"The Hobby: The Rise and Fall of Upper Deck"

[TwinLakesPark]

Interesting read on the CEO of Upper Deck. I can remember when those amazing new 1989 cards came out.

The Hobby: The Rise and Fall of Upper Deck

[Phil316]

Thanks for posting this. Great article and insight.

[MSpecht]

Here is some of the original source material ---- A very well-researched book and an exceptional read , especially at around six dollars used on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Card-Sharks-Hi...ds=card+sharks


Mike Jackitout7@aol.com

[sportscentury]

It's quite remarkable that Upper Deck has been able to stay afloat as long as it has. Many in the hobby predicted UD would declare for bankruptcy long ago. Even these days, every time I talk with someone at Upper Deck, the topic of "new budget cuts" inevitably arises. The company was run well early on, but some of their later business practices certainly came back to haunt them.

[Phil316]

I remember when that French hockey was released. Those packs where flying off the shelf in Canada.

[commando]

From the first day Upper Deck rolled out their 1989 baseball product, card collectors weren't really interested in (or privy to) the shenanigans happening behind the scenes at Upper Deck. Collectors wanted a premium card that was more limited and nicer than the mediocre cards being churned out by the "big four" (Topps, Donruss, Fleer and Score), and Upper Deck did exactly that in 1989.

The following year seemed to be another good one for collectors with the release of Upper Deck's 1990 baseball cards. UD was even the first major card company to insert autographs into foil packs, randomly seeding 2,500 signed and numbered Reggie Jackson cards. These Jacksons are considered to be the first inserts with intrinsic value (the signatures), and the beginning of the insert craze that still exists today.

As 1990 progressed, it became obvious that Upper Deck had overproduced their baseball cards that year -- including an endless supply of factory sets. The second printing of the French hockey cards, the firing of most of the company founders by Jay McCracken, and several other questionable practices created a parade of red flags for serious collectors... Casual collectors probably still had no clue as to what was happening within the company.

Jay McCracken was successful because he seemed to do several key things right (produce nice cards, effective marketing, create demand for inserts), but ultimately shot the company in the foot because of the key thing he did wrong (allow gross overproduction). Card values for Upper Deck's 1990, 1991 and 1992 baseball sets began to tumble, and their inaugural 1991 basketball and football sets never gained any serious value due to overproduction. Going back to the 2,500 1990 Reggie Jackson autographs, it was said that you could buy 100 CASES of product and not find a single example.

[Mark17]

I was living in southern California in 1988-91 and there were a lot of rumors going around about Upper Deck. One was that there were entire sheets of just the Griffey rookie card being printed, and another was that some of the UD executives would have lunch or dinner at a nice restaurant and pay the bill with a couple Griffey rookies.

I remember in 1989, a customer stopped by to pick up some Fleer cards I'd sold him, and he mentioned he was planning on buying some of the 1989 Upper Deck high number factory set cases at $3,700 per case. They had just come out, and featured the Jim Abbott 3-D card.

So I told him I might be able to save him some dough, made a call to a dealer in Santa Monica who was getting these cases from UD employees, was quoted $2,800 per case, and offered them to the guy for $3,200 per case. He took 5, and my partner and I made $2,000 on the flip.

Well, the price of those things plummeted due to the over-supply previous posters have mentioned, and every time I saw that customer he gave me a dirty look. Which bothered me, because the way I saw it, I had saved him $2,500 (the difference between what he was going to pay another dealer, and what he paid me.) It had been HIS idea to buy them, I didn't suggest it to him.

I don't know, maybe he thought I was responsible for them plummeting in price. Or maybe he thought I had inside information. I often wondered if he blamed his stock broker when the market turned bearish... Ultimately I wrote it off as a case of a guy not wanting to accept responsibility for a bad decision, preferring to find someone else to blame. In this case, me.

[KGoldin]

I love that book Card Sharks
I recommend it for everyone on this site!
I also suggest you save yourself time and go to the back and find all pages with "ken goldin" ! Got an early pic of me in there too

[sportscentury]

I love that book Card Sharks
I recommend it for everyone on this site!
I also suggest you save yourself time and go to the back and find all pages with "ken goldin" ! Got an early pic of me in there too

Yes, I recommend Card Sharks, as well. I was trying to be polite when I wrote "The company was run well early on..." Ethics was never Upper Deck's strong suit (again, trying to be polite).

[commando]

If I remember correctly, Press Pass was the first company to seed game-used (or race-used) cards in packs, when they did their "Burning Rubber" tire inserts for their 1996 NASCAR wax. Upper Deck adopted the idea quickly, and to this day you can find a parade of questionable jersey cards produced by the company. After all, what's the harm if you cut up a worthless jersey and put it on that George Blanda card?