Modern Baseball Cards - 1980s and Newer
In today's collecting terms, the baseball cards from 1980s and newer are fairly inexpensive to buy. Topps, Fleer, and Donruss dominated the 1980s sales of baseball cards, while 1989 saw the birth of the Upper Deck Company with the famous Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card. Upper Deck dominated the hobby's attention with beautiful cards and innovative products. Competition intensified between all these sets up until the mid nineties. The result was hundreds of different sets and a confused collecting community, who was not quite sure what to collect.
By the 2000s, baseball card companies refined their offerings and cards became more consistent in quality. Starting in 2010, Topps once again gained exclusive rights to use Major League Baseball team names and logos, knocking Upper Deck out of the picture. Fanatics acquired Topps in 2022 but intends to continue manufacturing baseball cards under the Topps brand.