Either Upper Deck was trying to have some fun at the expense of Topps, or it was trying to prove a point. Either way, Major League Baseball wasn't happy about it.

Upper Deck's new Sweet Spot Baseball features at least two cards that are creating a buzz. One is a parody of Michael Eisner, who heads up the new ownership group at Topps. The caricature card depicts him as "Michael Buysner" and the back of the card says that Upper Deck "wishes him well -- in the candy business" (referring to the confection division at Topps).

The other Sweet Spot card is a Sweet Spot Signatures insert that features an asterisk instead of the traditional player autograph, and the notation "756" under the asterisk. The card is obviously a reference to Barry Bonds (coincidentally, a Topps spokesman) and his breaking of the career home-run record. So far, only one of these cards has surfaced on eBay.

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association has final approval over everything that goes into card packs, so the licensors take it seriously when something slips into packs without their approval. The Eisner parody is probably harmless fun, but it's an unflattering portrait of one of MLB's other business partners and would not have otherwise been approved. MLB also doesn't want any more attention drawn to the allegations of Bonds and steroid use in connection with his record-setting home run.

So MLB has told Upper Deck to recall all unsold inventory of Sweet Spot Baseball. How much of the product will be returned is uncertain, since the controversy now increases demand. But it should send a signal to both companies to stop any future attempts at "surprise" publicity.

Earlier this year, you may recall Topps issued a card of Derek Jeter that featured digitally enhanced images of Mickey Mantle and President Bush. The card generated tremendous national media attention and resulted in a significant sales boost for Topps. It's assumed that card was created without the licensors approval (Topps initially claimed it was created by one of its artists as a joke and accidentally got into print, but later said they let the card through because they thought it added some fun to its product), in part because Jeter is an Upper Deck spokesman.

So either Upper Deck was trying to take a public jab at Eisner, who they locked horns with earlier this year in efforts to buy Topps, or they decided that if Topps can get away with publicity for its "error" cards, they can too. Either way, you can bet the baseball card licensors will do their best to discourage similar surprises in the future.