OT; but many of us collected UD Cards

[Rich Klein]

Today; the NY Times reported the MLBPA advised players not to return any autographs since their brethren were not getting compensated.

Considering the only licence UD has in baseball are with the players; this could be the true death knell of their existence.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/17/sports/baseball/17cards.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fs ports%2Fbaseball%2Findex.jsonp

Regards
Rich

[BCauley]

Aside from the '93 SP set, I never cared a whole heck of a lot for their stuff. I don't feel bad for UD at all. However, I do feel bad for the employees that will likely soon be out of work because of McWilliams' crooked ways.

[lharri3600]

Well stated bill, well stated.


aside from the '93 sp set, i never cared a whole heck of a lot for their stuff. I don't feel bad for ud at all. However, i do feel bad for the employees that will likely soon be out of work because of mcwilliams' crooked ways.

[teetwoohsix]

Thanks for posting the link to this story Rich.I had been hearing about this,but wasn't too sure on the details.I had started a thread in the watercooler section just as a fun thing,and one of my "predictions" was that decades from now,when modern day cards become vintage,I think the Upper Deck cards pre-lawsuit/changes (the "old" UD cards) will become well sought after.Don't hold my feet to the fire on that though-it's all for fun :D

Thanks again Rich!!

Sincerely,Clayton

[T206DK]

I don't feel too bad for UD either. They flooded the market with a lot of junk.

[teetwoohsix]

I fully agree with what you said Dave,but which card company isn't guilty of that?You could probably build a small mountain with all of the junk cards Topps put out in the 80's....:D

Clayton

[ullmandds]

i was reading an article on this lawsuit at the bookstore last night and I think UD is in trouble!

[albrshbr]

I pretty recently collected the shiny stuff, before becoming completely disgusted with it all. When I was buying it, UD was my favorite. But UD is the main reason I gave them up. I've had the common redemption problems, waiting 2 years before they gave me a different card than what I was waiting for, and I'm still waiting on a Mystery Cuts redemption that should have been delivered in September. I've also had the common collation problems like 4 short prints per box and I got 2 cards each of 2 players. I recently bought a box of 2009 UD football (I should have known better) that should have had 3 jersey cards and 1 auto, only to receive just 1 jersey card. But what really did me in were the reports of the "special" printings of the Griffey Jr rookie and what they did with the Yu-Gi-Oh cards.

I for one will not be sad when Upper Deck goes under.

[FUBAR]

UD brought me back into the hobby in 1990. I couldn't resist their cards. Im a guy, so i like shiny things. But after opening a couple boxes of early UD, i gave up on them due to collation issues. I remember opening 2 boxes of football cards and my doubles stack was twice what my card stack was and i still need 125 or so cards.

I think UD raised the bar for other companies and for that i am thankful, but in recent years i have only purchased Topps/Bowman products in box form, with the exception being hockey, as UD still rules the hockey card market.

[albrshbr]

UD will still do hockey, but what impact will Panini have since they also picked up a hockey license? Hockey is not a big national seller, and having 2 companies split a small market doesn't leave a lot for either.

[FUBAR]

I cant see Panini doing alot, they are a small player in the hockey market in Canada, the most i have seen from them are sticker books. the US hockey market may be small, but it still dominates the Canadian Market.

Other then UD brands, the only cards worth collecting are BAP and In the Game.

[Rich Klein]

And with their other licences; will do just fine with hockey

Rich

[Peter_Spaeth]

The couple of years in the early 90s I dabbled in current cards, I thought by far the nicest were the Topps Stadium Club.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Another great Stadium Club card.

[Potomac Yank]

The title may be incorrect, but it's something to the effect of:

"There Use to be a Ball Park Here."

From vintage pre war cards.

To vintage slabs.

To vintage crossovers.

To vintage UD's. ... :)

"There Use to be a Ball Park Here."

[Rich Klein]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4YQkrUCE80

Regards
Rich

Yeah; a great analogy

[Potomac Yank]

Like you said, it is a wonderful song.

Sad, but great memories .....

I do remember my dad taking me to my first game ... Polo Grounds in 1944.
He pointed out an old friend of his on the field ... Adolfo Luque.

Played hooky from school, and sat in the right field bleacher of Yankee's Stadium with some school friends for the first game of the 1947 WS ... Ralph Branca vs Spec Shea ... Jackie Robinson's first WS game.

Watched, and strained to listen to the Babe say his last goodby to the fans, on his last visit to the Stadium that he helped build.

On a sunny day, sitting with my dad at Shea Stadium, and doing the wave, the wave was something new with the fans, and we were having fun with it.

Sadly, my dad is gone, and so is the Polo Grounds, Old Yankee Stadium and Shea.

There Use to be a Ball Park Here.

[Kawika]

http://photos.imageevent.com/kawika_o_ka_pakipika/bbbofsfirstclass/holygrailcards/large/Yankee%20Stadium%20and%20Polo%20Grounds_1.jpg

[Potomac Yank]

That's one of my favorite shots of the two stadiums.

[danc]

I will sum up UD in two examples...

1) "You charge .75 a pack? Are cards will be nicer and people will now pay $2 a pack!"

What follows: Stadium Club, Fleer Ultra, Score Pinnacle and then other tiers, like SP, Fleer Flair...

2) "Hey Mickey, why are you only charging $35 per signature? How would you like to charge a lot more!"

What follows: Million dollar contracts with athletes and pricing out the Sunday show collector.

You MUST read that book (can't remember) from the 1990's all about Richard McWilliams, his MASSIVE ego and the fact that whatever was valued for "rarity reasons", was produced in massive quantities to flood the market and the value would sink. I.E Dale Murphy Reverse and Upper Deck Canadian Hockey Boxes.

I don't feel bad as a former collector who used to enjoy even the new stuff, but gave up on it about 15 years ago.

DanC

[Rich Klein]

Was called "Card Sharks" and was written by my friend Pete Williams.
Regards
Rich

[BCauley]

I just might have to pick up that book.

Then again, if I do that, it'll sit in the pile of about 8 books on my nightstand I'm working through. :rolleyes:

[Fred]

In 1989 UD was a nice alternative to the other three (T,D,F). The UD cards were actually nice. The quality of the cards was better than the other three (T,D,F). The really nice part about UD in that first year is that they seemed to sell cards based on the quality of their product rather than the rat race chase card pheomena that they shortly joined.

IMO the chase card phenomena brought a renewed interest (rookie cards were the thing in the mid/late 80s) but overall I think the chase card craze kind of hurt the hobby. People thought that the stuff was worth TONs and that the value would forever increase (kind of like dot.com stocks). That crap isn't worth much these days.

When you think about it people were paying hundreds of dollars for those stupid chase cards and if they would have spent the money on vintage material at least (IMO) the cards would probably have increased in value 5X to 10X since (let's say) 1995. If you spent $100 on nice vintage in 1995 those cars would be worth much more than the $10 those 1990s chase cards might bring today.

I really hate putting a monetary value on vintage card board because I don't collect for the $$$. I collect because I'm one of those really weird geeks that likes to looks at pictures of dead guys on old cardboard.

[Hot Springs Bathers]

When Upper Deck started cutting up memorabilia it was the end for me. I never bought another pack of any thing they offered.

[FUBAR]

ahhhh those dam chase cards...... I remember i was offered $1000 for the Shaq Fleer Ultra gold card and i passed... darn thing is worth 12$ now. I was lucky enough to get a UD nolan signature but no longer have it... one of many to go missing.

I remember seeing a guy offered $2k for an UD french Fedorov and thought the guy was trying to rip him off. I think it guides for 5$ now.


Crazy times those were