The Story Behind Match Attax
Four brothers—Abram, Ira, Philip, and Joseph Shorin—founded Topps in 1938. Morris Shorin, the father of the Shorin brothers, formed American Leaf Tobacco in 1908, which is where Topps got its start.
Due to its isolation from Turkish tobacco sources throughout World War I and the Great Depression, American Leaf Tobacco faced challenges. Abram, Ira, Philip, and Joseph, Shorin’s sons, made the decision to concentrate on a new product while utilizing the business’s current distribution networks. They accomplished this by relaunching the business under the name Topps, which was intended to suggest that it would be “tops” in its industry. The production of chewing gum was the selected industry.
Chewing gum was still a relatively new product at the time, and it was sold in single pieces. Bazooka bubble gum, which came with a little comic on the wrapper, was Topps’s most popular early product. In an attempt to boost sales, the company began packaging gum with trading cards that featured Western character Hopalong Cassidy (played by William Boyd) in 1950. Boyd was one of the biggest stars of early television at the time and was frequently featured in newspaper articles and magazine covers, in addition to a lot of “Hoppy” merchandise. Upon Topps’ subsequent product launch, baseball cards quickly emerged as the company’s main focus.
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Sy Berger was dubbed the “father of the modern baseball card” On the kitchen table in his Brooklyn apartment on Alabama Avenue, Berger, then a 28-year-old World War II veteran, created the 1952 Topps baseball card set with Woody Gelman in the fall of 1951. The front of the card featured the player’s name, photo, team name, logo, and facsimile autograph; the back featured the player’s height, weight, bats, throws, birthplace, birthday, statistics, and a brief biography. Even now, the fundamental design is still in use. Berger became a prominent figure in the baseball world and the face of Topps to major league baseball players, whom he signed up each year and compensated with products like refrigerators and rugs. Berger would work for Topps for 50 years (1947–1997) and then act as a consultant for an additional five.
Sy’s ability to negotiate was acknowledged by the Shorins, who dispatched him to London in 1964 to acquire Topps’s rights to make Beatles trading cards. They tried hockey as well. Arriving without an appointment, Sy managed to communicate with the Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, in Yiddish.
To get rid of the remaining boxes of 1952 baseball cards that were kept in their warehouse, Berger rented a garbage boat and accompanied the group as it was dragged off the coast of New Jersey by a tugboat. After then, the cards were thrown into the Atlantic Ocean. The most valuable card of the contemporary age, Mickey Mantle’s debut Topps card, was among the cards. Naturally, nobody at the time had any idea how much the cards would eventually be worth to the collector. The Mickey Mantle baseball card (Topps; #311; SGC MT 9.5) sold for $12.600 million on August 28, 2022.
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What Our Fans Are Saying
Match Attax has transformed our family game nights into exciting, competitive challenges, and we love collecting the cards together.
Emily & Jacob
The thrill of trading cards with friends and playing matches has elevated my passion for soccer to new levels. Can’t recommend it enough!
Jessica & Ryan
From collecting unique cards to engaging in strategy-filled matches, Match Attax provides endless fun for soccer enthusiasts. It’s a game changer!
Olivia & Mark
