George_Calfas
Well-known member
Is this common knowledge or do you know him personally? LOL
Common knowledge--re: deposition proceeding.
Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.
Is this common knowledge or do you know him personally? LOL
Common knowledge--re: deposition proceeding.
Holy crap, I never knew this about Upper Deck. This is pretty damn funny:
DeWayne Buice, then 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.[SUP][21][/SUP] Hemrick and his partner Paul Sumner were in 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 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.[SUP][21][/SUP]
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 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.[SUP][22][/SUP]
Upper Deck was originally scheduled to pay Buice his millions over a four-year period, but due to 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.[SUP][21][/SUP]
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 the Christmas party, Upper Deck CEO Richard McWilliam told employees the company's deal with Buice was the worst deal it had ever done
Common knowledge--re: deposition proceeding.
For comedy, as soon as you type in google "Richard McWilliam"..."drunk" appears second on the list.
Perfect time for this to appear again...although he should probably be holding a bottle.
![]()
For comedy, as soon as you type in google "Richard McWilliam"..."drunk" appears second on the list.
Perfect time for this to appear again...although he should probably be holding a bottle.
![]()
With all due respect to Magicpapa's Griffey cabinet, this will always be my favorite reoccuring picture on FCB
You know, the beauty in this product is the laziness and empty-hearted attempt. The MLBPA license allows Upper Deck to produce cards with player photos, just no logos and team colors. Okay, easy enough...head shots. Slapped on this design, boom...done. Easy. Much better product. So you wonder why they didn't choose to do that...money. I truly think they did the best with what they were willing to work with and designed it as well as possible...considering how listless they are as a collective.
If this bookends Upper Deck's meteoric rise and collapse in baseball, it would truly be impressive. Bursting onto the scene with holograms and a higher quality stock (basically bankrupting them in release #1 until they got wise and fired the presses back up for a few specific cards) through some really successful products that excited many to this hilarity of the current state Upper Deck.
Sadly, Upper Deck's rise and fall in this hobby symbolizes exactly what goes wrong when a business is run by a crazed drunken mustachioed charlatan.
The only think I want to know now is how many reprint projects are running through their minds right now, or if he's too drunk to think straight.
I do not believe the license gave them any image rights.. I believe it was a legal settlement as Mlbpa was challenging their use of more than 2 current players..
I believe this has been finished for months, long before the fake license..
Beckett ALWAYS gets the good hits!! Now there is one less Hunter Servenka auto out there for the collectors (trash collectors that is)
I would like for Beckett to review a product and actually critique it instead of constantly fondling the card companies balls. No reason they couldn't have told us this product is crap. And they claim to be for the collector.