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gracecollector
Well-known member
Well, it took 13 years, but I finally found the last card I needed to complete the Upper Deck MVP run for my PC. So to mark the occasion, let's take a look back at the tepid, largely forgettable UD MVP brand (apologies to any UD MVP lovers out there). I know I'm ignoring inserts and GU - but they too were mostly undistinguished.
1999
UD MVP debuted with a 220 card set in 1999. A low-end product, 10 card packs had a SRP of $1.59. 1999 was the last year for UD's low-end Collector's Choice brand, and MVP became its heir-apparent. There are a lot of similarities between Choice and MVP, notably brite-white card stock and white borders. Base set parallels included Silver Script and hobby-only Gold Script (100 copies) and Super Script (25 copies). With a high print run, finding the parallels became a true challenge for player collectors - a defining characteristic of the brand for years to come.
2000
Virtually the same game plan in 2000: 220 card set; white borders; silver, gold and super parallels - the only difference being gold parallels got harder to find with only 50 copies instead of 100. Supers remained at 25 copies.
2001
Gone are the white borders replaced by black and gray. The set grew to 330 players. Pack size went down to 8 cards. But the real shocker was no tough parallels to chase. 2001 UD MVP was weak and forgettable. I refuse to write another word about it.
2002
The lackluster 2001 MVP effort hurt enthusiasm for the brand, and the 300 card 2002 UD MVP offering didn't do anything dramatic to revive it. It did reintroduce silver (100 copies) and gold (25 copies) parallels, but that was about it. This product sat on shelves in card shops with nothing to recommend it - unopened boxes can still be found with relative ease. For that reason, finding the parallels is a tough proposition for player collectors. The gold parallel eluded me for 12 years and was the last MVP card I needed. As of this writing, there are no 2002 UD MVP Gold Parallels listed on eBay.
2003
Phoning it in, 2003 marked the final entry in the UD MVP brand. It was issued as a 220 card set in retail form, but with 110 additional cards for a total of 330 in the factory set. Parallels included silver, gold (125 copies) and black (50 copies). Interestingly, both Beckett and SCD guides list gold parallels at 150 copies, despite the obvious numbering on front to 125 copies. This set is so boring that for 12 years no one has bothered to fix the error.
Bonus Fact:
1999 UD Century Legends featured 1/1 "Century MVP" cards done, for unexplained reasons, in the 1999 UD MVP style. This created confusion in later years as to which set they belonged to... Century Legends or MVP. The correct answer is Century Legends.
Feel free to show off any of your UD MVP cards in this thread!
1999
UD MVP debuted with a 220 card set in 1999. A low-end product, 10 card packs had a SRP of $1.59. 1999 was the last year for UD's low-end Collector's Choice brand, and MVP became its heir-apparent. There are a lot of similarities between Choice and MVP, notably brite-white card stock and white borders. Base set parallels included Silver Script and hobby-only Gold Script (100 copies) and Super Script (25 copies). With a high print run, finding the parallels became a true challenge for player collectors - a defining characteristic of the brand for years to come.
2000
Virtually the same game plan in 2000: 220 card set; white borders; silver, gold and super parallels - the only difference being gold parallels got harder to find with only 50 copies instead of 100. Supers remained at 25 copies.
2001
Gone are the white borders replaced by black and gray. The set grew to 330 players. Pack size went down to 8 cards. But the real shocker was no tough parallels to chase. 2001 UD MVP was weak and forgettable. I refuse to write another word about it.
2002
The lackluster 2001 MVP effort hurt enthusiasm for the brand, and the 300 card 2002 UD MVP offering didn't do anything dramatic to revive it. It did reintroduce silver (100 copies) and gold (25 copies) parallels, but that was about it. This product sat on shelves in card shops with nothing to recommend it - unopened boxes can still be found with relative ease. For that reason, finding the parallels is a tough proposition for player collectors. The gold parallel eluded me for 12 years and was the last MVP card I needed. As of this writing, there are no 2002 UD MVP Gold Parallels listed on eBay.
2003
Phoning it in, 2003 marked the final entry in the UD MVP brand. It was issued as a 220 card set in retail form, but with 110 additional cards for a total of 330 in the factory set. Parallels included silver, gold (125 copies) and black (50 copies). Interestingly, both Beckett and SCD guides list gold parallels at 150 copies, despite the obvious numbering on front to 125 copies. This set is so boring that for 12 years no one has bothered to fix the error.
Bonus Fact:
1999 UD Century Legends featured 1/1 "Century MVP" cards done, for unexplained reasons, in the 1999 UD MVP style. This created confusion in later years as to which set they belonged to... Century Legends or MVP. The correct answer is Century Legends.
Feel free to show off any of your UD MVP cards in this thread!
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