Do athletes get free trading cards from manufacturers?

Aspie_Rocco

Do the athletes on cards get free cards from the manufacturer, like Topps?
Do they get paid to be depicted on cards?

mccardguy1

Back when I worked in MLB the players got paid through the players association who negotiates their collective rights to use the likeness on cards and other "stuff". I believe in the 80's I heard the amount the players received from the players association rights alone was around 80K. I cannot speak as to what it is today.

As for getting free cards, again, in the 80's they did get a stack of their own cards but do not know if that has changed. It is my understanding that they do get a number of cards but how much Ihave no idea.

Aspie_Rocco

Cool, thank you for the reply.

Tibor

Back in 1982 a bunch of us went to Florida for a week of Spring training
games. At that time Topps, Donruss, and Fleer were the major card producers. Went
to a Cardinals game and Topps had just delivered a case of wax to each locker room.
During warmups and the game the players were ripping through the packs. After the
game a couple of the players brought over their cards and autographed them. Wax
wrappers were everywhere. Not a good day to be on the grounds crew.

Stone193

Good question Rocco.

My info would be anecdotal. I do remember reports that Reggie Jackson was trying to get as many of his RCs as he could? There's people here who have written some TTMs and asked about their cards - many said "they wish they had some of them."

Here's something of interest.

For those that didn't know. Topps kept copious records of their dealing with players and their "compensation."

I got this index card from the ToppsVault many years ago - don't remember how many I purchased. I did located 3 scans.

Here's one:

note for e.g., in 1959 he got an Emerson Stereo. In '62, he got $125 (which is like about 1100 bucks today).

estang

I would ask for 100 of my own card to sign my contract; sans limited number cards...

Aspie_Rocco

@Stone193 , that index card is awesome! Thank you for sharing that. I enjoy the obscure hobby details like that. On the coin side Roger Burdette is a historian who finds cool old hand written Mint Documents and shares them.

JoeBanzai

Bowman and Topps had a battle for the rights for a while.

Ted Williams had some issues with this in the mid 1950's(?).

That's why there is no 1955 Mantle, if I am not mistaken.

Stone193

@JoeBanzai said:
Bowman and Topps had a battle for the rights for a while.

Ted Williams had some issues with this in the mid 1950's(?).

That's why there is no 1955 Mantle, if I am not mistaken.

Hiya Joe

That's one of those areas where I got lost in the weeds and may stand alone in the interest of the law suits between competing companies for the right to publish baseball cards.

Baseball Cards and the Birth of the Right of Publicity: The Curious Case of Haelan Laboratories v. Topps Chewing Gum: LINK

Haelan Laboratories aka Bowman Gum Company later to be bought out by Topps fought for their right to have exclusive ownership of certain player likenesses.

What's most interesting about this whole thing?

Baseball cards - kid's toys - was the key player and legal precedent in what's known today as "Intellectual Property Rights."

AANV

I was working on a project with Jeff Hostetler, and he told me that Upper Deck used to send boxes of their product to him. I showed him my SPX cards from 1996 and 1997 and he said he had hundreds of them at home.