Well, if you ask Upper Deck, they will tell you - “cardboard.”
And right they are, thanks to the latest installment of Upper Deck Legends basketball cards. Back for a 3rd tour of duty in its current form, Legends packs a powerful punch which includes scratch-off redemption cards, inserted at a rate of 1 per hobby box, good for the corresponding 2004 NBA Draft Pick that the card depicts. What this means for you? Well, you could pull the very first rookie cards of Dwight Howard, Ben Gordon or Jameer Nelson, just to name a few.
That is pure excitement.
Another groundbreaking concept debuting in this year’s product is the separation of current stars from those of years past. Every 24-pack hobby box contains two sets of 12 packs, with one package depicting LeBron James and containing only current stars and rookies and the other package depicting Michael Jordan and containing only retired stars.
If you are an autograph hound, this product is also sure to please. We were lucky enough to rip two boxes of Legends and each box yielded three autographs. Some of the more notable autographs we pulled included Bill Laimbeer and a redemption card good for a James Worthy autograph.
Overall, this product was very satisfying. The combination of past greats and current stars, coupled with autographs and redemptions good for newly drafted NBA superstars spells success.
Kudos to Upper Deck for another “slam”min’ hoops offering. Below is a quick peek at what you might find in a randomly selected hobby box of 2003-04 Upper Deck Legends basketball:
2003-04 Upper Deck Legends NBA Basketball Cards
Packs Per Box: 24 Packs
Cards Per Pack: 5 Cards Per Pack
45 Rookie Impressions (1:8, #'d to 1999 or 999)
15 2004 NBA Draft Redemptions (1:24)
Parallels
45 Rookie Impressions Throwbacks (#'d to 100)
15 2004 NBA Draft Redemptions Throwbacks (1:380, #'d to 100)
Inserts
12 Rookie Impressions Dual Autos
12 Rookie Impressions Dual Autos Throwback (#'d to 25)
41 Legendary Signatures
29 Legendary Inscriptions (#'d to 100)
36 Championship Numbers (#'d to jersey number or decade of player's championship)
18 Championship Teammates Dual (#'d to 25)
10 Championship Teammates Triple (#'d to 10)
