After this first successful year, Upper Deck negotiated licenses with the NHL, NFL and NBA to begin production of other types of collectible sports cards.  Upper Deck was always on the cutting edge of promotion as they tried new ideas to gain a foothold in the sports card market.  One such attempt was when they made what were called “Jersey Cards”.  These were unique because they were regular sports cards that had been packaged with small swatches of jersey’s that were worn by the players on the field.    These cards were produced for both baseball and basketball.

As success continued into the 1990′s and into the new millennium, Upper Deck had the chance to purchase the assets of one of it’s competitors, Fleer-SkyBox.  They also bought the Fleer Collectibles, which was a maker of diecast models and in 2007 Upper Deck failed in their bid for rival, Topps.

Moving away from the popular baseball and hockey cards, Upper Deck created a premiere brand of NBA basketball card called the Exquisite Collection.  These premium cards were packaged 5 to a pack and contained a veteran base card, an autographed rookie card with a swatch worn during a game, a jersey card and an autographed patch card.   The autographed cards were not of average players, but rather superstars of the basketball scene including: Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, just to name a few.  These cards were instantly a hit even though they sold for around $500, which made them the most expensive sports card packs ever made.  With the popularity of the Exquisite series, Upper Deck created similar sets for the NFL as well.

Upper Deck has proven to be a contender in the sports card industry and have been innovators ever since their introduction.  With the success found in sports cards and collectibles, Upper Deck has now branched out into making trading cards based on TV, Movies and even video games.  As they move into new markets, they will always be remembered as a premium sports card maker.

We can all remember the bazooka bubblegum that was sold in our local convenience store that came wrapped with a comic, and this was one of Topps first chewing gum products produced by this new company.  To expand their chewing gum business, Topps started to sell their gum along with trading cards, but not the same trading cards that we would think.  Topps did not initially start producing sports cards, but rather a card depicting a western television actor, Hopalong Cassidy.  It was not until the early 1950′s that sports card as we are familiar with were produced by Topps.

The sport of choice for these first set of sports cards made by Topps was baseball and the basic design of these cards was the same as we know today.  Card were designed with a picture and signature on the front, and player statistics on the back.  Throughout the years, they have had different types of pictures, from action pictures, depicting players on the field, to posed portraits which were taken specifically for the purpose of baseball cards and even painted or sketched pictures. Much different than the large royalties that are paid to professional sports players, Topps started out by paying the players royalties in the form of household goods such as refrigerators and other large household items which were considered a luxury in that day.  In those early days, Topps was not the only company selling baseball cards along with chewing gum, and they did have some very stiff competition with companies like Fleer and Bowman selling a similar product. 

For many years it was said that the success of Topps caused them to have a monopoly, especially in the baseball card market, even though they have moved on to making football, basketball and hockey cards.  They had sought to have exclusive contracts with player which did not allow other companies to operate in the same niche market as they were operating in.  This monopoly was broken up in the early 1980′s when a lawsuit by Fleer paved the way for other companies to produce similar products.  Of course rookie cards were one of the major issues among competitors as the various sports card companies often raced to become the first to produce a rookie card for a player that showed potential.

Today, Topps is owned by Tornante Company and Madison Dearborn Partners, which is affiliated with Michael Eisner, the former CEO of Disney.  Over the years, Topps has been a leader in the sports card industry, setting the standard for quality and design which is still in use today.

There are 2 main grading services available to you and it makes sense to stick with ones that are recognised by all collectors. The 2 are SGC and PSA, Sports Cards Guaranty (is that even a word!) and Professional Sports Authenticator (I think!!)

SGC grade cards from 1-100 rather than the more usual 1-10 however they will also include a 1-10 score on the lable along with a standard letter code so you may see:  84/ 8/ nm-mt on a label. The 1-100 grading system and the quality of the holders is one reason why SCG is rapidly gaining ground over PSA.  PSA still use a 1-10 grade and a letter code.

When you have your cards graded they will be returned to you in a sealed  secure plastic holder along with a strongly affixed lable which contains details of your card. The holder is hermetically sealed to protect the card and to ensure that if you sell it the buyer knows that the card is still in the same condition as when it was first graded.

If you are buying a graded card or having a card graded you can add the details of your cards to their registry where you can display your sets and compare your collections with others . You may even find details of the cards you are buying already listed.

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The biggest school yard in the online world is without doubt eBay. Just looking at ebay today I found a Mint condition Topps Mickey Mantle Rookie card selling for $45,000 and at the other end of the spectrum is a Ken griffey Jr Bowman card selling for 3 cents.  Now where did I put that Barry Bonds rookie card?

Many people associate sports card collecting with baseball but as you probably know it’s much bigger than that. There are sports cards for almost every sport with the most popular being baseball, football, basketball, golf and nascar and the very popular Boxing cards. Even within those niches you’ll find subniches. For example you can collect MLB baseball cards, Minor League baseball cards, old negro league baseball cards and rookie cards. It is best to stick to one type of card and become an expert on that niche.

Collecting sports cards can often become more than a hobby for some people. There are a select group of hard core collectors who collect cards as a living. visiting shows, yard slaes, garage sales and auctions . You’ll often find them buying large lots of cards just in the hope of finding that 1 special card.

Within the site you’ll find cards for many different sites that are for sales today , have a browse and see if you can find that special card or indeed start your collection today by buying a completle collection.