Upper Deck is pulling out all the stops for the 2009 Hawaii Trade Conference – Mainland Edition to provide attendees at the company’s Meet the Industry session with some truly rare cards. Each attendee will receive one random triple or quadruple autograph card of stars players from a variety of sports.

“These shops are making the investment to improve their business, so we think it’s only right to invest in providing them with a rare item they can take back to share with their customers” said Chris Carlin, Upper Deck’s hobby marketing manager. “We have put together some amazing cards that are sure to get the entire industry talking by using autographs from such exclusive signers as Derek Jeter, Ken Griffey Jr., LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and more.”

A variety of cards will be included in the set and distributed randomly to those in attendance at Upper Deck’s Meet the Industry session. Among the highlights of the cards that are available:

• Triple Philadelphia Autograph – Julius Erving, Mike Schmidt and Bobby Clarke are almost as important to the Philadelphia scene as the cheese steak. An autograph card of these three is sure to find a special place in a Philly fan’s collection.
• Triple New York Autograph – Derek Jeter, Eli Manning and Henrik Lundqvist rule in the Big Apple. So many New York fans, so few of these cards.
• Triple Boston Autograph – Tom Brady, Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Garnett have been busy recently collecting championship and MVP trophies. You will be hard pressed to find three players that are more important to their team in any sport.
• Quadruple Basketball Autograph – Before Kobe vs. LeBron, there was Magic vs. Bird. Get lucky enough to find one of these cards and you will be managing more talent in your hands than Phil Jackson.
• Quadruple Hockey Autograph – Show this card to any hockey fan and their mouth will drop to the floor. Gretzky, Howe, Orr and Lemieux are more than just superstars in the world of hockey, they are legends. This card truly is a piece of history.

This year’s Meet the Industry session will take place April 22 during the trade conference and is available to all conference registrants.

Topps Previewing T206 Anniversary Set
Topps is creating six special preview cards exclusively for attendees of the upcoming Hawaii Trade Conference/Mainland Edition. The cards, featuring Topps exclusives Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson, Rogers Hornsby and Honus Wagner, will be a sneak peek look at the Topps T-206 100th Anniversary Product the company will release later this year.

Each card in the preview set will be sequentially numbered to 100 and feature the conference logo on the back and “100th Anniversary Edition” on the front. Cards will be given as a gift to attendees of the Topps Meet the Industry session on Wednesday, April 22.

Ian Johnson Appearance
Former Boise State running back Ian Johnson, who is expected to be an early round pick in this year’s NFL Draft, will sign free autographs April 20 for registered attendees during the opening reception of the Hawaii Trade Conference/Mainland Edition. Johnson’s appearance is sponsored by Bayou State Sportscards in conjunction with Sportsdreams, LLC.

Johnson is known by millions of college football fans for one of the most memorable moments in recent sports history. He scored the game-winning points on a perfectly executed “Statue of Liberty” play in Boise State’s upset win over Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. He then gained national media attention by proposing to his girlfirend, a Boise State cheerleader, on the field immediately after the game-winning play.

“Athlete appearances have always been a popular part of the trade conference over the years, but this one is even more unique because its the first time a retailer has been the sponsor,” said Dean Listle, group publisher for sports collectibles at F+W Media. “We’re very grateful to Chuck Raborn and Jaimie Autin at Bayou State Sportscards for offering this opportunity for our attendees.”