Topps ended February with several major announcements at their annual hobby conference held at Chase Field in Phoenix, while their parent company Fanatics continued to tighten their rattlesnake-like grip on the industry.
Some of the biggest news included Topps announcing several different products being placed on hiatus for the 2023 season. Bowman 1st Edition, Bowman Chrome X, Bowman Heritage, Topps Archives Snapshots, Topps Clearly Authentic, Topps Fire, Topps Gallery, Topps Gold Label, and Topps Opening Day are among the products that collectors will somehow have to do without in 2023.
Bowman 1st Edition is a newer product that consists of 150-card Bowman Prospects included in the Bowman flagship set, printed on the same paper stock and the same design as the Bowman flagship set that includes a 1st stamped on the card and released prior to the Bowman flagship set. Bowman Chrome X is another newer product that is a partial parallel of the Bowman Chrome product that is released exclusively on the website stockx.com and with an incredibly small print run.
First introduced to the hobby 2001, Bowman Heritage was the Bowman counterpart to Topps Heritage, and was printed using classic Bowman designs from 1940’s and 1950’s before the company was purchased by Topps. Bowman Heritage lasted until 2007, with its most popular release being the 2004 product, which used the 1955 Bowman design that featured a player picture framed in gold with a dark wood-grained border that resembled the console television sets that were becoming popular in homes across the country.
The Bowman Heritage product was resurrected in 2019, but was only released for two years. The 2021 Bowman Heritage product was announced and given a release date only to be postponed indefinitely just before coming to market.
Topps Archives Snapshots completed its seven-year run with the 2022 product having just been released on February 17th of this year. Only available for purchase on Topps.com, the product was known for featuring current and retired stars. Topps Clearly Authentic was more of niche set that was simply released as one autographed card per box.
Topps Fire completed its six-year print run in 2022, being released without hardly any advance notice or fanfare, which seemed to be Topps’s marketing strategy for this product. The design featured some of the most colorful designs ever released by Topps as well as insert sets that all related to the product name. Exclusively available at Target, Topps Fire’s 2022 product was also available on Topps.com.
First released in 1996, Topps Gallery has different iterations from its borderless debut in 1996, the picture frame border in 1997 and 1998, to eventually having the player pictures appeared as “all-paint” portraits. A much smaller product with generally less than 200 cards, Topps Gallery was printed consistently through 2003, was left off the release calendar in 2004, brought back in 2005 and then shelved until 2017.
After being resurrected in 2017, Topps Gallery was released again as painted portraits with each set including current and retired stars, and was only available at Wal-Mart and Topps.com.
Topps Gold Label is a high end set that made its debut in 1998. Released as a multi-tiered product with three tiers: Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3. Each class featured the same 100 players with a slightly different design. Class 1 was always the easiest cards to find with Class 3 being the hardest. The Topps Gold Label product was released consistently until 2002 with that year’s release only featuring one class.
Brought back to the Topps lineup in 2016, Topps Gold Label was released using the same multi-tiered class structure that was used in the 1990’s, but like nearly every other Topps product, it featured current and retired stars.
Topps Opening Day is a product that collectors can definitely do without. First introduced in 1998, Topps Opening Day has been released every year since except for 2009. A smaller, recycled version of the Topps flagship product that differentiates itself from the flagship release by having the words “Opening Day” featured on the card with bunting for half the cost. Topps should have retired this product years ago.
Topps also announced they are bringing back their Topps Big League product for 2023. Released from 2018 through 2021, Topps Big League is geared towards younger collectors and priced at an affordable $1.00 per pack. Fanatics has been open about their ambitious vision of growing the hobby by attracting more collectors, so it makes sense for this kid-centric product to be resurrected.
Collectors were also told that the 2023 Bowman Draft product, expected near the end of the year, will be featuring cards of the recently retired former Montreal Expos draft pick Tom Brady. Brady has an autograph deal with Fanatics, so it was only a matter of time before the former high school catcher was given his own baseball card.
Other baseball card news included the announcement of Topps’ plans to release several products later in the year centered around the upcoming World Baseball Classic, including the on-demand Topps Now product available at Topps.com and a Chrome product. Topps is also working on creating a new baseball card pack wrapper that is biodegradable in an effort to reduce their carbon footprint.
News has been scant on other Topps releases, including early season releases such as Topps Heritage, Topps Gypsy Queen, and Bowman. I’m hoping some news will begin to leak soon.
