MLS Trading Cards
A new Upper Deck Retail Store opened today in Huntington Beach, which if not actual cause for excitement on a slow news day at least gives me an excuse to blog about the the company's newest set of MLS cards. Issued after the end of the season (so we get a now-retired Eddie Pope in action, for instance on card 88), the cards have some (usually incomplete) stats, pallid text and reasonable photography.
The 200-plus set includes the David Beckham "rookie" card pictured below as well as the likes of Freddy Adu and the now-retired Chris Armas. There's 10 cards a pack and they retail for around $2.
Upper Deck has periodically issued MLS cards over the years (the ones from 1996 serve mainly to remind one how damn ugly those first-year team jerseys were).
A sampling is below. Kevin Hartman is reportedly much sleeker now, by the way.
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| Becks' "rookie" card | That's the best they could do? |
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| A tubby Kevin Hartman | Pasadena City College's Yuri Movsisyan |
The new Upper Deck store is in the Bella Terra Center, 7777 Edinger Ave., Suite D-150, just off the 405 Freeway at Beach Boulevard.
More info on the cards here.
And this this guy sounds like he knows more about the hobby than I do.
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About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.
Base set is only 100 cards which means only 7 or 8 players are featured per team. Unfortunately, this has always been UD's minimalist approach in producing MLS soccer cards. Given the small rosters and only a few teams, you figure they can at least put out a very representative 200-card base set.
One can get 4 complete base sets from their current hobby box.