The Pipeline

A busy spring and summer has curtailed my card trading, although for some reason I keep buying cards. I guess the main hassle involved is that they're mostly low-end products. I'd noticed it before, but as I've tried to get back into the trading groove online the last couple weeks, it's hard because 99 percent of traders post on trade sites looking for autos and patches and Lettermen cards, or cards of that level and seemingly ONLY that level. Don't get me wrong, I love that stuff too. Check my site (link to the right) and I'm looking for all kinds of autographs and game-used cards, but limiting what I'll take to those reeks to me of snobbery. There's a lot of that going around these days when it comes to a hobby that's supposed to be based in fun, right? It started creeping in around the time I got back into collecting in 1999, when traders here and there would voice their disgust with cards produced by Collector's Edge and Pacific. God knows that, now, I wish I had somewhat fewer numbers of those cards, but they did (Pacific more so) put out some good product, and had some unique ideas. Some (they were among the first to put out game-dated game-used cards) worked better than others (Pacific Card-supials?). As game-used cards became gradually easier and easier to pull, now a simple jersey card isn't enough for many collectors. It has to be an autographed patch or letter card numbered under 500. It has to be a high-end rookie from 2008. Card bloggers blast Topps and Upper Deck (Topps more so) for putting out gimmick cards. They blast Beckett for their influence in the hobby. Hey, all three companies are in it to make money, that's what business is about. Don't look down on collectors, though, who want to use Beckett to set book values for trades or continue to buy Topps and Upper Deck product without the disgust in maybe getting a gimmick card. It'd be different if they were tripling their pack prices because of those cards, but they aren't. If you want to boycott them and rail against Beckett tyranny, that's your right, but don't act like its gospel truth and don't act like it's sullying a pristine hobby. It all boils down to....too many people take what's supposed to be a fun hobby waaaaaaaay too seriously. I've been guilty of it myself at times, I'll admit that. It's hard to find that balance between feeling your getting what your cards are worth and feeling that somebody is trying to feed you a crap deal. Anyway, that snobbery is, in my mind, the number 1 problem with the hobby today. Which leads me to the point of this topic, which is a set spotlight on Upper Deck football, which reflects on a company that has given us the good and the bad in the hobby today. They were the driving force between autographs and game-used in packs, which started as a cool, rare pull and has now evolved to where it smothers the industry.

When I was a kid, the thought of ever being able to have a piece of a jersey worn by Barry Sanders or, earlier than that, John Riggins or Art Monk or Joe Montana, wasn't even in the picture. You'd see memorabilia of full jerseys and stuff, but as a kid that's completely out of your price range. In 1991, with the debut of Upper Deck football, a certified autograph of a legend on a card became a possibility, and in 1996, thanks again to Upper Deck, getting that Sanders or Montana jersey in a card without spending the hundreds of dollars on a full jersey became a possibility. Over the years UD has tweaked and stretched the ideas that started with those sets in the 1990s to help create a monster that now allows a collector to own a jersey card of virtually any player in the game, whether that player ever actually plays in a game or not. It's created a climate in the hobby where now a simple jersey card isn't enough, and where sets issued without the added benefit of autos or jerseys included are mostly the lower echelon, fodder only for the hobby's bottom-feeders. It's impossible to acknowledge the greatness of Upper Deck without also realizing the side effects of the company's impact.

Collectors know that Upper Deck burst onto the scene in 1989 with a landmark baseball set. One year later, the company issued its first hockey set and, for the 1991-92 basketball season and 1991 football season, those sports, too, had a debut Upper Deck product. Let's take on Upper Deck timeline style, year-by-year....

1991: A football card industry that expanded to three brands in 1989 began to explode by 1991 as Fleer and Pinnacle had joined the industry and companies began to issue multiple products. Upper Deck made its mark, however, by issuing a 700-card two-series set featuring a key rookie of then-unknown QB Brett Favre, plus the added innovations of holograms, as had been incorporated into the company's baseball products. The key addition, though, were two 10-card insert sets honoring the careers of Joe Montana and Joe Namath known as the first of the football "Heroes" insert sets. The sets also included a chance at a random pull of an autograph of Montana or Namath, which made the product as high-end as cards got in 1991. The rarity of the cards led UD to entice collectors on low-series boxes to "Find the Montana". As Pro Set and Score mixed artwork in with their sets, UD followed suit with subset cards of painting-style artwork of key players for team checklist cards. UD even threw in its first short prints in football by adding a card honoring Darrell Green as the Fastest Man in the NFL and marking coach Don Shula's 300th win.

Grade: A (all grades are for UD regular set)
Best RC: Favre, easy.
Highest $$$ card (whole set including inserts): Joe Montana auto


1992: As the football card industry continued to expand, Upper Deck followed up its successful 1991 debut with a slight sophomore slump in 1992. The main problem was the lack of a good rookie class in '92, and the base set design wasn't as attractive as in 1991. The holograms were back and, more importantly, the Heroes insert sets returned to feature Dan Marino and Walter Payton, with Payton autos a rare pull in low series packs and Marino autos available in high series packs. The company did change some things up to add a "gold" insert and a few other new inserts, including the debut of a Pro Bowl insert set. The draw of the Payton autos has kept prices steady on boxes of the product even today. The base set is highlighted by one of the few RCs of WR standout Jimmy Smith, and UD included two more SPs for '92 to honor wideouts James Lofton and Art Monk for career milestones. As competition in the industry increased, the importance of putting out a more unique set continued to increase as well. Instead of the Smith, I put an Elway card up there. I wasn't an Elway fan but I do miss the old Broncos unis.

Grade: B
Best RC: Jimmy Smith, but he doesn't get much competition.
Highest $$$ card: Walter Payton auto


1993: The football portion of the industry got more crowded as Playoff joined the field and as card brands continued to branch out, Upper Deck was wise to start a new higher-end card product with the debut of SP. A good rookie class led by Jerome Bettis, Drew Bledsoe and Robert Smith didn't hurt either SP or the regular UD product, either. Perhaps because of the addition of SP, UD dropped the autographs from the regular UD set for 1993, moving instead to a "Rookie Exchange" program seeded with exchange cards one in every 72 packs. The set was also trimmed to 530 cards issued in one series. There were no SPs or holograms in '93 but the Pro Bowl insert was back along with an insert set honoring the Dallas Cowboys and a "Future Heroes" insert honoring young stars of the game. The changes marked the start of a three-year run where the Upper Deck regular set seemed to be put in the backseat while the company established the SP brand name, although it was done to much success for SP. Wasn't a Kelly fan, either, but, man, I miss the old Bills unis too.

Grade: C
Best RC: The Bus, but Bledsoe was at one time the best one.
Highest $$$ card: no one card really.


1994: Companies had the chance to make some hay in the football card industry in1994 thanks to the baseball strike and the number of offerings from card companies was bigger than ever. In reaction to the success of SP, Topps joined the high-end fray with the debut of Finest, Collector's Edge got about as high-end as it would get with Excalibur, Skybox put out Skybox Premium and Playoff debuted Select. Upper Deck took a rare misstep in some ways with the debut of Collector's Choice as a low-end product, putting the base UD set smack dab in the middle between CC and SP. The Pro Line sets continued to try and corner the market in autographs, and UD stayed out of that race for the time being. Instead, SP featured foil RCs of Marshall Faulk along with new die-cut parallels and a "holoview" holographic insert. Upper Deck followed the '93 formula, with a set further trimmed to 330 cards, but threw in the new "electric gold" and "electric silver" parallels, a new "Predictor" insert offering prize cards for the cards from the set that marked award winners and league leaders, and jumbo rookie inserts. Faulk and Isaac Bruce keyed the rookie class in the set but, again, SP was at the forefront for the company.

Grade: C
Best RC: Marshall Faulk.
Highest $$$ card: again, nothing too pricey. Favre or Elway Pro Bowl insert, maybe?


1995: The high-end trend gained steam in '95 as Bowman's Best, Crown Royale (Pacific's high-end effort), Flair, Playoff Contenders and Zenith joined the fray. Collector's Choice returned for UD complete with an Update set, and the company branched out SP to also put out an SP Championship product later in the season. SP continued to be the cornerstone with foil RCs, SPs of Marino and Montana seeded 1 in 380 packs and the debut of the All-Pros insert set as the die cuts were shifted to SP Championship. The regular UD set followed the baseball set design and featured, at the time, a good rookie class that hasn't especially stood the test of time. The Predictor inserts and electric parallels returned with the main new additions being a special edition foil-style parallel and a "Joe Montana Trilogy" cross-brand insert to honor the retiring QB. Simply put, Upper Deck was still a mainstay in the card industry but the base set that established the company in the football side was starting to get stale. I used the Favre because I have a soft spot for 1995 cards. 1994 was my favorite NFL season ever. As a Niners fan, they won their 5th Super Bowl, marking the first team to 5 SB rings, and Prime Time helped lead the way. Plus that was the NFL's 75th anniversary season and all the teams had the cool throwbacks they wore that season. The Niners' version had a cool shadow effect on the numbers. I also remember the Broncos wearing their cool old '70s unis with the orange helmet with the white gangly looking Bronco on it.

Grade: C
Best RC: tough call, Steve McNair, I say.
Highest $$$ card: another snail race, guess one of the better Pro Bowl inserts.


1996: '96 was the year Upper Deck would up the ante. As the number of sets continued to balloon, keeping one's product "fresh" became more important than ever. Action Packed issued "Studs" cards including a diamond chip, plus the usual 24K gold cards. Collector's Edge issued a "Cowboybilia" autograph insert and game-used ball cards, including a set of Super Bowl game-used ball cards. The number of autographs available continued to increase; Playoff put out a set of leather-style cards and another set of pennant cards. Topps Chrome debuted. Upper Deck carved out its own chunk of history, however, by including a set of 10 game-used jersey cards in the regular UD product, seeded 1 in every 2,500 packs. For the first time, SP and the new SPx brand included autographs. Collector's Choice and its Update set returned, and UD also issued the Silver set with a design echoing the '95 UD design. A fairly good rookie class strengthened an already strong product in the regular UD set as the Predictors returned and some new inserts made their debut. The Game Jerseys were pretty much the story of the year, though, as the set featured Barry Sanders, Dan Marino (pictured), Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, and Steve Young, among others. Singles of the jerseys still book up into the 300ドル range, and the design of the first landmark jersey set has become a legend in the hobby.

Grade: A+ for hobby impact, B otherwise, let's make it a B+ overall
Best RC: Marvin Harrison
Highest $$$ card: Marino or Montana jersey cards


1997: The game-used and autograph boom echoed into '97 as the run of higher-end products continued. UD brought back a pretty-tired Collector's Choice brand for '97, debuted Black Diamond as another effort at a higher-end set, turned SP into SP Authentic for good, and issued another landmark set in UD Legends, which featured 162 autographs of retired players and was an all-around strong set. While SP Authentic continued to outclass the other high-end products and the Legends set was an additional big hit for UD in '97, the company pretty much stuck to the '96 formula for the '97 regular set. The Game Jerseys were back with a new design and featured new players, including Brett Favre, John Elway and Troy Aikman. The odds of pulling one stayed steep, however, at 1 in 2,600 packs, making the cards almost a once-in-a-lifetime pull. UD also went for rarity in issuing game-dated moment foil parallels of certain cards at a seeding rate of 1 in every 1,500 packs. Some new inserts and a serial-numbered MVPs insert were added, and the base set was bolstered by a decent rookie class. With a rookie class to beat all rookie classes in '98, UD would continue to hit its stride.

Grade: B
Best RC: probably Tony Gonzalez
Highest $$$ card: Favre or Elway jerseys


1998: '98 was the boom year the football card industry had waited for as the driving force of Peyton Manning and a stellar rookie season from Randy Moss along with a group of other talented rookies gave all products an added kick. Upper Deck responded by adding numerous serial-numbered cards to its Black Diamond set and adding a Black Diamond Rookies set, putting out the best SP Authentic set yet with an expanded group of autographs, adding a serial-numbered heavy SPx Finite set, and also adding the UD3 higher-end set and UD Encore set late in the season. Collector's Choice was changed up to be called UD Choice in '98 and, although it was improved, the set was on its last legs. The success of the rookies, which were short-printed for the first time in set history (available 1 in 4 packs), combined with another solid group of not as hard to pull game jerseys took the set to another level. UD switched things up by making the first 10 of the 20 available jersey cards available in the usual 1 in 2,500 packs. The last 10 cards, however, including one of rookie Manning, were available 1 in every 288 hobby packs, making them a much more possible hit for the collector. UD added a bronze parallel #d/100 and a gold 1/1 parallel of the base set along with a new batch of inserts in '98. In a year where many products had their best year ever, UD didn't disappoint as the short-print rookies were a hit and the RCs proved to hold their value over time. The 1998 set became the foundation for many Upper Deck base sets to come.

Grade: A-
Best RC: competitive this year....Peyton Manning
Highest $$$ card: Manning jersey


1999: The 1999 year saw the market flooded even further with football product. Upper Deck killed off the Collector's Choice/UD Choice product and replaced it with an equally ill-fated but slightly better UD Victory one-rookie-per-pack product. Another good group of rookies helped keep the buzz from 1998 going to some extent, and UD put out another strong SP Authentic product complete with a Walter Payton auto and jersey auto insert, and a bevy of buyback autos from previous products. The new SP Signature set was a to-that-point expensive buy by the pack or the box but promised an autograph per pack with a good lineup and nice card design. SPx also made the leap to include autographed RCs for the first time as Playoff had used the concept to success with Contenders SSD in '98. Those two sets would set the standard for all the auto-RC sets we have seen to date. SPx also debuted the "Winning Materials" game-used set as UD began to expand its jersey offerings. Other new sets like UD Ionix, UD Century Legends, UD HoloGrFX, the lower-end MVP, Retro, the concept set PowerDeck with CD cards, and Ovation joined the lineup with each having its share of autos and/or game-used cards. It was Upper Deck's biggest output ever. In the middle of all this, the regular Upper Deck set was the anchor, bringing back the short-print RCs and jerseys (this time with a patch version seeded 1 in every 7,500 packs). UD made the split between hobby and retail by seeding jerseys 1 in every 288 packs for the more elite players in hobby packs and 1 in every 2,500 packs otherwise. PowerDeck CD cards were also seeded into regular UD packs as an insert there. Other new insert sets were introduced, including one honoring Denver RB Terrell Davis' milestone '98 season. Following the boom in '98 UD continued to be at the forefront of success in the hobby. I opened a ton of '99 UD football and, for the most part, wasn't that lucky. I did pull a Quarterback Class insert of Tim Couch #d to 25 that I flipped for something good while it still had value. Never did get any of the good RCs (OK, I had one Culpepper) or a jersey, but at that point it was hard to expect a jersey card in that product.

Grade: B
Best RC: Donovan McNabb, for now
Highest $$$ card: Terrell Davis auto jersey???


2000: As the 2000s dawned, the football card industry was getting....bloated. The 2000 listings in Beckett Football span over 16 pages, as an example, when it took 16 pages to list the sets from 1986 to midway through the 1996 sets. The successes of 1998 and '99 had every company jumping on the bandwagon and it was starting to get stuck in the mud. Upper Deck was doing its part to bloat the industry as most of the laundry list of '99 products returned for 2000. Black Diamond added jersey rookies; SPx expanded its autographed rookies to auto jersey rookies in a trend that holds to the present day; Ultimate Victory was added as a higher-end companion to the basic Victory product; Gold Reserve was added as basically a parallel to the base set; and Pros and Prospects debuted early in the season but didn't exactly take off. The regular Upper Deck set was expanded to include more jersey and autograph versions and the company responded to the growing Internet presence in the hobby by offering "e-Card" prizes where collectors would pull an insert, and enter a code online for a chance to turn the card into a jersey, ball, autograph or jersey autograph card of that player, including a few rookie players. The set was supported by a solid but mostly unspectacular group of rookies until 2001 when Tom Brady emerged and took the 2000 products that included his cards to a higher level. The game jerseys returned at the same old 1 in 287 pack rate. I think I finally pulled one that year, and it was Brian Griese. I was still happy to pull it. The jerseys came with autographed parallels, as did the patch insert. Another jersey auto insert set was added with Game Jersey Greats autos, which were included in several UD products and featured players like Johnny Unitas, Terry Bradshaw and Bart Starr, among others.

Grade: B-
Best RC: Brady
Highest $$$ card: probably one of the Game Jersey Greats autos


2001: The industry lost a player in 2001 as Collector's Edge finally went under but Upper Deck powered on with another full slate of game-used and autograph-laden products. The company bade farewell to Black Diamond, SP Authentic took the leap into jersey and jersey auto RCs, SP Game Used and UD Game Gear pushed the game-used "envelope" to a new high, SPx had one of its best sets yet, and the company introduced a new high-end product with UD Graded. Other new sets included the late season quasi-parallel Rookie F/X, somewhat forgettable Top Tier, and here-and-gone retro-styled UD Vintage. The regular Upper Deck set included more jerseys then ever and it was even easier to pull one. Odds for a jersey pull ranged from 1 in 144 packs up to Premium Patches in 1 in every 5,000 packs. Short-printed RCs had become a mainstay in the product and UD gave the e-Card concept one more try before dropping it all together for 2002. Basically the 2001 set ended up only adding more water to an ever-more-saturated memorabilia market as more and more everyday players got their own jersey card. But the company did come through again with a good base set design and nice quality inserts, so at least they were doing it in style.

Grade: B
Best RC: LaDainian Tomlinson
Highest $$$ card: Manning jersey auto?


2002: Upper Deck took advantage of a new season to revamp its lineup. SP Authentic and SPx continued to be high-end products, and SP Legendary Cuts joined that vein in offering collectors a chance to pull rare autos, albeit at a 1 in 192 pack chance. All three products continued to beef up their jersey and autograph lineups, and UD contined to push the envelope with Sweet Spot, which included the high-end Impressions autos, oversized football swatches and special jumbo commemorative patch cards in every box. UD Graded was back for a second year and UD Authentics and UD Piece of History made one-year appearances along with XL. Upper Deck Honor Roll also started a 2-year run. As usual, the regular UD set was a solid offering with a new wrinkle of a 1 in 12 packs Sunday Stars subset to go with the short-print RCs. Buyback autos were included randomly and the easier-to-pull jerseys were back again. UD moved further into the "Rookie Premiere"-worn arena by including Rookie Futures jerseys for the first time at a rate of 1 in every 72 packs. There would be 14 autographed or game-used insert sets included with 2002 UD compared to only three regular insert sets. The game jersey and auto saturation would apparently reach its peak as 2002 was the final year for Pacific products, which were a main culprit of spearheading the jersey craze. As a final note on 2002, I have to say it's one of my least favorite base designs of UD football, especially the year after a really nice 2001 design. '02 UD was disappointing from that standpoint.

Grade: C
Best RC: Clinton Portis or Brian Westbrook
Highest $$$ card: probably one of the Buyback autos


2003: With the demise of Pacific, Upper Deck scaled back the jersey saturation in its regular set but, again, had a ho-hum base set design for the product. With Donruss-Leaf-Playoff joining UD in taking high-end products to a new level, SP Game Used was back for '03 in place of Legendary Cuts, and SP Signature made its return at the 30ドル per pack level. UD also issued Ultimate Collection for the first time in football as an ultra-high-end product. Sweet Spot had made a name for itself in '02 and returned to include a new helmet-style signature card for '03. UD Patch Collection was short lived and featured commemorative-patch-style cards and inserts that weren't very toploader-friendly. Standing O also made a one-and-done appearance in the lineup. The Finite brand was brought back complete with the heavy serial-numbered format and Honor Roll, MVP and Pros and Prospects made their final appearances. A significant move that has paid off for the company came in the regular set as UD brought back the short-printed Sunday Stars subset, the 1 in 4 pack SP RCs and added new levels of rookies short-printed to 1 in 8 packs (hobby packs only, to boot) and 1 in 24 packs. One of the hobby RCs was a Tony Romo RC that has helped keep the rookie class in the product one of the best this decade. Six incarnations of jersey card versions plus the Rookie Future jerseys and auto version were back, but it was still a far cry from the 14 auto or game-used inserts in the '02 product. The Rookie Premiere insert was included in retail packs and only two other inserts were included with the product. As the football card landscape continued to evolve, so too did the UD regular set, although more changes were on the way.

Grade: C+
Best RC: Romo, for now, altho my money's on Grossman (kidding)
Highest $$ card: Brady nameplate patch


2004: With several '03 products scrapped from the lineup, the '04 Upper Deck roster of products included some new brands. Reflections made its debut with serial numbered RCs and parallels and a cadre of jersey and auto inserts. SP Game Used returned but SP Signature did not. UD Diamond All-Star joined as a lower-end product, as did UD Diamond Pro Sigs. Ultimate Collection was back to go after the collectors with deeper pockets. Finite returned as Finite HG and with more game-used inserts than '03. UD Foundations and Rookie Premiere also debuted along with kid-friendly Power Up. UD Legends also made a welcome return from the 2001 lineup. The regular set also underwent some changes. The subset SPs were dropped and rookies were inserted either one per pack or one in every 8 packs for the SP selections. Printing plates were inserted to offer collectors 1 of 1 pulls. Jerseys returned to echo the base set design with the usual patch variations intact. A "Rewind to 1997" jersey insert was included to honor stars still in the league from that year, and the Rookie Futures event-worn jersey insert was again back. Rookie Prospects was the only non-jersey or autograph insert in the '04 regular set. The set was pretty much a lateral move from '03, on one hand you could get a rookie in every pack but the value suffered, other than the SP RCs. It was easier to pull a basic game jersey or Rookie Futures jersey but hard to get a variation or one of the other jersey inserts. UD had also scaled back the autographs available in the set.

Grade: C+
Best RC: probably end up being Eli
Highest $$$ card: Stephen Jackson auto/39? or, in the end, maybe the Brady patch when all is said and done


2005: Another one bit the dust in 2005 when Fleer collapsed and was later purchased by UD, so a good chunk of sets were gone from 2004 across the industry. DLP pushed jersey and auto pulls to yet another level with Gridiron Gear and Throwback Threads, and UD decided Ultimate Collection wasn't quite high-end enough so Exquisite Collection was released. I don't know how you can get more ultimate than "Ultimate", but I guess UD felt "Exquisite" was even more swanky. They put out Ultimate, too. The product was full of auto, jersey and patch hits, although it had better be for the price. Reflections returned to the lineup but SP Game Used was booted. UD put out Mini Jersey Collection, and UD Portraits with jumbo signature cards. The first UD set issued under the Fleer name was '05 Ultra as the product pretty much kept its traditional style. UD moved into Arena Football League card production with an AFL set in '05 and also hooked up with ESPN to produce the UD ESPN set focusing on player cards and inserts related to the sports network. Kickoff and Rookie Debut joined the low-end products while Foundations, Legends and Rookie Materials returned. The 2005 regular UD set followed the '04 model with a rookie in every pack and 25 rookies short printed to 1 in every 8 packs. The Heroes inserts from the early '90s returned to honor Barry Sanders and Troy Aikman and, this time, included jerseys and an auto numbered to 5. The number of jersey cards was again scaled back but game jerseys and rookie futures jerseys were seeded 1 in every 8 hobby packs and 1 in 24 retail packs. Predictors returned for the MVP and Rookie of the Year awards and the Rookie Futures jerseys included dual versions for the first time at a much harder to pull 1 in 288 pack rate. UD also kept autos as a hard pull from the product with another round of Signature Sensations numbered to each player's jersey number. By the time the dust settled on 2005, UD was larger than ever.

Grade: C+
Best RC: still up in air, I say Frank Gore, but Aaron Rodgers could give him a run
Highest $$$ card: probably a Sanders or Aikman Heroes auto


2006: The main change for Upper Deck in 2006 was further resurrecting the Fleer brand name as UD put out another Ultra set plus regular Fleer, Hot Prospects and Flair Showcase. Hot Prospects made a splash with the company's first autographed "Lettermen" cards for rookies. SP, SPx and Sweet Spot had become mainstays and Exquisite and Ultimate Collection sets returned. A second AFL set came out and Rookie Debut was beefed up a little as Foundations, Reflections, Portraits, Mini Jersey Collection and Kickoff were gone. The '04 and '05 rookie formula was followed in the regular set with more non-game used inserts included to mark the 10 Sack Club, the 1,000 Yard Receiving and Rushing clubs and the 3,000 Yard Passing Club. An exclusive Gridiron Debut insert was put in Wal-Mart packs and exclusive rookies were put in Target packs. The Heroes inserts honored Joe Theismann and Roger Staubach, complete with jerseys and the autos /5. The '06 Rookie Futures jerseys not only came in duals but, with a big rookie class headlined by Reggie Bush, Vince Young and Matt Leinart, variations were offered for autos and dual auto jersey cards. The Target exclusive rookies also had an auto variation, and Upper Deck created another big pull with XL jerseys featuring four swatches of material. A better balance had been created in the set between the premium inserts and regular inserts compared to recent years past. Boosted by the rookie class, it resulted in one of the company's best regular set offerings in years.

Grade: B
Best RC: arguable, I'd lean toward Jay Cutler or Reggie Bush, Leinart could still be in running
Highest $$$ card: probably Staubach auto, altho Bush jersey auto /10 isn't bad either


2007: More changes took place as the company entered its 17th year of football production. The Fleer brands, other than Ultra, were dropped, and Exquisite Collection and Ultimate Collection were joined by UD Premier as another ultra high-end product. The company also went more high-end with SP products expanding to SP Chirography (auto heavy set), and SP Rookie Threads. Artifacts and Trilogy also joined the company ranks. Rookie Debut was replaced by UD First Edition and Legends was given the year off in place of the aforementioned Artifacts. UD revamped its regular set inserts to include a 1964 Philadelphia-style insert, a College to Pros insert, a Football Heroes insert of '07 rookies, expanded auto offerings including bringing back the Inkredible auto name and adding a Rookie Ink and NFL Ink insert. The MVP and ROY predictors returned along with a Super Bowl predictor insert, and the odds for jersey and auto pulls were weighted toward hobby packs for the '07 set. Rookies were also seeded 1 in every hobby pack but 1 in 8 retail packs. Target exclusives were again included and other exclusive rookies were included in "fat packs". Overall, I'd call it a small step back in some ways and a step forward in other ways. Hobby buyers had no complaints, I'm sure, but the retail value wasn't near what it was in '06.

Grade: C+
Best RC: Adrian Peterson
Highest $$ card: Adrian Peterson NFL Ink auto???


2008: And that brings us to 2008. The company is bigger than ever but also faces its stiffest competition ever. Topps and DLP have been willing to try and slug it out in the ultra high-end market with UD. Upper Deck continues to try to keep fresh ideas out there, as the company has already released several new products for '08 -- UD Masterpieces (artwork based set), UD Draft Edition (rookie based, heavy with autos), Heroes (expanding on the insert set with the addition of parallels and more autos and jerseys), and Icons (Lettermen-heavy, also a lot of parallels and jerseys, also including some celebrity autos). The company dusted off its old StarQuest insert from '98 UD Choice for a return in this year's regular set and First Edition. The regular set versions have several parallels and are seeded 1 in each pack. Rookies were reverted to where now there's 2 in every retail pack and 4 in every hobby pack, although, again, a chunk of them are short-printed. The College to Pros insert is back for year 2, and UD inserted a 10-card Masterpieces Preview. Rookie Autos were included along with rookie jerseys this year and, again, the Target exclusives return. Another rookie insert, Potential Unlimited, is included while Superstar honors league stars and a new jersey insert is called Team Colors jerseys. With the company's strength in tradition, I'm sure we'll see some more new things out of UD this season.

Grade: B+
Best RC: Matt Ryan has early edge
Highest $$$ card: McFadden or Ryan rookie auto?


To sum it up, Upper Deck has outlasted its competitors and made its bones on continuing to stay a step ahead, or to take what other companies have started and take it one notch further. This year's new offerings show the company's commitment to keeping their products fresh, although in this day and age there is rarely anything THAT new in the card world anymore. I can't say I've always thought UD provided the best value for the money, especially in the higher-end products, but as far as the UD regular sets have gone, that product has almost always been a good buy. Even if you don't pull a big hit, you usually get something that holds value, and the rookies are among the best of any of the middle-grade products for holding value over the years. UD planted the seeds of the autograph and jersey craze we see in all sports in the hobby today, so there is a mixture of credit for innovation and blame for creating an environment where it's not good enough for a card even to be a plain rookie anymore to be placed. UD shouldn't be singled out, however, as all the companies are guilty in that case. One thing for certain is that, if there's something new or innovative associated with the football hobby (or any sport, for that matter), UD is usually involved.

Bought a couple packs of '08 Heritage and a blaster of '08 Upper Deck tonight. Let's see what I got:

Heritage pack 1

Dan Haren D-Backs 243
James Loney 288
Adam Jones 104 -- still pictured with M's
Troy Tulowitzki Baseball Thrills 367
Ricky Nolasco 213
Marlon Byrd 386
Mickey Mantle Flashbacks BF8 -- i guess if nothing else I got a Mantle insert
Jerry Owens black back 198

Heritage pack 2

Carlos Gomez 240
Conor Jackson 89
Ray Durham 215
Tim Wakefield 343
Coco Crisp 382
Mitch Stetter RC 135
Magglio Ordonez AS SP 494 -- nice to get a short print
Joey Gathright black box 7

Upper Deck pack 1

Brandon Morrow 134
Jermaine Dye 290 -- nice pic of him breaking bat
Brian Bannister 251
Brandon McCarthy 212
Justin Ruggiano RC 339
Matt Holliday CL 375
Willie Collazo RC 312
Chipper Jones StarQuest Common SQ10 -- StarQuest inserts would be nicer if they didn't have chipping problems

UD pack 2

Michael Cuddyer 277
Mark Ellis 28
Albert Pujols 67
Francisco Cordero 54
Brad Hennessey 114
Gregg Zaun 36
Jim Leyritz Yankee Stadium Legacy Game 5239 YSL5239
Derek Jeter StarQuest Rare SQ9 -- not too bad a pack, two OK inserts plus a Pujols

UD pack 3

Chris Ray 173
Brandon Lyon 95
Chase Utley 197
Dave Roberts 119
Johan Santana SH 393
Josh Newman RC 333
Babe Ruth House That Ruth Built HRB25
Ken Griffey Jr. StarQuest Uncommon SQ4 -- nice Griffey, plus a Ruth, I'll take it

UD pack 4

Lee Gardner 145
Chad Durbin 262
Julian Tavarez 223
Orlando Hernandez 153
Bronson Arroyo 231
Magglio Ordonez 270
Ryan Dempster 75
Chase Utley StarQuest Common SQ27 -- more chipping

UD pack 5

David Ross 236
Eric Gagne 1998 style UD Game Jersey (grey) 98EG
David Wright CL 366
Eugenio Velez RC 348
Matt Holliday SH 396
David Ortiz StarQuest Common SQ14

UD pack 6

Andrew Brown 25
Scott Olsen 142
Edwin Encarnacion 238
Travis Buck 30
Hanley Ramirez 147
Bobby Seay 264
Kevin Maas Yankee Stadium Legacy Game 5264 YSL5264
Magglio Ordonez StarQuest Common SQ13 -- can't believe they put Maas on the YSL cards

UD pack 7

Aaron Heilman 155
Boof Bonser 272
Bengie Molina 116
Aramis Ramirez 77
Alex Rodriguez CL 380
Ryan Hanigan RC 317
Babe Ruth House That Ruth Built HRB1
Hanley Ramirez StarQuest Uncommon SQ17 -- another not so bad pack

UD pack 8

Aaron Rowand 199
Carlos Delgado 160
Fausto Carmona 121
Scott Podsednik 288
Brian Moehler 15
Brad Hawpe 249
Xavier Nady 210
Frank Thomas StarQuest Common SQ25

UD pack 9

Frank Thomas 38
Antonio Alfonseca 194
Brad Ausmus 17
Johnny Estrada 56
Clay Buchholz SH 384
Albert Pujols CL 357
Rob Johnson RC 321
Justin Morneau StarQuest Common SQ12 -- chipping galore

UD pack 10

Livan Hernandez 93
Andy Sonnanstine 82
Buddy Carlyle 43
Justin Speier 4 -- all of these last 3 have about the same pose in each action shot....weird...just pre throw, lead leg in the air
Erik Bedard 171
Jeff Weaver 132
Barack Obama Presidential Predictor PP4 -- at least it wasn't Giuliani....got 2 of those
Grady Sizemore StarQuest Common SQ22

-- all in all a pretty mediocre haul. A few solid pulls, but nothing too spectacular.

One of Donruss/Playoff's most significant football sets over the years has been Leaf Rookies and Stars. It emerged from the nebulous history of the company in the late '90s. When the trading card industry struggled in the mid-1990s, Donruss and Leaf were a casualty. The brands were sold to Pinnacle in 1996 and became one with the Pinnacle and Score brands. Pinnacle was in not much better shape financially, however, and in 1998 declared bankruptcy. It wasn't until a year later that Donruss finally found some solid financial footing with the acquisition of the Donruss, Leaf and Score brands by the Playoff Corporation out of Texas. In the midst of the financial chaos, the Leaf Rookies and Stars set debuted.

1998

Pinnacle had begun moving in a higher-end direction with the Donruss and Leaf brand names in 1997 with the release of the Donruss Preferred set that featured levels of foil cards and the "Precious Metals" insert that included actual precious metals in the card foil. Topps had begun producing the Finest, Topps Chrome and Bowman's Bestsets and Upper Deck had begun its Black Diamond, SP Authentic and SPx sets as the hobby began to move in a quality-more-than-quantity direction in some respects. Pinnacle had also started its Pinnacle Certified set while still using Donruss and Score to compete with the usual Topps and Upper Deck base sets. The Leaf Signature and Studio sets with way oversized 8x10 cards included had debuted in 1997 but must not have worked out real well as that size of card didn't return from the company. With Topps and Upper Deck winning the card war and Pinnacle in dire financial straits, things bottomed out for the company in 1998. None of the Donruss sets were released, the only Pinnacle set released was Pinnacle Mint, and the only Score released in that good year for rookies was the base Score set, which did feature rookie autographs. Somehow, though, Leaf Rookies and Stars did serendipitously debut in 1998 featuring a 300-card base set including 70 RCs. the debut of the Longevity parallels (one parallel #d/50 and a holofoil version of 1/1s), a "True Blue" parallel #d/500, and 12 serial numbered insert sets, some with lesser numbered parallels of their own, which would become a staple of the set for the company, to some collectors' dismay and to others' delight. There were no autographs or game-used cards in the debut Rookies and Stars set but the rookies and Power Tools subset, seeded in 1 of every 2 packs, made the set hard to negl ect. Peyton Manning's RC from the set books at $50 while Randy Moss is next at 30ドル and Hines Ward and Ahman Green are each 25ドル. Manning also has a Power Tools card that books 25ドル in the set. As you can see at left, the base card design was originally one of the strengths of the set. The insert sets also had nice designs, and many would be featured in most, if not every, year's Leaf Rookies and Stars set -- "Freshman Orientation" inserts of rookie players #d to 2500; "Ticket Masters" dual-player cards #d to 2500 with a die-cut parallel; "Great American Heroes" star inserts #d out of 2500; and the "Crusade" star insert with a green version #d out of 250 and lower-numbered purple and red parallels as well. With Dan Marino, Barry Sanders, John Elway and Troy Aikman still in the league at the time, those stars helped beef up the insert and base sets somewhat as well. Anyway, despite the company's problems, the set had featured enough to put Leaf Rookies and Stars on the map in the card hobby.

1999

1999 was a good year for Donruss, Leaf and Score in many ways as the brands were given new life with the acquisition by Playoff Corporation. Besides the Playoff sets that had been produced since the early-to-mid '90s, Donruss an d Donruss Preferred returned, Donruss Elite debuted in a big way (maybe to be featured in its own spotlight at some future point), Leaf Certified debuted as a higher-end product, Score survived with the added debut of a new and short-lived Supplemental set as well, and Leaf Rookies and Stars returned as one of the company's better middle-grade products. Another solid group of rookies (expanded to 100 for the 1999 set) helped, including the set having one of the few RCs of a breakout quarterback named Kurt Warner. It also helped that game-used and autograph cards were added to the 1999 version of the set as a five-card "John Elway Collection" included helmet, shoe and jersey cards of the Broncos great. A 30-card "Dress for Success" game-used jersey and dual-jersey set and "Prime Cuts" game-used patch insert were added along with a "Signature Series" 30-card autograph insert. As in 1998, all the inserts were serial numbered and the familiar inserts and parallels returne d. The RCs continue to do all right in terms of book value today. Warner, Donovan McNabb and, another rare rookie from the set, Jeff Garcia, are the highest booking ones at 20ドル each -- rookies were once again seeded 1 in every 2 packs with no Power Tools subset included in 1999. Edgerrin James, Daunte Culpepper and Torry Holt's rookies from the set also still book in double digits. The Dress for Success game-used set features a dual Barry Sanders/Emmitt Smith jersey card as well as a Brett Favre/Troy Aikman jersey card, a Tim Couch/Dan Marino jersey card and a Randy Moss/Jerry Rice jersey card along with single jersey cards of all those guys. The Elway Collection cards were somewhat different as both a blue helmet swatch card and a swatch from an old-style orange Broncos helmet were included. Favre and Marino (left) have the highest-booking Prime Cuts cards although 7 book in triple figures. The Signature Series autographs were also good investments for the most part as Marino, Edgerrin James, McNabb, Culpepper, Rice and Moss are also included, as are dual auto cards of Marino and Couch, Terrell Davis and James, and Moss and Torry Holt. The "Slide Show" and "Statistical Standouts" inserts also debuted, including a parallel version in Statistical Standouts numbered to various low amounts corresponding to each player. The wide variety of hits from the product made hobby boxes a good purchase and nice card designs made the set an attraction once more.

2000

In 2000, Score Supplemental was scrapped and Quantum Leaf added to the company's portfolio. Leaf Limited also made its debut as a high-end product. Those products were overshadowed to some extent by some new additions in the Leaf Rookies and Stars set. The biggest splash came from the inclusion of exchange cards for special extended rookies of the top QBs, RBs, WRs and defensive players selected in the 2001 NFL Draft, which ended up including LaDainian Tomlinson, Mike Vick, Drew Brees and Deuce McAllister, among others. Tomlinson's is currently the highest valued of these cards at 1ドル00 with Vick's still going for 50ドル (although I bet not for long). For the first time, RCs in the set were also serial numbered (to 1000), and a 40-card su bset of NFL Europe prospects was included #d to 3000. The first 200 of each RC was also autographed, and the number of rookies in the set continued to expand as the 2000 set had 160 rookies plus the NFL Europe prospects. Rookies and Stars continued to pay off in its selection of rookies to feature as Tom Brady is among the rookies in the set and his RC currently books at 300ドル. Brady does not, however, have an autographed version of the card. Jake Delhomme's RC from the set has also held up well in value over the years as have the Shaun Alexander, Jamal Lewis and Chad Pennington rookies. The set was also one of the few to feature a RC of former Chiefs kick returner Dante Hall that was hot at one point a few years ago. The Dress For Success and Prime Cuts game-used inserts returned, although this year it was "Dress Four Success" in that set with five different memorabilia cards (ball, jersey, helmet, shoe and a combo of all 4) for 10 different players. The Marino and Rice combo cards #d/25 are the highest booking cards in the insert set. Prime Cuts, which had been limited to 50 for each player in 1999, was even more limited at 25 in 2000 and featured another star-packed lineup he aded by Favre and Marino. The company turned its attention to another legendary QB as there were five "Joe Montana Collection" memorabilia cards #d between 125 and 300, each with 25 autographed versions. Another new addition for the 2000 product was an autographed version of the Great American Heroes insert set known as "Great American Signatures" with Marino, Elway, Rice, Barry Sanders and Kurt Warner among those included. The Signature Series autographs didn't return for 2000, but a "Great American Treasures" memorabilia set of game-used cards from certain games for 10 players was included, each #d out of 100 with the first 25 autographed. Other than that it was the usual parallels and inserts and insert parallels that had filled out the set in its first two years. The base design was basically the same as in 1999 but the layout and fonts were shuffled somewhat. The set still looked nice, all in all, and the XRCs of the 2001 draft class helped make the set a huge hit.

2001

The set was back and the company had a new name in 2001 as early in the year it became Donruss Playoff LP. The newly named company kept trying to keep things fresh as the Leaf Certified set was expanded to "Leaf Certified Materials" complete with a very large amount of game-used cards included. Donruss Preferred and Leaf Limited were dropped, but Quantum Leaf was back and a new product was added in Donruss Classics, which became an instant success. Playoff Honors and Playoff Preferred joined the lineup, and a hobby version of the Score base set was released under the name "Score Select" featuring #d RCs and more autos and game-used cards. Playoff Contenders, with its autographed RCs, continued to be the keystone of the company's sets, and Leaf Rookies and Stars had solidified its position near the top of the annual products. The set was broken into three levels for 2001 with 100 rookies seeded 1 every 4 packs an d another 100 seeded 1 every 24 packs, or 1 every hobby box. The set's hallmark of including key RCs continued as Antonio Pierce, Eric Johnson and Drew Bennett were among the rookies seeded 1:4 packs (Bennett's books the highestat 20ドル). Steve Smith (the Carolina one) also has one of his few RCs in Rookies and Stars (left) as one of the 1:24 pack rookies. Dominic Rhodes and Kendrell Bell were at one time hot rookies that have a select few RCs -- with one in Leaf Rookies and Stars. Tomlinson books the highest among the 1:24 RCs at 80ドル with Vick and Brees at 30ドル and Smith and Ocho Cinco at 20ドル. As with the lineup of products, Donruss Playoff also tried to keep the Rookies and Stars set fresh. For some reason the draft exchange cards didn't return (maybe people didn't like having to wait so long for a redemption???), and the Prime Cuts patches were rolled into the Dress For Success (back to its 1999 rendition and now including some retired legends like Lawrence Taylor and Elway) game-used set as a parallel. The Crosstraining set featured dual game (or event)-used cards (pairing a rookie and positional counterpart "star") for the 2001 set, and the Freshman Orientation inserts also went to an event-used format using jerseys from the rookie photo shoot (and a "Class Officers" patch parallel). No one player was featured as Elway and Montana had been as Leaf included a "Players Collection" game-used insert set. The rookie autographs retuned, most notably featuring LaDainian Tomlinson, Smith and an early T.J. Houshmandzadeh auto, and the Slideshow insert set (now also game-used) also featured autographed versions. A "Triple Threads" card of triple game-used from certain teams also debuted in the set in 2001, including a good one of the Cowboys "Triplets" of Aikman, Emmitt and Irvin plus a Harrison, Edge and Peyton and a Jim Kelly/Thurman Thomas/Andre Reed. Basically, it seems that Donruss Playoff looked at the competition and decided to try and push the envelope by blowing out the game-used in the product, but as the industry gradually became saturated with game-used, the 2001 set had included enough nice pulls and RCs to make its mark.

2002

Quantum Leaf and Playoff Preferred were mothballed for 2002 and the company added the hit Gridiron Kings product as well as Playoff Piece of the Game. Leaf Rookies and Stars evolved with some new things and some old returning inserts. The new things were "Initial Steps" shoe cards from the rookie premiere photo shoot, "Rookie Masks" facemask cards, a "Run with History" insert honoring Emmitt Smith becoming the all-time NFL leading rusher, the debut of the "Action Packed" insert honoring the former Action Packed sets of the early 1990s, and the return of the "Standing Ovation" insert idea from the original set in 1998. The "game-used in every insert" idea was dropped, as were the short-printing of the 200 RCs in the set, as now the product featured a RC per pack. I can argue either way on the RCs. It's nice to get something per pack other than just base commons (some foreshadowing there....), but it's also nice to know a RC you pull is short-printed and maybe worth a little more than it woul d be if it was just a RC per pack. Since the RCs weren't short-printed in '02, none book higher than 15,ドル led by Clinton Portis and Jeremy Shockey. Only 8 of the 200 rookies book in double figures as the '02 draft class has been good but nothing too great. The key RCs in the set are Ed Reed, Brian Westbrook (left), David Garrard, Julius Peppers and one of the few of Vikes RB Chester Taylor. The rookie autographs returned with serial numbering to 150 and are headlined by Portis, Peppers and Westbrook. The Dress for Success game-used insert reached its low point with the set in 2002 as only 2 now book in Beckett -- Tomlinson and Anthony Thomas. Freshman Orientation returned as a game-used set with an autograph parallel featuring an early Garrard auto #d/25. The Great American Heroes insert featured an auto'd parallel as well with Michael Vick's currently booking the highest at 100ドル (as noted earlier, probably not for long), alt hough those numbered less than /25 don't book in Beckett. The company also honored its past with the hard-to-pull "Pinnacle" insert seeded 1 every 670 retail packs. The set features a rare Tom Brady that could be a good investment at a high book value of 20ドル. The Initial Steps set featured some unique game-used pieces with the colorful leather of the shoes worn by the players at the rookie photo shoot. Playoff had been an early leaderin the game-used shoe department in the Absolute Memorabila Ground Hoggs and Boss Hoggs shoe inserts, and the move into rookie shoe cards with Initial Steps was a shrewd one. As much as I like the Initial Steps cards, the Rookie Masks facemask insert was a little underwhelming to me, although I do give Donruss Playoff credit for trying something different. The cards feature a cross-section piece or two from facemasks worn at the rookie photo shoot with Shockey and Portis once more leading the set in value at 40ドル. With Emmitt Smith closing in on history and the Cowboys featuring a huge built-in fan base, the Run with History set was a sure thing for Donruss Playoff and the company was wise to number the autographed parallel to Emmitt's number, 22. The 2002 Triple Threads jerseys weren't as good pulls as they had been in 2001 but did feature a Favre/Ahman Green/Glenn card that books at 100ドル and may go up with Favre's retirement. The Raiders' trio of Tim Brown, Rice and Gannon should end up being a card featuring jerseys of two Hall of Famers in Brown and Rice, plus a not-too-shabby QB in Gannon. The only other one Beckett singles out is the Bears trio of A Train, Urlacher and David Terrell, which has ended up looking not as good now as it once did. Basically, 2002 was another year of Donruss Playoff changing things up somewhat but once again finding a couple new ways to keep the set interesting.

2003

The changes kept rolling in 2003 as Playoff Piece of the Game went away and Donruss Playoff brought back Leaf Limited as a high-end product, and introduced Playoff Hogg Heaven. This time there weren't a lot of changes in Lea f Rookies and Stars. One change that wasn't made was the return of Jeff Garcia as poster boy on boxes. Really? Jeff Garcia for two years in a row? I mean, he was good in San Francisco, but was he THAT popular? Don't think so. Maybe that was the first sign the company was showing its age and lack of investment in the set. The biggest move for '03 was putting the rookies in three tiers with a fourth tier of dual rookie jerseys. There were 100 basic rookies that were fairly easy to pull, followed by 50 rookies #d to 750 and 30 jersey rookies #d to 550. The 15 dual jersey cards of rookies were numbered to 400. The rookie autos were #d to 150 with jersey RC autos #d to 50, although oddly the company also included autos in the Longevity RC parallel and #d to 25 with unautographed RC jerseys #d to 10 and the dual jerseys #d to 25. Initial Steps and the Masks event-used insert sets returned but Dress For Success was scrapped and Prime Cuts returned with patch cards #d/25. All in all the set was pared down with some of the other inserts being taken out. The set's wide variety of rookies struck paydirt again in 2003 as both Tony Romo and Antonio Gates feature rare RCs in the set, with Gates one of the more common first 100 and Romo's #d to 750. Romo's RC still books well at 60ドル while Gates' unnumbered RC books at 30ドル. Troy Polamalu also has a #d/750 RC that books 30ドル in Beckett. Mike Furrey, Osi Umenyiora and Asante Samuel also rank among the good RCs among the basic 100. The big RC names from 2003 have a jersey RC with Carson Palmer and Larry Johnson booking the highest at 30ドル. 30ドル is also the highest book value for the dual jersey base cards as Palmer and Byron Leftwich and the L. Johnson/McGahee card lead the pack. Romo and Polamalu are the cards to get among the Longevity parallel autos (Romo's books at 800ドル! don't think I'd drop that much on it, but 250ドル for Polamalu isn't bad....and even that's a tad steep for a card #d/25.) with Jason Witten also having one that books triple figures. The Freshman Orientation jerseys and class officer patch parallels also returned along with the Great American Heroes and auto parallel there (altho the GAH set did include some retired guys for the first time, most namely Mel Blount). Initial Steps and Masks feature mainly only the top rookies, although the Prime Cuts patch insert does include Favre, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Jerry Rice in its 36-card lineup. Romo's rookie auto (right) books 450ドル to lead that insert set with Larry Johnson's jersey auto next at 250ドル and Carson Palmer's jersey auto at 200ドル. Slideshow and Ticket Masters numbered inserts returned for another year, and the Triple Threads jerseys were an upgrade from their 2002 version. Favre/Green/Driver leads the way with a Manning/James/Harrison also included anda Brady/Ant. Smith/Troy Brown jersey as well. Gannon, Rice and Brown return on the Raiders card as another good pull from the set. As noted with the choice of Garcia for promotional materials for the set, 2003 was the year Donruss Playoff seemed to begin "mailing it in" to some extent with Leaf Rookies and Stars, although the jersey rookies were a nice addition. The "mailing it in" factor would become more apparent with the 2004 set.

2004

Donruss Playoff seemingly decided the best move to make in 2004 with Leaf Rookies and Stars would be to blow the set out. Besides adding Playoff Prime Signatures as an ultra-high-end product to replace the mid-grade Gridiron Kings set, which I thought had been fairly popular, the company decided to do what it does and put out a Leaf Rookies and Stars Longevity set (guess kinda like a Chrome version) complete with five base parallels plus five levels of game-used parallels to boot. At least the company snapped out of the Garcia funk (sounds like a Grateful Dead jam tune) and put Tom Brady on the boxes. I'll put it this way, if the set spotlight of the Rookies and Stars set was a VH1 "Behind the Music" episode, this would be the point the set is near-bankrupt, 75 pounds overweight and having health and drug problems, but still shows signs of a potential comeback if it can put its act together. Being that the Longevity set was st ill around in 2007, I'd say the set is having trouble kicking the habit. The first thing that hits you in looking at the 2004 set is that the base design isn't that different than in 2003. Of course, the prior years had all shared the same basic look, but not like this with all the busy lines and patterns. If anything, go back to an older set look to try and hearken back to that 1998 set that put you on the map. Don't copy a design that wasn't that great to begin with. The big addition for 2004 was the "Fans of the Game" autograph insert set that spanned a bunch of Donruss Playoff's baseball and football products. At least Rookies and Stars got Tony Hawk and Michael Phelps included in its batch for the celebrity product, which is more than others can tout. The Longevity parallel in the base Rookies and Stars set (did we really need both the Longevity parallels PLUS a whole Longevity set?) returned and this year, for some unknown reason, expanded to include a holofoil parallel and the return of the "True Blue" parallel which I'd think was cool if not for the introduction of a Longevity set. This time there were no big insert changes, although the "Crusade" insert returned complete with five parallels (ugh). The base set RCs are highlighted by Willie Parker and 2007 emerging star Wes Welker in the first, easy-to-pull 100 rookies. Fast Willie books 25ドル while Wes is up to 12ドル and could go higher if he and Brady continue connecting on the field. Michael "The Burner" Turner is the highlight among the 50 rookies #d/750 as his books 8ドル. The jersey RCs also were brought back along with the dual jersey RCs and benefitted from what I consider a better draft class in 2004 with Eli, Big Ben, Phillip Rivers, Steven Jackson and Larry Fitzgerald. Big Ben's leads the pack at 50ドル while Eli's is 30ドル but should go up if he keeps bringing deep playoff runs to the Giants. Roethlisberger's cards were the big pull of all the rookie event-used sets the set continued to pump out. His Masks, Initial Steps and Freshman Orientation cards from the set continue to book well at around 50ドル-60. The Great American Heroes set was upgraded to include Joe Namath among its autograph pulls a long with Brady and Rivers in his rookie year. The rookie class brought decent lineups to the Initial Steps and Masks sets, and the Prime Cuts patch insert returned with Favre, Namath, Brady, Emmitt Smith and Rice headlining. Rookie autos had become a staple of the set and returned with Eli and Big Ben leading the way, and Triple Threads also made another appearance featuring a Favre/Green/Walker card, another Manning/James/Harrison and Gannon/Brown/Rice, and this year a Brady/Bethel Johnson/Ty Law card that at least gives you a Brady jersey included. Honestly, it seems like I'm really ragging on the 2004 set but I can't complain too much, as I broke a box or two and was lucky enough to pull 2 of the Patriots Triple Threads cards plus Big Ben's Masks insert and a couple of the Freshman Orientation patch cards. Somehow I managed to miss the Parker RC, tho, but did pull a Steven Jackson jersey RC. To touch on the Longevity set, the debut there was based on cutting down the numbering on the rookies plus putting out colorful emerald, gold, ruby, sapphire and black parallels. The Longevity set was jampacked with jersey cards although they were all just parallels of the base set plus the different colored parallels. The lower-numbered parallels did feature patch cards as plus-pulls. Despite the some-good, some-not-so-good nature of the product, maybe the biggest thing missing from the product as it entered 2005 was that the company had stopped taking chances with the set. Some of the big hit items from the set worked, but there was no "Elway Collection" or draft exchange RCs to keep it fresh.

2005

Playoff Prime Signatures and Playoff Hogg Heaven left the football scene in 2005 and Donruss Playoff brought in three new products -- Donruss Gridiron Gear, Throwback Threads and Zenith. Leaf Rookies and Stars, meanwhile, was anything but new. The only difference from '04 was basically the removal of the "ROOKIEROOKIEROOKIE" line from the card on the rookies, and maybe a slight font change. Oh, and the lines in the background were made vertical or horizontal rather than diagonal. Plus Michael Vick joined Brady on the box. And we're done. Throw in a basic minimal insert redesign, slap together the same basic idea of a Longevity set only with Sunday Signature autos inserted, and that's your Rookies and Stars and Longevity sets for 2005. It just doesn't seem like a lot of thought was put into the set -- like it was an afterthought -- in 2005. Oh, a "True Green" parallel was added to the base set, because all it needed was another parallel (the Donruss Playoff maxim of maxims), the Crusade insert got a game-used version, with its own three parallels too, the Great American Heroes guys also got a jersey parallel and that's it. The four tiers of rookie cards/dual jerseys were back for a third run. The '05 rookie class has done so well that only Lofa Tatupu's RC books out of the first 100 easier-to-pull RCs. Shawne Merriman and Derek Anderson are probably the rarest (in terms of # of RCs) of the rookies to be included in the next 50 #d RCs, and Cadillac Williams still leads the way among the jersey RCs, booking at 25ドル. The Longevity parallel once again came autographed from the rookies with Aaron Rodgers currently booking the highest at 100ドル (I pulled the Derek Anderson one, which at the time was nice but nothing too cool....needless to say I'm way more pleased with it after his '07 season). The Crusade and Freshman Orientation inserts didn't feature anything too great, but the Great American Heroes insert, auto and jersey sets again featured some retired guys (this time the best ones were Herschel Walker (personal favorite) and Jim Plunkett). Initial Steps and Masks were back as change-of-pace kind of event-used cards as in previous years, and the '05 Prime Cuts patch insert featured Peyton Manning, Brady, Favre, Roethlisberger, Eli and Tomlinson in its lineup for another strong year. Rodgers, Williams, Ronnie Brown and Alex Smith lead the cards in the rookie autographs set, although Anderson and Merriman are also featured here as one of each guy's early autos. The Triple Threads insert is probably my favorite design of the set and is led in book value by the Roethlisberger/Bettis/Ward at 50ドル. Manning, Wayne and Harrison are featured for the Colts while Favre, Green and Walker return for the Pack. Eli, Shockey and Tiki Barber comprise the Giants' card. Other good cards from that set include Brady/Dillon/Branch, McNabb/Westbrook/Owens and Brees/Tomlinson/Gates. As stated earlier, Longevity didn't change much from '04 to '05 other than adding the Sunday Signatures autos, which did include a healthy number of retired greats like Y.A. Tittle, Fran Tarkenton, Herschel Walker and Warren Moon.

2006

Donruss Playoff had no excuse to not make changes to its football lineup in 2006 as the company wasn't given a baseball card license from the MLBPA. Zenith had a short run as it was one-and-done in 2005 and Playoff Honors was dropped after 5 years in the company's lineup. Taking their place were Playoff National Treasures as an ultra high-end product, the Playoff NFL Playoffs set, and the return of Select. Throwback Threads came back for a second year but had its name changed to Donruss Threads. Despite a set design that once again used the lines, although in a less-busy way, the company did make some needed changes. The font on the cards was made easier to read, but a key change was made to the format of the set. This time there were no "easy-to-pull" RCs as even the 100 basic rookies were limited to 999 copies. Another tier of 50 rookies was numbered to 599 while 20 jersey RCs were numbered to 799 and a new level of 11 autographed jersey rookies was numbered between 99 and 449. In other words, it took most of the retail selling value out of the product as you could, say, spend 20ドル and get nothing but commons, although a "Materials" game-used base set parallel was added to put some value in retail packs. The parallels were changed up as a gold parallel was added and the Longevity parallel was expanded to gold, silver, holofoil and black parallels. A 1948 Leaf Blue rookie insert set was included as a bonus in Wal-Mart blaster boxes, the Crosstraining insert and game-used version returned, Dress for Success returned as a rookie event-used set (the company put a good new spin on the insert by including facemask, helmet, shoe and patch parallels to roll Initial Steps and Masks into one multi-level event-used insert), "Elements" debuted as a star insert set with a game-used version, Freshman Orientation, Prime Cuts, rookie autos, Standing Ovation and Statistical Standouts all returned, an NFL Kickoff Classic set was included and a new "Rookie Crusade" insert and game used version were introduced, although the Triple Threads jersey were discontinued. Among the rookies, Leaf Rookies and Stars again nailed it as Marques Colston had one of his few RCs in the product. The jersey auto'd RCs were nice pulls as Vince Young, poster boy Reggie Bush (the first rookie to debut on the box since Ricky Williams in '99), Laurence Maroney and A.J. Hawk were among the 11 rookies included in that subset. The good rookie class made all the event-used cards good pulls. Favre, Tomlinson, Peyt on and Eli, Brady and Roethlisberger were included in the Crusade set and game-used version and much of the same group was also in the Elements set and game-used version. Peyton and Brady were the big guns featured in the Prime Cuts patch insert, which was again one of the best pulls of the set. Jay Cutler and Addai were short prints among the rookie autos while Colston's standout season made his rookie auto a very nice pull. The set scored another rarity with a Tedy Bruschi autograph included in the Standing Ovation autos set. The Longevity set was issued through Target and included the usual parallels plus rookie autographs and a "rookie material autographs" set. With the lineup of rookies included, that was the best thing that could have happened to Rookies and Stars after the '04 and '05 sets. The company had made the tradeoff of more all-commons packs but the hits were there and could be big for collectors of the set in 2006.

2007

A couple sets were trimmed back by Donruss Playoff in 2007 but Leaf Rookies and Stars returned with a continuance of the renewed vitality shown in the 2006 set. Finally all the lines were cut out of the design. The rookie structure remained to make 'em harder to pull as in 2006 but those collectors who did get hits could pull a rookie jumbo "embroidered NFL patch" auto #d/99. There were 85 base rookies #d/999 and 66 of the auto'd embroidered patch rookies numbered from 99 to 299 of each. The parallels and materials base parallels returned, as did most all of the inserts from the 2006 set. The Dress for Success format from 2006 returned, only with Longevity parallels of each type of material in the set. The rookie autos were expanded to include a "college" version featuring an embroidered college patch for each rookie in the set. Rookie jerseys were also inserted with a jumbo swatch and parallels as well as a college version there featuring a big piece of college game-used jersey for the player. Another new insert included was a "Studio Rookies" that replaced the 2006 1948 Leaf Blue rookie insert exclusive to Wal-Mart blasters. As for Longevity, it was pared back to include only the base set with three colored parallels. Time will tell how the 2007 set fares as far as somewhat rare RCs go. The embroidered rookie autos were a nice new touch to the set as Adrian Peterson's #d/99 books at a hefty 350ドル. Calvin Johnson, Brady Quinn and JaMarcus Russell's rookies also book in triple digits. Tom Brady, Favre and Tomlinson again highlighted some of the star game-used inserts in the set, including Prime Cuts. The main frustration for me in the 2006 and 2007 sets is that, despite the good hits available, the product isn't really suited for by-the-pack purchases anymore. You can even buy a blaster box and get all commons with maybe one #d insert thrown in. It's hard for me to consider laying out the money for that product when I know I can get at least a decent hit out of another product's blasters. At least if I buy an Upper Deck 10ドル blaster I know I'll get a somewhat short-printed RC. I know, I may not pull an Adrian Peterson auto jersey #d/99, but what are the chances of that happening from a blaster box anyway? The only way to fly now in Leaf Rookies and Stars is to go for the hobby box, which is unfortunate for the people who remember the days when you could actually get something out of the product via retail. I've probably bought 10 retail packs and a couple hobby packs of Leaf Rookies and Stars from '07 and the only non-common pull I've had was an Eli Manning jersey base card parallel. I'll take it, but I'm not sure it beats the days of a rookie in almost every pack.

Looking back at the set's history, it's hard to believe the complex set of today developed from the simple yet successful set issued in 1998. The company has had its ups and downs but, through it all, Leaf Rookies and Stars has survived. It has taken its lumps and not everything has been a masterpiece, but from year to year the set has at least offered a couple cards that almost any collector would love to add to his or her collection. The new ideas of the last couple years give me hope for the set. Now if I could pull a RC, that'd be nice....