These classic baseball cards came back after 15 years only to disappear forever
When collectors think of baseball cards from the 1980s and early 1990s, the first brands they think about are likely Topps, Fleer, Donruss, and Upper Deck, perhaps adding Score to the mix if they like. But if their collections ran a little deeper, or if they grew up in Canada, it would be hard not to think of O-Pee-Chee.
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Every single year without fail from 1965 through 1994, the Canadian-based outfit issued a set of trading cards in partnership with US-based Topps. From 1991 to 1993, the company even put out its own set of premium cardboard under the O-Pee-Chee Premier imprint.
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And then, all of a sudden, the brand just disappeared off the radar. Did Canadians no longer collect baseball cards? Did ardent US collectors no longer want yet another card of the year's hottest rookie? What was going on? More than likely, the reason has less to do with O-Pee-Chee and more with the state of the Hobby in general. O-Pee-Chee's 1994 swansong didn't come in just any baseball season. It came in THAT baseball season, the one with the strike, the cancelled World Series, and millions of angry baseball fans everywhere. It may even be that the angriest of the angry were in Canada, given that the best team in baseball at the time of the stoppage was the Expos, poised to give Canada its third consecutive World Championship had play continued.
Following the strike, baseball cards were scaled back in a big way. Even the Topps flagship set, which had been faithfully collected for more than four decades, dropped in size from 792 cards to 660. Upper Deck, which offered 840 cards in 1993 trimmed its 1995 offering to a paltry 495. Where players were on strike in late 1994, fans and collectors were largely on strike in the seasons that followed. It made sense that O-Pee-Chee didn't bother with a set.
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While 1994 O-Pee-Chee marked the end of an era, it didn't mark the very end, as it turned out. After licensing the brand in 2006, Upper Deck tested the baseball waters with a small 50-card set in 2008, modeled after the 1969 Topps set, as odd as that may sound. In 2009, however, O-Pee-Chee was back and (arguably) better than ever with a 600-card release complete with inserts, autos, minis, parallels, and all the other bells and whistles collectors have come to expect from a major release.
Those who don't know the history might assume Upper Deck and O-Pee-Chee would continue the baseball card partnership for years to come, but that would leave out one very important detail. In August 2009 Upper Deck lost its MLB license as MLB went exclusive with Topps. While the biggest casualty was of course Upper Deck itself (some would say collectors!), a smaller casualty was the brand's burgeoning baseball partnership with O-Pee-Chee. The 2009 O-Pee-Chee set proved to be a one-and-done, the final O-Pee-Chee baseball card ever made belonging to San Francisco's Joe Martinez.
As a minor but peculiar postscript, there is something poetic about the set ending with this particular player. While the first O-Pee-Chee baseball card sets with Topps came out in 1965 (1960 if you count tattoos), the very first O-Pee-Chee baseball cards came out in 1937. The key card in that set? Wouldn't you know it was a Joe from Martinez who starred for San Francisco!
Jason A. Schwartz is a collectibles expert whose work can be found regularly at SABR Baseball Cards, Hobby News Daily, and 1939Bruins.com. His collection of Hank Aaron baseball cards and memorabilia is currently on exhibit at the Atlanta History Center, and his collectibles-themed artwork is on display at the Honus Wagner Museum and PNC Park.