For the longest time, the company that’s grown to be synonymous with baseball cards is Topps. Throughout the decades, the cards produced by this brand have featured the sport’s legends, such as Mickey Mantle, Pete Rose, and Hank Aaron, among others. But because of the latest development involving Fanatics, the entire baseball card industry is about to undergo a seismic change.

Just recently, Major League Baseball and its Players Association have come to an exclusive deal with Fanatics Inc. to produce trading cards. This decision will effectively end Topps’ involvement in the said sport and give Fanatics a solid foundation in the booming card market.

In the agreement, both Topps and MLB will receive royalties from the products sold using their intellectual property. The said deal will take effect in 2026, 71 years after Topps first started to manufacture baseball cards for the MLB in 1952.

As of this writing, there has been no official word from Topps, Fanatics, and representatives from the MLB about this matter.

Earlier this month, Fanatics obtained $325 million in funding for their operations. This move boosted the company’s overall value to $18 billion. With that kind of capital, Fanatics is expected to perform big-time moves in the card market, like the one it just pulled off over Topps.

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While seemingly coming out of nowhere, the seeds have already been planted from the start. MLB owns equity in Fanatics while the new player in the card market has the league’s e-commerce rights. With this kind of arrangement, Fanatics will use these assets to expand its sports merchandising business to include sports betting.

This latest development in the hobby will surely have ripple effects down the line. It remains to be seen whether Fanatics can elevate the baseball card industry in the coming years or fall flat to what Topps has achieved during the past decades.