Card of the Day: 2008 Upper Deck Team USA Jerseys Josh Romanski

Being the Fourth of July weekend makes it a good time to talk about 2008 Upper Deck Stars and Stripes Edition.

All it is is a variation on basic Upper Deck Series Two in which you received a Team USA jersey card instead of a regular MLB jersey card, two Star Attraction inserts and no StarQuest cards. There are also regular cards of Team USA players.

I have not picked one of these boxes up, but I do think they are a great addition to the hobby. Most anyt collector can easily think up some famous Team USA cards from the past. Drawing a blank? Let me help you out.

1985 Topps Mark McGwire
1991 Topps Traded Jason Giambi
1992 Topps Traded Nomar Garciaparra
1993 Topps Traded Todd Helton

Those are the classics. There are also several Team USA cards that are big hits in today's market.

2002 SP Authentic USA Future Watch Rickie Weeks
2003 Upper Deck National Pride Memorabilia Dustin Pedroia
2004 Upper Deck National Pride Jerseys Justin Verlander SP

Combine all of those with all the key rookie autographs and relics from the Upper Deck Team USA box sets and you have a pleathora of cards that will be remebered for generations.

So, I'm glad to see that Upper Deck is giving the next set of Team USA players their chance at being immortalized through trading cards if they happen to turn into big name superstars. And for those who don't, well they can look back on the fond memories via thier Upper Deck trading cards.

I can see it now...some no namer from one these sets finds his autograph card on eBay in 2028. He places a bid, gets outbid, places another bid, gets outbid again and so on and so forth. The player is getting outbid by some collector from Idaho who needs his card to complete the set he started some 20 years before. The card reaches unknown heights for this set and the two make hobby headlines.

Now that's doubtful, but you get my drift.

Team USA cards are in and popular especially after the rush of patriotism reached our nation following 9/11. Before, they were ho-hum pieces of every year's Topps Traded factory set. Today, collector's have wantlists of exclusively Team USA cards. There are collectors who aspire to have as many different Team USA cards as they can get because they love them. And there are collectors who aspire to have as many different Team USA cards as they can get because they want the player's to be superstars and then sell the cards off for a profit.

I had always saved my Team USA cards because they were unique cards for most of the time I spent growing up. However, the cards aren't so unique anymore as everyone has some or wants at least someone who played on Team USA.

So much for that idea.