Revision as of 05:28, 18 April 2011

Description

These two cards of California Angels stars Wally Joyner and DeWayne Buice were the very first cards ever issued by The Upper Deck Company. They were given away to Hobby dealers as samples during the summer of 1988, primarily at that year's National Sports Collectors Convention in Atlantic City, in anticipation of Upper Deck obtaining licenses from Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association.

There are three variations of each card based on where the hologram on the reverse side is located. Type A, the most common variety, has a hologram on the bottom that extends as far as the photo. On Type B, the hologram is on the bottom but extends only to the edge of the card. Type C, by far the scarcest, has the hologram at the top. It is believed that only 25,000 copies of each player's card were printed.

Joyner and Buice were supposedly interested in investing in Upper Deck; however neither could citing the obvious conflict of interest. Buice, whose chance encounter with Upper Deck's founders while searching for a Chinese restaurant in November 1987, would use his contacts to assist in UD's acquisition of an MLBPA license. After his playing career ended in 1989, Buice would later be rewarded with a 12% stake in UD, which he later sold back to the company for $17 million. [1]

Checklist

A1 DeWayne Buice
A700 Wally Joyner
B1 DeWayne Buice
B700 Wally Joyner
C1 DeWayne Buice
C700 Wally Joyner

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 =Description=
-These two cards of California Angels stars Wally Joyner and DeWayne Buice were the very first cards ever issued by The Upper Deck Company.  They were given away to Hobby dealers as samples during the summer of 1988, primarily at that year's [[The National (NSCC)|National Sports Collectors Convention in Atlantic City,]] in anticipation of Upper Deck obtaining licenses from Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association.
+These two cards of California Angels stars Wally Joyner and DeWayne Buice were the very first cards ever issued by The Upper Deck Company.  They were given away to Hobby dealers as samples during the summer of 1988, primarily at that year's [[National, The (NSCC)|National Sports Collectors Convention in Atlantic City,]] in anticipation of Upper Deck obtaining licenses from Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association.
 There are three variations of each card based on where the hologram on the reverse side is located. Type A, the most common variety, has a hologram on the bottom that extends as far as the photo. On Type B, the hologram is on the bottom but extends only to the edge of the card. Type C, by far the scarcest, has the hologram at the top. It is believed that only 25,000 copies of each player's card were printed.