Topps Baseball Card Gum

by Topps

1952 – 1991 GONE FOREVER

Gone. The 1992 set was the first without gum, after two years of deliberation over pink stains and sugar-damaged cards. Gum came back in retro Topps Heritage packs for much of the 2000s before being dropped again. Bazooka itself is still sold, now by a different company than the cards.

The pink, brittle slab tucked into every pack of baseball cards, smelling faintly of cardboard and tasting faintly of gum. Collectors loved the cards and blamed the gum, and in 1992 the gum lost.

🧾 One more thingThe 1951 Topps packs held taffy instead, because the company's lawyers thought rival Bowman owned the rights to gum cards, and the printer's varnish seeped into it. Gum arrived in 1952. When it left, Topps also dropped "Chewing Gum" from its corporate name.

Filed under: Candy & Gum · the ’70s & earlier

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