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Rangefinder Magazine
Features/February 2002

Breaking Into the Big Leagues by Peter Skinner
An Opportunity to Partner With Upper Deck

If you’re interested in moving from the little leagues to the big leagues, in a manner of speaking, read on. One of the most respected names in the sports trading card and collectible memorabilia business is offering little leaguers—both of the sporting and photographic kind—the opportunity to benefit from their expertise in a field that traditionally is the domain of the big leaguers in professional sports.

In this case the big leaguer is Upper Deck of Carlsbad, Calif., a dynamic and fast moving company that has become the trend and quality setter in the billion-dollar business of sports trading cards. Upper Deck’s stable of sports personalities and the elite group of photographers who record their every move is legendary, but more about that further on. The big, and potentially profitable, news for photographers around the country is that Upper Deck has expanded its operations to capitalize on the youth sports market. And that’s where photographers who have anything to do with young sportsmen and women can cash in.

Recently, Upper Deck acquired Escondido, California, based Custom Cards, an established company specializing in the youth sports industry. Along with this acquisition came Custom Cards’ network of about 400 photographers who were already providing a service in their areas and who are now benefiting from the new parent company’s marketing and entrepreneurial expertise. In a nutshell, photographers who cover youth sports events, such as team day shoots and similar, can now become a partner with Upper Deck and give their clients high quality, professional looking and personalized trading cards.

Mary Mancera, director of corporate communications for Upper Deck, said that her company is going after this new audience with the same energy and professionalism that launched Upper Deck’s meteoric rise in the trading card arena of professional baseball, football, basketball, hockey and golf. And the foundation for this success can be summed up in a couple of words: professionalism and quality. It might sound too basic, almost trite, but the formula used by noted businessman and entrepreneur Richard McWilliam, chairman and founder of Upper Deck, is based on that relatively simple doctrine.

Obviously, it’s worked. Otherwise, why would such legendary sports figures as Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Ken Griffey Jr., Kevin Garnett and more recently, Ichiro Suzuki, sign agreements with Upper Deck? These guys travel first class and expect that kind of treatment in all their business associations. And photographers of the caliber of Walter Iooss Jr., whose credit line regularly appears in major sports publications such as Sports Illustrated, do not sign deals with companies who do not respect photographers and their rights. Currently, Upper Deck’s list of contract photographers includes notable pro shooters V.J. Lovero, Ron Modra, Lou Capozzola, John Grieshop, Victor Baldizon, Scott Clarke and Gerry Thomas. These sports pros are leaders in their fields; their livelihoods depend on their getting great shots of great athletes like Tiger Woods, et al. And the photographers who document the efforts and make the portraits of the hundreds of thousands of young athletes around the country can now rub shoulders with the big leaguers. Well, in a manner of speaking.

“What we are offering photographers who work in the smaller markets, and whose customers are youth sports players, is the chance to provide a nationally-branded product and be part of our network. This includes the quality of design, printing, and packaging and sales tool support. Basically, we’re helping the photographers create a conduit from Upper Deck to their clients and giving them a product that looks the same as the Upper Deck pro sports cards sold throughout the U.S. and overseas,” she said.

The operation is simple and efficient and photographers work with customized Upper Deck point of purchase sales tools and forms. This means that these photographers can capitalize on the systems, marketing strategies and methodology already proven successful by Upper Deck in professional sports. The documentation and information gathering process for these young sports personalities is essentially the same as used in professional sports. A completed record, which accompanies the photograph, includes such things as the subject’s name, age, height, weight, team, strong points, career highlights; all the personal information needed to satisfy their adoring public’s curiosity. In this case, the adoring public is more likely to be the kid’s parents, grandparents, siblings, other relatives, coaches, and team mates. But hey, it’s the sort of stuff dreams are made of! This form is sent with the photograph—a glossy print—to Upper Deck and in about 10 days or so the order is delivered back to the photographer for delivery to the client. The orders are pre-paid so the money’s in hand before the order is processed.

Now, can you just imagine young Jake Jones proudly displaying her very own sports card! On the front, there is Jake, in full color, wielding that baseball bat and on the back information such as: Jake Jones, age 10, height 4 ft. 10 in., weight, 70 lbs., right handed, batter, Skagit Warriors Little League Team, career highlight(s), hitting home run to win pennant, against the Skykomish Seagulls, July 8, 2001. “Bottom of the ninth, we were two down, but the bases were loaded. I had to go for it. I was glad we won. So was most of the rest of the world.” Or something like that. And that card will have the logos, the printed quality and professional look identical with those that feature people like Ken Griffey, Jr. and are sold around the world. (Note: As far as we know, there is no Jake Jones, hero batter for the fictitious Skagit Warriors in the last ditch win over the equally fictitious Skykomish Seagulls.)

While the mechanics of the partnership with Upper Deck are fairly simple and the potential for another revenue source is attractive, one of the most interesting—and comforting—aspects is the organization with which photographers have the chance to partner or, in businessspeak, with whom to forge a strategic alliance. And the driving force behind the company is Richard McWilliam who revolutionized an established and traditional, but relatively staid, business. He founded Upper Deck in 1988 and the following year raised the standards of collectible cards to a new level by incorporating cutting edge technology. Packs from the company’s first baseball set featured color photography, an anti-counterfeit hologram on every card and foil wrapping. The set became an instant hit with collectors.

The huge popularity of Upper Deck’s baseball cards led the company to become the first manufacturer to produce sets in other major sports including hockey, 1990; basketball and football, 1991, and more recently, golf. The company’s meteoric success also paved the way for growth in other areas. In 1991, Upper Deck introduced its products to the global marketplace with the creation of Upper Deck International. With an office in Amsterdam and distribution throughout Europe, Asia and India, the company markets and sells collectible products that are geared to local consumers.

In 1992, McWilliam launched Upper Deck Authenticated® (UDA) and created the first patented autograph authentication process in the industry. Sensitive to the fact that forgeries in the marketplace make it difficult for consumers to get authentic signatures of their favorite athletes, UDA built its reputation on a patented five-step process that guarantees fans are getting the real thing because company representatives witness every single autograph. This groundbreaking process is why some of the most prominent names in sports such as Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, Ken Griffey Jr., Tony Gwynn, Ichiro Suzuki and Kevin Garnett have signed deals with the company.

The contractual details of those deals are proprietary, but as mentioned previously, these leading sports personalities don’t sign deals with inferior quality companies. And while it’s unlikely that our aforementioned fairy-tale hero, Jake Jones, is going to be too concerned about having a company rep witness his signature for authentication purposes, don’t underestimate the impact these cards can have. As Mary Mancera tells it, all the members of the Oceanside, California Little League team, which went to the Little League World Series, went to that tournament bearing 200 sports cards apiece, compliments of Upper Deck. Those cards contained all the vital statistics that encapsulate the life and career of a typical Little Leaguer. And they were a huge hit at the World Series; not one was left over!

Just as Richard McWilliam looked for, and found, a way to enter a new and potentially huge market for trading cards in youth sports so is he and his Upper Deck team now offering photographers the opportunity to ride the wave with him. It’s worth a look.

To learn more about Upper Deck and their extensive operation, check out www.upperdeck.com. Photographers interested in finding out more about working with Upper Deck in the amateur sports card business can contact Photographer Liaison: (888) 643-9308.

Peter Skinner is communications director for the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) and is a writer/photographer living in Anacortes, Washington.