How Upper Deck Reinvented Baseball Cards
In the 1980′s, Companies likeTopps, and Fleer dominated the sports memorobilia market. In 1988, all of that changed with the creation of Upper Deck.
The Upper Deck concept was created by Paul Sumner, who worked in the sales division of a printing company in Anaheim California. He wanted to develop a unique card that no one had seen before, nor had ever been marketed. He was not content with cards that only showed pictures of athletes and their stats. He wanted an original logo, and glossy cards that would catch the eye of every sports fan. Sumner had a college background, where he studied holograms. His idea of putting a trademark hologram logo on each side of the card would keep it from being counterfeited.
Major League Baseball was the first sport that granted Upper Deck a license to produce cards with their athletes. The license was granted on December of 1988. The first order was shipped on February 28, 1989. The first order left the small printing facility in Yorba Linda, California, and arrived at Tulsa’s Baseball Store in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The cards were an immediate hit. Midway through 1989, Upper Deck sold out all of it’s stock of baseball cards. Before the next year even began, Upper Deck pre-sold it’s full stock of baseball cards. 1990 also marked the first year Upper Deck randomly selected packets of baseball card to include autographed cards. Sales grew tremendously due to their marketing.
Today, Upper Deck is one of the worlds leading memorabilia producing company for all the major US sports (NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB).
