Archive for Products
The Biggest NHL® All-Stars Sign for Upper Deck
Posted by: | CommentsFor players selected to be a NHL® All-Star, they are in store for an action packed weekend of events. Upper Deck Athlete Relations staff are busy during the weekend to secure signing sessions with some of the biggest NHL® stars for upcoming releases. Check out some of the players our guys tracked down during the weekend!
Tyler Seguin shows off one of his signed O-Pee-Chee Platinum die-cut cards.
Before he scored the hardest slap shot at the NHL® All-Star Skills competition, Shea Weber used his muscles to sign some autographs for new Upper Deck hockey releases.
John Tavares takes some time to sign autograph cards for new and older trading card sets.
Anze Kopitar shows off a recently signed card showing him with the Stanley Cup.
Carey Price give us a “Price-less” expression as he shares his new autograph O-Pee-Chee Platinum card.
Upper Deck brought in the #1 Draft Pick in the 2014 NHL® Draft, Aaron Ekblad to sign FREE autographs for fans in attendance.
Obviously with such tremendous demands on their time, not all the players were able to take time out to sign. However, by being on site and active throughout the weekend, we were able to connect with agents and player reps. We had very productive conversations about athletes we are still chasing for autographs like Vladimir Tarasenko and about other players we may do deals with in the future.
Upper Deck Statement Re: Collegiate Trading Card License
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In 2010, the Collegiate Licensing Company and Upper Deck announced an exclusive trading card partnership that revolutionized the college trading card market. That exclusive partnership is still in effect today, and will continue through March with several compelling licensed collegiate products releasing in the coming months.
Upper Deck continues to be fully committed in creating the most innovative, high quality collegiate trading cards ever produced. Previously, collegiate cards were only interspersed into professional trading card sets by the major trading card manufacturers, and referred to as “Professional prospect cards.” Over the last 4 years, Upper Deck has taken collegiate cards to a whole new level, creating comprehensive school-specific trading card sets, releasing the first-ever college video trading cards, introducing never-before-seen college mascot patch cards, producing NCAA helmet cards, rare Shadow Box cards, high-value master collections and countless others. In addition, Upper Deck has expanded well beyond the boundaries of traditional college sports to include a wide array of both men’s and women’s athletic programs that have never been featured on trading cards.
As an exclusive trading card partner of the CLC, Upper Deck has been able to responsibly manage the category, limiting releases and production so as not to saturate the market or jeopardize the steady growth and solid foundation that has taken years of hard work to build.
Upper Deck strives to bring collectors high quality products, and to deliver collegiate cards that are continuously recognized for holding some of the highest market values across the entire trading card market.
Recent collegiate licensing changes have already sparked serious concerns from collectors, store owners, distributors and others in the trading card industry. Mismanagement of the collegiate trading card license could destroy the stability that this market has come to rely on, and flood the market with an excess of products that hold little or no value. Upper Deck has worked very hard to keep this from happening and remains committed to the collegiate category and more importantly, committed to collectors and hobby shops that have come to expect the best with regards to quality collegiate trading card releases. Upper Deck has agreed to terms on an exclusive multi-year deal with the University of Notre Dame and plans to continue looking at opportunities in the collegiate market.
It’s always interesting to watch online auction sites like eBay the day before the Hall-of-Fame announcement and the day after. Sellers almost run to their computers after the announcement it made to post cards of the newest members of the Hall-of-Fame and collectors jump online as well to pick up keepsakes from their favorite players. Today is no different as tens of thousands of baseball cards from just four players are available through the online auction site eBay.
Here is the activity we are seeing on the recent Baseball Hall-of-Fame inductees.
Craig Biggio – Close to 6,500 trading cards are up for sale for this Houston mainstay today. Here are some of our favorites!
Biggio’s Upper Deck rookie card is a must have for any baseball collector.
There are a couple of these sweet autograph cards available of Biggio from Ultimate Collection.
The bat design behind this card really sets off the patch piece used to make this a very special card.
This buyback autograph card from SP Authentic is rare and very unique!
This dynamic duo were fan favorites in Houston and most believe Bagwell will make his way to the Hall someday.
John Smoltz – Close to 7,000 trading cards are up for sale for this Atlanta Braves icon. See some of his best UD cards!
Here’s a key Upper Deck rookie card of Smoltz that is often under appreciated.
Smotlz represented his country with USA Baseball and Upper Deck commemorated that with this special autograph card.
Here’s a very nice patch of a key piece of the Atlanta Braves’ “franchise history.”
Although they went on to play elsewhere, these three pitching greats will always be linked to their days in Atlanta.
I love this classic autograph card has Smoltzy’s signature on the diamond.
Pedro Martinez – Close to 7,500 trading cards are up for sale of this dominant Dominican pitcher. Check out some of his better cards up for grabs!
This is the one that started it all for Pedro Martinez!
Pedro’s 1992 Star Rookie card is a little easier to find at a lower price.
Collectors who chased this set know this card wasn’t easy to find, a real gem!
Clemens missed the vote this time, but this card shows both pitching greats together with game-used baseballs embedded in the card.
Pedro was one of the premier pitchers of his day and this card definitely speaks to that.
Randy Johnson – Close to 14,000 trading cards are up for sale for this strikeout king. Feast your eyes on the ones we thought serious fans need to have in their collections.
After the Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie card, this is likely the most desirable rookie card in that incredible 1989 set.
I love the HUGE patch swatch in this card, these were a VERY tough pull back in the day.
These two definitely struck out their fair share during their playing days, very cool to see them paired with their jersey swatch and autograph all on one card.
Randy Johnson has a great nickname and it is cool to see it on a manufactured patch card like this.
There weren’t many pitchers as buttoned up as Randy Johnson and this card contains a button from one of his game-worn jerseys!
Get a First Look at the New Look of 2014-15 NHL® SP Game-Used Hockey from Upper Deck
Posted by: | CommentsThe first hockey release of the 2015 calendar year will be 2014-15 NHL® SP Game-Used Hockey. The product is sporting a dramatic newly restructured box/case configuration (ten 5-card boxes per sealed inner case) and the checklist is studded with some truly amazing cards. Thanks to our partners at the NHL® providing previously unparalleled access to an array of game-used materials from many of the 2013-14 season’s most memorable and important games, SP Game Used hockey provides collectors with trading cards sporting relics that viably could be displayed in the Hockey Hall-of-Fame instead of a trading card product.
It is with great excitement that we present a full gallery of the cards on our Facebook page and some of our favorites here taken from the actual pack out.
In all, 2014-15 NHL® SP Game-Used Hockey features 37 Stadium Series jerseys, 4 Winter Classic jerseys (including Jonathan Bernier’s) plus game-used pucks and nets from an array of Stadium Series games, the Winter Classic and the Stanley Cup Finals! With a treasure trove of this status, areas of the checklist for SP Game Used are understandably built around these items – thus, you’ll see particularly deep rosters for teams like the Kings, Rangers, Maple Leafs, Blackhawks, Penguins, Red Wings, Islanders, Devils, Ducks, Canucks and Senators (with many players featured on their first-ever memorabilia cards). In addition, all of these “premium game” memorabilia cards (including the jerseys) feature over-sized swatches with imagery taken directly from the games that the memorabilia was used and built on a minimum of 140 pt. thick card stock.
Another radical departure from the norm is seen in the 200-card base set, split into 100 veterans and 100 rookies, all of which have serial #’d print runs limited to the featured player’s jersey number. Similar to last year’s SPGU Hockey product, a wide array of subjects (128 of the 200) will feature a 1-of-1 Auto for the last #’d card in their respective print run (thus, a superstar like Alex Ovechkin will have a mere eight copies of his base card issued, with the “8/8” card being a 1-of-1 Auto variation).
Regarding the Rookies from the base set, to counterbalance how difficult the true RC’s will be to obtain for top prospects like Ekblad (#’d of 5), Drouin (#’d of 27) and Gaudreau (#’d of 53), collectors can also pursue blue foil auto parallels (overall 1:10 packs), gold foil jersey parallels (#’d of 499 per) and gold spectrum prime material patch parallels (#’d of 99 per).
Amongst the checklist of 100 Rookies within the base set, several noteworthy prospects will be making their NHL®-licensed trading card debuts including Flyer’s D-Man Shayne Gostisbehere (2014 NCAA Frozen Four Most Outstanding Player), Bruins Center Seth Griffith (‘12-13 OHL 1st Team All-Star followed by 13-14 AHL Rookie Season in which he scored 50 pts. In 69 games), Rangers hulking, 6’5”, 225 lb. RW Kevin Hayes (made the jump directly from Boston College in 13-14 to the Eastern Conference Champion New York Rangers this season) and Bo Horvat (selected 9th overall in the 2013 NHL Draft, Horvat has earned a roster spot with the surprisingly successful Canucks at 19 years of age and leads the team on face-offs with a win percentage hovering around 56%).
In addition to the expected inclusion of top tier rookies like Jonathan Drouin, Aaron Ekblad, Johnny Gaudreau and Sam Reinhart, the popular Draft Day Marks set is highlighted by the first-ever autograph cards for the aforementioned Horvat, plus Leon Draisaitl (#3 overall pick from the 2014 Draft). Other surprise additions to the Draft Day Marks set include the first NHL-licensed cards for Blue Jackets prospect Kerby Rychel (drafted 19th overall in 2013, lit up the OHL for 90 pts in 58 games in 13-14), Blackhawks D-Man Adam Clendening (59 pts. in 74 games for the AHL’s Rockford Ice Hogs in 13-14) and two significant updates from the 13-14 Rookie class featuring budding star Filip Forsberg (pictured with the Washington Capitals) and Islanders hotshot Ryan Strome.
The popular “Supreme” memorabilia cards (each limited to 12 #’d copies per) return with a wide array of patches, gloves and sticks. The checklist is studded with some jaw-dropping cards including glove cards from Jean Beliveau, Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky, patch cards from Pavel Bure, Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews and stick cards from Sidney Crosby and Joe Sakic.
* Please note the Stadium Series jersey and patch cards feature the SP Authentic logo instead of the SP Game-Used logo on the fronts. This will be an uncorrected error.
Every 10-box inner case delivers (on average):
- One (1) Net Cord (Stanley Cup Finals, Winter Classic, Heritage Classic or Stadium Series) – #’d of 35 or less
- One (1) Rookie Star Autograph card (Drouin, Ekblad, Reinhart or Gaudreau)
- One (1) Premium Memorabilia Card (primarily derived from the sets noted below)
- Authentic Fabric Sixes Patch // (#’d of 6)
- Supreme Gloves (#’d of 12)
- Supreme Patches (#’d of 12)
- Supreme Sticks (#’d of 12)
- Game Gear (#’d of 3)
- Heritage Classic Material Net Shield Logo (#’d of 1)
- Heritage Classic Material Net Skirt Shield Patch (#’d of 3)
- Stadium Series Material Commemorative Patch (#’d of 8)
- Stadium Series Material Commemorative Tag (#’d of 10)
- Stadium Series Material Game Used Pucks (1:280 packs)
- Stanley Cup Finals Material Game Used Pucks (1:208 packs)
- Stanley Cup Finals Material Net Shield Logo (#’d of 1)
- Stanley Cup Finals Material Net Skirt Shield Patch (#’d of 3)
- Winter Classic Material Commemorative Patch (#’d of 8)
- Winter Classic Material Game Used Pucks (1:845 packs)
- Winter Classic Material Net Shield Logo (#’d of 1)
- One (1) Premium Autograph Card(primarily derived from the sets noted below)
- Base Set Veteran 1-of-1 Autos
- Base Set Rookie 1-of-1 Autos
- Base Set Blue Foil Auto //’s – premium players (Brodeur, Crosby, Gretzky, Lemieux, Messier, Orr, Ovechkin, Selanne, Toews, Yzerman)
- Draft Day Marks Rookies (#’d of 35) – premium players (Draisaitl, Drouin, Teravainen) *
- Draft Day Marks Veterans (#’d of 10) – premium players (Bernier, Duchene, Eberle, Fleury, Toews)
- Inked Sweaters (#’d up to 99 per) – premium players (Crosby, Hull, Roy, Yzerman)
- Inked Sweaters Patch //’s (#’d up to 10 per)
- Inked Rookie Sweaters Patch //’s (#’d of 49 per) – premium players (Burakovsky, Draisaitl, Drouin, Ekblad, Gaudreau, Reinhart, Teravainen) *
- 2013-14 Stanley Cup Net Skirt Auto Updates (1:120 packs)
* Autos that appear within this requirement for Drouin, Ekblad, Gaudreau and Reinhart do NOT count against the one per Inner Case Rookie Star Auto requirement noted above.
Every 5-card pack delivers:
- One (1) Autograph Card
- Four (4) additional Auto or Memorabilia Cards (unless displaced by a Base Set Veteran or Rookie Card)
Noteworthy Autograph Sets Include:
- Base Set Veteran 1-of-1 Auto //’s
- Base Set Rookie 1-of-1 Autos //’s
- Inked Sweaters (#’d up to 99 per)
- Inked Sweaters Patch // (#’d up to 10 per)
- Inked Rookie Sweaters (#’d of 149)
- Inked Rookie Sweaters Patch // (#’d of 49)
- Draft Day Marks Rookies (#’d of 35 per)
- Draft Day Marks Veterans (#’d of 10 per)
Noteworthy Memorabilia Sets Include:
- Base Set Gold Spectrum Prime Materials //’s (#’d up to 99)
- Authentic Fabric Trios Patch //’s (#’d of 15)
- Authentic Fabric Quads Patch //’s (#’d of 10)
- Authentic Fabric Sixes Patch //’s (#’d of 6)
- Career Legacy Patch //’s (#’d b/wn 25-99 per)
- Game Gear (#’d of 3)
- Supreme Patches (#’d of 12)
- Supreme Sticks (#’d of 12)
- Supreme Gloves (#’d of 12)
- Heritage Classic Material Net Cord (#’d of 35 per)
- Heritage Classic Material Net Skirt Shield Patch (#’d of 3)
- Stadium Series Material Jersey (1:2 packs)
- Stadium Series Material Patch (#’d up to 99 per)
- Stadium Series Material Commemorative Patch // (#’d of 8)
- Stadium Series Material Commemorative Tags (#’d of 10)
- Stadium Series Material Game Used Pucks (1:280 packs)
- Stadium Series Material Net Cord – Dodgers Stadium (#’d of 25 per)
- Stadium Series Material Net Cord – Soldier Field (#’d of 25 per)
- Stanley Cup Finals Material Game Used Pucks (1:208 packs)
- Stanley Cup Finals Material Net Cord (#’d of 35)
- Stanley Cup Finals Material Net Skirt Shield Patch (#’d of 3)
- Winter Classic Material Jersey (1:15 packs)
- Winter Classic Material Patch (#’d up to 99 per)
- Winter Classic Material Commemorative Patch // (#’d of 8)
- Winter Classic Material Game Used Pucks (1:845 packs)
- Winter Classic Material Net Cord (#’d of 35)
Noteworthy Retired Signers Include:
- Pavel Bure
- Wayne Gretzky
- Mario Lemieux
- Mark Messier
- Bobby Orr
- Patrick Roy
- Teemu Selanne
- Steve Yzerman
Noteworthy Active Veteran Signers Include:
- Martin Brodeur
- Sidney Crosby
- Claude Giroux
- Jaromir Jagr
- Nathan MacKinnon
- Evgeni Malkin
- Rick Nash
- Alex Ovechkin
- Tyler Seguin
- Steven Stamkos
- John Tavares
- Jonathan Toews
Noteworthy Rookie Signers Include:
- Andre Burakovsky
- Leon Draisaitl
- Jonathan Drouin
- Aaron Ekblad
- Johnny Gaudreau
- Bo Horvat
- Evgeny Kuznetsov
- Curtis Lazar
- Jori Lehtera
- Sam Reinhart
- Jiri Sekac
- Teuvo Teravainen
Noteworthy First NHL-Licensed Cards:
- Adam Clendening *
- Shayne Gostisbehere
- Seth Griffith
- Kevin Hayes *
- Bo Horvat *
- Kerby Rychel *
* Asterisk indicates autograph cards included
Noteworthy First NHL-Licensed Autos:
- Leon Draisaitl (autos)
- Anthony DuClair (autos)
- Jori Lehtera (autos)
- Jeri Sekac (autos)
Upper Deck Surprises 25 Redemption Customers with a Free Hobby Box!
Posted by: | CommentsIt can be frustrating pulling a redemption card sometimes for collectors as there can be delays with them and obviously we would love to deliver the experience of pulling a live autograph from packs, but that is not always possible. So, as part of Upper Deck’s Random Acts of Kindness program we decided to spread a little holiday cheer to 25 random collectors who had redemptions shipping out in December as a way of also celebrating our 25th Anniversary.
Recently they received their redemptions with a FREE hobby box inside and letter thanking them for their support. Here was some of the feedback we received so far:
“Just wanted to take a minute to say Thank You! I received a nice gift today along with my redemption…a box of 2012 SP Authentic Golf. Cannot tell you how much I appreciate the thought. In this day and age, high level customer service is paramount and you have shown yourself to be ahead of the curve with gestures such as this.” – Rod K.
“I recently redeemed a couple of cards nothing spectacular. I received my cards really quickly. I was told it would take up to 12 weeks which was fine. To my excitement the cards arrived today, only 2 weeks after I emailed through my redemption. So thank you very much for the quick response and quick delivery. Living in Australia it’s hard to find anywhere decent to purchase Basketball cards so I have found a good shop in the US to buy them from. When I opened the box you sent to find a box of North Carolina Basketball and a greeting card I was ecstatic. So thank you very much!” – Adam F.
“A simple thank you for the package I received today (box of Goodwin Champions). Very nice of you and the UD team. Right in time for Christmas!” – Luc O.
“I just received my redemption for my 13-14 SP LaPhonso Ellis By The Letter card as well as your Random Act of Kindness 14-15 Letterman box. I can’t thank you enough for your generosity! I’m a long time collector and obviously a big fan of Upper Deck. This proves why Upper Deck is the best.“ – Justin S.
Thanks to all the fans who have offered Upper Deck your support this year and over the last 25 years! We are excited to share we will be continuing our Random Acts of Kindness promotion into 2015 as fans have really enjoyed it. To see more of the fun stories the program brings to collectors, search #UDRAK on Twitter!
