It’s full speed ahead at Upper Deck, which continues its 21 year run with a 600-card base set now on the market.
Upper Deck has released its flagship baseball set for 2010. Series One hits stores as the company’s first issue not under the auspices of Major League Baseball. Having produced cards each year since its landmark debut in 1989, the company is hoping that collectors won’t care that it doesn’t carry an official license.
2010 Upper Deck has taken its place alongside rival Topps with 20 cards per pack and 16 packs per box.
“Obviously we’re extremely pumped up right now with this week’s unveiling in hobby shops and retail stores across the country,” said Gabriel Garcia, Upper Deck’s Baseball brand manager. “We really went to task to find the best shots possible of the players, combined with a terrific assortment of autographs and memorabilia cards from baseball biggest stars, past and present.”
The 600-card base set is complimented with a collection of autographs and memorabilia cards featuring baseball’s biggest names. Beyond highlighting today’s superstars like Derek Jeter, David Wright, Mark Texeira, Albert Pujols, Ken Griffey Jr. and David Ortiz, the set also includes sought-after “Signature Sensations” autograph cards from sluggers like Prince Fielder, Joe Mauer, Grady Sizemore, Adrian Gonzalez, Lance Berkman and Miguel Tejada. Autographs and game-jersey memorabilia cards also include pitchers like Josh Beckett, Cole Hamels, Jonathan Papelbon and Scott Kazmir.
For rookie card collectors, Upper Deck Series One offers its 40-card “Star Rookies” subset. The collection includes up-and-coming pitchers like Brian Matusz, Wade Davis and Madison Bumgarner, along with promising hitters like Tyler Flowers, Buster Posey and Drew Stubbs.
The insert lineup includes a base set Gold Parallel that’s numbered to 99.
Collectors can also try their hand at discovering 20th Anniversary Heroes Art Cards, which celebrate the hobby’s first-ever certified autographs introduced by Upper Deck in 1990 with its Reggie Jackson and Nolan Ryan signatures. The 10-card lineup headlined by the likes of Jeter, Griffey and Chipper Jones and the autographed version for each player is numbered to 90.
With a further tribute to yesteryear, Upper Deck has included a highly sought-after “Baseball Heroes” cut-signature card (numbered to 56) of Joe DiMaggio.
Upper Deck also included a 200-card “Season Biography” collection (two cards per pack) that captures some of the greatest games and moments from the 2009 baseball season including White Sox hurler Mark Buehrle’s perfect game thrown on July 23, which was aided in large part by utility outfielder Dewayne Wise’s ninth-inning catch at the wall.
CONTENT HIGHLIGHTS
-Two (2) Season Biography Cards Per Pack, On Average. Season Biography Captures The Highlights Of Every Day From The 2009 Season.
– Pull Two (2) Memorabilia Cards Per Box, On Average.
– Look For (1) One Autograph Card Per Box, On Average.
– Look For (1) One Regular Exquisite Card In Every Case. 2010 Upper Deck 1 Is The First Baseball Product Of The Year To Have Exquisite Cards.
– Look For Joe Dimaggio Cut Signature Cards.
– Look For 20th Anniversary Heroes Art Cards Celebrating The First-Ever Certified Autograph (1990’s Reggie Jackson Heroes Art Card).
– Look For 20th Anniversary Signed Buyback Cards From The Biggest Stars From The Classic 1990 Upper Deck Baseball Set.
PRODUCT BREAKDOWN
Regular Cards and Rookies
– Base Set – 600 cards
Inserts and Parallel Cards
– Base Set Gold Parallel- numbered to 99
– Upper Deck Portraits- 1:4
– Upper Deck Portraits black parallel- numbered to 99
– Season Biography- 2 cards in every pack
– DiMaggio Heroes cards
– 20th Anniversary Heroes Art Card- One card in every box
– All World
– All World Short Prints
– Pure Heat
– Pure Heat Short Prints
– 10th Anniversary 2000 UD Rookie Update Cards! On the tenth anniversary of the 2000 Upper Deck baseball set, we take a look back to create 20 additional Star Rookie subset cards that never made it to the set- including stars like Johan Santana and Michael Young
Autograph Cards (1 per box, on average)
– Signature Sensations
– 20th Anniversary Heroes Art Card Signatures
– Joe DiMaggio Cut Signature Cards
Memorabilia Cards (2 per box, on average)
– UD Game Jersey
– UD Game Jersey Patch- numbered to 25
– Gary Sheffield A Piece of History 500 HR Club Bat card
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