Card of the Day: Sergio Garcia 2001 Upper Deck Golf #3

“Pin-Up” of the Week: Arnold Palmer’s Multi-Colored Golf Umbrella Logo Pin

Arnold Palmer’s multi-colored golf umbrella is one of the most recognized logos in the world.  Throughout the 50’s and 60’s his golf career really began to take off.  From a business point of view, it made sense to setup Arnold Palmer Enterprises, Inc.  After much discussion and legal consultation, they landed on using a multi-colored golf umbrella as the company’s logo.  You could easily say that Arnold Palmer was the first globally known golfer.  His brand stands for pure excellence.

You can find the classic umbrella logo on all kinds of merchandise.  Among all of the items, simple lapel pins are the most popular.  Its not uncommon for employees of ‘APE’ to carry pins in their pockets to hand out during events.  Even Arnold Palmer himself use to throw a few in his golf bag to giveaway.  You would think that his official shop would have pins for sale, but I don’t see any.  I believe the pins are used for promotional purposes.  They usually come affixed to a black piece of cardboard.  Underneath the pin it says “With Compliments” followed by an Arnold Palmer facsimile signature.

Mr. Palmer was a true classy guy.  He enjoyed interacting with his fans “Arnie’s Army” as much as possible.  When signing his autograph, he always made sure it was legible.  Many other professional athletes could learn a lesson or two from him.

Card of the Day: Ben Crenshaw 1982 Donruss Golf #20

Flashback Product of the Week: 2001 Upper Deck Golf

Golf cards have come a long way since Upper Deck brought them back in 2001.  Who would have thought that golf collectors would have been given the Exquisite treatment last year?  It was deserved, but I didn’t think it would ever come.

I don’t think any card company could get away today with what Upper Deck did with it’s premiere edition golf set.  Boxes of 2001 Upper Deck Golf do not come with any specific amounts of game-used or autographed cards.  You could very easily open a box and only pull base cards and inserts.  That’s probably why boxes of this stuff sell for next to nothing.  Its the total opposite of the Exquisite brand.  You could say that Upper Deck was slowly making it’s way into golf cards.

Tiger Woods was the poster child for this product when it came out.  He has more cards in here than anybody.  Even though this product features the first cards for a lot of golfers, most have cards in older products.  Many cards are considered rookies simply because its the first time Upper Deck made a card of them.  When I think of a Tiger Woods rookie card, Upper Deck doesn’t even come to mind right away.  I think about his Sports Illustrated for Kids rookie first.

Relic cards and autographs are quite difficult to pull.  I believe relics fall 1:12 boxes and the autographs are even harder to find.  Despite the fall from grace Tiger Woods has had, his stuff is still in high demand.  2001 Upper Deck Golf  is the lowest form of a golf product that Upper Deck has made.

2014 Upper Deck SP Game Used Edition Golf Box Break

I’ve been wanting to open some Upper Deck golf products for awhile.  While attending the National I decided to rip into a box of 2014 Upper Deck SP Game Used Edition Golf.  Here is what I got.  Upper Deck sure does make some nice looking cards.

Auto/Relic

• Patrick Cantlay First Tee Rookies Shirt/Auto #’ed/399

Auto

• Luke Guthrie Auto #’ed/25
• D.H. Lee Board Letter Marks Auto #’ed/35

Relics

• Colin Montgomerie Tour Gear Dual Shirt
• Craig Stadler/Kevin Stadler Tour Gear Combos Shirt
• Nick Faldo/Ernie Els Front 9 Dual Swatch Combos Shirt/Cap #’ed/25

Golf Collectors Feast Your Eyes On 2014 Upper Deck Exquisite Golf

The very high-end brand from Upper Deck known as Exquisite has covered basketball, baseball, football, hockey, and now golf.  Feast your eyes on these awesome looking, museum quality cards that I’m sure will make fantastic centerpieces to anyone’s golf collection.  On-card autographs, shadowboxes, multi-colored swatches, and booklets just scratch the surface as to what this product has in store.  I highly doubt that there is a single bad box.  That unfortunately does come with a cost.  And in the case of Exquisite Golf its a significant one.  Boxes are currently pre-selling  online for almost $700.00.  I know there are a lot of hardcore golf collectors out there, but whether or not they want to spend that much on a box is another question.  Upper Deck will be giving away a few boxes during the National this year.

Upper Deck’s 2014 National Plans: Promos, Exquisite Golf, & FREE Cake

Upper Deck may have been quiet when it came to their plans for the 2014 National Sports Collectors Convention, but the silence is gone.  Upper Deck has fully unveiled what they have in store for collectors… and its a lot!

For a full run down on things, check out Upper Deck’s Blog.  But here are some of the things that stick out to me.  I’m going to do something I rarely do, and that’s copy and paste info from one blog to another 🙂  Upper Deck really says it best anyway.  One of these years I’d like to see Upper Deck make some National exclusive Precious Metal Gems parallels.  Its about time collectors see a high-end golf product like Exquisite.  I’m really looking forward to seeing what those cards look like.

Wednesday VIP Party – Upper Deck will help get the show started by making a special presentation at the Wednesday VIP Party to thank the company’s network of dealers in attendance at the show.  Fans in attendance will also score with a special 6-card VIP set produced exclusively for the National Sports Collectors Convention and they will also have the opportunity to win one of three sealed packs of the new 2014 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Golf!  Immediately after the VIP Party fans are invited to visit the Upper Deck booth for birthday cake to help celebrate Upper Deck’s 25th Anniversary and an incredible FREE giveaway you will not want to miss!

Wrapper Redemption Promotion – Every year fans flock to the Upper Deck booth with new packs to score one of the exclusive wrapper redemption packs produced just for this show.  Randomly inserted into these packs are incredibly limited autograph cards of top stars from the world of sports.  Collectors just need to purchase five (5) packs of 2013 Fleer Retro Football, 2014 SPx Football, 2014 Upper Deck Football (Hobby), 2013-14 Fleer Retro Basketball, 2013-14 SP Authentic Basketball, 2013-14 NHL SP Authentic, 2014 SP Authentic Golf, 2014 Goodwin Champions OR one (1) pack of 2014 SP Game-Used Golf to receive one (1) 2014 Upper Deck National Sports Collectors Convention Pack.  EVERY 25TH COLLECTOR WILL RECEIVE A FREE FLEER RETRO AUTOGRAPH PACK FROM FOOTBALL OR BASKETBALL!  These packs must be purchased from a Certified Diamond Dealer who will provide collectors with an Upper Deck issued voucher for the redemption program.  The program will begin at 10:25 a.m. each day starting on Thursday and run as long as supplies last.  Collectors can take advantage of the promotion up to four times per person, per day.

Case Breaker Promotion – Serious collectors who like cracking cases are in store for a very good time during the show as well!  Collectors can open a sealed case purchased from a Certified Diamond Dealer at the show of 2013-14 SP Authentic Basketball, 2013-14 Fleer Retro Basketball or 2013 Fleer Retro Football without waiting in any lines at any time throughout the show to receive the following:

(10) 2014 Upper Deck National Sports Collectors Convention Packs (2 packs from each day)
(2) 2013 Fleer Retro Basketball Autograph Pack (3 autograph cards per pack)
(2) 2013 Fleer Retro Football Autograph Pack (3 autograph cards per pack)
(1) Case Breaker Raffle Ticket good for a random memorabilia item, premium hobby pack/box, trading card, or one of 25 premium National Autograph cards.  The item selected will be immediately available to the participant.
*Note: This promotion is only available to the first 75 collectors who choose to take advantage of it.

The Exquisite Case Break – On Friday at 2:00 p.m. fans in attendance will want to make their way to the Amazon.com Sports Collectibles Center Stage for an extremely special event.  Fans who are not at the show can watch through Upper Deck’s BreakersTV Channel.  Upper Deck will bring up two of the company’s Authorized Group Breakers to help out with this special event in Steel City Collectibles along with Dave & Adam’s Card World, but spots in the break will be absolutely FREE and awarded during a special raffle at the company’s booth on Thursday night at 5:25 p.m.  What will make this such an “exquisite” event is that Upper Deck will be breaking the company’s most premium products with 2013 Exquisite Collection Football and 2014 Exquisite Collection Golf.