The story
Paul Sumner created the Upper Deck concept in 1987. He worked in printing sales, as vice president of sales at Orbis Graphic in Anaheim, California, and came up with the idea for a premium card. When he heard about card counterfeiting, he realized he knew a way to protect cards. He had studied holograms in college and had used them in printing his company's brochures.
In late 1987, Sumner approached Richard McWilliam about creating "Architectural Digest-quality baseball cards." McWilliam was a businessman who had also played baseball in high school and college. Sumner’s boss, Boris Korbel, joined Sumner and McWilliam in setting out to produce a prototype to show dealers at national card shows. Sumner hired Robert Young Pelton to design and produce a prototype. Pelton did this for Upper Deck's first three-year rise. Pelton's agencies, Pelton & Associates and Digital Artists, were replaced by Chiat/Day.
On December 23, 1988, Upper Deck was granted a license by Major League Baseball (MLB) to produce baseball cards, and just two months later, on February 23, 1989, delivered its first two cases of baseball cards to George Moore of Tulsa's Baseball Card Store in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Its inaugural 1989 set stood out from other trading cards with its glossy fronts on heavy-duty cardboard (thicker than other card stocks), with an additional color photo on the back of each card and a counterfeit-proof tiny hologram marking. Upper Deck began selling packs for $0.99, more than double the price of a pack of Topps cards, and lacked "the traditional stick of bubble gum that would often stain the cards". Despite this, Upper Deck sold out its baseball cards midway through this inaugural year, then pre-sold its entire 1990 baseball stock before the year began. Upper Deck said "it purposely limited its initial 1989 production to just 1 million sets of each card" to help drive demand. Also, cards with misprints, such as the 1989 Atlanta Braves slugger Dale Murphy card with a reversed "rookie" designation and the 1990 Baltimore Oriole pitcher Ben McDonald card missing his "rookie" designation, were reselling for $150 and $100 each, respectively.
The 1990 set included the industry's first randomly inserted personally autographed and numbered cards of sports stars. All Upper Deck brands bear an exclusive trademark hologram, and Upper Deck was named "Card Set of the Year" every year from 1989 to 2004. Paul Sumner resigned with the understanding that he would be known as the "Co-Founder of Upper Deck," something the company's owner and CEO, McWilliam, recognized until McWilliam's death in 2013.
On March 20, 1990, Upper Deck received licenses from the National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) to produce hockey cards. The company also obtained licenses from the National Football League (NFL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1990, making Upper Deck the first trading card company in 10 years to be licensed by all four leagues. Upper Deck quickly rivaled Topps, which had been considered the standard, and other competitors, such as Fleer, Donruss, and Score. Before the end of March, 1990 Upper Deck had gained a fourth partner, Richard Kughn, and grown from six employees to 250. By 1991, the company built a 250,000-square-foot (23,000 m2) plant of brown marble and black glass on a hilltop 30 miles (48 km) north of San Diego.
After Upper Deck introduced its premium baseball series, other companies followed with improved photography, better design, and higher-quality paper stock. The sports card market grew from $50 million in 1980, when Topps' monopoly was broken by Fleer, to a $1.5 billion industry in 1992. Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson served as an adviser in the early 1990s. Jackson would also serve as the inspiration for the first certified autograph card inserted into trading cards with the company's "Find the Reggie" campaign. A successful promotion for the Upper Deck brand, the triple portrait of Jackson remains an iconic image among baseball card collectors.
At the beginning of the 1992–93 NHL season, Upper Deck made player Patrick Roy a spokesperson. Roy was also a hockey card collector, with more than 150,000 cards. An ad campaign was launched, and it had an adverse effect on Roy's season. Upper Deck had a slogan called "Trade Roy", which was posted on billboards throughout the city of Montreal. A Journal de Montreal poll, published on January 13, 1993, indicated that 57% of fans favored trading Patrick Roy. Before the trade deadline, Canadiens general manager Serge Savard insisted he would consider a trade for Roy. The Canadiens ended the season by winning only 8 of their last 19 games.
Upper Deck was also the first to insert swatches of game-used material into cards when it made jersey cards in 1997 UD Basketball. The insert set was called Game Jersey and a similar set followed in baseball the next year, where UD cut up game-used jerseys of Ken Griffey Jr., Tony Gwynn, and Rey Ordóñez.
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In 1999, Upper Deck Company spent over $1.1 million in acquiring vintage baseball memorabilia items at the Barry Halper Collection auction held at Sotheby's in New York City. One of the items was a Ty Cobb jersey that Upper Deck paid $332,500 for. As part of a sweepstakes prize, it gave the jersey to 14-year-old Robert Shell of Milwaukee. At the time, the estimated tax Shell was going to pay on the prize was $125,000. The amount, his mother said, would force the family to sell the jersey.
2000s–2010s
In May 2005, Richard McWilliam was named the sports collectible industry's "most influential" person of the past 20 years at an annual trade convention in Hawaii. In addition to McWilliam's award, Upper Deck was also recognized for the debut of its legendary 1989 baseball trading card set, which included the then 19-year-old centerfielder Ken Griffey Jr., as the "most influential" event of the past 20 years. The list of nominees was created and voted upon by the staff of conference organizers F+W Publications.
In July 2005, Upper Deck won the liquidation auction of former competitor Fleer-SkyBox International's brand name, assets, and business model, as well as the Fleer collectibles die-cast business assets. In March 2007, Upper Deck made an offer to buy competitor Topps, competing with Madison Dearborn Partners and Tornante Company, the eventual buyer.
Upper Deck originally included the year of the trading card set's release on its logo, with the "19" above "Upper" and the last two digits of the year under "Deck" (but both inside the green diamond). This practice was dropped midway through the 1994 season. In 2008, Upper Deck retired the green diamond logo and replaced it with a new design that it could better use to market all of its products.
In 2009, Upper Deck introduced the Diamond Club. Diamond Club members consist of the top individual purchasers and collectors of Upper Deck and Fleer brands throughout the United States, Canada and Japan. The criteria were that the members distinguished themselves not only by the amount of money they spent, but by how they helped to promote these products within the hobby and to other collectors. Diamond Club members receive special promotional items, receive invitations to special events and are invited to an annual summit where they can share ideas with members of Upper Deck while participating in a special reception with one of the company's spokesmen. Fewer than 125 members are chosen to be a part of the program each year.
On August 6, 2009, MLB announced it entered into a multi-year deal with Topps, giving it exclusive rights to produce MLB trading cards. Upper Deck would retain its rights to produce cards bearing player likenesses via its contract with the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) but would be unable to use team logos or other trademarked images. On February 1, 2010, MLB filed a federal lawsuit against Upper Deck for trademark infringement. A mutual settlement was announced on March 3, 2010, stating that Upper Deck could continue selling its three current baseball card series (2009 Signature Stars, 2009 Ultimate Collection, and 2010 Upper Deck Series One), although they were prohibited from using any MLB trademarks, including team logos and names, in any future baseball products. Despite this limitation, Upper Deck commented that they would still continue to produce baseball-related cards without using those trademarks.
On September 29, 2009, Upper Deck created the company's first-ever packs of Finnish- and Swedish-language Victory hockey cards.
In February 2010, Blizzard Entertainment ended its licensing deal with Upper Deck, which had previously produced the World of Warcraft trading card game.
On April 7, 2010, Upper Deck announced it would no longer be licensed to produce NFL trading cards. Upper Deck spokesperson Terry Melia posted on Twitter that, "UD was unable to come to terms with NFL Properties. No NFL Properties-licensed football cards from UD in 2010." Upper Deck owner Richard McWilliam said, "Over the past year, Upper Deck has attempted to negotiate a new licensing deal with NFL Properties. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were not able to reach agreeable terms, and therefore will not be issuing any NFL Properties-licensed trading cards for the 2010 season. Upper Deck will continue to focus on its exclusive license agreement with the Collegiate Licensing Company and co-exclusive agreements with NHL Enterprises and the NHL Players Association, as well as its multiple entertainment licenses."
On January 8, 2015, Panini America acquired the Collegiate Licensing Company exclusive trading card agreement that Upper Deck formerly owned.
2020s–present
In December 2025, Upper Deck extended its partnerships with Hockey Canada, renewing their licensing agreement, which has been active since 2012. Also in December, it was announced that Upper Deck had signed a multi-year agreement as an official partner of USA Hockey. Upper Deck would release its first-ever USA Hockey trading card set, which included athletes like Cole Eiserman, James Hagens, Cole Hutson, and Taylor Heise.
In January 2026, it was announced that Upper Deck would begin producing NHL Debut Game Jersey cards. The cards, which are scheduled to be released in the summer of 2026, will be in 2025-26 Upper Deck Extended Series and include swatches of rookies' game-used jerseys. Also that month, Upper Deck reached an agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery, acquiring a license to produce Harry Potter collectibles.
In February 2026, Upper Deck celebrated the 25th anniversary of Upper Deck Golf. It released a 2026 Upper Deck Golf set headlined by Tiger Woods, referencing its iconic 2001 set, which featured Woods’ rookie card. That same month, Upper Deck announced that it had signed golfer and two-time major champion Nelly Korda to an exclusive deal. Korda would appear in Upper Deck's "Authenticated Memorabilia Collection" and on a Young Guns trading card. Also in February, Upper Deck released its first music-related trading cards, featuring American rock band Grateful Dead, with a 60th anniversary set called "Grateful Dead—60 Years So Far… A Visual Trip".
In April 2026, Upper Deck released its fourth and final DC x National Hockey League set, the DC x NHL "Secret Identity" crossover, which combines DC properties with 12 prominent NHL prospects, superstars, and legends.
DeWayne Buice
DeWayne Buice, then a California Angels pitcher, would later become one of Upper Deck's founding partners. In November 1987, Buice walked into The Upper Deck, a trading card store. Store owner Bill Hemrick noticed Buice and the two struck up a friendship, one that led to Buice's hosting an autograph session at the store. Within weeks, Buice had become one of Hemrick's business partners.
Hemrick and his partner Paul Sumner were in the process of starting Upper Deck. Unfortunately, the two lacked the business and personal connections to help land the necessary Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) license, which would allow Upper Deck to use players' names and likenesses on its cards. The only response they received was that the players' union was not accepting another card company for three more years. Buice was told that if he could help secure the license, he would receive a 12% stake in the card company. Buice would become a key figure in getting MLBPA officials to agree to a meeting. By the end of the 1988 season, Hemrick and Sumner received the license and by 1989, were making baseball cards.
By the time Buice retired from professional baseball at the end of the 1989 season, he had collected $2.8 million from Upper Deck. Believing the company owed him more money, Buice sued Upper Deck executives. After the battle over Buice's stake in the company was settled in court, he became a millionaire who reportedly made $17 million on the deal, far more than he ever made as a baseball player. In two-and-a-half seasons with the Angels, Buice made $212,500.
Upper Deck was originally scheduled to pay Buice his millions over a four-year period, but due to the 1994 baseball strike, Upper Deck's business stalled. Buice then agreed to a six-year payment plan. Sales in 1995 and 1996 fell so far that for those two years, virtually all the company's profits went to Buice.
On the day in 1998 that Upper Deck cut Buice his final check, the company threw a party at its Carlsbad, California, headquarters. The top brass ordered employees to work just a half day. Later that year at the Christmas party, Upper Deck CEO Richard McWilliam told employees the company's deal with Buice was the worst deal it had ever done.
1989 set and Ken Griffey Jr.
In the 1989 Upper Deck baseball set, Ken Griffey Jr. was selected to be featured on card number one. The decision to make Griffey Jr. the first card was reached in late 1988.
A teenage employee named Tom Geideman was the one who suggested the use of Griffey as its choice for the number-one card. Traditionally, Topps had a system for reserving various numbers in their sets (such as numbers 1 and 100) for the biggest stars in the game. Geideman decided that a top prospect should be honored with the number one card in the inaugural 1989 set. After reviewing Baseball America, Geideman narrowed the list of candidates to four: Gregg Jefferies of the New York Mets, Gary Sheffield of the Milwaukee Brewers, Sandy Alomar Jr. of the San Diego Padres, and Griffey Jr. Geideman was a Seattle Mariners fan and decided that Griffey Jr. should be the prospect featured on card number one of the 1989 set.
At press time, Griffey had not yet played a major league game, so Upper Deck used an image of Griffey in a San Bernardino Spirit uniform. Competitors such as Score and Topps neglected to include a card of Griffey in their regular 1989 sets. Both brands would make a card of Griffey in their end of year Traded sets. Upper Deck's Griffey exclusivity gain exposure due to the popularity of Griffey in the 1989 MLB season.
Despite the popularity of the Griffey card, it was not a scarce card. The card was situated in the top left hand corner of the uncut sheets and was more liable to be cut poorly or have its corners dinged. Company policy was that if a customer found a damaged card in its package, the company would replace it. Many Griffey cards were returned and the result was that Upper Deck printed many uncut sheets (sheets consisting of 100 cards) of just the Griffey card. According to Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), the Griffey Jr. card would become the most graded card of all time with the company; PSA graded over 50,000 of the cards. The Beckett Grading card service has evaluated over 25,000 of the Griffey Jr. rookie cards.
From Wikipedia’s article on Upper Deck Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4