The Beginning of a New Era

Hand-painted collectible baseball card From the launch of their of their first card set in 1951, all the way through 1978, Topps never incorporated their brand logo onto the front of a card design. However... this all changed in 1979. In the midst of a multi-year court battle over a monopolization lawsuit filed by Fleer in 1975, Topps realized times were about to change. With competition on the way, they needed to focus on branding. So, the logo made its first appearance on the '79 set.  Oddly, they chose not to do the same in 1980. Perhaps they were working on their redesigned logo... or simply overconfident in the pending legal battle? Yet, they lost the case... opening the door for both Fleer and Donruss to market their first sets in 1981.  A new logo was revealed on all the packaging, accompanied by a new slogan: The Real One! But, for some reason it didn't land on the card. Instead, Topps just printed their name. A weird choice, considering the new logo was on all the NFL, NBA, an