MLB will end 70-year deal with trading card company Topps
Source: CNBC
2019 Topps baseball cards and 2019-2020 Panini Chronicles basketball cards.
Sam Rega
Major League Baseball will abandon Topps as its partner for trading cards, ending a relationship that’s been in place since 1952. Fanatics, the company that makes sports apparel, is expected to get the trading card deal instead, according to two people familiar with the matter. Fanatics and MLB declined to comment.MLB renewed its deal with Topps in 2018, and the existing deal ends in 2025.
MLB Players’ Association deal also aligns with the league, so its deal would end too. In the agreement with Topps, MLB gets a royalty on products sold with its intellectual property. Baseball departing is a blow to Topps as the powerhouse announced it would go public last April. The trading cards entered a SPAC merger with Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corp. II, which is listed on the Nasdaq, valuing Topps at $1.3 billion.
Topps was a public company before being taken private following a $385 million deal in 2007. The company was founded in 1938 and became well-known for its distribution of trading cards, including the 1952 Mickey Mantle card which sold for $5.2 million last January. With MLB out, Topps is left with licensing deals with leagues including Major League Soccer and the National Hockey League.
Meanwhile, it’s likely MLB will turn to Fanatics in some capacity to produce physical trading cards. MLB owns equity in the company, and it recently give its NFT rights to Fanatic-owned Candy Digital. In addition, Fanatics already owns all of MLB’s e-commerce rights, and wants to grow its business outside of sports merchandising, and want to grow in areas including sports betting.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/19/mlb-will-end-long-time-deal-with-trading-card-company-topps.html
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I was limiting my preference to baseball card gum only.
But, with Bazooka you also got a Bazooka Joe comic with each piece!
Those were the cards I bought the most of.
And you're so right! We chewed it anyway. 
(just lost 2 games in a row to the team with the worst record this year)
Haven't researched where/how they are showing it but that might be something entertaining for them to watch! 
and I know those townships are excited. 
never knowing the background on it. 
https://www.sbnation.com/2018/2/1/16946406/eagles-santa-claus-history-booing-snowballs
and -
Even before it had barely begun, however, the halftime show started to go as awry as the Eagles’ season. A day’s worth of snow and the pounding cleats of large football players had turned much of the field to muck, and the float quickly got stuck in the mud, meaning Santa would have to abandon his traditional means of conveyance and parade around on foot instead. But Santa was nowhere to be found, the person hired to portray him (depending upon which report one believes) having been prevented from making it to Franklin Field due to either an excess of inclement weather or an excess of alcoholic refreshments. In a panic, the Eagles’ entertainment director, Bill Mullen, approached a fan sitting in the stands, 20-year-old Frank Olivo, to fill in for the absent Santa Claus. Olivo, who had worn a red corduroy Santa suit and a fake beard to the game, was given a large sack and tapped to weave down the field between two columns of Eaglettes, waving to the crowd as the brass band played “Here Comes Santa Claus.”
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/philadelphia-fans-boo-santa-claus/
They were "booing" a fan who was tapped at the last minute to fill in for the Santa who didn't show up.
'cause I know some of the playgrounds here have had some baseball teams established for years.
The 2 are Upper Providence and a sortof "metro area" team (in Jersey - about 55 miles east in south Jersey) Tom's River, NJ (who already has a spot).
The Atlantic Ocean!! 
My mom was a baseball fan and would quietly listen to the games on the radio. Of course she was from the days when the "As" were the Philadelphia Athletics. She always hated the Phillies.
I've been a Cincinnati Reds fan since 1969 (I was 9 then). I think I started to hate them during the Steinbrenner years. The Cardinals because they used to own us for years. I've enjoyed some success with the Reds and a lot of bad times but, thankfully, this year we seem to have a really good team.
As a lifelong Metalhead 
(as you can tell by my sig line) I also love a really wild band called W.A.S.P. Their lead singer, Blackie Lawless, is as wild as they come (he's now a born again christian but, still puts on a great show!).
Years ago during an interview he was talking about his baseball playing days in his youth and why he's still a fan. He then stated, "Baseball is just a special, special game." I've never heard it stated any better and I'll never forget that quote. Baseball really is just a special, special game. (It's too damn bad though, he's a Yankees fan)
I would say that is because it was one of if not the first "organized professional" sport in the U.S. And since it debuted well before telecommunications (other than telegraph), it "grew up" on radio where the announcers (and eventual "color analysts" ) perfected bringing the radio listener right there into the stadium, able to "visualize" every play. It also became a stats freak's wet dream.
I know growing up, I recall one teacher of mine in school coming right out and saying (paraphrase) that "baseball was 90% standing around and 10% of actual play". But of course you got a lot of bang for the buck out of that 10%.
I think one recent example of the bang for the buck just happened last week with the Phillies loss to the Dodgers after a long rain delay -
and the Diamondbacks have that distinction for the National League (which includes the Phillies).
and doing a fine job of bemoaning the Phillies collapse!
It's a great fast way to get to the head of the line for draft picks (like the Pirates could do this year).
I only buy Cubs gear that have the 2016 Championship logo.
Other than that, I won't buy Cubs gear because of the Ricketts family.
Son is Governor of Nebraska.
I've been trying to get my brothers and sisters to stop buying Cubs gear.
Rickets are soooooo greedy, that they sued the house across the street in the outfield
to turn over money from selling seats to watch the Cubs.
I have no problem with that, because it is their product, so the agreement was that the
Cubs would get 17% from the sale of those seats. (I don't know how they came up with that).
But that wasn't good enough. So the Ricketts started buying the houses themselves.
And the owners who wouldn't sell? Well Ricketts and Cubs built the Scoreboards in front
of those houses to block the view.
In this image the 2 new Scoreboards are the rectangles at the edge of the outfield bleachers.
Notice they don't block any of the houses highlighted in BLUE.
