Last month I bought a box of baseball cards and noticed something very different from the ones I got as a kid.

In the lower-left of the package, there’s a child rating that suggests the cards are not appropriate for kids under the age of 6:

I don’t know that much about kids, but I feel like I understand baseball cards pretty well.  I can see how a child would be a major threat to a baseball card, but for the life of me could not figure out what would make the opposite situation an issue.

So I called Topps.

I waited on hold for about 20 minutes (somehow there were seven people in front of me) and in that time my new friend David Wright of the New York Mets informed me many times that Topps is on Facebook.  Oh and that they make MMA cards too!

Finally though, I did speak to a customer service representative who provided an answer I never even considered.

“Mainly because in the Major Leagues there are some players who are using drugs, and they don’t recommend that for kids,” the rep said.

I don’t know what it is about turning 6 that makes you able to process seeing the baseball card of a guy who has used performance-enhancing drugs, but since I have a niece and nephew who haven’t made it there, I had to make my set safe.

Bye bye, Jhonny Peralta!

So long, Edinson Volquez!

Thanks to the always amazing baseball-reference.com for their database of PED suspensions.  And for the Topps company for taking a stand for the sake of baseball and the youth of America.