Top of the Order CCG

Top of the Order is Mayfair Games' baseball CCG from the mid-1990s, the sibling product to their Sim City CCG and an attempt to bring hobby-game design rigor to sports-themed card games.

The game

Released in 1995 by Mayfair Games, Top of the Order CCG is a two-player baseball simulation where each player builds a lineup from MLB player cards and resolves at-bat matchups through pitch-and-swing cards. The designer Michael Alyn Pondsmith (not the Cyberpunk Pondsmith) built the game around historically accurate baseball statistics, with player attribute values calibrated to real performance data.

The context

Mayfair was primarily a Euro-strategy-game publisher best known for Settlers of Catan's North American distribution. Top of the Order was their attempt to leverage that design reputation for a sports CCG that went deeper than the typical licensed-tie-in format. The print run was modest and distribution leaned on hobby stores rather than mass retail.

The collector angle

Only a base set effectively shipped before Mayfair refocused on Settlers distribution and other Euro-game imports. Player-rare cards from the 1995 MLB roster cover stars who would later become Hall-of-Famers (Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripken Jr., Barry Bonds pre-steroid-era, Greg Maddux), which gives those cards cross-collector value with baseball-card markets. Sealed Mayfair product is a small niche today, sometimes bought by baseball-simulation gamers looking for strategically sound old-school alternatives rather than as a CCG per se.