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Showing posts from November, 2021

Fanatics vs Panini Antitrust Fight: What It Means for Licenses, Products, and Prices

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Fanatics vs. Panini: What the Antitrust Heat Could Mean for Licenses, Products, and Prices Fanatics locked up a raft of long exclusive trading-card licenses with the big U.S. leagues and players’ unions, then bought Topps. Panini sued for antitrust. A federal judge let the core claims move forward. Discovery is now spicy, with Fanatics ordered to hand over unredacted licensing deals to Panini’s lawyers. If you care about what logos show up on the box you rip and how much you pay, this fight matters. How we got here The license grab. Fanatics struck exclusive card deals that, by 2025–2026, put most major U.S. league and union rights under its roof for a decade or more. Panini called foul and sued in 2023. What the court said. In March 2025, the judge dismissed some counts but kept the core antitrust claims alive. Translation: the heart of the case is going to be litigated, not tossed. Discovery fireworks. In July 2025, a magistrate judge ordered Fanatic...

DID YOU KNOW #2 - Gary Pettis was not Gary Pettis?

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Gary Pettis' 1985 Topps Card… Starring His Brother? Baseball cards have seen their fair share of printing errors and quirky mistakes — but this one might be the most charming of all. In 1985, Topps released a card for then-California Angels outfielder Gary Pettis . The only problem? The guy on the card wasn’t Gary at all… it was his younger brother. The 1985 Topps card that started the confusion It all happened one Sunday at the ballpark. Pettis' younger brother had tagged along, wearing a uniform and running drills with other kids while the players were doing their thing. That just happened to be the day Topps photographers were snapping player shots for the upcoming set. Gary wasn’t even aware pictures were being taken… but his brother was out there, in full gear and looking pretty similar to his big-league sibling. As Gary later explained in an interview: "My brother would come out to the ballpark on Sundays and go out on the field. I gue...