Editing Topps (section)

==Company history==
===Beginning and consolidation===
Topps was founded in 1938 by four brothers, Abram, Ira, Philip, and Joseph Shorin. The roots of Topps can be traced to [[American Leaf Ira, Philip, and Joseph, decided to focus on 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]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Jamieson |first=Dave |title=Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession |date=2010-04-01 |publisher=Open Road + Grove/Atlantic |isbn=978-0-8021-9715-3 |pages=89– |language=en |chapter=The great changemaker |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yoW77vwAvnUC&dq=%22American+Leaf+Tobacco%22+Topps&pg=PA91}}</ref>

At the time, chewing gum was still a relative novelty sold in individual pieces. Topps's most successful early product was [[Bazooka (chewing gum)|Bazooka]] [[bubble gum]],<ref name=":1"/> which 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 movie|Western]] character [[Hopalong Cassidy]] ([[William Boyd (actor)|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 a product, the cards immediately became its primary emphasis.

The "father of the modern baseball card" was [[Sy Berger]].<ref name="NYT-20141214-RG">{{cite news |last=Goldstein |first=Richard |title=Sy Berger, 91, Dies; Created the Modern Baseball Trading Card
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/15/sports/baseball/sy-berger-91-dies-created-the-modern-baseball-trading-card.html |date=December 14, 2014 |work=[[New York Times]] |access-date=December 14, 2014 }}</ref> 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, New York|Brooklyn]].<ref>Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession, p. 90, Dave Jamieson, 2010, Atlantic Monthly Press, imprint of Grove/Atlantic Inc., New York, NY, {{ISBN|978-0-8021-1939-1}}</ref> The card design included a player's name, photo, facsimile autograph, team name and logo on 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 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.<ref>{{cite news |last=Olds |first=Chris |title=Former Topps Executive Sy Berger Dies at 91
|url=https://www.beckett.com/news/former-topps-executive-sy-berger-dies-at-91 |date=December 14, 2014 |work=[[Beckett Media|Beckett]] |access-date=January 13, 2020 }}</ref>

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 the Atlantic Ocean.<ref name="TF20010327">{{cite news |first1=Cesar |last1=Brioso |first2=Mike |last2=Dodd |title=Topps facts |work=USA Today |url=https://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/stories/2001-03-27-cards-facts.htm |date=March 27, 2001 |access-date=April 23, 2010}}</ref> 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.<ref name="NYT-20220828">{{cite news |last=Albeck-Ripka |first=Livia |title=Bammseball Card Sold for $12.6 Million, Breaking Record – The 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle baseball card is the most valuable piece of sports memorabilia ever to be sold at auction. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/28/us/mickey-mantle-card-auction-baseball.html |date=August 28, 2022 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=August 29, 2022 }}</ref>

===Incorporation===
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2009}}

[[File:The Diamonds 1957.JPG|thumb|right|150px|Trading card featuring [[The Diamonds]] from the series of movie, television and recording stars, 1957]]
The company began its existence as Topps Chewing Gum, Inc., a partnership between 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, 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 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]].<ref name=nyt>{{cite news|title=Former Disney Chief Adds Topps to His Collection|url=https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2007/03/06/topps-trades-itself-to-2-buyout-firms-for-385-million/|access-date=August 18, 2017|work=DealBook. New York Times|date=March 6, 2007}}</ref> Under Eisner's direction, Topps began to expand into 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''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/topps-taps-staci-weiss-head-28353 |title=Szalai, Georg. ''Hollywood Reporter'', September 26, 2010 |work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|date=September 26, 2010 |access-date=March 14, 2012}}</ref>

===Topps Digital===
In 2012, Topps began creating digital sports cards, starting with the Topps Bunt baseball card mobile app.<ref>{{cite web|last1=|title=Topps Bunt History|url=https://www.carddugout.com/blog/history-of-topps-bunt/|website=CardDugout.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150708232721/https://www.carddugout.com/blog/history-of-topps-bunt/|archive-date=July 8, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref> After releasing Bunt in 2013 and finding success with it,<ref>{{cite press release |title=Topps Launches BUNT® 2014, Fueling Growth of Digital Collecting |url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/topps-launches-bunt-2014-fueling-growth-of-digital-collecting-252656591.html |website=PRNewswire |publisher=PRNewswire |access-date=4 December 2020}}</ref> they expanded their sports card market into other apps including 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 trading card|Star Wars Card Trader]]'' app, and in May 2016 they released a [[Walking Dead (TV series)|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 a few years later, releasing a [[Marvel Comics|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]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://toppsgpk.io/|title=Topps GPK 2021 Food Fight! Collectibles on WAX|website=toppsgpk.io}}</ref> {{asof|December 2020|post=,}} Topps has only made [[Garbage Pail Kids#35th Anniversary Blockchain Series|Garbage Pail Kids]] cards available to traders via blockchain but they have announced [[Alien (franchise)|Alien]] Quadrilogy collectibles will be coming soon.<ref>{{cite web |title=Alien Quadrilogy Blockchain Collectibles - Topps |url=https://play.toppsapps.com/app/alien-nft |website=ToppsApps |access-date=4 December 2020}}</ref>

In April 2021, Topps announced plans to go public via a merger with [[Mudrick Capital Management|Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corporation II]], a publicly traded [[Special-purpose acquisition company|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.<ref name="lucas">Amelia Lucas, [https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/06/baseball-card-company-topps-to-go-public-through-spac-deal.html "Topps to go public through SPAC deal as baseball card company ventures into NFTs,"] CNBC.com, April 6, 2021.</ref> However, reports surfaced within six months of their initial plans that Mudrick Capital Management had backed out of the investment deal.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mangan |first1=Dan |title=Topps SPAC merger with Mudrick Capital dies because MLB killed 70-year-old trading card deal |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/20/topps-spac-merger-with-mudrick-is-dead-because-of-mlb-trading-card-deal.html |website=CNBC |access-date=1 September 2021 |language=en |date=20 August 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Topps Mulls Options Amid Claims MLB Fanatics Deal Done in Secret |url=https://sports.yahoo.com/topps-mulls-options-amid-claims-040109785.html |website=sports.yahoo.com |date=August 23, 2021 |access-date=1 September 2021}}</ref>

In August 2021, it was reported that [[Fanatics (sports retailer)|Fanatics]] acquired future exclusive licenses with Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association to produce baseball cards.<ref name="Hajducky">Dan Hajducky, [https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/32052284/fanatics-strikes-deal-become-exclusive-licensee-mlb-cards "Fanatics strikes deal to become exclusive licensee for MLB cards,"] ESPN.com, August 19, 2021.</ref> In January 2022, Fanatics announced they had acquired Topps for US$500 million.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Young|first=Jabari|date=2022-01-04|title=Fanatics acquires Topps trading cards for $500 million|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/04/fanatics-acquires-topps-trading-cards.html|access-date=2022-01-04|website=CNBC|language=en}}</ref>