2008 Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy

2008 Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy is a 6752-card compilation chronicling every single New York Yankees home game ever played at Yankee Stadium and other notable events. The cards were inserted into various 2008 and 2009 Upper Deck baseball products beginning with 2008 Upper Deck Series One Baseball. The period in the mid-1970s when the Yankees played at Shea Stadium is not commemorated in this set.

Legal Action

In March 2008, Topps acquired the exclusive trading card rights to a group of deceased players represented by CMG Worldwide Management, including Johnny Mize, Lou Gehrig, and Thurman Munson. The first batch of YSL cards issued in 2008 Upper Deck Series One, which went live before the Topps/CMG agreement, featured cards of Gehrig. However Series Two and SP Legendary Cuts were to have Johnny Mize, with Munson's YSL cards in later releases. Since Upper Deck printed ALL 6661 YSL cards before the Topps/CMG agreement, they were allowed to insert them into packs; just not advertise those particular players.

Complete Set Contest

As part of a promotion related to the set, the first five collectors who completed the set of all 6661 cards inserted into 2008 Upper Deck Baseball products, were to travel to New York during the 2009 New York Yankees season to attend a game at the new Yankee Stadium and meet Yankee Captain, Derek Jeter. The Yankee Stadium Legacy cards representing the 2008 New York Yankees season appeared in 2009 Upper Deck Series One Baseball packs in February 2009 and put an end to the Yankee Stadium Legacy promotion. The five contest winners would receive the 82 cards representing the final season at Yankee Stadium.

Tommy Baxter, a 36-year-old from Little Rock, Arkansas, was the first collector to put together Upper Deck’s Yankee Stadium Legacy (YSL) Collection. Baxter was an avid Cubs fan, and seized the opportunity to become the first collector to piece together the insert set. Baxter's accomplishment was commemorated with a card in 2009 Upper Deck Series One Baseball.

World's biggest card set? Not quite

According to a January, 2008 Upper Deck press release, The Guinness World Book of Records would certify Yankee Stadium Legacy as the largest baseball card set ever produced, once all the cards are released. However, unbeknownst to Guinness, Yankee Stadium Legacy fell over 1350 cards short of the 8100-card 1998 Topps Tek set.

Distribution

The various sets where the Yankee Stadium Legacy cards were inserted into were:

• 2008 SP Authentic
• 2008 SP Legendary Cuts
• 2008 SPx
• 2008 UD Masterpieces
• 2008 Upper Deck (both series)
• 2008 Upper Deck A Piece of History
• 2008 Upper Deck Goudey
• 2008 Upper Deck Spectrum
• 2008 Upper Deck X

Upper Deck started a website (OwnTheLegacy.com) so that collectors could find out more about the Yankee Stadium Legacy set. Alphanumeric codes found on the backs of Yankee Stadium Legacy cards can be entered at the site, and collectors will can use the site to manage their collections online, and track their collections against other collectors via a leader board. The Own The Legacy website has since gone inactive.

2008 season

The cards commemorating the 2008 New York Yankees season were featured in 2009 Upper Deck Series One baseball. Two of the more notable cards include #6710-HM (commemorating the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game) and card #6742 (featuring Andy Pettite commemorating the final game at Yankee Stadium).

Checklist

Base Set

NOTE: The cards in the 1600 and 1700 series labelled "New York Yankees" feature scenes of New York City during World War II.

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2009 Upper Deck Series

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Historical Moments

Scattered amongst the regular Yankee Stadium Legacy cards, are 10 "Historical Moments" cards that commemorate other non-Yankee games and events that took place at Yankee Stadium. Each card is sequentially-numbered to match the Yankee game is which the event directly preceded, and with a -HM suffix. (i.e. the U2 concert took place in between Yankee games #5404 and #5405, so it's sequentially-numbered as 5404-HM).

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Autographs & Game-Used

Memorabilia

In addition to the Yankee Stadium Legacy cards, Memorabilia cards were also inserted into packs, usually at the "case hit" level.

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Moments in Time Dual Cut Signatures

Each Moments in Time Dual Cut Signature is a one-of-one.

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