Sports Card Manufacturer – Top Cover Profile
Sports card producers have come and gone over the years because they don’t bring anything innovative to the table. Upper Deck changes card collecting by introducing its first product in 1989. That explains how it can go from innovative newcomer to industry giant in less than two decades.
In 1989, the Upper Deck baseball game paved the way for many things today’s collectors take for granted. For example, enhanced cardstocks, holographic stickers, and tamper-evident packaging that are common among sports cards from many brands today. But it was the first Upper Deck release that introduced all these improvements. Sure, it was expensive in those days, but collectors don’t seem to care and all the sets are sold out. To this day, the Upper Deck’s 1989 Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card remains one of the most iconic sports cards in history.
New business card enhancements have continued to flow from the company’s California headquarters. The Upper Deck is considered by many collectors to be the originator of the serial numbered and autographed card insert into the packs, and while they did not create the first cards with small pieces of event-used material attached, they were the first to produce used jersey cards at games.
Ironically, Upper Deck’s base brand, which was considered a premium product at the time, is now on the lower end, but trust Upper Deck to continue to test the frontiers of the higher end market with the introduction of the Ultimate Collection and Exquisite Collection. .
Currently, Upper Deck is the only sticker producer with licenses to print cards of players at the highest professional level in hockey, basketball, baseball and soccer. It has the only NHL license as of 2007. After acquiring Fleer’s assets and trademarks, it continued to produce sports trading cards under the Fleer name and other well-known brands such as Ultra and Hot Prospects.
The other branches of the Upper Deck Company include Upper Deck Authenticated, which handles authentic game-used and autographed memorabilia from athletes such as Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Tiger Woods, and Upper Deck Entertainment, the entity responsible for the popular Yu-Gi-Oh . ! and World of Warcraft Trading Card Games.