Cecil was on the 18U team in 2008, he had cards featured in 2008 SP Authentic, and the 2008 Team USA Box set that included Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper’s first cards. Cecil was a former Braves Draft pick in the 36th round in 2008. He was ranked 27th among prep prospects in 2008 by Baseball America.

He has one of the most live arms that I have seen in person, although much like Rick Vaughn, sometimes he didn’t know where it was going to go. I’ve always believed in his arm, and that he could be a dominant pitcher down the road. He just needs to calm down on the mound and have fun.

He had two great performances in the Cape League in 2010. He was the Falmouth Commodores Opening Day Starter and dominated the defending Champion Bourne Braves. He also was the pitcher on Falmouth who squared off with Anthony Renaudo in Brewster, he took the loss that day, but was solid through out.

But you can see the card posted above that was signed by Cecil. Well at least one of them was. The card on the left was signed by Cecil, the card on the right however was not. What I can gather is that the players all sat around and did their signing duty for their time with Team USA. You put a group of 18 and under year olds in a room for hours and players are going to end up goofing off over time. Well, it looks like a player on the team may have grabbed at least one of Cecil’s cards, faked Cecil’s name and Upper Deck missed this before inserting it in to the box sets.

I bought it on eBay for 1.30 plus shipping. I won’t be looking to sell it or anything. I have a nice collection of Cecil’s cards, and whether he is a hit at the pro level or not, I consider him a good friend and enjoy having this card that is a little bit off.

Cliff Lee is a player that could also be a great break out with such a limited number of autographed rookie cards out there of him. His total number of autographed rookies over a good deal of products totals around 1,000. His amazing numbers thus far in the playoffs on top of the fact that he may be changing teams to the Yankees this off season provide a very volatile potential market place.

Josh Hamilton is already one of the biggest stars in the baseball world. His 1999 Topps Traded Rookie could potentially skyrocket soon, but he is an interesting case due to the fact that after the Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium in 2008 his cards have already taken one astronomical jump. Could they potentially hit those heights again? Some tape measure shots in to the bay could definitely cause an explosion in his cards.

Neftali Feliz has limited autographs from 2008 all from what’s now known as Panini. He had autographs in the Prime Cuts, Elite, Threads, and Contenders products that year. His most limited are the Contenders and Prime Cuts at around 250 each. They are selling right now around 25 to 30 dollars but that number could easily increase if he lights up the radar gun over 100 in the World Series.

But my pick for the biggest potential breakout of the playoffs is the closer of the San Francisco Giants, Brian Wilson. He has become a YouTube sensation through out the playoffs. He has an extremely limited number of autographed cards with his SP Authentic from 2006. He also is in the Inkcredible insert set from that season so go check out your older boxes and see if you have any if these stashed away. The SPA Authentic has risen from around 20 dollars a few weeks ago to 60 dollars.

If you haven’t seen it take a moment and watch Brian Wilson’s appearance on Rome is Burning.

But now that he is on the DL for a second time, will people be more cautious? Will the demand of the yet to be released products such as Topps Chrome, or Triple Threads wain? Was this all inevitable due to oversaturation of his autograph in one release calendar? We have seen in the past rookies prices drop as more and more autographed cards were released, but at the same time there were more released due to competition in the Baseball card market.

We are in a different world even from a few years ago when Gordon Beckham, or Evan Longoria were the new hot superstars. You can choose what varation of Topps products you want of him, but you don’t have the choice of a SP, SPX, Goudey, Masterpieces or any other card that Upper Deck may have released of him or any current rookie.

It’s a new world collection wise, and the biggest question I am left with is “Will Strasburg being hurt scare away collectors/investors, or does the lack of competition do it more?” Oh yeah, and the bad luck timing award goes to Razor Rookie Rewind, which releases next week and includes the 2010 Bowman Chrome Superfractor of Stephen Strasburg that previously sold for over 20K.

Each month the company assigns members of the group a mission to accomplish and rewards individuals based on the quality of their efforts. Last month Upper Deck assigned members of the Volunteer Alliance to help promote their local hobby shops. Members helped shops create Facebook pages for their businesses, recorded YouTube commercials for shops and even volunteered to help out in the stores. This month the mission is to share the fun of collecting with people who do not currently collect or who used to collect.

“Word-of-mouth advertising is the most powerful form of advertising in the world so it is pretty awesome to have a group of hundreds of brand advocates in our Volunteer Alliance sharing their love of the hobby with others,” said Upper Deck’s Sports Marketing & Social Media Manager Chris Carlin. “Some will donate cards to children’s hospitals or Boys & Girls clubs while others may create an online community mentoring new collectors. Members of the Upper Deck Volunteer Alliance are very creative, so we are interested to see what they come up with and we are prepared to reward them for how inspired they get.”

It is free to become a member of the Upper Deck Volunteer Alliance. Fans simply need to have an online account with Upper Deck and e-mail the company at UpperDeckMarketing@upperdeck.com with the following information:

Upper Deck Online Account Username
Name
Email Address
Favorite Sports

Members have until Friday, September 17, to share with Upper Deck how they showed others the fun of collecting sports cards and memorabilia. Not a member of the Upper Deck Volunteer Alliance yet? Join today!

Upper Deck Settles Lawsuit with Major League Baseball

Sports card leader can continue selling recently released baseball products as part of the mutually agreed-upon settlement

Carlsbad, CA (March 3, 2010) – Today, the Upper Deck Company is pleased to announce that Upper Deck and Major League Baseball have mutually agreed to settle the lawsuit brought by Major League Baseball against Upper Deck. Per the terms of the settlement agreement, Upper Deck has agreed not to use MLB trademarks including team names and/or logos on its trading cards going forward. However, as part of the settlement, Upper Deck can and will continue to sell three recently released baseball products currently on store shelves: 2009 Signature Stars, 2009 Ultimate Collection and 2010 Upper Deck Series One.

“Upper Deck is pleased with the settlement including the amount the company paid as it relates to the trading cards released in 2010,” said Jason Masherah, Upper Deck’s director of Sports Brands. “As a company, we are changing the direction of Upper Deck’s baseball products going forward. We are looking forward to creating fresh and innovative set content that will continue to get collectors excited.”

Since its inception in 1989, Upper Deck has been the market leader for both its ability to create top-quality, super-premium products and for developing innovative programs that promoted baseball cards to kids.

“Great cards of great players have always been the cornerstone of Upper Deck products,” added Upper Deck Founder and CEO Richard McWilliam. “We’ll just have to see how innovative and creative we can become now.”

Honoring the start of the upcoming baseball season, Upper Deck will distribute FREE packs of baseball cards to fans around the country

Carlsbad, CA (January 19, 2010) – The Upper Deck Company is extremely excited to get the ball rolling with its recently inked partnership with the Major League Baseball Players Association to launch the first-of-its-kind “National Packtime” sampling promotion on Saturday, March 6. The one-day campaign is a special event that will provide fans with free packs of Upper Deck baseball cards. Exclusive packs of National Packtime baseball cards will be distributed via Upper Deck’s network of baseball card specialty shops. Any shop owners interested in participating should contact one of the authorized Upper Deck distributors listed below for more information on how to obtain their bundles of packs for the one-day giveaway.

“During these difficult economic times, we want to remind fans of the joy that comes with opening up their first pack of baseball cards, whether it was 10, 20 or 30 years ago,” said Chris Carlin, Upper Deck’s sports marketing manager. “We also want to share that fun with kids everywhere many of whom haven’t had the chance to experience the thrill of finding a cherished rookie card, or a card of their favorite star player. It’s a very cool, very unique experience that can’t be matched.”

The 10-card packs, produced exclusively for National Packtime, will feature the biggest superstars including Derek Jeter, David Ortiz and Albert Pujols, as well as a mix of other current standouts and rising stars. Key rookies include San Francisco’s future catching sensation Buster Posey alongside future ace Madison Bumgarner and Chicago’s Southside young slugger Tyler Flowers. All three of these prospects are rated by Baseball America at or near the top of their organizational prospect charts and have significant upside as impact players. What’s more, there is a very rare Derek Jeter “Career Commemorative” card issued as a chase element celebrating his 15 seasons in the Bronx. Although Upper Deck is not releasing print run info, suffice it to say that if collectors find this card in a pack, they will have beaten some very long odds.

Earlier this month, at a special hobby summit sponsored by Upper Deck that was held in conjunction with the annual Major League Baseball Players Trust golf tournament at Torrey Pines in San Diego, Upper Deck staff was able to corral several baseball standouts to take part in a special video touting the National Packtime event. Eddie Murray, Tim Salmon, Kenny Lofton, Reggie Sanders and Eddie Guardado all participated. Click on this link to see how they handled the pressure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrWdCuWKieg.

“I was just part of Upper Deck’s hobby summit, and the very first thing my customers asked me when I returned was whether or not there was going to a National Baseball Card Day this year,” said Dan Fox, owner of Fox Sports Cards in Marion, Illinois. “I told them, ‘Well, yes and no.’ I told them that there isn’t a designated National Baseball Card Day, but that Upper Deck – with its partnership with the Major League Baseball Players Association – is sponsoring an event called ‘National Packtime.’

“And let me be the first to say that events like this have been outrageously successful for us. We have collectors show up at our store that we haven’t seen in years. It reinvigorates their card-collecting pursuits. Does it make a difference in sales? Oh my gosh, yes. We’ll easily have another 100 customers show up that day. If you give people a reason to come down to your store, they’ll come down. So an event like National Packtime is a welcomed addition to this hobby.”

All hobby shop owners in the United States are encouraged to participate in Upper Deck’s 2010 National Packtime event. Packs are and will sell out so get your orders in today to partake. Direct Accounts can now order their packs online at www.upperdeckb2b.com. H

Trading card company to provide autographs and game-used memorabilia cards of baseball’s all-time hits king inside upcoming lineup of products

Carlsbad, CA (January 6, 2010) – Pete Rose, one of baseball’s most colorful and revered players and managers, has just signed an autograph deal with The Upper Deck Company. Due in part to Rose’s roller-coaster ride with baseball officials, his autographed cards remain in high demand and Upper Deck officials are ecstatic to have the all-time hits leader (4,256) on board for its 2010 baseball releases.

“Despite his current ban from baseball, Pete Rose’s signature and game-used memorabilia cards continue to be sought-after by baseball fans and card collectors everywhere,” said Gabriel Garcia, Upper Deck’s baseball brand manager. “We are extremely excited to have Pete be a part of our newest baseball card releases.”

Rose, who finished his 24-year playing career in 1986 with a lifetime bating average of .303, was the 1963 NL Rookie of the Year as well as the league’s MVP in 1973. A 17-time All-Star selection, Rose was also named MVP of the 1975 Fall Classic when he batted .370. He concluded his illustrious career on the baseball diamond with three championship rings to his credit.

The first Upper Deck product that will include Rose’s game-used memorabilia cards is 2010 Goudey Baseball, which is scheduled to hit store shelves on March 18.

Upper Deck Inks Autograph Deal with Greg Maddux for its 2010 Baseball Card Launches!

Future Hall-of-Fame pitcher to sign autograph cards and patch cards
for company’s new lineup of baseball releases next year

Carlsbad, CA (Nov. 23, 2009) – The recently retired Greg Maddux, one of baseball’s most respected and revered pitchers, has just signed an autograph deal with The Upper Deck Company. Having not signed any baseball cards for any manufacturer over the past few seasons, Maddux’s autographed cards are in high demand and Upper Deck officials are ecstatic to have the crafty right-hander on board for its 2010 releases.

“Greg Maddux hasn’t signed a trading card in nearly three years and his collecting base is still rock solid – meaning demand for his signed cards has only increased during that time period,” said Gabriel Garcia, Upper Deck’s baseball brand manager. “In addition to being able to offer an array of new Greg Maddux autographed cards, Upper Deck will also be producing some amazing memorabilia cards including a sought-after assortment of premium patch cards.”

Maddux, eighth on the all-time list with 355 career wins, retired following the 2008 season. An eight-time National League All-Star, he also earned four consecutive Cy Young awards (1992 through ’95) during his big-league tenure and was an 18-time Gold Glove Award winner. Maddux joins five-time World Champion hurlers Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte as autograph signers inside many of Upper Deck’s 2010 baseball launches including the super-premium Exquisite program and the Goudey Baseball release in March.