7th Inning Stretch with Scott Fragale - Not So Deep Thoughts: Close call for Upper Deck, but the right one

Not So Deep Thoughts: Close call for Upper Deck, but the right one
Posted by Tuff Stuff

In February, inside its 2009 Upper Deck Series One Baseball product, Upper Deck released a nine-card insert set entitled: “Historic Firsts Predictors.” The sports card company made nine bold predictions and stated that if any of them came true during the course of 2009 that it would “do something big.” One of those cards said the National league would break its 12-year drought and win the game. UPPER DECK NEW logo.jpg

Well, something big nearly happened. Upper Deck was ready to put into motion a special nationwide promotion that would have yielded a free baseball card pack to fans across the country (one per customer, while supplies last), provided the National League won last night's 80th MLB All-Star Game. Unfortunately for collectors nationwide, the trend continued and the National League All-Stars came up short once again, falling 4-3, in a well-played, but unspectacular Mid-Summer Classic.

For the Upper Deck crew, things couldn't have turned out any better. The company received some free publicity for the promotion, the game was competitive, and ultimately because of the outcome, they didn't spend a nickel and come out looking like the heroes in their efforts to make good on their original promise.

While the promise could've cost Upper Deck six figures if the senior circuit would've prevailed, the end result was priceless. They say in baseball that sometimes the best deals are the ones that were never made. In an apples-oranges kinda way, the same rule applies here. Hopefully the other manufacturers will apply this same model to events in the future with the only difference being that they're forced to come through and fufill the promotion so collectors can win as well. Kudos to Upper Deck for stepping up and taking a chance in the first place. Now, if they really want to come out smelling like a rose, they'll take half the packs they had earmarked to distribute and give them away anyway. Just a thought.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009 2:53:34 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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