Was fortunate to attend the annual Topps executive Q&A last night at The National. It’s a very cool event where they bring out their most senior execs to answer questions for a small group of collectors- maybe 100.

This year the execs were Mike Mahan (CEO of Fanatics Collectibles), Nick Bell (CEO of Fanatics Live and Collect), Avery Jessup (chief commercial officer for Fanatics Collectibles), David Leiner (president of Topps), and Clay Luraschi (chief product officer for Topps).

Most interesting nuggets I heard:
* Last year Topps had 70K redemptions outstanding, today they are down to 8K
* They are looking at ways to potentially protect against CT scanning boxes to find hits, but Mahan said he thought that story was overblown
* They said more licenses beyond Premier League, WWE and NBA are coming, but didn’t say what

I got to go last year too and it’s fascinating to hear the questions of these passionate collectors and the unfiltered answers of the Fanatics execs.

They also do trivia and try and stump Clay by asking him the value of random cards vs the Beckett guide. He never misses!

One guy won a 1961 Topps Mickey Mantle!

This has to be the greatest dual autograph jersey of all time.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9uoM5EubeC/?igsh=MTNoM2d5OHZkN3o5Zg==

Hey, all. It's nice to be in the Mantel community. For those who aren't aware, Fanatics Collectibles and Topps has a content site: Topps RIPPED. Check out our site having you get your Mantel fix. Here is my latest monthly column. Hobby Hotspot | June 2024 (topps.com)

A buddy who used to work for Fanatics showed me this card he got while an employee- GPK x Michael Rubin White Party card, SGC 10! Really fun card- super rare, too.

Makes me think about other corp execs who should get Garbage Pail Kid card collabs too.

Warren Buffet? Steve Jobs?

Topps/Fanatics have signed top MLB Draft prospect, Jac Caglianone, to a NIL deal. Jac will be their first College Baseball player signed and is looking to be a high draft pick next month. Coming in at 6'5" he has had 10.2 batters out / 9 innings, and 33 HRs this season in the NCAA (including record tying HR stretch in April).

The early deal may be a way to cash in on the hype and potential of Jac. Do you think we will start seeing early signings more often?

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/fanatics-topps-signs-1st-college-baseball-player-to-card-memorabilia-deal/