Where’s the gum? Image: Upper Deck
When I was a kid, I, like many of you I assume, collected baseball cards. I was an O-Pee-Chee and Topps kids, but the holograms on Upper Deck cards did occasionally strike my fancy. At one point, I had a pretty rough O-Pee-Chee Barry Bonds rookie card, a Topps near-mint Jose Canseco rookie card, and a freaking MINT Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card. Then my mum threw them away because my perfectly average trading card binder “was taking up too much space.” Anyway, Upper Deck has partnered with the World Surf League to create trading cards. This isn’t the first time surf trading cards have existed. A few years ago, a Kelly Slater rookie card made by Astroboyz sold for $3,000.
“Together,” reads a press release, “Upper Deck and the WSL will enable surf fans to collect their favorite male and female athletes across this emerging global sport.”
Now, as far as I remember, Upper Deck never included gum. Topps did — Topps was, interestingly, a gum company first and used baseball cards to get people to buy gum — and they had the worst gum ever created. Upper Deck was clearly a superior card, quality-wise (holograms!) and I always thought that a superior card that came with a superior gum was a huge hole in the market. Bazooka tried, but failed on both the gum front and the card quality front. No word on whether Upper Deck’s collaboration with the WSL will include gum, but if Upper Deck is listening, do it.
In an effort to make trading cards cool again, instead of adding good gum, Upper Deck has something called an e-Pack, which is basically a digital trading card. It might be showing my age, but I find that concept extraordinarily depressing. There is hope, however. Once you buy the e-card, you’ll get an email when the physical card becomes available for shipment in 8-12 weeks.
“Collectibles serve such an important role in sports, from allowing kids to collect their favorite heroes to providing these deserving athletes a memento that captures the iconic moments that have cemented them in the history books,” said Paul Zickler, director of sports brands at Upper Deck. “We’re creating new opportunities for fans of all sports to experience the excitement of the hobby, so World Surf League fans can now enjoy the thrill of chasing their favorite athletes’ cards for years to come.”
The announcement comes with the launch of something called the “Game Dated Moments” cards, where Upper Deck highlights key moments from the Lexus Pipe Pro and Surf Abu Dhabi Pro, as well as the MEO Rip Curl Pro. As the schedule unfolds, Upper Deck will continue to release additional GDM trading cards after each of the nine remaining events.
“These athletes have worked their entire lives to compete at the highest level in the world, so it’s no question they deserve to be collected and traded just like any major sports league,” said Stefani Chinn, WSL SVP of Marketing and Talent. “Trading cards are such a unique way for collectors to follow the surfers as each competition happens. The memorable moments are captured in the imagery, and we can’t wait to continue to grow the sport through the collaboration with Upper Deck and their expertise in collectibles.”
