Filed under: Beckett Media | Tags: baseball card licensing, MLBPA, Upper Deck
Upper Deck announced on Thursday that it has been granted a new trading card license from the Major League Baseball Players Association.
An MLBPA spokesman said as of Thursday afternoon that there are not any other licensing agreements to yet announce.
“We are thrilled to renew our commitment to the baseball card market and look forward to working closely with the Players Association to further grow the category,” said Upper Deck CEO Richard McWilliam in a news release. “Upper Deck has an unsurpassed record of delivering the most innovative, premium and authentic baseball trading cards, and we are poised to continue that tradition into the next decade.”
Said MLBPA’s Evan Kaplan:
“Our goal is to provide collectors with great baseball card products, while continuing to grow the market with an infusion of new consumers. We’re confident Upper Deck can help us realize those goals.”
The first release of the new license term will be Upper Deck Series One Baseball, currently scheduled to launch on Feb. 6, 2010.
“Needless to say, we are extremely eager and very excited to put our 2010 baseball trading card product and marketing plans into motion,” said Jason Masherah, Director of Sports Brands for The Upper Deck Company. “Baseball fans and card collectors have a lot to look forward to!”
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The Beckett Blog 
more bad news for the card hobby. more jersey swatches and autographs of common players along with overproduced product.
Comment by Dave July 2, 2009 @ 1:52 pmits about time if u are a master set collector u need 10 cases of product to complete one set. all short prints no real cards just high dollar cards and its un real ex example time line 660 card set with about 80 cards are not short prints good luck men and women enjoy life if we stop buying they will get the idea
Comment by xnyereric August 7, 2009 @ 12:07 amI thought Topps was going to be the only company to produce baseball cards in 2010? This whole licensing thing doesn’t make any sense to me. I thought Topps had exclusive rights, now i’t looks like Upper Deck will make cards again. So what is going to change in 2010? The outlook doesn’t look any different to me. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy some products from both manufacturers, but they each need to limit the amount of cards they make, and just get rid of some of the sets alltogether. Tooo much different crap out there. If anyone really understands what is going to change in the card industry reguarding baseball in 2009, please post it so I could understand. Thanks.
Comment by Anonymous November 11, 2009 @ 1:31 pmTopps is the only company authorized by both MLB Properties as well as the MLB Players Association to make cards.
This announcement was made before MLB Properties announced its decision. Upper Deck is authorized by the MLBPA — so they can use the players, but not team names and logos.
How that will work when 2010 comes will be an interesting one.
Comment by chrisolds November 11, 2009 @ 2:49 pm