# Topps Chewing Gum and The Topps Company

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topps-chewing-gum-and-the-topps-company/666082>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [August 12, 2013, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topps-chewing-gum-and-the-topps-company/666082 "2013-08-12T22:41:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bmasters1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@bmasters1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmasters1)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topps-chewing-gum-and-the-topps-company/666082/1 "2013-08-12T22:41:13Z")

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In the late 80’s, Topps renamed itself from Topps Chewing Gum to The Topps Company. The football cards of 1988 reflected this renaming, while it took until 1989 for baseball cards to reflect that same renaming. Why is this?

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topps-chewing-gum-and-the-topps-company/666082/2 "2013-08-12T22:56:04Z")

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Presumably the change occurred after the end of football season but before the start of baseball season? Or between whatever cutoff dates the company uses for printing cards.

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**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topps-chewing-gum-and-the-topps-company/666082/3 "2013-08-12T22:59:23Z")

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My guess is that the baseball cards were printed before the name change in 1988, so the football cards were the first to reflect the change.

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**Author:** ![bmasters1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@bmasters1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmasters1)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topps-chewing-gum-and-the-topps-company/666082/4 "2013-08-12T23:15:07Z")

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> [@Oakminster](#):
>
> My guess is that the baseball cards were printed before the name change in 1988, so the football cards were the first to reflect the change.

That’s a great point! I have a lot of baseball cards from 1988, and football cards of that same year, and such was the reason why I asked.

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**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topps-chewing-gum-and-the-topps-company/666082/5 "2013-08-12T23:56:01Z")

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They couldn’t get the graphic artists to agree on changes to the format. You wouldn’t believe the whining when you say you need to move a line a couple points, it’s like you’re saying you want to touch up the Mona Lisa with some spray paint.

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**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topps-chewing-gum-and-the-topps-company/666082/6 "2013-08-13T00:13:16Z")

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Do they make their own gum? If not, who does?

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**Author:** ![bmoak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@bmoak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmoak)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topps-chewing-gum-and-the-topps-company/666082/7 "2013-08-13T00:24:15Z")

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Do cards sill come with gum? I thought they stopped that years ago.

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**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topps-chewing-gum-and-the-topps-company/666082/8 "2013-08-13T00:33:34Z")

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> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> Do they make their own gum? If not, who does?

As nasty as that gum was, I don’t think we want to go down that rabbit hole!

😃