Through the years leading manufacturers of baseball cards,
according to Scott Malack, Chief Operating Officer of Coach’s Corner, of
Souderton, Pennsylvania, have included Topps, Fleer, Score, Upper Deck, and
Donruss (formerly Leaf).
Quickly summarizing
these five companies, Topps first started issuing baseball cards in 1951. For a
few years, Topps and Bowman were hard-fought competitors, with Topps finally
buying out Bowman after the 1955 baseball card season. From 1956 through 1980
Topps was the only company issuing major league baseball card sets. Topps was
quite successful in signing virtually every major league player to an exclusive
contract, and only companies promoting products such as cereal, meat products,
and soda were able to fall outside the exclusive Topps agreement, and promote
baseball cards. For the next couple of decades, manufacturers such as Fleer
tried to get around the Topps agreement with players, but to no avail. Finally,
after court decisions in 1980 and 1981, Fleer and Donruss could issue cards,
but not with gum (Fleer issued cards with team logo stickers, and Donruss
issued cards with puzzle pieces).
Topps has
successfully produced variations of baseball cards, such as with special
inserts, baseball coins, and posters. It has also been successful in
distributing other sports cards, as well as sets of non-baseball issues, such
as of astronauts and presidents.
The Fleer
Corporation started in 1914, and ironically, in 1928 one of its employees Walter Diemer invented bubble gum. The first
bubble gum was called Dubble Bubble. When it was first made, the only food
coloring at the plant was pink, and therefore, at first, bubble gum was pink.
Through the years
Fleer has issued various types of cards, such as of movie stars, the Three
Stooges, Hogan’s Heroes, football and basketball. In 1959 it produced its first
set of baseball cards (a Ted Williams set), and is a major manufacturer of
baseball cards every year.
The Donruss Company
started in 1958, and was named after its two owners, Don and Russ Wiener.
Donruss also produced various types of sets of cards, based on television shows
and musical groups, and in 1981 issued its first set of baseball cards.
Eventually Donruss was bought out by a company that also purchased the Leaf
Company that had issued cards in 1948-1949. The Donruss name has been kept on
the U.S. baseball card sets.
Score cards were
first issued in 1988, and have featured action photographs on the front and a
small portrait photograph. The uniqueness of their cards has made Score a major
player to this day.
Upper Deck first
started issuing cards in 1989. Its cards have been unique in that the Company
included a hologram on the back of each card as a deterrent to counterfeiters.
Even though the price of the Upper Deck cards has been higher than the price of
its competitors’ cards Upper Deck cards are very popular.
Of these major
companies Topps continues to lead the way. Each company has unique features,
and sometimes a player’s card will be more valuable on Donruss or Upper Deck,
rather than on Topps or Fleer or Score, or vice versa. For example, Donruss may
have issued a rookie card before any of the other manufacturers, and for that
reason it may be more valuable.
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