Upper Deck offers Pioneers cut card for collector who grabs all Legendary Cuts

Upper Deck announced on Friday that it will award a single quad cut autograph card of Abner Doubleday, Dr. James Naismith, Knute Rockne and Frederick Stanley, a.k.a. “Lord Stanley” to the first collector who completes this year’s Legendary Cuts Cut Signature set.

No more than five of each cut card in the set was produced, so winning the card featuring autographs of the four sports pioneers will be a challenge. If no collector finishes the set by Dec. 15, the card will be awarded to the fan who comes closest.

“We know collectors who used to attempt putting this set together, but they were put off by the fact that so many of the extremely limited cards would end up in personal collections and usually never see the light of day again,” said Grant Sandground, Upper Deck’s baseball brand manager. “To entice collectors to try to put this set together, we came up with a very special promotion.”

There are more than 320 subjects in the set — so it may not be possible at this point after the product’s release, but Upper Deck Sports Marketing Manager Chris Carlin reinforced that the feat may not be necessary to win the 1/1.

“The great part about this promotion is that someone doesn’t necessarily need to put together the entire set to be awarded ‘The Legendary Pioneers’ card,” Carlin said. “This will boost every card’s value as a Ted Williams signature card could be just as important as a Ted Lyons signature card for those who are trying to complete the set.”

To participate in the program, collectors need must do the following:

— Contact Carlin at (760) 603-7548 or chris_carlin@upperdeck.com if you have completed the set.
— Contact Carlin by Dec. 1, 2009 if you think you may be one of the collectors farthest along with the set.

Directions will then be given to submit the set for validation.