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Upper Deck Markets to Kids at the Sports Cards & Collectibles Expo
Posted by: | CommentsThe Sports Cards & Collectibles Expo in Toronto is a show that always brings in thousands of fans during the weekend. And Upper Deck has been a mainstay at the show bringing a variety of giveaways and promotions for collectors young and old. This last weekend however, Upper Deck staff really spent a lot of time engaging kids as they are truly the future for this hobby.

Trading card shows provide Upper Deck with a great opportunity to share trading cards with young kids and see their smiles as they instantly become engaged in the hobby.
It’s never too early to expose kids to trading cards. Yes, if you get them too young, it is almost a certainty that the cards will end up right in their mouth, but maybe, just maybe, trading cards can help with teething. We loved seeing the look on youngster’s faces as they held Upper Deck trading cards for the first time over the weekend.

Two brothers and one sister competed head-to-head-to-head in the Upper Deck decoy toss where they tried to get the most decoy cards in a target.

The winner was thrilled and those who came up short, well, they had their own ways of getting revenge...
We scheduled some times where kids could compete in a decoy tossing game at the booth where they went head to head against each other or Upper Deck staff to win prizes like new Upper Deck packs. I’m pretty sure they would have competed just for the fun of it though. It was awesome to see the smiles on the faces of brothers, sisters and friends as they competed in this exciting game as supporters cheered them on.
Next we made sure we had kids involved in our raffle program on Saturday. Lots of kids were holding raffle tickets and since we had a lot of prizes, a good amount of kids won. It was great to hear their enthusiastic cries after they won as some of them took home their first ever trading cards and collectibles.
And sometimes we just got a little silly with the kids and came up with games for them on site. We had three brothers that were camped out at the Upper Deck booth on Sunday so we had the two older boys engage in a fun game for some packs while their younger brother Christopher looked on.
There is really no bigger thrill for me though as a new father than to see kids opening packs of Upper Deck cards with their fathers. It’s especially exciting to see a father teach his son or daughter how to open up the packs and their sense of wonder as they go through the cards for the first time. Through our redemption program, we saw a lot of kids coming through opening product at the Upper Deck booth this weekend. And some of them scored some pretty awesome Priority Signings cards!
We allocated some of the Priority Signings autograph cards to use with fans this week, but if you want to take them home, you’re going to have to work for them. In the comment section below, please share your ideas (must be at least four complete sentences) on what more the trading card industry can do to get kids interested in collecting new trading card sets. We’ll select our three favorite ideas to receive random Priority Signings cards. Comments must be received in by 4:00 p.m. Pacific on Wednesday, May 9, 2012.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Donate Your Time to Cards2Kids Charity This Weekend in Illinois!
Posted by: | CommentsWe’ve talked about a great charity called Cards2Kids before, but this weekend they could really use your help. And all they are looking for you to donate is a little bit of your time.
Cards2Kids has been very successful in terms of getting collectors to donate their unwanted cards to their cause, but the most difficult part of the process in getting these to kids is organizing them and repackaging them. John Makowiec, the founder of the charity, is looking for a few good men and women to help him get packages organized so they can deliver them to kids in need this weekend. If you are in the Illinois area, we hope you will take part. Here are all the details about the event.
As an added bonus, Upper Deck is donating a limited-edition Ryne Sandberg autograph card sequentially numbered to just 20 copies to be awarded to the MVP of the day. John will share with us who came through in the clutch for them over the weekend and we will send them the card. Please make plans to help out this super cause!

Be a star this weekend by helping out Cards2Kids and you could score this awesome Ryne Sandberg autograph card.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Upper Deck Releases Rarity Levels on 2012 Upper Deck Football College Mascot Patch Cards
Posted by: | CommentsUpper Deck’s new College Mascots patch cards are selling very well thus far as it appears more than a few collectors would like to put that set together. In and effort to help give those set collectors a better feel for just how short-printed some of these cards are, we wanted to release the rarity levels on them. Take a look and if you are able to put the set together, send us an email at UpperDeckMarketing@upperdeck.com. We would love to feature you here on the blog!
| Card # | Group D – Combine to fall 1:99 packs |
| CM-1 | Big Al |
| CM-4 | Tusk |
| CM-7 | Aubie |
| CM-11 | Cosmo |
| CM-12 | Oski |
| CM-17 | Albert E. Gator |
| CM-19 | Hairy Dawg |
| CM-20 | Buzz |
| CM-21 | Herky Hawk |
| CM-24 | Mike the Tiger |
| CM-26 | Sparty |
| CM-28 | Bully |
| CM-29 | Truman the Tiger |
| CM-31 | Herbie Husker |
| CM-34 | The Leprechaun |
| CM-35 | Brutus Buckeye |
| CM-36 | Sooner Schooner |
| CM-37 | Pistol Pete |
| CM-38 | The Duck |
| CM-40 | Roc the Panther |
| CM-41 | The Tiger |
| CM-42 | Purdue Pete |
| CM-46 | Smokey |
| CM-47 | Reveille |
| CM-49 | Hook ‘Em |
| CM-50 | Raider Red |
| CM-51 | Joe and Josephine Bruin |
| CM-53 | Trojan warrior |
| CM-54 | CavMan |
| CM-55 | HokieBird |
| CM-56 | Demon Deacon |
| CM-57 | Harry the Husky |
| CM-58 | Big Red |
| CM-59 | Bucky Badger |
| CM-60 | Handsome Dan |
| Card # | Group C – Combine to fall 1:158 packs |
| CM-10 | Baldwin the Eagle |
| CM-13 | Knightro |
| CM-14 | Ralphie |
| CM-16 | PeeDee |
| CM-2 | Sparky |
| CM-22 | The Wildcat |
| CM-27 | Goldy Gopher |
| CM-3 | Willie the Wildcat |
| CM-30 | Monte |
| CM-33 | Rameses |
| CM-43 | Cocky |
| CM-44 | Rocky D. Bull |
| CM-45 | Super Frog |
| CM-8 | Bruiser |
| CM-9 | Buster Bronco |
| Card # | Group B – Combine to fall 1:1,752 packs |
| CM-15 | YoUDee |
| CM-25 | Sebastian the Ibis |
| CM-39 | Benny Beaver |
| CM-5 | Black Jack |
| CM-6 | War Eagle |
| Card # | Group A – Combine to fall 1:7,595 packs |
| CM-18 | Uga |
| CM-23 | Mike the Tiger |
| CM-32 | Lil’ Red |
| CM-48 | Bevo |
| CM-52 | Traveler |
Popularity: 2% [?]
Collect Bryce Harper’s Best Prospect Baseball Cards
Posted by: | CommentsBryce Harper is one of the most highly touted prospects in the world of sports today and this weekend he made his big league debut for the Washington Nationals at the ripe old age of 19. And most folks believe the hype, especially since he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated at just 16 years of age, touted as the biggest prodigy since LeBron James.
And with any big baseball prospect, Bryce Harper had a variety of USA Baseball cards produced before he hit the pro level by Upper Deck. Many of these cards were released between 2008-2010 in Upper Deck Baseball products and are commanding some serious dollars in the secondary market creating renewed interest in these older products. He is quickly proving to be one of the most sought after rookie players in the trading card market today. Take a look at some of the Upper Deck Bryce Harper cards that are out there in the market right now. It is interesting to note that before roving the outfield making web gems, Harper was a catcher, showing that he truly is a multi-tool player.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Brag Photo: Collectors Share Their Favorite Upper Deck NHL Cards
Posted by: | CommentsWe asked our fans to share some of their favorite Upper Deck NHL cards with us and we were blown away by all the awesome pulls our fans had to share. It was awesome to see that sometimes favorites were not just about the high-dollar cards like we saw with Matthew Gilman.
The card(s) I chose definitely won’t be as flashy as others, but they were my first Upper Deck Hockey cards so they matter. I had left hockey for awhile and held onto them. Then when I found Upper Deck’s Facebook page, I made a return. The cards are a Martin Brodeur 90-91 NHL Black Diamond Myriad Level 1 and a Wayne Gretzky 91-92 Upper Deck NHL hologram.
Ernest Hebert has a hockey card that is a little different from a set we put out called Champ’s, where the ice meets the Ice Age. He pulled a very rare exchange card for a Fossil card from the set and received one of the better ones in the product, check it out.
I can look and look through my collection and this card will always be my most coveted card. It is incredible and the center piece of my collection! Here is my favorite Upper Deck card with its two biggest fans. Every time my niece and nephew come over they always ask to see it. It goes to show how fantastic this card really is!!!
Dantre Tarperson shared a card that helped get him interested in hockey cards, take a look at this one!
This is my favorite UD NHL card I own. I got it for what I considered dirt cheap and it pretty much pulled me into collecting hockey cards. It is hard to beat a four-swatch card of four different players.
James Arthur had a VERY impressive card to share that would be the centerpiece of almost any NHL trading card collection.
My UD Black Game-Night Ticket Autograph Wayne Gretzky card (01/25) is an amazingly sharp hard-signed card commemorating one of the biggest moments of his career, March 23rd, 1994. The Kings played the Canucks and this was the game in which he scored 802nd career goal, breaking Gordie Howe’s record. It was an amazing moment beautifully remembered on an amazing trading card!
Collecting NHL cards really is a family affair and Mark Grof Jr. proved that when he shared a card his son pulled.
This is my favorite card not because of price guide value, but because of sentimental value. It was my son’s fifth birthday and on the way to the Lightning game in Tampa we stopped at Target. We bought a $20 blaster box of Upper Deck he pulled an autographed Steve Yzerman header card numbered 19/25. It was a big day for my little guy.
And with the 2012 Spring Sports Card & Collectibles Expo taking place this weekend, Collin Jennings’ card was our favorite of the submissions we received. Some would say he had beginners luck by scoring this card, but we’ll see as Collin will be back at the Expo again this weekend to try his luck again!
Here is a picture of my 2011 Spring Expo Priority Signings Sidney Crosby autograph card limited of five. I was enough to pull this at my first ever Expo. This is by far the most sought after card in my collection. The thing I love about the card the most is that I pulled the card myself and didn’t have to buy or trade for it. Also, it being a Sidney Crosby autograph doesn’t hurt either.
Thanks to all the fans who took time to post some of their favorite NHL cards on our Facebook page this weekend!
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