Friday, March 5, 2010

2010 Upper Deck Baseball Pre-Sales Cancelled

In Conjunction with the settelement reached with MLB Properties, Upper Deck has cancelled the releases of the following 2010 Baseball Products:

2010 Goudey BB
2010 SP Authentic BB
2010 SPX BB

We will provide more info as we recieve it....DCS

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Upper Deck Settles Lawsuit with Major League Baseball

Upper Deck Settles Lawsuit with Major League Baseball

Sports card leader can continue selling recently released

baseball products as part of the mutually agreed-upon settlement

We also hear that 2010 Goudey and SP Authentic Baseball are cancelled, will confirm when we hear more.....DCS



Carlsbad, CA (March 3, 2010) – Today, the Upper Deck Company is pleased to announce that Upper Deck and Major League Baseball have mutually agreed to settle the lawsuit brought by Major League Baseball against Upper Deck. Per the terms of the settlement agreement, Upper Deck has agreed not to use MLB trademarks including team names and/or logos on its trading cards going forward. However, as part of the settlement, Upper Deck can and will continue to sell three recently released baseball products currently on store shelves: 2009 Signature Stars, 2009 Ultimate Collection and 2010 Upper Deck Series One.



“Upper Deck is pleased with the settlement including the amount the company paid as it relates to the trading cards released in 2010,” said Jason Masherah, Upper Deck’s director of Sports Brands. “As a company, we are changing the direction of Upper Deck’s baseball products going forward. We are looking forward to creating fresh and innovative set content that will continue to get collectors excited.”



Since its inception in 1989, Upper Deck has been the market leader for both its ability to create top-quality, super-premium products and for developing innovative programs that promoted baseball cards to kids.

"Great cards of great players have always been the cornerstone of Upper Deck products,” added Upper Deck Founder and CEO Richard McWilliam. “We’ll just have to see how innovative and creative we can become now.”

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

USA BASEBALL AND TOPPS ANNOUNCE DEAL MAKING TOPPS THE OFFICIAL BASEBALL CARD OF USA BASEBALL!!

USA BASEBALL AND TOPPS ANNOUNCE DEAL MAKING TOPPS

THE OFFICIAL BASEBALL CARD OF USA BASEBALL

Exclusive, multi-year agreement reunites former partners from 1984 - 1993



(DURHAM, N.C.) – USA Baseball and the Topps Company, the leading creator and marketer of sports cards, today announced an exclusive multi-year licensing deal to make Topps the Official Baseball Card of USA Baseball. Topps will have exclusivity on USA Baseball trademarks, logos and other intellectual property, for use on cards featuring USA Baseball players.



From 1984-1993 Topps was the exclusive card manufacturer for USA Baseball, producing cards for the U.S. Olympic Baseball Team. The new agreement calls for cards, autographs and game-used equipment of USA Baseball’s Collegiate, 18U and 16U National Team players to be featured in a variety of Topps products each year.



“Twenty-five years after collectors were first introduced to USA Baseball, our organization is pleased to have Topps, the industry leader, return as the exclusive home for USA Baseball trading cards,” said Paul Seiler, USA Baseball Executive Director/CEO. “We look forward to working closely with Topps as together we provide collectors with a look at the future of America’s game on trading cards.”



“Now we’re the only trading card licensed by Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball and USA Baseball,” said Warren Friss, Vice President – General Manager of Topps Sports and Entertainment. “We are covering the game of baseball at every level.”



Each year USA Baseball selects close to 60 of the best young baseball players in the country to its National Teams, giving collectors the first opportunity to see the future stars of baseball on cards. The first product release with USA Baseball content will be 2010 Bowman Baseball which will be released in May and feature cards of the 2009 Collegiate National Team and 2009 18U National Team.



In addition to the Topps sets featuring USA Baseball inserts, the annual USA Baseball National Teams Box Set will also be manufactured by Topps and will continue to be the exclusive place to get all members of the USA Baseball National Team in one set. The box set is scheduled for a December release in 2010 and in each of the remaining years of the agreement.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Tim Tebow Signs Exclusive with Press Pass


Tim Tebow Signs Draft Pick Exclusive with Press Pass®



March 1, 2010 - Charlotte, N.C:

Heisman Trophy winner and college legend, Tim Tebow has signed an exclusive agreement with Press Pass for trading cards. Under terms of the agreement, Press Pass Football and Press Pass Portrait Edition will be the only “draft pick” products to contain Authentic Autograph Cards and Trading Cards of the former Florida Gator Star!



2010 Press Pass Football provides collectors a great opportunity to obtain on-card autographs of Tebow and the other top stars of this year’s rookie crop, delivering 5 signatures per hobby box from seven distinct autograph levels. Press Pass Football is scheduled for a March 31st release. Press Pass Portrait Edition, new for 2010, will deliver an autograph card in every other pack and is slated for a May 6th release.



“We are thrilled to bring collectors the first Autograph Cards of Tim Tebow, who many consider to be the best college player of all time,” explained Nick Matijevich, Director of Product Development for Press Pass Inc. “Tim’s great attitude, unprecedented popularity and long list of collegiate accomplishments are certain to make him a collector favorite in addition to a fan favorite.”



The announcement comes on the heels of Tebow blowing teams away at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis over the weekend. While he didn’t throw in drills, opting to wait for his pro-day as he re-tools his throwing motion for the next level, he wowed scouts with a QB record-tying 38.5” vertical leap, a 40 yard-dash of 4.72 seconds, a 9’7” broad jump, and a 6.66 second three-cone drill, which placed him 4th among all skill position players working out. However, the area in which Tim truly separated himself from the pack was the one-on-one interviews. According to Gil Brandt, the legendary former VP of Player Personnel for the Dallas Cowboys and current contributor to NFL.com, “In talking with several team representatives Sunday, I was told that Tebow conducted some of the best interviews of all time.”



“Any time you have the opportunity to work with a player of Tim’s stature, you have to be excited,” said Tom Farrell, VP of Brand Management. “As evidenced by the record number of fans that attended his Senior Bowl practices, and the fact he had a Super Bowl commercial before taking his first NFL snap, there is an unprecedented level of excitement around him that we fully expect to continue throughout his career.”

Topps Heritage Short Prints and variations


Collectors of 2010 Topps Heritage Baseball are noticing some interesting short printed variations throughout the product. Topps is confirming the following:

1961 HR Chase Insert

2010 Topps Heritage commemorates the 1961 Topps design, so Topps saw it fitting to celebrate the famous 1961 HR chase with a special 45-card insert…



Babe Ruth (15 cards)

Roger Maris (15 cards)

Mickey Mantle (15 cards)

Each of these inserts also has a Relic Parallel that’s sequentially numbered to the player’s jersey number …Ruth (#’d to 3), Maris (#’d to 9) and Mantle (#’d to 7). In addition, there are short printed variations in the base set featuring Ruth (#60), Maris (#61) and Mantle (#56).



Dice Game Variations

In 1961, Topps issued an obscure 18-card dice game as a test. The following players in 2010 Heritage have short printed variations with dice game backs:



Joe Mauer, Victor Martinez, Albert Pujols, Mark Teixeira, Grady Sizemore, Justin Upton, Adam Jones, Vladimir Guerrero, Matt Kemp, Ichiro, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Lincecum, Chase Utley, Ian Kinsler, Derek Jeter, Hanley Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez and Chipper Jones.



Color Variations

There are 10 extremely short printed color variations. The color changes appear on the player and team name plates at the bottom of the card.



Albert Pujols Black-Black

Joe Mauer Black-Black

CC Sabathia Green-Yellow

Derek Jeter Red-Yellow

Grady Sizemore Green-Red

J.A. Happ Orange-Blue

Zack Greinke Yellow-Blue

Ryan Braun Blue-Orange

David Wright Green-Yellow

Pablo Sandoval Yellow-Green



Juan Marichal Autographs

All of Juan Marichal’s Real One autographs were signed in red ink and none are sequentially numbered unlike the other Red Ink autographs in the product.



Short Printed Base Cards

Base cards 426-500 are short printed and can be found 1:3 packs.