Back in Baseball: Upper Deck Partners with the MLBPA for New Trading Card Products

Upper Deck returns to the sport that made the company a household name with new baseball releases planned for 2013 Carlsbad, CA (March 21, 2013) – Upper Deck is pleased to announce that through its existing agreement with the Major League Baseball Players Association the company will produce two exciting and innovative baseball trading card products in 2013. Upper Deck pulled out all the stops to announce the return to the diamond at the 2013 Las Vegas Industry Summit by having retired baseball legend Frank “The Big Hurt” Thomas on hand to share the news with industry leaders. Thomas signed autographs and posed for pictures with hobby shop owners from across North America this week, courtesy of Upper Deck. The Thomas appearance came on the heels of Upper Deck’s announcement that the company’s first baseball release would be 2013 Fleer Retro Baseball, set to release this summer. Some attendees at the show received a promotional Fleer Retro Baseball Precious Metal Gems card of baseball superstar Mike Trout. Three versions (Green, Blue and Red) were inserted randomly into special promotional packs distributed to Upper Deck Certified Diamond Dealers at the show. The dealers who received the Trout cards were thrilled and all expressed excitement to hear of Upper Deck’s return to baseball. “We took time planning our return to baseball to make sure we could deliver our fans the value they have come to expect in Upper Deck brands,” said Jason Masherah, president of Upper Deck. “Great photography is imperative in making a great baseball trading card set. We will leverage the power of Upper Deck’s exclusive collegiate license and recent photo shoots with a bevy of current baseball stars to provide fans some of the best imagery on the market.” A second MLBPA licensed baseball product will be officially announced this summer as baseball gets into full swing. Additionally, Upper Deck plans to produce a baseball card set comprised solely of retired subjects with the return of a 2013 Sweet Spot Classic, a brand much beloved with collectors. Collectors can expect excellent photography, beautiful design, rich content and new innovations as Upper Deck returns to the big leagues this season. About the MLBPA The Major League Baseball Players Association (www.MLBPLAYERS.com) is the collective bargaining representative for all professional baseball players of the thirty Major League Baseball teams and serves as the exclusive group licensing agent for commercial and licensing activities involving active Major League baseball players. On behalf of its members, it operates the Players Choice licensing program and the Players Choice Awards, which benefit the needy through the Major League Baseball Players Trust, a charitable foundation established and run entirely by Major League baseball players.

2012-13 SP Authentic Hockey Cards releasing in June!

2/25/13 - by Ryan Cracknell
2012-13 SP Authentic Hockey builds off the brand's longstanding legacy among puck fans, delivering plenty of autographs, memorabilia and additional content originally planned for other sets. As with past years, autographs lead the chase. Every hobby box comes three signatures, at least one of which is an autographed Future Watch rookie card. Traditionally, Future Watch cards rank among the player's top rookie cards. Signatures can also be found on Limited Variations, which also have Autographed Patch versions, and Sign of the Times cards. Authentic Moments and Team Canada Moments are highlighted by dated photos capturing specific moments and events. Every box has four single-player Authentic Moments cards, one multi-player card and a pair of Team Canada Moments cards. Both have autographed versions as well. Going back to the brand's early days are 1994-95 SP Retro cards, which are inserted four per box. Collectors can also look for Die-Cut Autograph cards, which fall about three per case. Thanks to the labor dispute that cut the NHL season short, Upper Deck cancelled several products when it was announced all rookies playing for the first time in 2012-13 would be held back until 2013-14 products. Some of that content has been included in 2012-13 SP Authentic Hockey. Upper Deck Update, cards originally planned for Upper Deck Series 2, fall 1:6 packs (four per box). At least two UD Exclusives parallels are in every case. MVP Rookie Updates have also been brought over to 2012-13 SP Authentic Hockey, with one or two in every box. While 2012-13 SPx Hockey was also cancelled as a full-fledged, bonus SPx packs found their way into 2012-13 SP Authentic Hockey. Among the cards in these packs are Autographed Patch rookie cards. Estimated Release Date: 6/13 Product Configuration: 24 packs per box, 5 cards per pack Price Point: Mid-End Hockey Card Target Audience: Autograph Collectors, Rookie Card Collectors, SP Authentic Fans, Memorabilia Collectors 2012-13 SP Authentic Hockey Box Break 1 Autographed Future Watch Rookie Card 2 Additional Autographs 4 Authentic Moments 1 Multi-Player Authentic Moments 2 Team Canada Moments 4 1994-95 SP Retro Cards 4 Upper Deck Update Cards 1 MVP Rookie Update 120 Total Cards

Upper Deck Inks Top Football Draft Picks to Trading Card Deals!

Geno Smith, Matt Barkley, Manti Te’o, Montee Ball and other top college stars sign deals to appear on new Upper Deck trading cards! Carlsbad, CA (February 12, 2013) – With another memorable football season in the books, football fans are looking to the future. And on the heels of National Signing Day it is apropos that Upper Deck announces the company has come to terms on trading card and autograph deals with the top football draft picks in the country. Upper Deck will be the first trading card manufacturer to deliver fans licensed rookie cards of top talents like Geno Smith, Matt Barkley, Tyler Wilson, Mike Glennon, Eddie Lacy, Giovani Bernard, Montee Ball, Cordarrelle Patterson, Denard Robinson, Tavon Austin, Damontre Moore, Tyler Eifert, Manti Te’o and many more. Fans can look for rookie cards (including autograph versions) of these young stars when 2013 Upper Deck Football hits shelves on April 9! “Our athlete relations team has been working tirelessly not only to reach deals with this talented crop of new rookies, but also scheduling signing sessions with them as well,” said Brandon Miller, Upper Deck’s collegiate sports brand manager. “The next few weeks will be some of the busiest of the year for our football team, but it all pays off when we hear how excited our customers are when they open up new Upper Deck packs that are filled with great rookie content and autograph cards.” Football fans can find tons of great rookie cards in 2013 Upper Deck Football with 2-3 Star Rookie cards per pack on average. There are limited autograph and crash-numbered sepiatone parallel Star Rookie cards collectors will love to chase. Upper Deck pays tribute to the 1995 SP Authentic set with Prospect autograph cards of these young stars too. And high-end collectors can look for hard-signed, crash-numbered Ultimate Collection rookie cards in the product as well. Most importantly, 2013 Upper Deck Football will have the deepest rookie checklist in the industry with 200 rookies captured in the set. The next great crop of Star Rookies are coming your way collectors! Who will you collect?

2012 Contenders Andrew Luck Championship Ticket 1/1 Soars on eBay

By Ryan Cracknell | Feb 11, 2013 One of the top cards, if not the top card, in 2012 Panini Contenders Football has surfaced on eBay. And it's scorching. The 2012 Contenders Championship Ticket Andrew Luck autograph flew past $7,500 within hours and still has a long bidding window left. The one-of-one parallel features a rainbow foil finish and an on-card autograph. It is stamped on the back of the card. It's also noted on the front with a foil "Championship Ticket" notation on the side of the card. The seller, who has a 100% feedback rating at a score of nearly 3,700, is based out of Green Bay. They listed the auction as a ten-day listing. Bidding closes on Wednesday, February 20 at approximately 9:15 PM EST or 6:15 PM PST. The listing states that bidding is only available in the United States. The listing has several images, showing the card from several angles. One of the corners looks like it has a small scratch on the front of the foil. This is highlighted in on of the pictures. Bidding began at $0.99 and within the first 24 hours was pushing $8,000. This isn't the only 2012 Panini Contenders Andrew Luck card to see strong action. All of his autographs in the set have been moving well, bolstered by the brand's tradition and the on-card signature. In particular, Playoff Ticket parallels numbered to 99 have been approaching $1,000. His regular rookie cards from the set have been selling for about $400. A 20th Edition parallel numbered to 20 sold for $3,999.99 on February 9. Panini Contenders FB and other fine Football boxes available at DCS Sports Cards

New Releases

The last week had a few new releases. 2012 Panini Contenders FB, 2012 Topps Magic FB, 2012-13 Panini Limited Hockey. All 2012 Football releases are hot right now due to the outstanding rookie class featuring RG, Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson, Trent Richardson and more! Hockey has less releases this year due to the lockout, but the releases out there have some great content!Everyone is wondering who will be the lucky ones to pull the 14K gold cards of Griffin and luck out of 2012 Contenders!WE have all thew latest releases in stock and ready to go. For all you Golf fans, look for the release of 2012 Upper Deck SP Game Used Golf, loaded with great memorabilia and autos!

National Hockey Card Day Returns to the U.S. on Feb. 16

by Tom Bartsch: Upper Deck is helping to celebrate the return of hockey with National Hockey Card Day in the U.S. on Feb. 16. Upper Deck will be working with the company’s network of Certified Diamond Dealers to give out hundreds of thousands of exclusive “National Hockey Card Day” NHL trading card packs for free throughout the U.S. All puck fans need to do is head out on Saturday and visit a participating retailer to receive a free National Hockey Card Day pack. “The only thing better than Upper Deck NHL cards is free Upper Deck NHL cards,” said Chris Carlin, Upper Deck’s sports marketing and social media manager. “On Saturday, Feb. 16, hockey fans throughout the United States are invited to get involved in the great hobby of collecting NHL trading cards on National Hockey Card Day. All fans have to do is drop in on a participating shop that day to receive a free National Hockey Card Day pack that feature some of the top stars in the NHL!” The main draw for collectors to visit participating retailers is the National Hockey Card Day set itself. The 16-card set with the special “National Hockey Card Day” logo on the front consists of three subsets that pay tribute to American-born players and international players on U.S. based NHL franchises. On the “America’s Franchises” set fans can find cards of Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh Penguins), Alexander Ovechkin (Washington Capitals), Ilya Kovalchuk (New Jersey Devils), Henrik Lundqvist (New York Rangers) and Anze Kopitar (Los Angeles Kings). In the “Stars in Stripes” set look for American-born players like Zach Parise (Minnesota Wild), Jonathan Quick (Los Angeles Kings), Patrick Kane (Chicago Blackhawks), Dustin Brown (Los Angeles Kings) and Ryan Miller (Buffalo Sabres). And in the “American Icons” set collectors can capture cards of legends like Mike Modano, Brett Hull, Neal Broten, Tim Thomas and Brian Leetch. Packs will yield five randomly assorted cards featuring the aforementioned players, while a special limited 16th card featuring Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick celebrating his 2012 Stanley Cup victory last season can be had as a gift with purchase from shop owners while supplies last. Some lucky collectors may also find some other special surprises in National Hockey Card Day packs like rare autograph cards. “Of all professional sports leagues, the NHL has the most passionate fan base,” said Mike Fruitman, owner of Mike’s Stadium Sports Cards in Aurora, Colorado. “Being able to offer collectors free National Hockey Day packs with a bonus card of Jonathan Quick will be the perfect complement to hockey’s return. We have lined up hundreds of packs and we will be sure to stock up on loads of great Upper Deck hockey cards to make sure we have enough to go around.” For more information on National Hockey Card Day in the U.S. and to view a list of participating retailers, visit www.upperdeck.com. Also, Upper Deck has set up a Facebook page for the event and will be running a variety of promotions and giveaways on the page so make sure to “like” it today: http://www.facebook.com/NationalHockeyCardDay. National Hockey Card Day will take Feb. 9 in Canada, with the same principles in play.

TOPPS BASEBALL IS ALMOST HERE. LET THE CHASE BEGIN….

Baseball is BACK! 2013 Topps Baseball Series One is almost here and it is the unofficial beginning of a brand new season! Always the FIRST and BIGGEST release of the new year, this year’s edition is will blow collectors away! 2013 Topps celebrates Baseball’s Chase, the chase to break records, the chase for history the Chase for a pennant or a championship. It features awesome cards that acknowledge, honor, celebrate and remember great chases and the players, past and present. The product is PACKED with what will be some of the most sought after cards of the year providing collectors with unique, innovative and creative cards to chase! Every day until launch we will be previewing all the beautiful highlights of this year’s product, we are confident collectors will be in awe and lined up to break this product! To Celebrate the Chase, Topps randomly inserted 10 Ultimate Chase Tickets in hobby boxes of Topps Series One. Finders of the Ticket will win an authentic autographed bat signed by FIVE current and/or retired players! Once Lucky Finder will win an ULTIMATE CHASE PASS – Their ticket to chase one team in the 2013 MLB Playoffs! See Attachment! STAY TUNED AND BUCKLE UP…THE CHASE HAS BEGUN!!!!