| We have often seen teenagers swapping baseball | | | | used such a shrewd strategy to beat their rivals. They |
| cards among themselves. A lot of bets are staged | | | | used to sell these products to promote chewing gum. |
| where the winner gets a baseball card as his prize. | | | | They monopolized the market for a long time and |
| But, what is so special about these cards that all kids | | | | posed a firm challenge to the Topps Company. The |
| go crazy about them? In fact their fan base is not just | | | | war between these two companies continued when |
| restricted to kids. Even adults are often ardent fans of | | | | Topps signed on players and made them agree not to |
| these card stacks. | | | | sign any other contracts while they were with Topps. |
| For those of you who are not familiar with the term a | | | | Bowman Gum sued Topps for unfair competition, and |
| baseball card is actually a type of trading card that | | | | on various other grounds. The court refused to side |
| features players or sports figures associated with | | | | with Bowman and eventually in the later years Topps |
| baseball. These cards were used extensively in New | | | | bought out Bowman. |
| York as an advertising medium in order to tempt | | | | Even after the take over, Bowman baseball cards |
| people to buy products. These cards gained immense | | | | were still in huge demand. The 1998 Chrome series & |
| popularity in a relatively short span of time. Some | | | | The 1996 Bowman's Best series still has many takers |
| baseball cards are extremely rare and can't be found | | | | among young and old alike. Bowman baseball cards |
| very often. They are usually the oldest ones that | | | | are popularly called as the Home of the Rookie Card. |
| come from limited edition stock. These rare collectibles | | | | These cards now aim at introducing the new players in |
| are very expensive. | | | | this sport to collectors. The collectors are bound to get |
| The manufacturers of these products used to sign on | | | | an amazing selection of rookies and prospects at their |
| the players on a contractual basis in order to put their | | | | fingertips. Many new features like original player |
| picture onto the products. The Bowman Gum | | | | autographs have also been incorporated in these |
| Company was one of the first companies to have | | | | items. |