5 Most Valuable and Iconic O-Pee-Chee Baseball Cards

O-Pee-Chee (OPC) cards are often referred to as “Canadian Topps,” but that description is an oversimplification. Many of the OPC designs mirror Topps, but the production process, distribution, and card details create a truly unique card in the eyes of experienced collectors.

O-Pee-Chee was a Canadian candy company based in Ontario that created unique baseball card sets throughout the 1930s to help boost gum sales. After a baseball card hiatus, they began issuing cards utilizing Topps' designs in 1965 through a long-standing licensing agreement. The partnership allowed OPC to act as the Canadian arm of Topps, which in turn helped Topps gain a foothold in the hockey market.

Robin Yount OPC — Here is the 1975 O-Pee-Chee Robin Yount Rookie Card. Starting in 1970, bilingual text (English and French) was added to the back of OPC cards to comply with Canadian law. | eBay

OPC baseball cards were printed for a smaller Canadian market, so they had a much smaller print run and remain far rarer than standard Topps. Not only were the OPC cards significantly rarer than the standard base Topps versions, inconsistent production quality by OPC also led to miscuts, centering issues, and weaker card stock. OPC’s poor quality control made high-grade cards significantly harder to find.

Rickey Henderson 1985 OPC — O-Pee-Chee cards included "Traded To" and “Now With” notations that acted as a formal statement that the player had moved teams, even if the photo still showed them in their old uniform. | eBay

While iconic Topps cards are readily available to anyone with the budget (a collector could log onto eBay and find ten 1968 Nolan Ryan rookies in a single afternoon), O-Pee-Chee cards are not so easy to find. High-grade copies are genuinely rare. In an era largely defined by common base cards, OPC provided variety and the "short print" feel that the hobby otherwise lacked. The following five cards represent the most valuable and iconic O-Pee-Chee baseball cards ever sold, highlighting just how strong that demand has become.

5. 1975 O-Pee-Chee George Brett Rookie Card PSA 10- $63,000

OPC Total Population: 557

Topps Base Version Total Population: 28,484

Card Info: George Brett’s rookie card is arguably the most iconic of the 1970s and the OPC version shares the same popular multi-colored design as the standard Topps card. The O-Pee-Chee version’s scarcity is so significant that a PSA 6 OPC recently outsold a PSA 8 Topps version, $1,000 to $970. Despite the lower grade, the rarity of the Canadian card makes it the more sought-after card.

4. 1973 O-Pee-Chee Mike Schmidt Rookie Card PSA 10- $68,800

OPC Total Population: 299

Topps Base Version Total Population: 19,468

Card Info: This looks nearly identical to the iconic Topps Mike Schmidt rookie card, but there are subtle differences. Unlike the Topps version, the O-Pee-Chee includes statistics in both English and French, the back explicitly states, "Printed in Canada,” and it uses brighter card-stock compared to the grayish Topps backs. A PSA 6 OPC Schmidt rookie recently sold for $774, while the much more common Topps version in a PSA 7 sells for around $700.

3. 1968 O-Pee-Chee Nolan Ryan Rookie Card PSA 8- $76,268

OPC Total Population: 672

Topps Base Version Total Population: 31,772

Card Info: The OPC Nolan Ryan rookie is the second rarest of his four official rookie cards. The four versions of his rookie, often referred to by collectors as the "Four Horsemen, are the O-Pee-Chee, the standard Topps, the Milton Bradley board game insert, and the (most rare) Venezuelan Topps version. It is estimated that there is only one 1968 OPC card for every thousand 1968 cards produced by Topps. The back of the OPC version is darker and brownish compared to the brighter yellow back of the Topps. A PSA 7 copy of the O-Pee-Chee recently sold for $13,400, while a Topps version in a PSA 7 sells for around $5,500.

2. 1979 O-Pee-Chee Ozzie Smith Rookie Card PSA 10-$79,200

OPC Total Population: 1,463

Topps Base Version Total Population: 24,766

Card Info: This is the best rookie card of “The Wizard” because of its scarcity compared to the standard Topps version. The lower-left front of the card includes a small white baseball with the O-Pee-Chee logo instead of the Topps logo. The OPC Ozzie Smith rookie is notoriously difficult to find in good condition due to poor manufacturing and quality control. A PSA 6 copy of the O-Pee-Chee recently sold for $314, while a Topps version in a PSA 6 recently sold for $65.

1. 1937 O-Pee-Chee Joe DiMaggio SGC 9- $288,000

Total Population: 46

Card Info: Because of its extreme scarcity, this is a holy grail of DiMaggio cards. The Yankee Clipper’s rookie season was in 1936, but some auction houses will list this as a “rookie card,” even though the 1936 World Wide Gum (a Canadian Goudey card) was his true first card as a Major Leaguer. A die-cut around the figure of DiMaggio allowed collectors to fold the background, making the card stand upright like a 3D display, so most cards were damaged as kids used the die-cut feature.

5 Honorable Mention Iconic O-Pee-Chee Baseball Cards from the 1980s

1. 1987 O-Pee-Chee Barry Bonds Rookie PSA 10- $30,500

2. 1983 O-Pee-Chee Tony Gwynn Rookie PSA 10- $27,000

3. 1984 O-Pee-Chee Don Mattingly Rookie PSA 10- $4,600

4. 1985 O-Pee-Chee Kirby Puckett Rookie PSA 10- $3,120

5. Jose Canseco 1987 O-Pee-Chee PSA 10- $1,500

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