Since returning to the hobby, I’ve put a personal focus on O-Pee-Chee Baseball.
The first OPC baseball cards arrived in 1937 but quickly left the market.
Decades later they signed a partnership deal with Topps to produce and distribute cards for the Canadian Market. The early years from 1965 through 1976 mirrored the Topps sets, sometime ending one series shorter, sometimes being identical.
In 1977 the American League expanded to Toronto. While Topps was happy to issue airbrushed cards, OPC decided to wait for spring training, get photos of the player from camp, and issue their set later. This was the first set to follow the half size of the Topps release, with an emphasis on Blue Jays and Expos players, the mini-set era ran from 1977-1989.
In 1990 the OPC release was identical with only text on the back indicating they were OPC cards. 1991 & 1992 were also full size, and 1992 marked the final release in the Topps/OPC partnership.
In 1993 & 1994 OPC produced and released cards of their own design for the Canadian market.
Sadly the NHL and MLB both had strikes in 1994, and tanking sales along with oversaturation in the market, caused OPC to cease card production after 1994. The ashes of the company were eventually acquired by the Upper Deck Company who still releases hockey cards under the O-Pee-Chee banner.
OPC print runs, even in the Junk Wax era were a fraction of their Topps counterparts and some years, 1971, 1974 & 1976 especially are extremely tough cards to find, in any condition.
While we deal in all sports cards and era, O-Pee-Chee Baseball is a favorite and you will find a large amount of it at our shows and on our ebay store.