The Premier issue of Topps Magazine was released in January 1990, and the second issue arrived in stores in April.  The cover featured Nolan Ryan and promised to highlight Ryan, Robin Yount, Bo Jackson, and Will Clark.  Rookie Fever was the only virus in town, and once you took a look at the free poster, you’d be able to dig in to learn “All About Errors”!

The Breakdown

Here are some of the highlights of Issue 2:

• A reader from Florida wrote in to report that he was driving 65 mph, and Jose Canseco passed him while driving a Jaguar.  The reader found this behavior very immature.

• Topps broke the news that Bowman would be back in June of 1990 and would “shrink” to the standard size of 2.5” x 3.5”.  They also announced that Bowman football would return that fall using the same design as the baseball release.

• A quick story recapped the presentation of the 1990 George Bush cards to the President.

• A review of the Topps #1 Draft picks cards correctly predicted that Frank Thomas would make his major league debut that coming summer.  The careers of Earl Cunningham, Paul Coleman, and  Donald Harris didn’t quite match Frank’s.

• 8 cards of current and former players were included. Bo Jackson, Nolan Ryan, Will Clark, Robin Yount, Joe Morgan, Jim Palmer, Ben McDonald, and John Olerud were al included to delight collectors.

• A pretty awesome calendar covering both player birthdays and interesting facts which occur on each date between April and September.

Two pages were dedicated to the winning pitcher of the Little League World Series.  That pitcher was 13 year old Chris Drury.  He collected baseball cards (Don Mattingly was his favorite), loves golf and fishing, and he was worried about finding his hockey stick.  Well, it seems he finally found it as he went on to play parts of 12 seasons in the NHL!  That’s pretty cool.

It also turns out that fraud and general shadiness are not unique to present day eBay and Facebook scammers.  Topps spent two pages guiding collectors on how to avoid counterfeit cards and mail-order fraud.

As promised, Ryan, Yount, Jackson, and Clark all received special attention.  Each received a three page spread which combined an article, photos, and a few other interesting infographics.  In my opinion, it was good blend of card info, career info, and some personal details.  These aren’t hard hitting pieces, nor do they go as deep as some of the conversations Brad Balukjian includes in Wax Pack Book, but they are perfect for what Topps Magazine was trying to be.

Another thing I really like about these first couple issues is they also helped educate readers about the game.  In the first issue, instructions about keeping an official scorecard were provided, and here in episode 2 we learned how to calculate Slugging Percentage.  They didn’t just include the formula, but also some real life examples and a discussion on why the stat matters.

As you look through the issue in its entirety, you can see the efforts to focus on more than just one sport.  While baseball was(and continues to be) Topps’ bread and butter, they clearly tried to throw some bones to other hobby interests.  Football and Hockey had shoutouts and some small articles, and the magazine even closed out with an article about the 1962 Mars Attacks set. So even Non-Sports got a fair shake!

Man, I wish this magazine would have lived longer than 16 issues.  I’m having a ton of fun going back through these old copies and reading about the old sets and predictions.  This was a perfect compliment to Beckett, and I’m looking forward to digging through some more issues I have tucked away! 

I didn’t see any copies available on eBay at the time of this post, but it was available on Amazon if you want to get a copy of your own!

Also, if you haven’t heard, I started a new Podcast called the WaxPackHero Sports Card Minute!  It’s available here directly on the site at the Podcast link at the top of the page, or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, and TuneIn!  Check it out, let me know what you think, and tell your friends!