Slightly OT/Big Lead Story About Upper Deck

[whitehse]

I traveled to the Field of Dreams show that was mentioned in this article and set up at the card show the Upper Deck sponsored for that event as well. My kids still talk about the great time they had and it was 20 years ago. There was the show, a baseball game of baseball greats and a evening of entertainment with many Hollywood "stars" of that time period.

What really hit home to me about that article was that I was able to have a rather long conversation with Jay McCracken at that show as he sat at my table going through a large pile of 1992 Leaf black border cards I had for sale. He was putting this parallel set together for his own collection and I always found it curious that this Upper Deck Executive was putting together a set from another competitor at the time. I found Jay to be a genuine guy who loved what he was doing and was happy to talk about the company to anyone who would listen. I knew he left the company but I had no idea he was fired three days after this event.

[rhettyeakley]

I have very vivid memories selling at card shows in New England in 1991 how high the demand was for the French Upper Deck product. Packs were $20-30 each or more and I remember selling a Pavel Bure or Sergei Federov for more than $100. Then a few shows later it seems like everyone had the product and the prices were still high but they came down fast after that. Seems like any time there was a hot new Upper Deck product they started with a lower print run then flooded the market a few months later.

It sounds like the CEO was a real pos doing what he did to his customer base and rightfully had the rug pulled out from under him after a while. Too bad they didn't use a bit more common sense instead of applying the Gordon Gecko tactics that they did.

[ScottFandango]

Originally Posted by whitehse

I traveled to the Field of Dreams show that was mentioned in this article and set up at the card show the Upper Deck sponsored for that event as well. My kids still talk about the great time they had and it was 20 years ago. There was the show, a baseball game of baseball greats and a evening of entertainment with many Hollywood "stars" of that time period.

What really hit home to me about that article was that I was able to have a rather long conversation with Jay McCracken at that show as he sat at my table going through a large pile of 1992 Leaf black border cards I had for sale. He was putting this parallel set together for his own collection and I always found it curious that this Upper Deck Executive was putting together a set from another competitor at the time. I found Jay to be a genuine guy who loved what he was doing and was happy to talk about the company to anyone who would listen. I knew he left the company but I had no idea he was fired three days after this event.

I guess we now know why he was fired!

[Rich Klein]

Actually some of the brand manager at Fleer way back in the day also bought boxes of their competitor's products, that way, they could see what the competitoin was doing. But yes, something strange in that but I understand why.

[HRBAKER]

Originally Posted by ScottFandango

[/B]

I guess we now know why he was fired!

Of course, that's much more egregious than printing more product for yourself and self dealing!