Wow. Look at all that gold. The strangest thing, though, is seeing Pedro in another uniform. I can only mentally picture him in Blue.
The inaugural Upper Deck set in 1989 was earth shattering. It changed everything about the hobby and cards. For the first time quality cardboard with phenomenal photography ruled the day. Clean simple designs with bleach white boarders on sturdy cardboard showed collectors that we should expect more from the manufacturers.
I remember in 1988 when I was a budding teenage entrepreneur I had set up at a card show at the Los Angeles Convention Center. A palpable buzz was in the air. Word had spread that a new player was out and about talking to dealers about a new card company. They were to be called Upper Deck and free sample were made available to dealers.
I remember getting my hands on the design and thinking good things. After all, I had just turned 17 and any notion of the backroom deals that would become commonplace at this new company was the furthest thing from my mind. I just new these cards looked great. Below is what the original design looked like- both front and back. There is another promo card made of Wally Joyner. If I remember right (correct me if I'm wrong), both
Buice and Joyner were to be part owners in the new card company, but Baseball had restriction in place about current players being involved in the business like that. Too bad, maybe Upper Deck may not have gone down that slippery slope if they stayed
