Preview: 2010-11 O-Pee-Chee Hockey (It's Looking WAY Better Than Last Year)

In the interest of full disclosure: I probably give the O-Pee-Chee name a little more of a pass than it sometimes deserves. Call it my personal form of Canadian patriotism mixed with equal parts nostalgia. That said, after a handful of jumbo packs, I was extremely apathetic towards Upper Deck's 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Hockey release. The design was pukish, which for a release geared towards set building, was a kiss of death.

But from the early images for 2010-11 O-Pee-Chee Hockey, it looks like Upper Deck has things back on track. The base card design has a fair amount of white space and is probably the most modern since Upper Deck took over the brand. The picture window on the front may end up being too small for some action photos, but the Jarome Iginla shown on the initial promo materials looks very solid - it feels kind of like 2002 Topps Total or 2003 Topps Bazooka Baseball to me. The Marquee Rookies return once again. Although there's no mention of them being short printed, I'd assume they will be as in years past. In all, the base set will have a whopping 600 cards.

As far as inserts go, there's no guarantees with a guaranteed hit in every box. Overall odds have O-Pee-Chee Signatures and O-Pee-Chee Souvenirs each falling at a rate of three per case, or one autograph or memorabilia card in every other box. O-Pee-Chee Souvenirs are quad jersey cards featuring four different players. I like these odds as it emphasizes the set building as the focus of the set, rather than tossing in a bunch of hits for the sake of having them and only driving up the cost.




2010-11 O-Pee-Chee isn't rocking the boat with a lot of changes. Each pack will contain a Retro parallel. One in every four packs will have a Retro Rainbow parallel, while there will be a Black-Bordered Rainbow Retro parallel or two in every hobby box. Boxes also promise one In Action insert and nine additional inserts, although details on these are not yet available.

Packs of 2010-11 O-Pee-Chee Hockey will have six cards with 36 packs in a box. It is scheduled to be released in December, a little before Christmas.

Prominent and Pretty in Pink

Although I haven't bought a pack of the stuff and don't plan to, I'm having a bit of a love-hate infatuation with Upper Deck Prominent Cuts. My mind boggles at the thought of not one, not two but three cards in a 60-card base set being occupied by three of the Kardashian sisters but there's also some amazing autographs to be found. Granted, the cut signature autographs have no pictures and have a large checklist with plenty of signers who are very much alive. But then what's the chances of a lot of these rejected stars coming out in a set that features them?

Such is the case with Molly Ringwald. Along with Punky Brewster and that unnamed girl that Rodney Dangerfield sees in the shower at the start of Back to School, she was amongst my first Hollywood crushes. Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, TV's Diff'rent Strokes - she was the cute, snooty dream girl in some of my favorite things growing up.

But before I grew up, she did and moved on.

For the past couple of decades, Ringwald went and became a wife and mom, and largely disappeared from the Hollywood scene. I spotted her in a horrendous Aussie slasher film a few years back and caught her paying tribute to John Hughes at the Academy Awards. She's also in some TV show now that I've never seen. Whatever the true Hollywood story is, Molly Ringwald simply isn't the it girl she once was. And she's done a great job of distancing herself from it.

With my serious doubts of a set based on The Secret Life of the American Teenager coming out, I went and pulled the trigger on this from Upper Deck Prominent Cuts:

Upper Deck Prominent Cuts Autograph Molly Ringwald

For most, this card is probably 20 years too late. But for me, it's a trip back to elementary school crushes. As for the fact that it's a cut signature of a living person. You're right, the card isn't the prettiest. But like Duckie on the rebound, something's better than nothing. I also find something concerting about the legitimacy of the ugly check where the signature (which is very clean, I might add) originates from. Plus it was pretty cheap too at significantly less than the pack it came from.

Overall, I've still paid less than the price of one pack and gotten 80% of the base set, a bunch of doubles and an autograph of not only someone I've heard of, but someone I really want as well. Another exa not to bust high-end wax.

Is it Time the Manufacturers Look at Teaming Up?

Not only is the hobby's marketplace shrinking, but those in the game are disappearing too. They might not be going under completely (yet), but with the trend toward exclusive deals one-sport collectors are losing some of the long-standing brands they came to know and collect. But does it have to be that way? I think it'd be a win-win for everyone involved, from collectors to manufacturers and everyone in between, to consider something a little radical - teaming up and co-producing sets.

Here's how it'd work. Let's take Upper Deck Goudey Baseball as an example. Seeing as how Upper Deck isn't in the baseball game at all right now, 2010 Goudey isn't going to happen. At the same time Topps is working hard to re-brand National Chicle as a nostalgic art brand similar to what Goudey was for Upper Deck. So what if Topps borrowed the Goudey brand from Upper Deck, worked with Upper Deck as a contractor and released Topps Goudey instead of going through all the work of hoping a brand will catch on and adopt an identity for a few years.

The pros for Topps are they're getting a proven brand with a recognized following. Costs might also be a bit lower in that they're sub-contracting some of the work out. Ultimately Topps would have to sign off on it and add their brands to the packaging and they'd be the ones collecting the money at the end of the day. They also don't have to create a copycat brand to fill a hole left by a departing competitor and hope that collectors latch onto it. The industry proves every year that they'd rather take the safe road than risks. I respect this philosophy, even if it frustrates me at times, so this plays right into the conservative logic.

The pros for Upper Deck are that the brand they hold still remains in the public eye. That way, should they regain a license or look to expand into another sport, the name is still fresh in collectors' minds. Plus, Upper Deck is gaining some income from their trademark.

For collectors, they get the continuity that keeps a collection going. Often in today's hobby, there's lots of stopping and going resulting in gaps. I know these drive me nuts. Plus, the brands don't even need to change that much. Keep the spirit of the original product with the same people working on it as well, at least as consultants.

The obvious downside is that competitors don't often like working with one another. Even if Topps is the only kid on the block making licensed baseball cards, Upper Deck is ultimately still a competitor, as is Panini, In the Game, Rittenhouse Archives and even small manufacturers like 5finity and MonsterWax. For the big players in the hobby, there'd probably need to be some reconciliation. But at the end of the day, don't they all speak the same thing: $$$.

I've used the example of Goudey Baseball to illustrate my point but it's not limited to that. Imagine Upper Deck getting another chance to sub-contract to Panini to make SP Authentic and Exquisite Football? Or Upper Deck getting the go-ahead to actually use vintage Topps designs with O-Pee-Chee Hockey. 

Such partnerships aren't unheard of in the hobby. A couple of years ago Rittenhouse Archives made several excellent sets based on Marvel Comics properties on behalf of Upper Deck. I don't know the logistics of it all but Upper Deck seemed to have the license and Rittenhouse made the sets. Why couldn't this work in sports as well?

With this scenario I want to see the producers stay out to some extent. Act like a Hollywood producer who puts up the assets but holds filmmakers accountable for their work. So be hands on but let the partner maintain the brand's identity. This is the key for success. Taking Goudey and adding silver autograph stickers would kill the brand faster than Randy Johnson's fastball blowing up a seagull.

I don't know if there's legal holdups that wouldn't allow for such a scenario to happen. I'm just trying to get creative. I haven't looked into anyone's accounting books so I can't exactly where some manufacturers are at. But there are some signs that would point in the direction that some are doing better than others. So do what you must to survive and if you're hanging in there like Ford, there's no better time than to capitalize and make a little more money. So suck it up and shake hands, men.

Further Shakedowns at Upper Deck - O-Pee-Chee Metal Gets a (Welcomed) Last-Second Makeover

Read into this as you will, but Blowout cards has just posted the following:

In an attempt to relieve some of the congestion in the upcoming NHL release calendar, we have decided to cancel the release of 09-10 OPC Metal NHL. However, because the OPC brand has such a large and very loyal following, we have decided to take the base OPC cards that were to be a part of the OPC Metal product and create a 09-10 OPC Update factory set. This set will contain the complete 200 cards that finish the set (cards 601-800), and each set will also include a small number of random foil parallel cards of the update set as well.

Fact sheets will be sent out shortly, which will detail price and configuration of the new product. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause, however we feel that this is the prudent move as we look ahead into the next few months. The sets will be allocated. It is our intention to get this update set out by the end of April.

More details to follow……

A couple of thoughts:

* This is the way the set should have been in the first place. I bought all of one pack last year because I thought I wanted to build the Topps Traded-esque update set. Big mistake. The chrome Metal cards made up most of the pack. And judging by the soft prices of last year's boxes, I believe I wasn't alone in my frustration. In fact, I know others felt the same way.


* If this is truly a move "to relieve some of the congestion," it's Upper Deck's own damn fault. Note to McWilliam, your co-exclusive doesn't start until next year. You're the Lone Ranger right now and you're the one who makes up the entire hockey card calendar.


I'm actually happy by this announcement. Although I'm somewhat sour towards this year's O-Pee-Chee set, it is my intention to eventually build it.

Upper Deck Bids Adios to NFL Football

First thing I learned today: Kids and tacos mean big messes.

Second thing I learned: Upper Deck and NFL Properties didn't reach a license renewal agreement. In a brief post-dinner statement, Upper Deck announced that it wouldn't be making any NFL products as a result. It's been a tough year for the company, losing baseball, basketball and now football. Not to mention Yu-Gi-Oh and World of Warcraft in the gaming realm. What's left? Sidney Crosby, Iron Man and Hello Kitty.

Here's the Richard McWilliam quote of the day, “Over the past year, Upper Deck has attempted to negotiate a new licensing deal with NFL Properties. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were not able to reach agreeable terms, and therefore will not be issuing any NFL Properties-licensed trading cards for the 2010 season. Upper Deck will continue to focus on its exclusive license agreement with the Collegiate Licensing Company and co-exclusive agreements with NHL Enterprises and the NHL Players’ Association, as well as its multiple entertainment licenses.”

It's a lot of blah, blah, blah but I included it simply because I love the doublespeak of a co-exclusive agreement.

Expect more to come on this and its ramifications. As well as a blow-by-blow account over at SportsCardsUncensored.com.

Sets I Want to See: The Expendables

Sylvester Stallone
Bruce Willis
Jet Li
Dolph Lundgren
Jason Statham
Arnold Freakin' Schwarzenegger
Mickey Rourke

As far as legitimate action heroes from the past 25 years go, these guys are the who's who of cheesy guy flicks where things blow up real good. There's also Stone Cold Steve Austin, Randy Couture and Eric Roberts. All that's missing is Chuck Norris and Jean Claude Van Damme. Well, the list above are attempting to make the cheesy action flick cool again with The Expendables. The trailer debuted online today and quite honestly, I was expecting more. Note to Sylvester Stallone: we want to see you kick people, not listen to you babble constantly.

That being said, I so want a card set just for the autograph possibilities. From that list, only a couple already have autographs. Schwarzenegger appeared in Batman and Robin Widescreen from SkyBox, Terminator 3 from Comic Images and on a pseudo-cut Conan the Barbarian card that used cut-up Batman and Robin cards. Fleer  convinced Stone Cold to sign in their Wrestlemania set back in 2001. Randy Couture's currently in Upper Deck Prominent Cuts and has also signed for Donruss Americana and Topps Allen and Ginter. Finally, there's Julia Roberts' brother Eric, who was in Upper Deck Spectrum and Donruss Americana.

Tonight I had a little fun and came up with some mock-ups for a possible set. Enjoy! The Expendables is in theatres this August and I'm guessing it'll be on DVD and Blu-ray a couple weeks later.

Upper Deck Awards

So the Upper Deck Awards are here. Someone apparently put this humble blog up for nomination. Thanks! Want to see what I'm playing for:

Hot diggity! There's other stuff too but I wants me a new plate that doubles as a hunting tool for when I'm stuck and lost in the woods behind my house. If you like the visual of the above loot plunged through a member of mother nature (to be used for food, shelter, clothing and, possibly, tooth floss), feel free to click "Trader Crack's Card Blog" at this poll-a-ma-doo. And then check back tomorrow and stuff that ballot box so this award can have about as much credibility as the NBA All-Star Game vote. And in case you don't want to say yes to Crack for the first time in your life where it's okay, that's fine too. There's some other familiar names too. And a couple that I honestly haven't caught.

However there's also some who are conspicuous by their absence. At least one said they were ineligible due to product sent to them in the past for review. Yet why are others still included? Also, nominations were made via Facebook. I clearly saw a couple of the missing sites nominated. Clearly, this is a horribly flawed process meant to bring on goodwill towards a company that's not on the greatest streak right now. Plus for every post like this one, it gets their name out there again. I freely acknowledge it and yet here I am sort of pleading for votes even when I know that I don't post the amount of content or depth that would make this blog truly worthy. I want the glass, dammit. Think of me as the cute blonde from the last season of Survivor. She may have won, but clearly Russell was the better player. I want to be a cute blonde. Okay, maybe that didn't come out right.

Should the miracle happen and Trader Crack's do "win," what's in it for you, the reader, follower, heckler, bystander? I'll make a feast for anyone who's willing to come to my place for supper. I live in northern Canada where we still have some snow on the ground, by the way. I'll also be passing the other major prize portion of the "award" - an autographed football helmet from the Rookie Photo Shoot, I believer - to Little Gellman because his dad likes football and he should have been nominated but wasn't due to inconsistent rules.

Did I mention I really want that trophy to collect dust on the mantle that I don't technically have at this time? Just think of all the bitterness and resentment it will cause in my house between my beautiful wife and I. But it's a "major prize," just like this is:

So what are you doing, take three seconds of your life, click here and vote "Trader Crack's Card Blog" (or someone else).

Complete Upper Deck Prominent Cuts Checklist

Upper Deck Prominent Cuts Checklist (Google Docs)

If you've been browsing autographs on eBay this week you've probably noticed tons of cut signatures from Upper Deck's new Prominent Cuts set. Thanks to Upper Deck for forwarding on the checklist to me, which is massive. As in nearly 900 cut signature subjects.

The set is pricey, running about $200 per box. Add to that the largely hit-and-miss cut signature subjects, one of which is guaranteed in a box, and it's a risk I'm not sure I'd consider. While there is a lot of big hits on the checklist, some of the names among the cut signatures are really horrible. Take Bai Ling for example. Her Donruss Americana autograph (which includes her picture) can be found for around $10. And that's the hit in a $200 box? I hear the banjo tuning up in the background to a familiar chorus. I've also got huge issues with cut signatures on cards of folks who are still very much alive. Bai Ling fits that category as well.

After browsing through the set, Prominent Cuts is a confused product. The eclectic base set checklist of politicians, actors and athletes, and plentiful movie costume cards give it a definite Donruss Americana feel. The gazillion cut signatures inserted at reasonable rates compares to Razor's cut signature products. The MMA toss-ins are another Donruss Americana nod, as well as a spin on Topps' UFC products. Does that mean Prominent Cuts' personality is made up from the shadows of others?

At any rate, if you're looking for the checklist, I've put it into a Google Docs spreadsheet and organized it in a way that's useful for me. I'm not super familiar with spreadsheet creation so I'm coming at it from an angle that's aimed at finding things in an organized fashion, hence the multiple sheets to keep the various aspects separate.

Please comment if you find checklists like this useful (even if Prominent Cuts isn't your thing). I've been preparing some on my own using pre-existing sheets that I have a tough time navigating through. If it's helpful I'd be happy to share what I've got and maybe be a little more motivated to put together others in the future.

Prominent Cuts is Finally Live, Complete with Patrick Swayze's Dress

Originally planned for a late-2009 release, Upper Deck Prominent Cuts is finally live. It's a catch-all sort of product with the usual Upper Deck sports stars, lots of MMA fighters, politicians, celebrities and multiple Kardashians (note how I refuse to consider them celebrities).

What's caught my attention is the sheer number of costume relics from prominent movie and TV stars. Even though the costume pieces seem to be leftovers from two years worth of A Piece of History Baseball, they're nonetheless impressive. The checklist includes names like Tom Hanks, Ben Stiller, Brad Pitt, Drew Barrymore, Farrah Fawcett, James Dean, Sammy Davis Jr, Mike Myers, Denzel Washington and tons more. And unlike the Donruss Americana sets that Prominent Cuts is somewhat modelled after, these costumes are mostly from actual films that you've probably heard of. A few exceptions exist, but these are mostly the older names. And when you get Sammy Davis Jr's briefcase, the brown leather swatch looks great.

The big drawback with these cards is the fact that there's no images. Without any logos to pretend to hide behind, it makes it tough for these cards to reach their full potential. But the swatch sizes are much bigger than they were with A Piece of History so the lack of imagery isn't quite so bad.

Upper Deck has also made lots of pairings, taking obscure connections and tossing two swatches on a single card. One that I got my attention was the match-up of Patrick Swayze and Harrison Ford under the banner "Action Hero Stars." With classics like Point Break and Road House under his belt, the late Dirty Dancing star fits the bill. Then there's Ford who gets the nod for pulling the trigger on old Greedo. It's a cool enough card numbered out of 99. But there's something that makes me giggle about this card and it's declaration of action heroes.

Upper Deck Prominent Cuts Hollywood History Dual Materials Patrick Swayze/Harrison Ford /99

The Ford swatch comes from the movie Crossing Over. I haven't seen it, but a quick Google search came up with this picture:

We have a match. 

I couldn't find an image to match up the Swayze swatch, but here's a picture of him in a different scene from the film:

It's a dress swatch Swayze wore in the cross-dressing film To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar.

Action hero, indeed.

A Seven-Letter Word for 'Restructuring'

Layoffs.

According to ICv2, Upper Deck is undergoing some personnel changes. As in some folks are likely out of work.

Nobody should be shocked as much of the company's bread and butter have recently gone elsewhere. Yu-Gi Oh was a billion-dollar license. Even if the counterfeit settlement with Konami wasn't very big, the fact is that snafu cost them much more with the loss of the license. Next was Blizzard Entertainment opting not to renew their Wizard of Warcraft CCG license with the company.

The bleeding still didn't stop as Upper Deck tried unsuccessfully to work their way around the exclusive contract MLBP signed with Topps. Again, the settlement might be doable but their loss of rights to include things like jersey pieces, options to airbrush and other concessions makes it difficult to make a real go with baseball. Sure, a portrait-style set would be awesome (hint, hint), but how many of those can they make to get the cash flow going to a level it would be with fully licensing. I'm no expert but it'd certainly be an uphill challenge.

The article states that much of the restructuring is happening within the entertainment division. There Upper Deck has a pretty big license with Marvel to make both cards and CCGs. But their previous experiences with the license didn't wow the market. Neither have Upper Deck's other recent attempts to become a major player in the non-sport market. Tale of Despereaux and Igor were nice in that the manufacturer showed a willingness to reach out for new licenses. But both sets (and movies) were duds. A few months ago Upper Deck announced the acquisition of the Thomas the Tank Engine and Hello Kitty card licenses. Neither have had firm sets and release dates announced yet.

No matter my thoughts on the legal issues surrounding Upper Deck, it sucks to hear people losing jobs. Even though I don't know people within the company on a personal level, I still hate hearing about layoffs restructuring. Especially when some of the people at the top making the iffy calls probably still have their family photos sitting on their desks.

Upper Deck Confirms Retail Exclusive SPs in 2010 Upper Deck Baseball

Today Upper Deck confirmed that they've included a handful of short prints as retail exclusives for 2010 Upper Deck Baseball. Wal-Mart packs have a Sarah Palin and a Pete Rose card while Target packs have a "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and a Yankees tribute highlighting the handful of World Series victories shared by teammates Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte.

Upper Deck's press release didn't offer specific odds, but did promise they were "super-rare." I'll hold back a snide remark but that doesn't mean I'm not thinking something. 

Seriously, though, what's with this obsession with Sarah Palin. At least when Obama shows up on a card, he's President. Palin's on some news station and gets mad at Family Guy. She seems more like a political version of Paris Hilton.

I Didn't Win the Super Bowl, But I'm Still Heading to Disneyland

I'm heading out of town in a couple of hours and won't be back until Wednesday (although I may find myself online on occasion). First off it's a couple of days of professional obligation and development at my region's annual teacher's convention. I'll be wishing this guy a happy 84th birthday as he's speaking at a session. Why to a group of teachers? I'm not sure.

Then it's off to Disneyland for 3.5 days with my wife, young children and mom. I'm super excited, not so much to return but to take my kids there for the first time. Better still is the fact they don't know they're going. They think we're heading to Grandma's house on the plane, not to meet Grandma here:

I hope to get the moment where they get the epiphany of where they're headed on video. I also heard that the planned relaunch of Michael Jackson's Captain EO might just be taking place this weekend. 

So if you actually notice a lack of posts, that's why.

I'll return with something on the craptacular Upper Deck variants. Maybe. Posada's got a purple fence. How enticing. Like eating a piece of stale, whole wheat bread. Without butter. Or jam.

Random Pack Break: 2009-10 Upper Deck Series One Hockey Fat Pack

It's not very often that I buy packs of hockey cards that don't promise me some O-Pee-Chee nostalgia. Whilst at the Wal-mart checkout a couple of weeks ago I bypassed a jumbo pack of nostalgia for a shot, albeit a long one, at a John Tavares Young Guns rookie card by opting instead for a 2009-10 Upper Deck Series One Hockey Fat Pack. Thirty-two cards for $6 - I couldn't see how I'd go wrong.

Top Half:
173. Rene Bourque - Awesome start! Bourque is from just down the road where I live and is considered a "local boy." Not a bad photo on the card, either.

77. Kari Lehtonen
197. Shawn Horcoff - The most useless piece of trivia you'll read all day comes from the back of this card, "Horcoff set a new Oilers single-season record in 2008-09 for most faceoffs taken (1,756) and most won (947). Bring on Jeopardy!
64. Wade Redden
8. Tim Connolly
126. Nicklas Lidstrom
82. Eric Staal
Hockey Heroes HH16. Martin Brodeur - I wasn't a big fan of this design back in 1991-92 when they started it with Brett Hull. I'm definitely not wanting to see it now.

Netminders NET12. Evgeni Nabokov - At first I thought this was a mid-90s Fleer throwback. Not a fan of this design at all.

145. Teemu Selanne
95. Semyon Varlamov - Great photo!

13. Daniel Paille
140. Stephane Robidas
84. Chad LaRose
116. Jakub Voracek - Is it just me or is Voracek priming to play a little Guitar Hero with that pose?

102. Jeff Woywitka

Bottom Half:
17. Andrei Kostitsyn and his magic hockey stick.

79. Tobias Enstrom
47. Marc-Andre Fleury - this card belongs in "Add the Caption" contest

177. Daymond Langkow
200. Sidney Crosby "Checklist"
122. Johan Franzen
130. Shea Weber
Ambassadors of the Game AG18. Alex Kovalev - At first glance I cursed this card because I though Upper Deck had carried its ridiculous 20th Anniversary set  over from baseball. The design is too similar, and that's no compliment.

69. Nathan Horton
99. Eric Fehr
29. Mikhail Grabovski
181. Peter Budaj - Another great shot with the ice coming forward.. Upper Deck sure loves its goalies.

152. Joe Thornton
136. Dustin Brown
4. Zdeno Chara
188. Owen Nolan - So maybe he wasn't the all-time great that comes with the expectation of going first overall in the draft, but Own Nolan has sure managed to stick around and put together a solid, sometimes great, career.

No Young Guns (they're 1:7 packs) but that's fine. As usual, the base set is beautiful, filled with beautiful and dramatic photography. I got a good mix of names, including lots of upcoming Hall of Famers.The inserts - didn't like them at all. If anyone needs any of them, drop me an email.

One of Kobe Bryant's Last Upper Deck Cards Isn't an Easy Find

If it weren't for 2009-10 Upper Deck Exquisite, this would have been Upper Deck's final fully licensed NBA card:

From the front, it's got the same design as 2008-09 Upper Deck Basketball, which is odd considering there's also a 2009-10 Upper Deck Basketball set. So how can this be one of Upper Deck's last NBA cards? The back tells the story of the card's origins:

This is a promo card released in the DVD of the Spike Lee documentary Kobe Doin' Work. While the title is horrible, the movie's not bad. It follows Bryant through an entire game in April, 2008 and articulates his greatness as a player. If you care, here's my review for it. The DVD was released in late November, while Exquisite hit shelves only a short time after.

Be careful, though. If you go to track down the card and buy the DVD, mine was very damaged. It was inserted loosely in the case and flopped around in transit leaving the card pretty beat up. And I'm not sure if every DVD has the card as well, so I can't make any promises.

2010 Upper Deck Base Cards Revealed

2010 Upper Deck Baseball has hit eBay. Assuming the base design is the same as the Star Rookies minus the Star Rookies logo, here's what you can expect:

It's like you wouldn't even know they lost their MLB license. From the images posted on eBay, the inserts are pretty solid looking.

One set that's popping up early is the unannounced 'Celebrity Predictors':

Yes, that would be Angelina Jolie as Mother Theresa, Brad Pitt's Fight Club toughness destroyed forever, the Twilight girl getting a card to cash in on Twilight hype and Robert Pattinson's hair threatening to take over the world. Sadly, I have a hunch once the Twilight-ites get wind of the Pattinson/Stewart, you're going to see some crazy prices. Sadly, I also won't be surprised if there's a variant of the card that pairs Stewart and Team Jacob. Sadly, I just made far too many Twilight references for a post about some of the first pictures of a hotly debated set.

Holo Grammys

It's the Academy Awards of music tonight but I don't really care. While your significant other scours People Magazine's website in the morning, here's a random bunch of holograms:

 1992 Denny's Grand Slam 26. Joe Carter

I remember begging my parents to take me out for pie and coffee when these were available. They just turned to me, told me it was a 30 minute drive and that I was too young for coffee as they sipped their instant "coffee." They neglected to mention that Denny's also had gross key lime pie. Denny's sucks. This set was the best thing the restaurant had to offer in 1992. 

 1995 Score Dream Team Gold DG11. Greg Maddux

I'm not sure why Score abandoned the shirtless grandeur of the Dream Team cards for holograms. I can't say that I mind either. The whole "Gold" label, though, doesn't make a whole lot of sense either.

1993 Upper Deck Diamond Gallery 32. Wil Cordero

This card is a part of some oddball Upper Deck box set. I hadn't heard of it before and may have to track it down seeing as how it's an oddball hologram box set. Just 123,600 sets were made, which must make it extremely limited ; )

1997 Stadium Club Instavision Highlights I13. Andy Pettite

You can't capture the greatness of this card in a scan. Well, it is a hologram so it is instantly great, but that there hologram shows Pettite's hurling prowess. Yes, it's got motion technology without the creepy factor of Sammy Sosa's 1996 SPx card winking at me.

And now a trio of static non-sport holograms:

 Marvel Universe: Series One (Impel, 1990) MH1. Cosmic Spider-man

Although these are probably the most recognizable non-sport holograms (my guess is that it's due to the seemingly millions that are out there and just about everyone collecting the set at the time had one or two), I also rank them amongst the worst. Sure, they're shiny but there's nothing else going on. Plus, the card backs are identical for all five in the set. Yes, Virginia, holograms can be boring sometimes. Can anyone tell me what makes this Spider-Man, Cosmic Spider-Man?

 DC Comics: Series One (Impel, 1992) DC Hologram Hall of Fame DCH8. Superman

This card suffers somewhat the same fate as the Spidey above. It's pretty boring. However, at least with this set Impel wised up a bit and gave something of an interesting background. Too bad Superman's face resembles that of a stick man I doodled while waiting on hold yesterday.

Marvel Universe Series Three (Impel, 1992) H-5. Ghost Rider

Finally, Impel is getting somewhere. While I'm not a big fan of Ghost Rider, the way his motorcycle is popping out of this card is pretty bad ass.

2009 UD Signature Stars Baseball Is Live and with More Hat Logos

Yesterday some images of 2009 Upper Deck Ultimate Baseball started popping up. Now some 2009 Upper Deck Signature Stars Baseball has emerged as well. After much speculation, it looks like Upper Deck has tipped its hand: all things are go save for the actual logos and nicknames. Clearly these cards show logos and there's no real attempt of even hiding the fact. For the casual collector who doesn't bother following the legal wranglings of the hobby, they likely wouldn't notice any difference from Topps licensed cards. As evidenced by the Hanson, they've even come up with their own answer to the rookie card logo.

On the one hand, I give Upper Deck credit for making some nice looking cards. On the other, I'm really getting tired of them wanting to make up their own rules. Yes, they're a business that's out to make a profit, but they're not the rebel start-up that they once were.

Back in 1989 Upper Deck was something fresh and new. They really did revolutionize the hobby. It was easy to get behind them because they were forcing everyone to do a better job at producing cards. But more than two decades later, they're the establishment. They've got a massive market share in North America. These moves in baseball equate to me like a big, old flipping of the bird at Topps, Major League Baseball and anyone else who's bothering to pay attention. This is just the latest move of many that haven't been so much about competition as they've been about appearing petty to at least this collector. Other instances include the Sweet Spot Michael Buysner and the blatant ripoff of Topps designs masqueraded under the guise of O-Pee-Chee.

It seems obvious that Upper Deck is ready to fight with these baseball cards. Otherwise, why would they hold back releasing images? Just remember Upper Deck, you do hold an exclusive with hockey, which is going to make your argument seem a little superficial. But then again, maybe a small chunk of baseball is worth more than all of hockey.

In the long run, I find it difficult to see how Upper Deck will be successful in landing future licenses. By sticking their thumb up to baseball (not to mention the whole counterfeiting CCG thing), they're showing disrespect to the hobby that has made them what they are today. I know if I were a licensor with a brand name and image to protect, I'd be very leery when dealing with such attitudes. I may be way off base here, and if I am I'd love to hear different perspectives.

Update:

This card from the Signed, Sealed and Delivered insert set shows Upper Deck is still willing to mention the team names as well, not just the cities: