William Youngerman Inc

The first companies to compete with Topps Baseball Cards after the court ruling were Fleer and the Donruss company of Memphis, Tennessee. Each introduced a new set in 1981, but it would be a few years before either company could compete with the quality of Topps' Baseball Cards.

By 1984, Fleer and Donruss could each begin to argue that its set was just as good as the one Topps BaseBall Cards put out. Donruss also began to demonstrate how the laws of supply and demand could affect baseball card values when their 1984-87 issues were placed in a limited distribution at a time when collector interest was beginning to pick up. At the same time, Topps Baseball Cars was churning out millions of its own cards, which are much less valuable today.

As the 1980s came to a close, several new innovations began to appear. Player photos on card backs, which were pioneered in the 1971 Topps Baseball Card set and used by Fleer from 1983-85, would show up in color beginning in 1987. Sportflics, with its 3-D technology, appeared in 1986; it was the company's 1987 set that first featured color photos on its backs. Sportflics' parent company launched a new card brand in 1988 with the first Score set.

In addition to larger, full-color photos on the card backs, the fronts boasted some of the sharpest player photography yet seen on a baseball card. In 1989, another new company entered the field and forever changed the hobby. Upper Deck issued its first set with many innovations: UV protection, full-color pictures on the card back, an anti-counterfeiting hologram, and an intentional shortage of production, making for a truly high-end set. In addition, Upper Deck brought back a couple of things seemingly lost to time: insert cards and series. Within a few years, even Topps Baseball Cars was playing by the rules laid down by Upper Deck, and the hobby once again flourished.

Card collector Benjamin K. Edwards preserved these baseball cards and later gave them to poet Carl Sandburg, who in turn donated them to the library.

Topps Baseball Cards Competition at the Library of Congress Site

The Other Trading Cards Are

BaseballCards

Bowman Baseball Cards

Candy Baseball Cards

Gum Baseball Cards

Post War Baseball Cards

Rare Baseball Cards

Topps Baseball Cards

Tobacco Baseball Cards

Visit Our Florida Location

William Youngerman, Inc. Bank of America Building - 150 East
Palmetto Park Road - Suite 101 -
Boca Raton, FL 33432
(561) 368-7707 or (800 ) 327-5010