Upper Deck Company , LLC The Upper Deck Company , LLC ( colloquially as Upper Deck and Upper Deck Authenticated , Ltd . in the UK ) , founded in 1988 , is a trading card company currently based out of Las Vegas , Nevada . Company history . On December 23 , 1988 , Upper Deck was granted a license by Major League Baseball to produce baseball card s . The first case of Upper Deck Baseball Cards was delivered February 28 , 1989 , to George Moore of Tulsa ' s Baseball Card Store in Tulsa , Oklahoma . The Upper Deck Company sold out its baseball cards midway through this inaugural year , then pre - sold its entire 1990 baseball stock before the year began . The 1990 set included the industry ' s first randomly inserted personally autographed and numbered cards of sports superstars . All Upper Deck brands bear an exclusive trademark hologram , and Upper Deck has been named " Card set of the Year " every year since 1989 , ranked number one , and earned favorite brand status with card collectors . Concept . Paul Sumner created the Upper Deck concept in 1987 . He worked in printing sales and came up with the idea for a premium card . When he heard about card counterfeiting , he realized that he knew a way to protect cards . He had studied holograms in college and had used them in printing his company ' s brochures . He hired Robert Young Pelton to design and produce a prototype . Pelton designed and produced the cards for Upper Decks first three year rise . After it was discovered that Richard McWilliam was counterfeiting cards Pelton and Sumner had a falling out with accountant McWilliam who seized control of the company . Paul Sumner resigned with the understanding that he would be known as the " Co - Founder of Upper Deck " , something that the company ' s owner and CEO , Richard McWilliam , recognizes to this day . The early years of Upper Deck and their dramatic crash after Pelton and Sumner left are captured in Pete William ' s book " Card Sharks : How Upper Deck Turned a Child ' s Hobby into a High - Stakes , Billion - Dollar Business " On March 20 , 1990 , The Upper Deck Company was granted licenses by the National Hockey League and National Hockey League Players Association to produce hockey cards . The company also obtained licenses from the National Football League and the National Basketball Association in 1990 , making the Upper Deck Company the first trading card company in 10 years to be licensed by all four leagues . Upper Deck established itself so quickly that it rivaled Topps , which had been considered the standard , and other companies such as Fleer , Donruss and Score . By 1991 , the company built a plant of brown marble and black glass on a hilltop north of San Diego . Patrick Roy controversy . At the beginning of the 1992 – 93 NHL season , Upper Deck made Patrick Roy a spokesperson . Roy was an ideal choice as he was a hockey card collector , and his collection amounted to over 150 , 000 cards . An ad campaign was launched and it had an adverse effect on Patrick Roy ’ s season . Upper Deck had a slogan called “ Trade Roy ” , and it was posted on billboards throughout the city of Montreal . A " Journal de Montreal " poll , published on January 13 , 1993 , indicated that 57 % of fans favoured trading Patrick Roy . Before the trading deadline , Canadiens General Manager Serge Savard insisted that he would consider a trade for Roy . The Canadiens ended the season by winning only 8 of their last 19 games . Foreign language hockey cards . On September 29 , 2009 , Upper Deck created the company ' s first - ever packs of Finnish and Swedish language Victory hockey cards to go on sale in those markets . NHL Biography of a Season . The NHL Biography of a Season cards was a 30 - card set capturing the greatest moments of the 2008 - 09 NHL Season . The cards were available through Upper Deck Certified Diamond Dealers . A collector had to redeem 5 wrappers of 2008 / 2009 Upper Deck hockey cards at a participating hobby store and receive an exclusive Upper Deck Biography of a Season card . One new card was available every week throughout the NHL season . The first four cards were :