Be sure to visit our online store at Canada Card World and check out the best prices in Canada for hobby boxes. We pride ourselves on our low prices and our excellent customer service. Our new blog address is www.canadacardworldblog.com

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Sunday Fun-Day Fun-Facts

DeWayne Buice was born in 1957 in Lynwood, California. Buice was a Major League Baseball relief pitcher who played two seasons for the California Angels and part of a season for the Toronto Blue Jays. He was awarded Pitcher of the Year and Rolaids Relief Man in 1987. Buice is one of only six pitchers in the Angels' history to strike out at least 100 batters in a season without starting a game. He played in his final game on June 27, 1989 but continued to make appearances in the minor leagues into the 2000s but only for teams in which he had an ownership stake. Buice finished with a career record of 9 wins, 11 losses, 20 saves, 157 strikeouts and a 4.23 earned run average over a 2½-year MLB career. Buice is currently a co-owner of the Reno Astros.



More importantly to collectors, Buice was one of the original managing partners of the Upper Deck trading cards company and he held that position from 1988 to 2000. Buice was in downtown California one evening in November 1987 looking for a Chinese restaurant. He went into a baseball card shop called "The Upper Deck" and asked the person working there whether they knew of the restaurant. Buice and owner Bill Hemrick struck up a friendship which led to Buice having an autograph signing at the store. Within weeks, Buice had become one of Hemrick's business partners.



Bill Hemrick and Paul Sumner were starting a card company called Upper Deck but the players union was not planning on accepting another card company for another three years. Buice was told that if he could help secure Upper Deck a license, he would receive a 12 percent stake in the company. Buice became a key figure in getting MLBPA officials to agree to a meeting. By the end of the 1988 season, Henrick and Summer received the license and were making baseball cards. Although the future partnership was not always peaceful, Buice remains a key figure behind one of the hobby's giants.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Hobby News - The Saturday Edition

Card companies continue to pull out all the stops in 2010. After the recent news of Topps Million Card Giveaway, another Topps product has released exciting informaiton of its own. UFC's President Dana White has announced on Twitter that Topps has randomly inserted 10 autographed cards in its newest release that will win one lucky fan the opportunity to sit side-by-side with the man in charge!



The first collector to pull this special triple autographed card featuring Chuck Liddell, Dana White, and Tito Ortiz from the new Topps UFC Main Event will win the ultimate UFC behind the scenes access. The amazing opportunity will allow the winner and a friend to be flown to Las Vegas, Nevada to be Dana White's personal guests at the UFC Training Center. The winners will tour the gym and meet the coaches and fighters competing in the upcoming Ultimate Fighter 12 reality series on Spike TV. The winners will also sit cage-side with Dana White during one of the The Ultimate Fighter preliminary matches.

There are a total of 10 of these triple autographed cards randomly seeded in packs. The other nine lucky UFC fans pulling this card will receive a pair of UFC gloves signed by White, Liddell, and Ortiz.



In recent years, UFC has gained massive popularity in the sporting world and their inaugural releases into the sports card market have been met by eager collectors craving cards beyond the four major sports. The opportunity to own the triple autograph card alone would have most collectors more than satisfied however the added bonus should see this product reach new heights.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Golden Three-Peat!

The Canadian women's hockey team have done it again. Led by an 18-year-old scoring phenom and a 23-year-old goalie who was considered as nothing more than a back-up just a few months ago, Canada skated to a 2-0 victory over their rivals from the United States and seized its third straight Olympic gold medal.



Marie-Philip Poulin of Beauceville, Que. scored two goals on U.S. netminder Jessie Vetter to lead the charge in her first Olympic Games. After easy wins in their preliminary games, Canada kept the medal momentum going Thursday evening as the women’s hockey team grabbed the gold in a convincing win over the United States. Poulin was a dynamo and goaltender Shannon Szabados of Edmonton made 28 saves to notch the first-ever shutout win in an Olympic women’s hockey final.



Jayna Hefford was the story early in the tournament with her scoring prowess but Shannon Szabados became the story at the end as she was impenetrable in the Canadian net, making 28 saves. Many saves made jaws drop and the crowd erupt.



Team captain Hayley Wickenheiser and the Canadian women errupted in celebration before a deafening crowd as the final buzzer sounded. As the two teams received their medals, there was an outpouring of sportsmanship from the fans for Finland, the bronze medallists, and particularly for the silver-medal-winning rivals from the U.S.

Although there has never been an abundance of female hockey cards on the market, there have been a smattering over the years. This season's O-Pee-Chee set contains all of the women in the Canadian Heroes subset and Upper Deck Series 2 contain some cards of the players competing at the Olympics. In The Game's O'Canada set from 2007 has base cards, autos, and memorabilia cards of most women on the Canadian team three years ago. 1997-98 UD Collectors Choice also contains a great selection of the women's hockey team including rookie cards of Wickenheiser and former captain Cassie Campbell.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Owning The Podium... Finally!

It was a red letter day for Canada at the Olympics with 1 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze. All of medals won by women! A gold and a silver in the bobsleigh. A silver in short-track speed skating relay. And most impressively, a bronze medal from Clara Hughes, her sixth career Olympic medal spanning both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Also a big shout-out to Heather Moyse from the women's gold medal bobsleigh team from Prince Edward Island!



Heading into the evening, the main focus of every person in Canada was on the quarter-final men's hockey game between Canada and Russia. The expected battle between Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin never happened as they were both in the background during this game. Canada scored early and often on Evgeni Nabokov to skate away with a 7-3 victory and move into the semi-finals versus Slovakia.



The real story of the game was Roberto Luongo who has taken the reigns from Martin Brodeur and won his third game from three starts in the Olympics. Luongo saw the bench after beating Norway 8-0 but returned to the crease to beat Germany and Russia after Brodeur's lacklustre efforts versus Switzerland and the Americans.



Entering the final few games of the men's hockey tournament, this will be the time to see who shines. Long-term hockey card values could be effected forever with a great performance in the semi-finals and finals. At this point in time, Roberto Luongo and Eric Staal have the greatest potential due to their efforts for Canada. Ryan Miller in the American goal has been outstanding as well. And let's not forget Jaroslav Halak who is making the Slovakians look like top contenders for gold in 2010 in Vancouver. The story will continue to unfold until Sunday night. Enjoy the ride.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Product Preview - 2009-10 ITG Between The Pipes

2009-10 Between The Pipes from In The Game will continue to deliver an incredible array of game-used memorabilia cards and autographs for goaltender collectors. Goalies have always been, and will always be, a hobby cornerstone. Due to their popularity, Between The Pipes features more goalie autograph cards and memorabilia card than anywhere else in the hobby.



This season, each box of 2009-10 Between The Pipes will have 18 packs with 9 cards per pack. All inserts will be seeded 1:8 packs. This means that, on average, each box of Between The Pipes will have 8 hits!



In The Game has just released the first peek at this season's checklist. Although not complete, it has many collectors drooling already.

Between The Pipes Preliminary Checklist

The 150-card Base Set will include 4 subsets:
Future Stars, Stars of the Game, Greats of the Game, and The Rival League.

The GoalieGraph autograph set will contain over 125 different autograph cards.



There will be five different non-memorabilia inserts:
AHL Rookies, CHL Rookies, Gold Metal Masks, Tribute, and the always popular Net Brawlers.

There are nineteen different Authentic Game-Used memorabilia inserts including:

Game-Used Jersey
Game-Used Number
Game-Used Emblem
Jersey/Auto
Number/Auto
Emblem/Auto
Pad Save
Glove Save
Stick Save
He Shoots He Scores
International Crease
Home Grown
Complete Package
AutoThreads
Complete Jersey
Mega Star
Origins
Complete Logo
Made To Order

Anyone need an oxygen mask? That's a dizzying number of phenomenal hits.



2009-10 In The Game Between The Pipes will be released on March 25, 2010 from Canada Card World.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Upcoming NHL Hobby Box Release Dates

Listed below is the new release schedule for In The Game and Upper Deck releases. As you can see, there is a log-jam in May, especially on May 25th, 2010. This probably means that OPC Premier or UD Be A Player will be pushed back further. There is no information available yet on UD The Cup or ITG Ultimate.

09/10 Upper Deck Champs Hockey - March 9th, 2010

09/10 Upper Deck SP Game Used Hockey - March 23rd, 2010

09/10 In The Game Between The Pipes - March 25, 2010

09/10 Upper Deck ICE Hockey - April 12th, 2010



09/10 SP Authentic Hockey - April 27th, 2010

09/10 UD Ultimate Hockey - May 11th, 2010

09/10 O-Pee-Chee Metal Hockey - May 18th, 2010

09/10 UD Be A Player Hockey - May 25th, 2010



09/10 UD O-Pee-Chee Premier Hockey - May 25th, 2010

All these exciting NHL products and more will be available at great prices this season from Canada Card World.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Hobby Reading Material - The Card

It is the most valuable piece of cardboard in the whole world.

The T206 Honus Wagner PSA 8 NM-MT was printed in 1909 to be included in cigarettes from the American Tobacco Company. The card was most recently sold to a collector for over $2,000,000. According to "The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card" by Michael O'Keeffe and Teri Thompson, it is the ultimate prize and the holy grail of collecting. Printed in 2007 in hard cover and soft cover in 2008, the book is readily available at many online dealers.



There are only about fifty Honus Wagner's cards but most of them are in poor condition. Wagner did not want his image on a tobacco card and was therefore removed from the set which already make his card harder to obtain. The book is about the one known as The Card. Once owned by hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, this card is in excellent condition and that's the problem. The Card is possibly in too good condition. You can refinish classic antiques and paintings get retouched but baseball cards must not be altered. There are card doctors who remove stains, smooth out wrinkles, build up soft corners, change memorabilia patches, and laser rough edges. The book explores the serious doubts about the authenticity of The Card and its current condition.

There are authentication services, such as PSA and BGS, that will grade cards for a fee. There is little policing by dealers, the authentication services, or governmental authorities and police often turn a blind eye to something which seems like a fringe hobby. However, the hobby for kids has become a playground for fraud. The book explores authenticity issues relating to the Wagner card as well as the problems which will always be of concern for collectors in general.

Whether you are interested in sports or collectibles or just interested in a good story, this book keeps the reader amused and enlightened. It profiles collectors and their obsession with accumulation but it also casts doubt on the integrity of many aspects of the sports collectibles market. The Card is an entertaining look at the hobby, the collectors, what drives us, and what may eventually bring the hobby to its knees.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Sunday Fun-Day Fun-Facts

John Allen and Lewis Ginter of Richmond, Virginia formed a tobacco manufacturing firm called Allen and Ginter in 1875. They created and marketed the first cigarette cards for collecting and trading. The cards in the series include notables such as Charles Comiskey, Cap Anson, Jack Glasscock, and Buffalo Bill.



The company offered a prize for the invention of a machine able to roll cigarettes. Until this point in time, they had been hand-rolled. The grand prize was won by James Bonsack with his 1880/81 invention. The machine was not reliable and all but one of the large tobacco manufacturers declined to buy the machine. The machine was eventually bought by James Buchanan Duke in 1885 and used it to great success.

Allen & Ginter baseball cards first debuted in 1887 and quickly became the most popularly collected cards of the time. They honoured champions from around the world, including boxers, wrestlers, and baseball players.

By 1890, Duke had consolidated his four major competitors, including Allen & Ginter, and formed the American Tobacco Company. The "Allen & Ginter Company" ceased to exist, but Lewis Ginter remained on the board of the American Tobacco Company.

The original Allen & Ginter Baseball Cards featured not only the top baseball players, but some of the top names in culture outside of baseball. Topps brought the name and style of card back to collectors in 2006. The 2006 Allen & Ginter set featured athletes such as Mike Tyson and Danica Patrick. Topps also used historical figures from hundreds of years ago in the product.



Continuing the tradition, 2010 Topps Allen and Ginter Baseball will feature new inserts, including Scribes and Seafarers, Gods and Monsters, and Cabinet cards which feature full-sized complete relic swatches.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Hobby News - The Saturday Edition

Topps Unveils The Million Card Giveaway In 2010 Topps Baseball Series 1

Topps has unveiled its first exclusive MLB product with 2010 Topps Baseball Series 1. As part of this year’s product release, Topps is truly putting all of their cards on the table. Topps has scoured their vaults and is making available over one million original Topps cards, including every Topps base card produced since 1952. This means that some collectors will have a chance at such rare rookie cards as Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson and Cal Ripken Jr., as part of this promotion.



Special code cards will be inserted in one out of every six packs of 2010 Topps Baseball Series 1. Fans then enter the code online and receive an original vintage Topps card. The year-long program also includes 2010 Topps Baseball Series 2 and 2010 Topps Updates and Highlights. Each code redeemed will allow that fan the opportunity to win a 1952 Mickey Mantle rookie card.

In August 2009, Topps became the first exclusive baseball card company of MLB in nearly 30 years. This is Topps’ first exclusive product since they announced a multi-year licensing deal in 2009 to become the official baseball card of Major League Baseball. The agreement means that Topps has exclusivity on MLB and Club trademarks, logos and other intellectual property, for use on baseball cards, stickers and other products featuring MLB players.



As part of Topps plans to expand and to strengthen its connection with kids, Topps has unveiled many of new and innovative products over the past two years including, Topps Attax, a new trading card game, ToppsTown.com, an online sports community developed for kids and Topps 3D Live trading cards, which brings your favourite MLB players to digital life.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Video Vault - ITG Superlative with Dr. Brian Price

In this interview from about two years ago, Al Muir and Eric Jahnke interview Dr. Brian Price at the National in Chicago. Dr. Price discusses ITG Superlative and ITG Ultimate and the difficulties in making vintage memorabilia cards available to the public.



Many In The Game products are available from Canada Card World. Specialty products such as ITG Superlative and ITG Ultimate are available as well, please email CCW with your collecting needs.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Product Preview - 2009-10 UD Champs

Set for release early next month, UD Champs is the next product to roll off the production line for Upper Deck. With 2009-10 UD Champs, Upper Deck is returning to the land of the dinosaurs. Definitely not your typical hockey card product, UD Champs contains hockey players as well as dinosaurs, fossils, artifacts, bones, historical figures, and endangered species on tobacco-style mini cards. You can collect subsets which include Wonders of the World and Museum Pieces as well.



Typical Box Break Summary:
4 Signature or Jersey cards
1-2 Mini Signatures and 5 Mini Rookie Cards
2 Mini Threads
10 Wonders of the World/Natural History/Historical Figures cards
1 Red Back mini parallel card
8 Regular-Sized Parallels



Projected Key Inserts:
Museum Pieces:
Dinosaur Teeth, Golden Jurassic Amminites, Paradoxides Trilobite, Turtle Claw, Great White Shark Tooth, Giant Armadillo Claw, Woolly Mammoth Molar Tooth, Wild Boar Fossil Teeth and more.



Mini Signatures:
Alexander Ovechkin, LeBron James, Sidney Crosby, Wayne Gretzky, Dr. J, Bobby Orr, Steve Yzerman, John Tavares, Gordie Howe, Martin Brodeur and others!

2009-10 UD Champs will be released on March 9th, 2010 and will be available at Canada Card World.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Life-Size Kobe Bryant Trading Card Achieves Guinness Record

A giant trading card of Los Angeles Lakers All-Star Kobe Bryant was unveiled this weekend by Panini America and set the Guinness Record for World's Largest Autographed Game-Used Jersey Card. Bryant was at the NBA All-Star Jam Session to autograph the card. The card includes a 15" by 15" swatch of an official jersey which he wore in a game. The card measured 7 feet tall by 4' 11" inches wide.



Kobe Bryant is the jewel in Panini's basketball crown as Upper Deck still has exclusive contracts with Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, and Andrew Bynum. The Los Angeles Lakers superstar is the official spokesman for NBA trading cards.

“I am honored to join the Panini family,” Bryant said. “Panini and I are really excited about embracing the challenge of re-igniting the collecting of basketball trading cards and sticker collections … and everyone knows I like challenges! I know from my own experience growing up, how fun collecting and trading these products can be. I really believe collecting these products has the power, through the unique emotions of sports, to unify and strengthen bonds within families and across social groups, no matter what age you are. Panini and I are passionate about developing this hobby in many new and exciting ways. All I can say for now is to have fun expecting the unexpected from us!”



Panini America is the exclusive trading card partner of the NBA. This week Panini launched Adrenalyn, an interactive trading card game, geared to children ages 6 to 11. The game brings together the excitement of the NBA with the thrill of collecting. Adrenalyn features a 450-card set featuring NBA stars Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwyane Wade and NBA rookies Blake Griffin and Brandon Jennings. The front of each Adrenalyn card features an offensive, defensive, and overall rating so kids can play the game using the Adrenalyn game board.

Each card has a unique authorization code on the back of each card allows kids to upload their cards online to a virtual collector's album and play the game at www.paniniadrenalyn.com. Adrenalyn cards, collector's kits, and starter sets are available at Wal-Mart, Target, Toys'R'Us, and online at NBAStore.com.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Who to Collect - Cody Franson

Cody Franson of Salmon Arm, British Columbia is a young defenceman currently playing with the Nashville Predators. He was drafted in the 3rd round of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. At 6'5, 215 pounds, Franson has the height and weight to compete. He is a good skater and has solid offensive ability. With 16 points in 43 games, he is having a great debut season.



Franson began his major junior career with the Vancouver Giants in the 2002–03 season. After a 13-point campaign in 2004–05, Franson then improved to 55- and 51-point campaigns with the Giants in the next two season after being drafted. In 2006, he helped lead the Giants to a President's Cup as WHL champions, earning a berth in the 2006 Memorial Cup. He recorded the only hat-trick of the tournament and led all defencemen in scoring with 5 points in 5 games. The next year, he was named to the WHL West First All-Star Team and was nominated for the Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy as the league's top defenceman.

2007–08 was Franson’s first season of AHL action and proved to be a learning experience but an impressive one at the same time with the Milwaukee Admirals. He tallied 36 points in his professional rookie season. In 2008-09, Franson impressed everyone with 52 points in 76 games and has now joined the Predators impressive blue-line defensive corps.



Won a Ed Chynoweth Cup with the Vancouver Giants in 2006.
Won a World Junior gold medal with Team Canada in 2007.
Nominated for the Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy (Top WHL Defenceman) in 2007.
Named to the WHL West First All-Star Team in 2007.
Won a Memorial Cup with the Vancouver Giants in 2007.



Here's a short checklist of some of his available cards so far in the 2009-10 season:

09/10 NHL UD Black Auto'd Rookie Letterman Exchange Card #93
09/10 NHL UD Series 2 Young Guns #475
09/10 NHL UD Series 2 Young Guns #475 UD Exclusives
09/10 NHL UD Series 2 Young Guns #475 High Glossy
09/10 NHL UD Collectors Choice #269
09/10 NHL UD Collectors Choice Reserve #269
09/10 NHL UD Black Diamond #166
09/10 NHL UD Black Diamond Ruby #166
09/10 NHL UD SPx #146

Cody Franson has rookie cards in most 2009-10 Upper Deck products available at Canada Card World. Franson also has cards available in various In The Game products previous to 2009-10.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Detroit Red Wings - First Hockey Cards

Red Wings TV talks trading cards with some of the current Detroit players and learns what it felt like for the players to see themselves on a hockey card for the first time.



Look for more interesting stories videos over the coming weeks and months at CCW - The Blog.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Sunday Fun-Day Fun-Facts

Bowman Gum was a Philadelphia-based manufacturer of bubble gum and trading cards in the period surrounding World War II.

During the 1930s, Bowman Gum issued the first chewing gum cards, which included a war series.

Bowman Gum was originally known as Gum, Inc. and it produced a series of cards known as the "Play Ball" sets each year from 1939 to 1941. Production halted after the United States entered the war.



The company did not return to making baseball, football, and other sports-related trading cards until 1948, now under the Bowman name.

In 1948 Bowman Gum issued its first baseball issue. While not being well designed, these small black-and-white cards started the baseball card industry as we know it. Bowman sold their cards with a stick of bubble gum.



Also in 1948, Bowman Gum produced a series of 72 cards devoted entirely to basketball. It was the only hoops set Bowman made and the only nationally distributed basketball set until Topps debuted one about a decade later. The Bowman set contains a card of legendary George Mikan.

The 1951 Bowman issue is an extremely attractive issue and includes rookie cards of baseball Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays.

For a few years, Bowman was the leading producer of baseball cards but was overtaken by Topps. After a period in which Topps and Bowman fought to sign players to exclusive contracts for their cards, Topps bought out Bowman in 1956.

The Bowman brand was resurrected by Topps in the late 1980s.

In recent years, the Bowman company has become known as the top brand in baseball for rookie cards.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Hobby News - The Saturday Edition

In response to the request by Major League Baseball Properties (MLBP) to issue a temporary restraining order on the distribution of questioned baseball cards, Upper Deck has filed an official opposition brief. Upper Deck is attempting to provide legal reasoning for producing baseball trading cards that use exclusive licensed logos and trademarks.



The filed document addresses these issues and more:
A. MLBP has not shown that it will suffer irreparable harm.

B. MLBP is not likely to succeed on the merits of its trademark claims:
- MLBP has not shown consumer confusion is likely.
- Upper Deck cannot compete in the market for baseball cards unless it can produce cards that contain action photographs of baseball players in their uniforms.
- Upper Deck’s use of MLBP’s marks is nominative fair use.
- MLBP has not shown that dilution is likely.

C. MLBP will not succeed on the merits of its breach of contract claim:
- The License’s language prohibiting non–trademark use of the MLBP’s marks after expiration of the license is unenforceable.

This is all in relation to the recent release of a pair of 2009 baseball card sets from Upper Deck that use MLB logos as part of the cards, despite Topps‘ role as the exclusive licensee of MLB.

“We are surprised and disappointed that Upper Deck, a former partner of ours, would violate our contract by clearly using our intellectual property without our permission,” said Matt Bourne MLB’s VP of Business Public Relations. “We will vigorously use all legal means to protect the intellectual property of Major League Baseball and its member Clubs.”

Upper Deck is licensed solely by the MLB Players Association, not MLB Properties. The products that MLB is addressing are 2009 Ultimate Collection and 2009 Signature Stars, which carry statements that the cards are not authorized by MLB but also do not obscure team logos in the photographs.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Product Preview - 2009-10 ITG Between The Pipes

Are you a fan of the men behind the mask? Do you collect the last line of defense? Then get ready! ITG's Between The Pipes release date has been set for March 25, 2010.



How will In The Game top last years version?

Similar to the awesome 2009-10 Heroes and Prospects, each box of 2009-10 Between The Pipes will have 18 packs with 9 cards per pack. All inserts will be seeded 1 per 8 packs. That means on average each box of Between The Pipes will have 8 hits! Last year's product was possibly the product of the year. This one could top that!



There will be a lot more information to come between now and the release date but in the meantime, we're giving you a sneak peek at a couple of authentic Game-Used Memorabilia cards.

This year, there will be four different autograph insert sets including Future Stars, The Rival League, Greats Of The Game and Stars Of The Game.

Complete Jersey, Complete Package, Pad Save, autographs, non-memorabilia inserts. In The Game is giving the collectors everything that they want this season. What new surprises will they release this season? Keep an eye for more news in the coming weeks.



2009-10 In The Game Between The Pipes will be available in late March from Canada Card World.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

2009-10 Upper Deck Series Two Hockey Checklist and Young Guns

With the release of 2009-10 UD Series 2, Upper Deck has finally posted the complete master checklist on their website. For many collectors, this is the completion to the set which they started back in November with Series 1. This set continues the tradition of the exciting rookie class of Young Guns and traded players wearing their new jerseys.

2009-10 Upper Deck Series 2 Complete Hockey Checklist



2009-10 UD Hockey Series 2 Young Guns:

451 MacGregor Sharp
452 Brad Marchand
453 Tyler Ennis
454 Mikael Backlund
455 Ryan Stoa
456 Ryan Wilson
457 Philippe Dupuis
458 Perttu Lindgren
459 Aaron Gagnon
460 Daniel Larsson
461 Ryan O'Marra
462 Devan Dubnyk
463 Colin McDonald
464 Alexander Salak
465 Jakub Kindl
466 Andrei Loktionov
467 Scott Parse
468 Danny Irmen
469 Anton Khudobin
470 David Desharnais
471 Tom Pyatt
472 Mathieu Carle
473 Ryan White
474 Colin Wilson
475 Cody Franson
476 Peter Olvecky
477 Andreas Thuresson
478 Matthew Corrente
479 Vladimir Zharkov
480 Tyler Eckford
481 Matt Gilroy
482 Bobby Sanguinetti
483 Ryan Keller
484 Oskars Bartulis
485 David Laliberte
486 Mark Letestu
487 Logan Couture
488 Steven Zalewski
489 Lars Eller
490 Jonas Gustavsson
491 Tyler Bozak
492 Carl Gunnarsson
493 James Reimer
494 Michael Grabner
495 Mario Bliznak
496 Guillaume Desbiens
497 John Carlson
498 Mathieu Perreault
499 Braden Holtby
500 Young Gun Checklist

2009-10 Upper Deck Series Two will be available tomorrow from Canada Card World.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Upcoming Upper Deck NHL Hobby Box Release Dates

Upper Deck has experienced some delays with products this season and has just released a new schedule for their upcoming products over the next few months. UD Ultimate and UD The Cup have not yet been given release dates at this point.

09/10 Upper Deck Series 2 Hockey - February 12th, 2010

09/10 Upper Deck Champs Hockey - March 9th, 2010

09/10 Upper Deck SP Game Used Hockey - March 23rd, 2010

09/10 Upper Deck ICE Hockey - April 13th, 2010

09/10 O-Pee-Chee Metal Hockey - April 13th, 2010



09/10 SP Authentic Hockey - April 27th, 2010

09/10 UD Be A Player Hockey - May 11th, 2010

09/10 UD O-Pee-Chee Premier Hockey - May 25th, 2010

All these exciting Upper Deck NHL products and more will be available at great prices this season from Canada Card World.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

This Just In...

Upper Deck has just announced that NHL Be-A-Player and Fleer Ultra rookie redemptions are in house.

Upper Deck will be shipping the Be-A-Player cards first and then the Fleer Ultra cards. Get ready to fill up your checklist!

Also, NHL UD Black Rookie Redemptions are complete and have been sent out to be signed by players and will ship as Upper Deck receives them back from players.

NHL Artifacts Rookie Redemptions are scheduled to be completed in early April as they had to wait until after the holidays to finalize that checklist.

Upper Deck Launches Special NHL Pack Giveaway Nights

Upper Deck is teaming up with the majority of the NHL’s clubs for a special “NHL Team Pack Giveaway Nights” promotion during the second half of the season. During each special night, each of the participating teams will be supplied with 10,000 six-player packs free of charge at the gate. There will also be 1,000 special chase cards produced for each team which spotlights one fan favourite.



The first give-away night was this past weekend as the New Jersey Devils excited fans on January 31. The six-card line-up featured Martin Brodeur, Zach Parise, Jamie Langenbrunner, Patrik Elias, Colin White and Paul Martin. The special seventh “chase” card featured Travis Zajac and was available only at the team shop with the purchase of any pack of 2009-10 NHL hockey cards.

Also featured since the launch of the program (with each chase card listed after) have been Chicago (Patrick Kane), Atlanta (Zach Bogosian), Boston (Zdeno Chara), Dallas (Mike Modano), Los Angeles (Drew Doughty) and Tampa (Martin St. Louis).



The remainder of the NHL team giveaway nights (with each team’s chase card) is as follows:

Feb. 11 - Detroit (Nicklas Lidstrom)

Feb. 12 - Colorado (Matt Duchene)

Feb. 13 - Buffalo (Thomas Vanek), Calgary (Miikka Kiprusoff) and Phoenix (Ilya Bryzgalov)

March 2 - Ottawa (Daniel Alfredsson), Pittsburgh (Marc-Andre Fleury) and Toronto (Luke Schenn)

March 6 - New York Islanders (Kyle Okposo)

March 7 - Nashville (JP Dumont)

March 9 - Philadelphia (Chris Pronger)

March 12 - Anaheim (Jonas Hiller) and Washington (Nicklas Backstrom)

March 13 - Carolina (Cam Ward), Columbus (Steve Mason) and San Jose (Dany Heatley)

March 21 - Florida (Tomas Vokoun)

Monday, February 8, 2010

Product Preview - 2009 UD Exquisite Collection Football

The day after the biggest game of the year seems a suitable time to preview one of the most exciting products of the NFL trading card season from Upper Deck. The New Orleans Saints surprised the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV last night with a 34-17 victory. Collectors will also be surprised by the amazing array of sublime cards on the Exquisite checklist this season.



Every box contains 1 bonus Autographed Memorabilia Card.
Either Exquisite Autobiography or Exquisite Rookie Bookmarks
Every card is foil numbered and every autograph is hard-signed.
All rookie autographs are numbered to 225 or less.



Product Configuration:
7 cards per pack
1 pack per box
3 boxes per case

Each box/pack is hand-collated and will contain seven premium cards. Each box will contain a bonus pack that includes one additional autographed memorabilia card. 2009 Exquisite Collection Football features Exquisite Book Marks multi-signed hinged cards.



2009 UD Exquisite Collection Football will be available for order in late February from Canada Card World.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Sunday Fun-Day Fun-Facts

The Goudey Gum Company was an American chewing gum company started in 1919. The company was founded by Enos Gordon Goudey of Barrington Passage, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Enos Goudey sold the company in 1932 but he retained an interest as a consultant. On his retirement in 1933, William Wrigley Jr. dubbed him the "penny gum king of America".

Goudey was the first American company to issue baseball cards with each stick of gum. Cards had mainly been available with cigarettes and candy for many years.



Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig are prominently featured in the Goudey cards of the 1930s. They were colorful cards with hand drawn portraits of the players. Hall of Famers depicted on the Goudey cards from 1933 to 1941 include Ty Cobb, Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove, Dizzy Dean, Mel Ott, Joe Dimaggio, and Hank Greenberg.

In 1933, Goudey produced a 240 card set, also called "Big League Chewing Gum". These cards were the first baseball cards featuring bubble gum in each pack. The 1933 Goudey set is considered one of the "Big Three" classic baseball card sets, along with the T206 and 1952 Topps sets.

One of the rarest baseball cards is card #106 from the 1933 Goudey set. It was not originally issued with the set. Collectors that sent letters to the Goudey Gum Company complaining about the lack of a #106 card received it in the mail. In 1934, Goudey issued card #106 for the 1933 set with retired player Nap Lajoie. It is known as one of the "Big Three" baseball cards along with the Honus Wagner and Eddie Plank cards from the T206 set.

In 1938, Goudey produced a 48 card set, also known as the "Heads-Up" set. The cards were numbered from 241 to 288, making it look as if Goudey was trying to extend the 1933 Goudey set. The first 24 cards in the set depicts pictures of players heads attached to a cartoonish body in baseball action.



Similar cards as the 1933 and 1934 Goudey sets were also released in Canada by World Wide Gum Co., of Quebec. They are sometimes known as Canadian Goudey sets. The 1933 World Wide Gum set was released with two different backs, one with both French and English, and the other with only English.

Most of the Goudey unreleased cards, printing plates, and company archives were thrown away in the 1960s, although some were sold to collectors.

Goudey baseball card sets
1933 Goudey R319
1933 Sports Kings R338
1933 World Wide Gum V353
1934 Goudey R320
1934 Goudey Premiums R390-1
1934 World Wide Gum V354
1935 Goudey 4-in-1 R321
1935 Goudey Premiums R390-2
1936 Goudey Wide Pens R314
1936 Goudey R322
1936 World Wide Gum V355
1938 Goudey "Heads-Up" R323
1939 Goudey Premiums R303
1939 World Wide Gum V351
1941 Goudey R324

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Hobby News - The Saturday Edition

MLB Files Trademark Infringement Lawsuit Against Upper Deck

Upper Deck, which last week agreed to pay millions to Japanese video game publisher Konami to settle a dispute over counterfeit "Yu-Gi-Oh" cards, is now being sued by Major League Baseball. On Monday, Major League Baseball Properties, the league's licensing division, filed a federal lawsuit against Upper Deck which accuses the company of trademark infringement and illegally selling cards that feature official team logos and uniforms. The complaint also notes that Upper Deck owes MLB $2.4 million.



In August, MLB granted Topps an exclusive, long-term license to produce baseball cards. The agreement gave Topps a monopoly on baseball and ended Upper Deck's 22-year relationship with MLB. In related news, Panini has become the exclusive producer of basketball cards and Upper Deck is reaching the end of its' five-year exclusive NHL license this season.

In a defiant move, Upper Deck responded by re-signing its licensing agreement with the MLB Players Association, a deal that provides rights to sell cards with players' images and likenesses. Upper Deck recently unveiled two new sets of cards for the 2009 season that do not have team names or logos printed on the borders of the cards but do include pictures of players in MLB uniforms. For example, Boston Red Sox's first baseman Kevin Youkilis' card shows him wearing the Boston jersey and helmet but the card identifies his team only as "Boston." In The Game, an NHL card manufacturer, creates sets without an NHL license however it follows the rules by not including logos and full team names.



The two new card sets are at the center of MLB's complaint. They allege that Upper Deck's conduct is "reflective of a pattern of utter disrespect for the contractual and intellectual property rights of those from whom it licenses valuable trademarks."

For Upper Deck, the suit is the latest in a string of legal and management setbacks. In the Konami case mentioned above, one Upper Deck executive testified that she witnessed CEO Richard McWilliams shred counterfeit cards in his office. That settlement came on the heels of a separate dispute with Topps, which sued Upper Deck last year for stealing its card designs. Topps claimed that designs for some of Upper Deck's 2009 cards were virtually identical to cards Topps produced in the '70s.

It's not the first time MLB has sued a card company for improperly using official logos. In the past decade, MLB filed claims against Donruss and Pacific, both of which put official MLB marks on cards after their agreements had expired. Ironically, Topps has been in Upper Deck's current position in the past. During the '70s, Topps had a licensing deal with the pro football players' union to make cards, but did not have an agreement with the NFL. As a result, its cards for several years featured no NFL marks and obscured logos on uniforms and helmets.

Friday, February 5, 2010

In The Game VIP Club

In past newsletters, In The Game advised collectors to hold on to their ITG box tops and now they are unveiling the reason why with the new ITG-VIP Club. In order to qualify you will need to accumulate 100 ITG-VIP points. ITG-VIP points are gained by opening qualifying ITG products and sending in the box tops. Each ITG-VIP Club Member will receive a special ITG-VIP number that can be used for discounts on purchases in the ITG Online Store and special priority for limited edition products to be offered in the ITG Online Store.



In addition, each ITG-VIP member will receive a special ITG-VIP Game-Used Memorabilia card, only available through this program. Each ITG-VIP Memorabilia card will be numbered out of twenty. ITG-VIP memberships will last for 12 months and each time you renew, you will receive a new ITG-VIP Game-Used Memorabilia card.

Here is the points breakdown on how you can gather your 100 points:

25 pts. - All Ultimate Memorabilia Box Tops (not pack box tops)
25 pts. - All Superlative Box Tops (inner pack tops -not book top)
10 pts. - 1972 The Year In Hockey
10 pts. - 2009-10 Heroes and Prospects and Between The Pipes
5 pts. - 2008-09 Heroes and Prospects and Between The Pipes
2 pts. - 2007-08 Heroes and Prospects and Between The Pipes
2 pts. - 2007 O Canada

Once you have accumulated 100 points, send your box tops along with your Name, Address, Phone Number and email address to:

In The Game, Inc.
VIP Program
135 West Beaver Creek Road Box #604
Richmond Hill, ON, L4B 4R7, Canada

Many In The Game products are available from Canada Card World.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

2009-10 NHL Calder Trophy Race

As the Olympics break approaches, five players have emerged as the best rookies of the 2009-10 NHL season. In no specific order, John Tavares, Jimmy Howard, Matt Duchene, James Van Riemsdyk, and Tyler Myers have been at the top of the rookie class. Some players have played well in spurts and other players were either too old (Antti Niemi) or too hurt (Semyon Varlamov). With approximately 25 games left in the season, it is time for one of these players to put the exclamation point on the season and take what is rightfully theirs.

John Tavares



Tavares was the 1st overall draft pick in 2009 and the odds-on favourite to win the trophy. He started strong but the long season seems to be wearing him down. The lack of depth on the Islanders isn't helping either.

Jimmy Howard



Jimmy Howard was supposed to be the back-up to Chris Osgood this season. His play after October cemented him as the Red Wings #1 goaltender and this late-bloomer seems to be the real deal.

Matt Duchene



Duchene wasn't even the best rookie on his team in October and November but steady play and a super burst in December put this favourite of Don Cherry into the spotlight.

James Van Riemsdyk



Slow and steady, James Van Riemsdyk has played a solid all-around game. A lack of big minutes behind such proven stars and Carter, Richards, and Hartnell has hurt his chances for the big prize.

Tyler Myers



Tyler Myers was supposed to be a project defenseman. His splendid early season play was no fluke and this massive Zdeno Chara clone is a franchise player of epic proportions. Not only is he playing big minutes against the NHL's best but he is putting up amazing offensive numbers for a defenseman as well.

Prediction - Barring a late season charge by one of the other four, this is Tyler Myer's trophy. Who dares steal it away from this hulking defenseman?

Tavares, Van Riemsdyk, Duchene, and Myers all have rookie cards available in most 2009-10 products available at Canada Card World. Jimmy Howard has rookie cards available in many 2005-06 products.