Sports Cards--Bicycle Spokes Beware!

The rollercoaster ride seems to have leveled, thanks in part to the resurgence of baseball (namely the pursuit of the home run record by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa). Card technology, on the other hand, has not yet peaked and shows no signs of topping out.

In the last 10 years, the basic baseball card has gone from a bordered, thin, gray-stocked dinosaur to a creature that features diecutting, gold-foil stamping, embossing, UV coating/double laminating and a combination of various other treatments. Upper Deck has turned heads in recent years with its "Game Jersey/Piece of the Action" cards that incorporate swatches of uniforms or shavings of baseball bats that are glued onto the card itself. According to Upper Deck spokesman Terry Melia, other authentic memorabilia additions include pieces of footballs, hockey pucks, basketball sneakers and race-used engine pieces from its motorsports line (see related story).