What could possibly be more All-American than.......

an article about the love of our All-American hobby, written by a native of Andy Griffith's hometown, which became Mayberry on TV?  Yet another writer who thought he could retire off an '89 Upper Deck Griffey rookie card has had a rude awakening, but uses the occasion to reflect upon his life and the decisions he has made. 

Which cards in your collection trigger a very specific (and possibly non-sports related) memory?  Share them in the comment section, and in the meantime, enjoy the story of one writer's trip down memory lane upon rediscovering his card collection............

Baseball cards, memories, and the passage of time

The Wave of the Future?

Will this make cardboard obsolete? Or is it one of Upper Deck's last gasps at relevance?

I have to wonder what the price point of something like this will be, and if the card companies have once again missed the target if they're trying to hit in terms of audience by forcing something on them they weren't necessarily asking for nor can they afford.

Also, with the trend in technology moving toward smaller and smaller devices, the "cards" look awfully big and cumbersome to be something collected in quantity and long term.

Upper Deck unveils video trading cards

I am serious.....he IS one of the Spectrum of Stars.....and don't call him Shirley

Leslie Nielsen might be one of the greatest comic actors of this generation.  If you ever want to keep me pacified for hours, sit me in front of the TV during a Leslie Nielsen comedy movie marathon.  Aside from laughing loudly and frequently, I won't get off the couch. 

As with many non-sports figures featured on the hundreds of products during the mass sports card overproduction of the past 15 years or so, Leslie Nielsen was on a baseball card.  Well, technically not a baseball card, but for lack of a better term.  Then again, he did pose as the home plate umpire in the first Naked Gun, so it's not like he never set foot on a Major League Baseball field. 

His moment on cardboard is remembered here......

Leslie Nielsen appeared on 2009 Upper Deck card

And now, a few of my favorite silver screen moments featuring comedy's "silver fox".....

The house of (sports) cards (and memorabilia) begins to fall.....

And sadly, it comes as no surprise. The first step in what will most likely be the end for Upper Deck began today. As someone who has been on the short end of the economic stick, the human toll is what saddens me as much as the collapse of the Rolls-Royce of sports card companies since 1989. Shedding 1/4 to 1/3 of your staff not only disrupts lives, it cheapens the product you continue to put out. Not sure how many more companies will have to die before corporate boardrooms finally figure that out.

As much as I enjoy the hobby, I value a man or woman's livelihood even more. These folks will all land on their feet, but it's painful to watch as both a hobbyist and man with compassion for those who work hard and still get dealt a blow like this.

If it makes the now ex-Upper Deck employees feel any better, theirs isn't the only industry whose cheese has been moved over the past few years.

To those who lost their jobs in this latest senseless act by a brain dead CEO, THANK YOU for putting out a superb product across multiple sports for the past 20 years. We'll always have the Griffey rookie and the memories. And our thoughts and prayers are with you as you begin the next career chapter.

Uh oh

The news continues to get worse for Upper Deck. Their problems have been well-documented, from lawsuits to settlements to losing both the Major League Baseball AND NFL licenses.

Now, according to the New York Times, they're also running out of money and haven't paid Major League Baseball players for autograph deals. It's becoming more and more impossible every day to envision a scenario under which the company will be able to survive. A merger or buyout might be possible, but short of that, the beginning of the end is underway.

It's sad for me as a collector and fan of their work from their initial 1989 baseball set to see this happen to a company that set the gold standard for the hobby. It's even more disappointing to see this play out the same way that killed many other companies in the past decade beginning with Enron.......shady leadership at the top, lots of great employees loyal to the company seeing their lives disrupted by layoffs in an ailing economy, and a CEO who was playing the fiddle while Rome was burning and will walk away with millions nonetheless.

As a radio guy by trade, Upper Deck reminds me of a station that launches in a market to try and take down the #1 station. If they succeed, which is rare, it's a testament to their people and their expertise. If they fail, at worst you hope they've at least made the #1 station earn it by shoring up their weaknesses and becoming a better station. Hopefully Upper Deck has raised the stakes and made Topps, Panini, and the others bring their "A" game, which makes the customers the winner.

Down, and now very possibly out......

Recently, I talked about Upper Deck's recent woes involving the loss of their license with Major League Baseball and the subsequent lawsuits filed when they brazenly released several 2010 sets complete with team logos and uniforms. At the time, I truly felt like the company would be OK as long as they were somehow able to keep a license with the NFL and the NFLPA. Things seemed to headed in that direction when the NFLPA marketing arm announced a 2-year renewal of Upper Deck's license through 2011.

Today, however, brings a much different story. While Upper Deck's PR shill tried to his best to make it sound like there could be some sort of NFL-related release for 2010, I can't believe the company would touch any sort of pro football product with a 10 foot pole given the baseball legal mess and the millions it cost them.

So now it's down to the NHL and NCAA collegiate cards for Upper Deck in the Sports category. Time will tell if that is enough to sustain the company, but in the short term, things definitely don't look good. Upper Deck and Topps are the two card companies whose name transcends the product they sell and has penetrated the mainstream. At the moment, they seem headed in opposite directions. Topps, under the leadership of former CEO Michael Eisner, has a hot product with Topps Attax, which seems to be having some inital success at luring kids back from collecting mostly non-sports related cards since the boom of the early 90's. Upper Deck might find themselves on a far more dubious list if their losing streak continues.

Down, but not out......

As David Letterman often says, I wouldn't give Upper Deck's troubles to a monkey on a rock. If you're an avid card collector or dealer, their troubles are well-documented. I'm just beginning to plug back into the hobby, but based on the blogs and message board posts of those who have remained close to the hobby over the past decade, I can come to two conclusions about Upper Deck.

First, most collectors seem to be pretty passionate about Upper Deck's product across multiple sports, with a few exceptions. Second, the company's CEO, Richard McWilliam, seems to be portrayed as a incurable egomaniac......a trait you rarely ever see in a big corporate CEO :-)

The past year has been brutal for the company with multiple lawsuits and ultimate settlements costing tens of millions of dollars, but a silver lining seems to be on the horizon.

Just as it appeared Upper Deck might be in danger of losing licensing for producing cards for the second major sport in as many years, the NFL Players Association's marketing arm announced yesterday that they would renew Upper Deck's license for two more years through 2011.

The loss of the Major League Baseball license and subsequent settlement with Topps over the alleged breach of the MLBPA agreement certainly knocked Upper Deck to the canvas, but the fact that football will still be part of the equation is welcome news to those in the hobby.

If this were a heavyweight fight, Upper Deck is still certainly down, but as of yesterday, any cries of "no mas" are definitely premature.