and claimed that the card in the photo looked significantly different from the photo of Gretzky's card. He sent the comparison of the two photos to both McNall and Sotheby's, but never received a response from them. Some memorabilia collectors have dismissed Ray's claims, saying that the photo hardly proves any doctoring

13152-632: 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

13289-504: 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

13426-447: 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

13563-445: 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

13700-604: 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,

13837-416: The monopoly in the industry. Thereafter, the ATC was back in competition with other tobacco companies, so it reinserted baseball cards into cigarette packs. In 1909, the company introduced the T206 series – also known as the "white border set" – of baseball cards of 524 players into its cigarette packs. The cards were printed at seven factories in New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia. Two years later,

13974-415: The most expensive piece of sports memorabilia of any type in history. In October 2013, Bill Mastro, CEO of Mastro Auctions (the owner of Robert Edward Auctions) pleaded guilty to mail fraud in U.S. District Court and later admitted to the court that he had trimmed the "Gretzky" Wagner card to sharply increase its value. Other T206 Wagners, both legitimate and fake, have surfaced in recent years. Some of

14111-455: 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

14248-455: The next four years to facilitate sports memorabilia auctions and established himself as a leading card dealer in the industry. In 1993, illusionist David Copperfield used the popularity of the card as part of a magic trick which he performed during his TV Special The Magic of David Copperfield XV: Fires Of Passion . Copperfield had Gretzky sign the card, then proceeded to tear the card into four pieces, after which he restored it one piece at

14385-422: 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

14522-445: 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

14659-404: 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

14796-457: 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

14933-499: The pre-auction estimate. The phone bidder was Wayne Gretzky, who purchased the card with advice and financial backing from his 'boss' Bruce McNall , the owner of the NHL's Los Angeles Kings . Copeland received around $ 5 million for the entire collection. The publicity coverage of the Sotheby's auction renewed interest in the hobby of sports memorabilia collecting. Mastro worked with Sotheby's for

15070-484: 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

15207-606: 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

15344-455: The real cards have fetched hundreds of thousands of dollars in auctions. One particular T206 Honus Wagner owned by John Cobb and Ray Edwards has attracted media controversy over its authenticity. The American Tobacco Company was formed as a result of an 1889 merger of five major cigarette manufacturers: W. Duke & Sons & Company, Allen & Ginter , Goodwin & Company , F. S. Kinney Company and William S. Kimball & Company. Because

15481-554: 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

15618-419: 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

15755-592: 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

15892-541: 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

16029-405: 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,

16166-425: 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

16303-457: 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

16440-457: 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,

16577-548: The start of the 1908 baseball season after receiving a $ 10,000 contract, double his salary from the 1907 season. This theory has its flaws, however, since Wagner sent Gruber a check for $ 10 to compensate him for the fee ATC would have paid him if Wagner had given permission to create his baseball card. Michael O'Keeffe and Teri Thompson, authors of The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card , asked why Wagner would compensate Gruber for $ 10,

16714-453: The state of the sports collectible market contributed to projections that the auction could set a new overall price record for the sale of a T206 Honus Wagner. The card ultimately sold for $ 2,105,770.50, including the buyer's premium, a record price for a baseball card in a public auction. In April 2013, Robert Edward Auctions was scheduled to begin an auction of a T206 Honus Wagner that was once owned by actor Charlie Sheen . Sheen had loaned

16851-399: The time and magically removed the signature. Gretzky, who was not a major card collector, said he purchased it because he thought "the market would remain strong," thus making for a valuable investment. McNall orchestrated the plan to buy the card. In a 2005 interview, McNall stated his "philosophy was, if you buy something that is absolutely the best in the world, you'd be okay because there

16988-583: The top examples of this historic card known. The technical grade includes the MC qualifier. The card was given this designation by PSA due to its oversized nature. This particular T206 Honus Wagner stands out from other known examples and therefore gives it placement as a top-notch specimen." Initially sold at auction for $ 1.62M in 2008, the 'Jumbo Wagner' was featured by Goldin Auctions in their 2013 Winter Auction, which closed on April 5, 2013. Historical price increases and

17125-432: The top of his game throughout the decade, and was even considered to be the game's greatest player at the time. He had appeared on advertisements for a number of other products such as chewing gum, gunpowder, and soft drinks. Unsurprisingly, the ATC asked for Wagner's permission to have his picture on a baseball card. According to an October 12, 1912, issue of The Sporting News , Wagner did not give his consent to appear on

17262-480: 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

17399-452: 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,

17536-536: 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

17673-450: 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

17810-487: Was completed, Mastro went back to his car and showed the Gretzky T206 Wagner to Lifson. Mastro offered one of the other T206 Wagner cards in his personal collection to Lifson as payment for the $ 25,000 that Lifson fronted him for the Gretzky T206 Wagner—;claiming that Lifson could sell the lower quality one for $ 30,000 and make a quick $ 5,000 profit. Lifson was skeptical, but he took Mastro's word and accepted

17947-493: Was ever done on the card. On December 4, 2012, Mastro was indicted on federal fraud charges, and entered a plea of not guilty. In 2013, Mastro pleaded guilty, having entered into a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, and admitted to trimming the Honus Wagner card in the mid-1980s to increase its value. Mastro's plea agreement was rejected by a judge. In August 2015, Mastro was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison under

18084-475: 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 The T206 Honus Wagner baseball card depicts

18221-524: Was first reissued by Topps in 2002, with variations on its background color. The card was printed with the original 1909 orange color (#179), and also in blue (#307) and red (#456). In 2020, a new Honus Wagner card was issued by the company (#45) as part of the second wave (of 5) released that year. Another T206 Wagner card owned by two Cincinnati men was dismissed as a fake by Bill Mastro and PSA president Joe Orlando. The two men, John Cobb and Ray Edwards, have tried to prove that their Piedmont-backed card

18358-492: 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

18495-506: 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

18632-455: 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

18769-423: 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

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