Tiger Woods, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Kevin Durant, Michael Jordan and Sidney Crosby Are Just Some of the Major Athletes Signing in the Sports Royalty Subset
Carlsbad, CA – (August 24, 2007) – Upper Deck has pulled out all the stops to make sure the return of Goudey Baseball is regarded as the “must have” vintage set of the year. The product will feature art that stays true to the original Goudey brand, vintage buy-backs, on card autographs of today’s best baseball players and a Sports Royalty subset that will include autograph versions of some of the most compelling sports personalities in the world today.
The first task was to make sure the look stayed true to the original Goudey cards from the 30’s and 40’s. “It began with a lot of exhaustive research reviewing cards from the older sets and talking to people in the hobby with an intimate knowledge of them,” said Vincent Morales, Upper Deck’s lead designer for Baseball. “The original cards were illustrated and painted, but we wanted to incorporate today’s technology in delivering that vintage look. We used the best digital artists in the country and even some from as far away as France to give photos of today’s athletes, that unique vintage look. Then we designed over 280 original backgrounds to use behind the players. One artist in particular has a father who loved the original set, so he was passionate about making sure we stayed true to the original look. Everyone has been thrilled with the final result.”
Next Upper Deck began one of the largest buy-back campaigns of vintage cards in recent history. Tens of thousands of vintage 1933 & 1934 Goudey, 1934 & 1936 Diamond Stars and 1941 Double Play cards were reclaimed from the open market to be included in this set. UD increased the amount of buy-back cards to be used in the product so collectors will find two in every hobby case on average. One will be inserted randomly into packs and the other will be inserted in a special box topper pack that will also come with a Diamond Stars and Double Play card numbered to 15. With each case yielding an average of two of these vintage Goudey cards, Upper Deck needed to acquire twice as many cards as they had originally planned for.
“The biggest problem in trying to acquire all the cards we needed was there just is not a lot of this product readily available in bulk in the market anymore, these cards are over 70 years old,” said Chris Shtino, Upper Deck lead buyer. “We were able to tap into some resources however and once they started coming in, it was very exciting here. I had probably 20 different staff members coming by each day to see the cards after they arrived. Obviously the Ruth and Gehrig cards were the main draw, but everyone was just blown away with the history of these original Goudey Cards.”
Goudey was famous for an insert set which highlighted star athletes from all sports and Upper Deck is keeping that tradition alive with the Sports Royalty subset. “We are blessed to have relationships with some of the greatest athletes from all sports already so it was exciting to bring them all out in a set like this,” said Gregg Kohn, Upper Deck Baseball Product Manager. “We first used our top spokesmen like Michael Jordan, Sidney Crosby, Peyton Manning, Kobe Bryant, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Kevin Durant, Cal Ripken Jr., LeBron James and Tiger Woods. Then we added in some of the best legends like Dean Smith, Gordie Howe, Emmitt Smith, Joe Namath, John Wooden and Nolan Ryan. To round it out we looked at athletes from other sports like tennis great Martina Hingis, US swimming stars Katie Hoff & Ryan Lochte, soccer superstar Mia Hamm and the black widow of billiards, Jeanette Lee. I can say without a doubt, this is one of the best checklists for any product I have ever worked on.” Unsigned versions of the Sports Royalty subset will fall one per box with signed versions coming two per case on average.
More than anything, it was important for Upper Deck to deliver as much value as possible with Goudey. “Besides the vintage Goudey buy-backs and the Sports Royalty cards, collectors will also find one autograph and one memorabilia card in every box on average,” said Jason Masherah, Upper Deck Baseball Brand Manager. “We factored in more time for autograph acquisition so athletes actually signed on the cards, we did not incorporate autograph labels or stickers in this set. We also shortprinted cards 201-288 so when collectors do put a set together, it will have more value. When you look at some of the similar products in the market today, for just $4.99 per 8-card pack, the value in Goudey Baseball is undeniable.”
CONTENT HIGHLIGHTS:
o Each box contains an average of 1 Sports Royalty card – including autographed versions!
o Find 1 autograph and 1 memorabilia card per box on average!
o Pull original 1933 Goudey buy-back cards!
o Contains specially marked bonus packs featuring rare inserts numbered to 15 or less!
PRODUCT BREAKDOWN:
Signature & Memorabilia Cards
o 1933 Goudey Regular Card Memorabilia Parallel – 1:box on average
o Goudey Graphs (autograph cards) – 1:box on average
o The Immortals (memorabilia cards)
o 1941 Double Play Auto Parallel - #’d to 1
o 1934-36 Diamond Stars Auto Parallel - #’d to 1
o Goudey Sports Royalty Card Auto Parallel
Insert Cards
o 1941 Double Play - #’d to 15
o 1934-36 Diamond Stars - #’d to 15
o 1934-36 Diamond Stars Yellow version - #’d to 5
o Goudey Sports Royalty Card – 1:box on average
Regular Cards and Rookies
o 200 1933 Goudey Regular Cards
o 40 1933 Goudey Regular Card Shortprints – 1:6
o 24 1938 Goudey Heads Up – 1:6
o 24 1938 Goudey Heads Up Writing (Cartoon version) – 1:6