On-card autographs are extremely popular these days and a huge draw in the card collecting community.
But the rise of autographed cards by mainstream companies had a quiet, humble beginning.
When Upper Deck — in just its second year of putting out a product — decided to insert limited-edition “Heroes of Baseball” Reggie Jackson autographed cards into its 1990 baseball release, it introduced collectors to a new venture. The competing card companies followed suit and started the industry-changing impact we see in today’s market.
“At the time, we didn’t really consider it a game-changing concept,” said Brian Burr, who was the president of Upper Deck from 1990-98. “I really have to give the credit to Richard McWilliam, who was the president, CEO and founder of the company. He was a very innovative guy and he would kind of have these sparks of inspiration and kind of threw it out there in a meeting.”
That meeting became legendary. The Upper Deck Company’s board of directors, which Jackson was a member of after his playing days, were all sitting around chatting. McWilliam, who passed away in 2013, had an idea in his head that would hopefully get collectors more interested in his company’s product.
“At that time, it was a lot like the Wild West; there was a lot of action, a lot of excitement,” said Chris Carlin, who was the head of customer experience at Upper Deck for 24 years before leaving the company earlier this year. “And, really,
