I won’t go into my conspiracy theory about how Upper Deck caters to hockey and football fans because it’s already been discussed. I just wanted to show readers of Wax Heaven one of the cards hockey collectors have a chance to pull from an upcoming product.
2009/’10 SP Game Used Edition promises six memorabilia or autographs per box. While you won’t get to crack this product until January of 2010, Upper Deck has posted lots of information and images on their Facebook account.
Can you imagine how great these cards would look in a baseball release? It’s not often (or ever) that I get excited about a memorabilia card but this pretty much did it for me. It would be a must-have for any serious player collector.
I know I’d risk bodily harm to get my hands on an Andrew Miller, were it available.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If UD ever put half the effort into baseball that they do hockey, we would all be blown away. How come the one sport they have exclusively is the one they always produce the best products for? Shouldn’t competetion breed innovation, or at least a crossover in quality?
That is why I miss DLP
Yeah when I posted on this last night, the first thing I thought of was Tools of the Trade. This brand in hockey has always had pretty good value to it and the new inclusion of the fight strap cards are pretty cool. For those that don’t know what a fight strap is, it’s like internal suspenders preventing an opponent from pulling your sweater of your head and pummeling you blind. (The didn’t always have fight straps)
A card that featured a glove, hat, bat, and jersey for a baseball player would be sweet. Maybe make it more and throw in a piece of cleat, or even batting helmet. Batting glove? Jock strap… oh yea now we’re talkin.
My pic didn’t post. Do you allow pics on here, Mario?
Beandip – 2005 Tools of the Trade had just about everything you mention, plus catcher’s gear, fielding glove, et al.
Charlie, don’t know if HTML is allowed or not but you could always drop a link to it.
Yeah, I tried HTML the first time. Here’s a direct link.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r232/Chas321/Sig2005QuadPrimes.jpg
Depending on the player and the parallel, the pieces get more intricate.
These are numbered /10.
That’s pretty bad-ass, although if that card were made for baseball player Craig Counsil or Frank Catalanato would anyone really get excited?
Having said that, Hockey items seem more apt to make for better-looking game-used cards. Sure, there will be boring single-color swatches, but there is all kinds of color and patches on the jerseys, and they have a ton of equipment, all of which have seems, logos, writing — the stuff that makes premium game-used look awesome.
Baseball is pretty plain Jane. White, Grey or Team Alt color road jersey, same color pants, maybe a pinstripe or two.
I heart tags.
I rarely comment on current cards, but wow, is that thing slick.
This is wicked cool. The current Fleer Ultra Hockey Ice Medallion cards look way cool, and the new O-Pee-Chee layout, which hearkens back to the classic 1979-80 set, is going to be wicked cool. It’s going to be a good year for hockey.
The only problem is UD didn’t come up with the original idea.
That would be ITG, or In the Game a hockey manufacturer that doesn’t use the NHLPA logos that are part of the exclusive deal.
Here is an example of the “complete jersey”
(not my card)
http://cgi.ebay.com/2005-06-ITG-H-P-Bouwmeester-Complete-Jersey-H-0197_W0QQitemZ220417953803QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Hockey_Trading_Cards?hash=item3351ef100b&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116
Same principals, for the most part same layout, just a tag instead of a “game used number”
So yeah UD did well, but its not a 100% original.
Just a small other fact, ITG has some of the best memorabilia pieces in cards in all of their products. Jerseys aren’t quarter size swatches. This is my opinion, so do whatever with it you want to.
Zach,
Thanks for the comment. That card you linked looks pretty damn sweet!
Is there a possibility that hockey stuff is just cheaper to buy therefore the UD can make cards that are more extravagent for the same price?
But are they manufactured tags, numbers, emblems, etc.? Sure they look pretty… but what’s the real value.
Canada Card World – The Blog
Hockey Card Heaven