For 75 years, Topps has documented the history of baseball on 2.5-by-3.5-inch cardboard. But for the 2026 flagship release, the company recognized that a 75th anniversary of Topps Baseball demands more than just a new set of rookies: it requires a release that tells the story of the past 75 years.
When collectors rip into packs of 2026 Topps Series 1 on Feb. 11, they will see a design that feels distinctly modern yet deeply rooted in the tactile nature of the sport. It’s a look born from a rigorous internal competition, inspired by the texture of City Connect uniforms, and headlined by a chase for the most iconic card in the hobby’s history.
I sat down with Clay Luraschi, Topps’ SVP of Product, and Adam Schwartz, the Art Director who won the “bake-off” to design the set, to get the story behind the 75th anniversary of Topps Baseball.
The “Bake-Off”: Designing a Flagship
If you’ve ever wondered how the Topps flagship baseball set gets its design, the reality is likely far more competitive than you think. It isn’t just a standard design review, it is more akin to a sports playoff than a typical corporate assignment.
“There’s a lot of deliberation that happens,” Schwartz said of the internal competition that spanned 15 months. “Along with a lot of the other art directors and designers at Topps and Fanatics, we all kind of submitted a design or two or even many. It’s pretty nerve-wracking.” “They ask different things to vet it further, like ‘We like this one, but can we see it as a parallel? Can we see it on Chrome?'” Schwartz explained . “It’s really like a bake-off because you’re constantly waiting to find out, ‘Did I make the cut today?'”
Schwartz, a lifelong Mets fan who has been with the brand for a decade, found his inspiration not in old cardstock, but in the modern evolution of the uniform. While scrolling through the Fanatics website, he found himself zooming in on the fabric textures of the MLB City Connect jerseys.
“I was like, ‘What is baseball?’ What are the icons of baseball? Like the dirt of the infield, the grass of the outfield,” Schwartz explained. “And then I got to their jerseys, their uniforms, and I was kind of inspired by the stitching and the different materials… I started really gravitating towards that.”
The winning design features a textured, fabric-like border on the left side, mimicking the triangle stitching found on jersey letters and numbers. It’s a distinct departure from the clean borders of the past, aiming to make the card feel like a piece of the player’s gear.
“I like that it features elements from the uniform,” Luraschi said. “It features something from the field, which you don’t always see. I can’t remember the last time a Topps flagship base card had that.”
Interestingly, the design unintentionally pays homage to another era. Schwartz admitted that after the design was finalized, he noticed a resemblance to the 1973 Topps Football set, known for its bold, dual-piped borders. “I honestly did not even look at it as I was designing it… maybe subconsciously I saw the card in the past and maybe it inspired me a little bit,” Schwartz said.
The “War Room” and the Top 75
Beyond the new aesthetic, the 2026 release is defined by a massive retrospective. To celebrate 75 years, Topps assembled a “War Room” of industry heavyweights, including MLB official historian John Thorn, Jim Beckett, Nat Turner, and former All-Star Evan Longoria, to vote on the top 75 cards in Topps history.
“It was a ton of fun. Some people that really know their stuff were in the discussion,” Luraschi said. “One of the pieces that was interesting was, are we only going to include base cards from the last 75 years? Or are we going to open this up to all baseball cards that we’ve produced?”
The resulting list is a Who’s Who of the hobby, featuring Shohei Ohtani five times, alongside Ken Griffey Jr., Aaron Judge, and Hank Aaron. But the crown jewel of the list, and the chase for collectors in 2026, is the 1952 Mickey Mantle.
Topps is inserting Iconic Topps Buyback redemptions for most of the top 75 cards into packs, 1 of 1’s excluded. And unlike previous buyback programs where cards were stamped with foil logos to denote a reissue, Luraschi confirmed these holy grails will remain unstamped and come in a PSA slab.
Yes, you read that correctly, someone will pull a 1952 Mantle from a pack of Topps Flagship.
“We wanted to keep the cards in their original form,” Luraschi told me. “We’ve done buybacks in the past [with stamps], but we felt for this one, it was important to keep it in its original state as is. ‘Cause that’s the card that was picked.”
The Top 10 Topps Cards of All Time (as voted by the panel):
- 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle
- 1952 Topps Willie Mays
- 1954 Topps Hank Aaron
- 1952 Topps Jackie Robinson
- 2024 Topps Chrome Update Paul Skenes Rookie Debut Patch
- 1968 Topps Jerry Koosman/Nolan Ryan “Rookie Stars”
- 1986 Topps Barry Bonds
- 1955 Topps Roberto Clemente
- 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson
- 2018 Topps Update Shohei Ohtani (Batting)
The Future of “Hits”: Experiences Over Cardboard
While the 1952 Mantle represents the ultimate physical prize, the 75th Anniversary set also signals a shift in what a “hit” can be. Topps is aggressively moving toward experiential rewards, inserting redemptions for Home Run Derby tickets, All-Star Game packages, and massive gift cards.
It’s a trend that aligns with the broader strategy of Fanatics Events, looking to bridge the gap between holding a card and being part of the game.
“We’re doing it and we want to do more of it,” Luraschi said regarding experiential hits. “It’s as much about the game of baseball as it is the cards… We not only wanted to delight collectors with our cards, but we wanted to give our collectors an opportunity to do some great things in the stadium as well.”
A Farewell to the ’52 Design
In a final nod to history, the 2026 set will feature top rookies on the classic 1952 design, a fan favorite often reused for inserts and heritage sets. However, Topps has announced that starting in 2026, Flagship (Series 1, 2, and Update) will be the exclusive home for the 1952 design, and once a player appears on it, they will never have a card in that design again.
It is a way to lock in the legacy of the current generation while honoring the past.
As Luraschi put it, looking at the 75-year timeline: “This design pays homage to the past, but also looks into the future by combining the two.”
Flagship as a Year-Long Story
While the release of Series 1 on February 11 marks the official start of the 75th Anniversary celebration, Clay Luraschi made it clear that this is merely the opening chapter of a much larger narrative. For collectors, the hunt doesn’t end when the first run of hobby boxes dries up.
“You get Series 1… and you’ll see them in Series 2 and Updates,” Luraschi said, emphasizing that the 1952 design integration and the hunt for the top 75 buybacks will span all three flagship releases. “So it’s really a true celebration throughout the entire year.”
In an era where the hobby moves at the relentless tempo of the pitch clock, Topps is betting that a year-long, cohesive story, stitched together by a unified design and historic chases, will keep collectors engaged all the way from Opening Day through the World Series celebrations.
