Topps is now the official baseball card of Major League Baseball

A former mainstay of childhood, baseball cards have long since become a meaningless historical footnote, occasionally garnering some small mention in the media when a family finds boxes of rare baseball cards hoarded in a deceased relative's attic. Personally speaking, the last time I purchased baseball cards I was upset because I kept getting Frank Pastore (1982 Reds) cards and not the Davey Concepcion I needed to complete my team collection.

In this context, today's announcement by the Major League Baseball (MLB) smacks of total irrelevance. The organization has announced that The Topps Company will become the exclusive manufacturer of baseball cards for the league. Topps signed a multi-year deal in order to end competition between card companies and potentially jump start the slumping industry. MLB hopes that having one official cardmaker will end the confusion caused by the multiple card manufacturers and seemingly endless series clogging up stores.