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86-519: The Upper Deck Company, LLC (colloquially as Upper Deck and Upper Deck Authenticated, Ltd. in the UK) is a private company primarily known for producing trading cards . It was founded in 1988. Its headquarters are in Carlsbad, California , United States. The company also produces sports related items such as figurines and die-cast toys on top of having exclusive agreements to produce memorabilia, under

172-527: 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 massively successful promotion for the Upper Deck brand, the triple portrait of Jackson, remains an iconic image among baseball card collectors. At

258-635: A $ 75 million suit against Konami in Nevada District Court. In a January 26, 2009 press release Upper Deck denied allegations of counterfeiting, and stated that Upper Deck would support the Yu-Gi-Oh! community in an upcoming event. On February 26, 2009, Upper Deck was ordered to cease distribution of Yu-Gi-Oh! products, stop using Konami's trademarks and stop promoting itself as an authorized distributor or rights-holder to Yu-Gi-Oh! . On January 10, 2010, Judge Valerie Baker Fairbank ruled in

344-528: A 2005 football line, and an analogous 2005–06 hockey line called The Cup. The football line, which includes autographed rookie "patch" cards, is the most popular of the series. Variants of these cards, called the Gold Series, are limited to runs of 25 or 99 cards. The company's Exquisite-branded baseball series were introduced first as premiums in lower-end Upper Deck products (including the company's SP Legendary Cuts and Artifacts Baseball lines). In late 2007,

430-413: 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

516-545: A Season cards was a 30-card set capturing the greatest moments of the 2008-09 NHL Season . The cards were available through Upper Deck Certified Diamond Dealers. A collector had to redeem five wrappers of 2008/2009 Upper Deck hockey cards at a participating hobby store and receive an exclusive Upper Deck Biography of a Season card. One new card was available every week throughout the NHL season. The first four cards were: In observance of its 20th anniversary in 2009, Upper Deck released

602-433: A US District Court that Upper Deck had counterfeited the cards, and additionally threw out Upper Deck's countersuit alleging breach of the distribution agreement. The next stage of the case began on January 26, 2010, where a jury was to decide whether Upper Deck was liable for counterfeiting the cards. During the opening statement for the defense, Upper Deck's attorney, Richard Howell of Rutan & Tucker stated "The behavior

688-503: 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

774-596: 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

860-519: A fifth card that was either a low numbered parallel or an additional autographed patch card. Suggested retail price of the product was $ 500, making it the most expensive basketball card product ever produced at the time (the few packs that remain unopened now sell for over $ 4,000). Autograph cards include veterans such as Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Carmelo Anthony. The most sought after cards from

946-614: A nonbinding clause, arguing that it had been deprived of its contractual right of first refusal for the 1992–93 season. Appellate Division of New York State Supreme Court justice Shirley Fingerwood would deny SportsChannel America's request for an injunction against the NHL. Upholding that opinion, the appellate court found the agreement on which SportsChannel based its argument to be "too imprecise and ambiguous" and ruled that SportsChannel failed to show irreparable harm. ESPN's weekly regular season games were generally broadcast on Wednesdays and Fridays. ESPN also had Sunday games between

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1032-450: A prototype. Pelton designed and produced the cards for Upper Decks first three-year rise. Pelton's agencies, Pelton & Associates and Digital Artists, were replaced by Chiat/Day . Paul Sumner resigned with the understanding that he would be known as the "Co-Founder of Upper Deck," something that the company's owner and CEO, Richard McWilliam , recognized until McWilliam's death in 2013. On March 20, 1990, Upper Deck received licenses from

1118-607: A season in league history. This season saw two new clubs join the league: the Ottawa Senators and the Tampa Bay Lightning . The Senators were the second Ottawa-based NHL franchise (see Ottawa Senators (original) ) and brought professional hockey back to Canada's capital , while the Tampa Bay franchise (headed by Hockey Hall of Fame brothers Phil and Tony Esposito ) strengthened the NHL's presence in

1204-503: A set that can be found in all of the company's 2009 baseball trading card releases. The massive 2,500 card set commemorated the last 20 years in sports, pop culture, politics, world history and technology. The first cards from the 20th Anniversary Retrospective set were found in 2009 Upper Deck Series One Baseball. An additional element to the set was the 100-card memorabilia set that was found in all sets beginning with 2009 Upper Deck Spectrum Baseball (released on February 24). In April 2009,

1290-561: 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, Major League Baseball 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 MLBPA but will be unable to use team logos or other trademarked images. On February 1, 2010, Major League Baseball filed

1376-583: A website so that collectors could find out more about the Yankee Stadium Legacy set. Alphanumeric codes found on the backs of Yankee Stadium Legacy cards can be entered at the site, and collectors would be able to use the site to manage their collections online, and track their collections against other collectors via a leader board. Tommy Baxter, a 36-year-old from Little Rock, Arkansas, was the first collector to put together Upper Deck's Yankee Stadium Legacy (YSL) Collection. The NHL Biography of

1462-571: Is often found in former Eastern Bloc countries to differentiate from former state-owned enterprises , but it may be used anywhere in contrast to a state-owned or a collectively owned company. In the United States , a privately held company refers to a business entity owned by private stakeholders, investors, or company founders, and its shares are not available for public purchase on stock exchanges. That contrasts with public companies, whose shares are publicly traded, which allows investing by

1548-474: Is referred to as privatization . A privately owned enterprise is one form that private property may take. In the United Kingdom, a close or closely held company is defined as a company which is controlled by either five or fewer shareholders or is controlled by shareholders who are also directors. 1992%E2%80%9393 NHL season The 1992–93 NHL season was the 76th regular season of

1634-557: Is still undeniably wrong. And I am in here, as counsel for the two defendants, asking you to hold my clients accountable for that behavior; asking you to hold my clients responsible for this conduct that there is no dispute, and there was no disputing even before this case started today, that it was wrong." After the second day of court proceedings, Konami and Upper Deck reached an out-of-court settlement. The terms were not publicly disclosed. Maxx produced racing cards from 1988 to 1996. Upper Deck started producing racing cards in 1995, acquired

1720-728: The Corporations Act 2001 requires publicly traded companies to file certain documents relating to their annual general meeting with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). There is a similar requirement for large proprietary companies, which are required to lodge Form 388H to the ASIC containing their financial report. In the United States, private companies are held to different accounting auditing standards than public companies, overseen by

1806-951: The Pirates of the Caribbean films. It has also released many non-game oriented sports-based and multimedia companion trading card sets. Privately held company Private companies are often less well-known than their publicly traded counterparts but still have major importance in the world's economy . For example, in 2008, the 441 largest private companies in the United States accounted for $ 1.8 trillion in revenues and employed 6.2 million people, according to Forbes . Separately, all non-government-owned companies are considered private enterprises . That meaning includes both publicly traded and privately held companies since their investors are individuals. Private ownership of productive assets differs from state ownership or collective ownership (as in worker-owned companies). This usage

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1892-550: The World of Warcraft Trading Card Game based on the popular MMORPG . UDE lost this license in early 2010. The Marvel Trading Card Game and the DC Comics Trading Card Game , using their proprietary VS System , was canceled in early 2009. It has since been relaunched as VS. System 2PCG. In October 2005, UDE introduced a trading card game based on Nickelodeon 's Avatar: The Last Airbender series and

1978-425: 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

2064-568: 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 Robert was going to pay on the prize was $ 125,000. The amount, his mother said, would force the family to sell the jersey. In May 2005, Richard McWilliam

2150-482: The Chicago Blackhawks , allowed fewer than three goals per game. Only 68 shutouts were recorded during the regular season. A record twenty-one players reached the 100-point plateau , while a record fourteen players reached the 50-goal plateau —both records still stand through the 2022–23 season . Through the halfway point in this season Mario Lemieux was in the process of putting together one of

2236-478: The Corporations Act 2001 limits a privately held company to 50 non-employee shareholders. A privately owned enterprise is a commercial enterprise owned by private investors, shareholders or owners (usually collectively , but they can be owned by a single individual ), and is in contrast to state institutions, such as publicly owned enterprises and government agencies . Private enterprises comprise

2322-604: The Los Angeles Kings four games to one. This remains the last time that a Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup . It proved, at the time, to be the highest-scoring regular season in NHL history, as a total of 7,311 goals were scored over 1,008 games for an average of 7.25 per game. Twenty of the twenty-four teams scored three goals or more per game, and only two teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs and

2408-561: The Milwaukee Brewers , Sandy Alomar Jr. of the San Diego Padres , and Ken Griffey Jr. Geideman was a Seattle Mariners fan and decided that Ken 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

2494-512: The NFL and baseball seasons. ESPN's deal did not include the All-Star Game; NBC instead televised it for the fourth consecutive season. Through a brokered deal, sister broadcast network ABC televised five weekly playoff telecasts on Sunday afternoons starting on April 18 and ending on May 16. The first three weeks were regional coverage of various first and second round games, while

2580-808: The National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players Association to produce hockey cards. The company also obtained licenses from the National Football League and the National Basketball Association 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. By 1991,

2666-485: The National Hockey League . Each player wore a patch on their jersey throughout the season to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Stanley Cup . The league expanded to 24 teams with the addition of the Ottawa Senators and the Tampa Bay Lightning . Under the new labour agreement signed following the 1992 NHL strike , each team began playing 84 games per season, including two games at neutral sites. The Montreal Canadiens won their league-leading 24th Cup by defeating

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2752-426: The Tampa Bay Lightning . In the summer of 1992, NHL owners replaced NHL President John Ziegler with Gil Stein on an interim basis. Ziegler had held the position for 15 years, but owners became unhappy following the 1992 NHL strike . On February 1, 1993, Gary Bettman became the first NHL Commissioner, with the office originally created as senior to Stein's position as NHL President. Working towards labour peace

2838-709: The Winnipeg Jets shattered the rookie scoring record by scoring 76 goals and 56 assists for 132 points this season. He was named the winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL Rookie of the Year, and his goals and points marks remain the NHL rookie records as of 2023 . The New York Rangers missed the playoffs. This marked the first time since the President's Trophy had been introduced that

2924-599: The private company limited by shares in the United Kingdom (abbreviated Ltd ) or unlimited company and the proprietary limited company (abbreviated Pty Ltd ) or unlimited proprietary company (abbreviated Pty ) in South Africa and Australia . In India , private companies are registered by the Registrar of Companies , which is under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs . Indian private companies must contain

3010-408: The private sector of an economy. An economic system that 1) contains a large private sector where privately run businesses are the backbone of the economy, and 2) a business surplus is controlled by the owners, is referred to as capitalism . This contrasts with socialism , where the industry is owned by the state or by all of the community in common. The act of taking assets into the private sector

3096-667: 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. DeWayne Buice , then

3182-709: The American Sun Belt , which had first started with the birth of the Los Angeles Kings in 1967 . The 1992 NHL expansion draft was held on June 18 to fill the rosters of the Senators and the Lightning. This was the final season of the Wales and Campbell Conferences, and the Adams , Patrick , Norris , and Smythe divisions. Both the conferences and the divisions would be renamed to reflect geography rather than

3268-474: The Christmas party, Upper Deck CEO Richard McWilliam told employees the company's deal with Buice was the worst deal it had ever done. 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

3354-636: 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

3440-567: The Maxx brand in December 1996 and discontinued the line in 2000. Upper Deck became licensor of the O-Pee-Chee brand in 2007, after the original Canadian company was sold to Nestlé in 1996. O-Pee-Chee's collections of baseball and ice hockey cards had been commercialised by Topps from 1997 to 2004. Since Upper Deck succeeded Topps as licensor, it has released several collections up to

3526-686: The Private Company Counsel division of the Financial Accounting Standards Board . Researching private companies and private companies' financials in the United States can involve contacting the secretary of state for the U.S. state of incorporation (or for LLC or partnership, state of formation), or using specialized private company databases such as Dun & Bradstreet . Other companies, like Sageworks , provide aggregated data on privately held companies, segmented by industry code. By contrast, in

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3612-465: The Stanley Cup playoffs was primarily on CBC, with TSN airing first round all-U.S. series. ESPN signed an agreement for U.S. national broadcast rights, replacing SportsChannel America . However, SportsChannel America contended that its contract with the NHL gave them the right to match third-party offers for television rights for the 1992–93 season. Thus the network accused the NHL of violating

3698-502: The United Kingdom, all incorporated companies are registered centrally with Companies House . Privately held companies also sometimes have restrictions on how many shareholders they may have. For example, the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934 , section 12(g), limits a privately held company, generally, to fewer than 2000 shareholders, and the U.S. Investment Company Act of 1940 , requires registration of investment companies that have more than 100 holders. In Australia, section 113 of

3784-605: The United States but not generally in the United Kingdom , the term is also extended to partnerships , sole proprietorships or business trusts . Each of those categories may have additional requirements and restrictions that may impact reporting requirements, income tax liabilities, governmental obligations, employee relations, marketing opportunities, and other business obligations and decisions. In many countries, there are forms of organization that are restricted to and are commonly used by private companies, for example,

3870-492: The Yankee Stadium Legacy as the largest baseball card set ever produced, once all the cards were released. The official recognition will take place only after all of the 6,500 cards are released in Upper Deck's various baseball card launches throughout the year. The various sets where the Yankee Stadium Legacy cards were inserted into were: Spectrum; Piece of History; SPx; Upper Deck Series Two; SP Legendary Cuts (hobby-only); SP Authentic; UDx; and UD Masterpieces. Upper Deck started

3956-462: The additional 24 regular season games in 15 cities that did not have a franchise, providing as a litmus test for future expansion. Four of the cities chosen – Phoenix , Atlanta , Dallas and Miami – were eventually the sites of expansion or relocations, and although neither Cleveland nor Cincinnati received NHL franchises, there would be one placed in Columbus , located halfway between

4042-481: The authenticity of such 'memorabilia", which often includes items manufactured specifically for insert cards, patches, and other desirable content. Upper Deck premiered its NBA Exquisite Collection line in the 2003–2004 season. Each pack contained five basketball cards; one veteran base card numbered to 225, one autographed rookie card featuring a piece of patch worn by the player numbered to 99 or 225, one game worn jersey card, one autographed/patch insert card, and

4128-410: The back of each card and a counterfeit-proof tiny hologram marking. Upper Deck sold out its baseball cards midway through this inaugural year, then pre-sold its entire 1990 baseball stock before the year began. 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

4214-469: The beginning of the 1992–93 NHL season , Upper Deck made Patrick Roy a spokesperson. Roy was a hockey card collector, with more than 150,000 cards. An ad campaign was launched and it had an adverse effect on Patrick Roy's season. Upper Deck had a slogan called "Trade Roy", and it was posted on billboards throughout the city of Montreal. A Journal de Montreal poll, published on January 13, 1993, indicated that 57% of fans favoured trading Patrick Roy. Before

4300-599: The brand name "Upper Deck Authenticated", with athletes including Michael Jordan , Tiger Woods , LeBron James , Wayne Gretzky , Serena Williams , Roberto luongo , Connor McDavid , and Ben Simmons . Under the Upper Deck Entertainment name, the company also produced card games such as World of Warcraft and Vs. System . Upper Deck is also the current licensor of the O-Pee-Chee brand since 2007, having released several baseball and ice hockey card collections. On December 23, 1988, Upper Deck

4386-655: The cards will include Jordan's specific box score stats from the game in question. Every card in the set will be given some historical significance as the overall set captures every game Jordan ever played with the Bulls, regular-season and playoff battles included. The cards will fall, on average, 1:4 packs across all four brands. In addition to the 1,170 Jordan game cards, Upper Deck also included 100 different game-used memorabilia cards, each one crash-numbered to 23. The cards will sport swatches from Jordan's game-worn jerseys. More than 100 different action photos showing Jordan through

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4472-590: The cards. The Beckett Grading card service has evaluated over 25,000 of the Ken Griffey Jr. rookie cards. Upper Deck has changed its practice of using materials certified as "Worn" by the player depicted on the front of the card. The changed wording on the backs of Upper Deck insert cards makes it less clear as to how the materials were used or what player wore the item. Upper Deck's authenticity has been questioned in regards to players' jersey and uniform materials, but with no real founding. The cards state that

4558-416: The company added another line to its Exquisite Collections brand, focused on rookie players. This recent addition is retailed at US$ 249 per pack. The Yankee Stadium Legacy set is a 6,742-card compilation chronicling every single game ever played at Yankee Stadium . The card set made its official debut inserted in random packs of Upper Deck's 2008 Series 1 Baseball. Other cards in the set commemorate some of

4644-623: The company announcement that longtime company spokesman Michael Jordan would be honored with an 1,170-card tribute insert set chronicling every single Chicago Bulls game Jordan played in. The set will begin with his NBA debut on October 26, 1984, through his final Bulls appearance in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on June 14, 1998. The 1,170-card set will pack out across four 2009 Upper Deck basketball products: Lineage (April 1); Radiance (April 29); Upper Deck (Sept. 22); and First Edition (Sept. 29). Each of

4730-404: The company built a 250,000-square-foot (23,000 m) 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

4816-479: The company owed him even 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

4902-477: 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 noted on his Twitter account that, "UD

4988-480: The division finals. The two division winners of each conference then played in the conference finals. The two conference winners then advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals. During the 1992-93 season, a record twenty-one players reached the 100-point plateau , while a record fourteen players reached the 50-goal plateau . As of the 2023-24 season , both records still continue stand after three decades. This

5074-454: 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

5160-558: The general public. In countries with public trading markets, a privately held business is generally taken to mean one whose ownership shares or interests are not publicly traded. Often, privately held companies are owned by the company founders or their families and heirs or by a small group of investors. Sometimes, employees also hold shares in private companies. Most small businesses are privately held. Subsidiaries and joint ventures of publicly traded companies (for example, General Motors ' Saturn Corporation ), unless shares in

5246-489: The immediate erosion of customer and stakeholder confidence in the event of financial duress. Further, with limited reporting requirements and shareholder expectations, private firms are afforded a greater operational flexibility by being able to focus on long-term growth rather than quarterly earnings. In addition, private company executives may steer their ships without shareholder approval, which allows them to take significant action without delays. In Australia, Part 2E of

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5332-449: The inserted items are known to Upper Deck to have been used or worn, and authenticity is certified by third-party memorabilia vendors. Some of Upper Deck's jersey materials are harvested at events like rookie photo shoots, during such events, players will wear provided uniforms to generate event-worn material that never sees the field of play, but these practices are reserved to rookies or retired players. Collectors still debate and question

5418-483: The league played their final games: Carlyle, Marsh, Langway, and Wilson. The only remaining helmetless player was Craig McTavish who retired following the 1996–97 season. This was the fifth season of the league's Canadian national broadcast rights deals with TSN and Hockey Night in Canada on CBC . Saturday night regular season games continued to air on CBC, while TSN televised selected weeknight games. Coverage of

5504-568: The league's history for the following season. This was also the last year (until the 2013 realignment ) in which the playoff structure bracketed and seeded teams by division; they would be bracketed and seeded by conference (as in the NBA ) for 1993–94 . The 1992 NHL Entry Draft was held on June 20 at the Montreal Forum in Montreal , Quebec . Roman Hamrlik was selected first overall by

5590-406: The license, he would receive a 12 percent 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

5676-563: The line include the autographed/patch rookie cards numbered to 99 (LeBron James, Darko Milicic, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, and Udonis Haslem), the Limited Logos inserts which feature an extra large jersey patch piece and autograph, and the autographed/patch rookie parallels serial numbered to the player's jersey number. In view of the Exquisite series' success, the company has released 2004–05 and 2005–06 basketball sets,

5762-639: The most famous sporting events that have taken place at Yankee Stadium. Some of these events include: Lou Gehrig's "Luckiest Man Alive" Speech (July 4, 1939); Babe Ruth's "Final Visit to Yankee Stadium" (June 11, 1948); Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling heavyweight title bout (June 19, 1936, Schmeling won), the 1958 NFL Championship between the New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts and Muhammad Ali's title defense against Ken Norton (Sept. 28, 1976). Guinness World Records stated an intention to certify

5848-470: The most historic seasons in NHL history; being on pace to challenge both the 92 goal and 215 point records of Wayne Gretzky when he was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma . Lemieux still went on to win the Art Ross and Hart Trophies, despite every other player in the top five in league scoring playing a complete 84 game season to his 60 games. He also finished with the third highest point per game average in

5934-476: 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

6020-428: The playoffs. In each round, teams competed in a best-of-seven series (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each best-of-seven series). In the division semifinals, the fourth seeded team in each division played against the division winner from their division. The other series matched the second and third place teams from the divisions. The two winning teams from each division's semifinals then met in

6106-571: The present day. Upper Deck Entertainment (UDE), a division of The Upper Deck Company, used to produce the English , Spanish , Portuguese , German , Italian , and French language versions of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game , a collectible card game , licensed from Konami . Other collectible card games have included the Winx Club trading card game for girls, which has since been canceled,

6192-517: The previous season's top team missed the next year's playoffs. For the first time in his NHL career, Wayne Gretzky did not finish in the top three in scoring. A back injury limited Gretzky to 45 games in which he scored 65 points. The Pittsburgh Penguins set a new NHL record, winning 17 consecutive games. The streak ending with the regular season. Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points The top four teams in each division qualified for

6278-434: 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

6364-637: The subsidiary itself are traded directly, have characteristics of both privately held companies and publicly traded companies. Such companies are usually subject to the same reporting requirements as privately held companies, but their assets, liabilities, and activities are also including the reports of their parent companies , as are required by the accountancy and securities industry rules relating to groups of companies. Private companies may be called corporations , limited companies , limited liability companies , unlimited companies , or other names, depending on where and how they are organized and structured. In

6450-609: The trade deadline, Canadiens general manager Serge Savard insisted that 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 . In 1999, Upper Deck Company spent in excess of $ 1.1 million in acquiring vintage baseball memorabilia items at

6536-563: The two cities. Two arenas that hosted neutral-site games had hosted NHL teams before: Atlanta's The Omni ( Atlanta Flames ) and Cleveland's Richfield Coliseum ( Cleveland Barons ). The Hartford-St. Louis game was originally scheduled to be played on December 29, 1992, in Birmingham, Alabama . The All-Star Game was held on February 6, 1993, at the Montreal Forum , the home of the Montreal Canadiens . Teemu Selanne of

6622-579: The word Private Limited at the end of their names. Privately held companies generally have fewer or less comprehensive reporting requirements and obligations for transparency , via annual reports, etc. than publicly traded companies do. For example, in the United States, privately held companies are not generally required to publish their financial statements . By not being required to disclose details about their operations and financial outlook, private companies are not forced to disclose information that may potentially be valuable to competitors and so can avoid

6708-746: The years were used for card front photography. Upper Deck acquired the rights to distribute the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game from Konami in 2002. That same year, second quarter American sales reached $ 17 million. In October 2008, Konami sued Vintage Sports Cards for distributing Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Game Cards, along with counterfeit cards. The cards were found in a Los Angeles Toys-R-Us . Vintage denied any wrongdoing, claiming they legally obtained all cards (counterfeits included) directly from Upper Deck. Konami added Upper Deck as defendants on December 11. December 2008, Konami announced they were assuming full control over Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, which includes distribution and customer support. In response, Upper Deck filed

6794-424: Was also the last season that a NHL player scored 70 or more goals in a single regular season. * Equalled existing record The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1992–93 (listed with their first team): The following is a list of players of note who played their last game in the NHL in 1992–93 (listed with their last team): Four of the five remaining helmetless players in

6880-527: Was among the tasks handed to Bettman when the owners hired him. After Stein's tenure expired on July 1, 1993, the President's office was merged into the Commissioner's. All teams wore a commemorative patch this year celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Stanley Cup . As a part of the 1992 strike settlement , the regular season was expanded from 82 to 84 games per team. The NHL and Bruce McNall's Multivision Marketing and Public Relations Co. organized

6966-482: 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 ,

7052-467: Was granted a license by Major League Baseball 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

7138-453: Was name 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

7224-424: Was named "Card Set of the Year" every year from 1989 to 2004. Paul Sumner created the Upper Deck concept in 1987. He worked in printing sales and came up with the idea for a premium card. When he heard about card counterfeiting, he realized that he knew a way to protect cards. He had studied holograms in college and had used them in printing his company's brochures. He hired Robert Young Pelton to design and produce

7310-413: 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 Ken Griffey Jr. card would become the most graded card of all time with the company; PSA graded over 50,000 of

7396-414: 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

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