That First MLS Season / The 1997 Upper Deck MLS Collection- Official PSA Thread
OneDaysRide
Posts: 141 ✭✭✭
The year was 1996. I was the father of two soccer-playing kids, a lifelong recreational soccer player and now a front-row ticket holder for the first-ever Major League Soccer season. An amazing return of professional soccer to the United States. It began with 32,864 fans at our first home game on April 27 and ended with the Championship Game (MLS Cup) being played at our stadium in a nor’easter hurricane downpour -- where DC United triumphed over the LA Galaxy 3-2, an overtime golden goal, on October 20. What a year.
In the spring of 1997, Upper Deck began selling the first national set of cards to feature Major League Soccer. These Upper Deck 1996 Inaugural Season MLS cards perfectly captured the ten inaugural teams, the players, the uniforms, the crazy logos and vibe of that first season. I remember thinking to myself, “Hey self, imagine having the first set of cards for MLB, NBA, NHL or NFL? Did they even have cards for those first seasons? I wonder if I can find that out on Alta Vista?”
I worked with a local sports card shop to find every card for ‘That First MLS Season’ -- the 1997 Upper Deck MLS Collection. We managed to find 124 of 125 cards, carefully inspected each one, and slid them into a protective album sheet to stand the test of time.
Sadly, Upper Deck found scant sales for their new MLS product. These new soccer fans, apparently, had little connection to the ‘trading card’ world of other major sports. Later that year they abandoned plans to extend the collection with an additional 50 card base set and more inserts.
So unimpressed with the demand for soccer cards, Upper Deck cancelled plans to produce MLS cards the following season. Wait, WHAT? There were no set of national cards that feature the 1997 MLS season? You are correct sir. While there were a few team-issued local sets in 1997, Upper Deck only returned with an MLS product in 1999 showcasing the 1998 season. Unfortunately, with that lag, I never regained interest in pursuing additional MLS cards. Since my mom had thrown away my baseball cards, football cards and comic books when I was a kid, the inaugural season set was the only card collection I now owned.
Ten years later I stumbled on an online seller who happened to have my missing holy grail card: the S5 Gold Signature Jorge Campos! My card life was now complete.
Meanwhile, cards began appearing on the PSA Set Registry (2011), when a collector from Maine published his 51-card graded base set. That same member (2012) added the first gold border base set and two of the insert sets. A new registry member from Texas published the same two insert sets (2018) overtaking the original registry member in the rankings. Another new registry member from Florida published a higher-ranking base and gold base set (2019). Gotta love the Set Registry.
Then IT happened. Twenty-five years after That First MLS Season, the 2020 Great Sports Card Pandemic swept across the globe. Like its Covid 19 cousin, this virus infected its host with a desire to descend into the basement and rummage for old sports card collections. I just happen to be sheltering in place as instructed by my government overlords when I rediscovered my old MLS sports memorabilia – a first-year team signed game ball, a first-year Alexi Lalas autographed game jersey, and my complete first-year MLS card collection. Apparently, I was now one of 36 million people trying to decide if they should send their sports cards off to PSA for grading.
I scoured YouTube and the PSA Forums to discover how collectors evaluate and ready their cards for grading. While I had hoped to borrow my friend’s electron transmission microscope, I opted for a bench mounted magnifying glass, hi-powered light, and some archive gloves. I carefully reviewed each corner, edge, and angle of every surface, grading them on a 1-10 scale in a spreadsheet for every card. Once completed, I readied the entire collection and shipped it coast to coast from Boston to sunny downtown Newport Beach on August 15, 2020.
After an astounding 45 weeks, at only $9 per card, my graded collection finally returned home – where I waited an additional 24 weeks for the last two sets to be added to the Set Registry. In the end, I’m glad to have made the journey. I’m also grateful to have the only complete PSA Graded, 125 card, 1997 Upper Deck MLS Collection, featuring 15 Hall of Famers and all five of the rare Gold Signature cards. I’m happy as well to see how interest has grown over the years, with more collectors and collections being added to the PSA Set Registry.
As for these cards, they bring back tons of great memories with my soccer playing friends who shared tickets and tailgates to those early games. It was also great fun meeting so many of the very accessible 1996 players at games, season ticket holder events, and supporter group meetings. I used those early years to get a base set of cards autographed by those 1996 pioneers of American soccer – which are now slabbed and authenticated by PSA!
As for MLS, it’s flourishing in the upcoming 31st 2026 season with 30 teams – 27 in the US and 3 in Canada. MLS momentum should build even further as the FIFA World Cup returns to the global stage in the summer of 2026, hosted by the USA, shared with Canada and Mexico, to be viewed by a projected six billion people worldwide!
Wishing you all the best in your own collectors' universe!
OneDaysRide
Comments
Alexi Lalas, 'The most recognizable US Soccer player ever' according to his Upper Deck card in 1996 -- But somehow, they errored by inserting the player position, height, weight, birthdate and team of card #1, Marcelo Balboa, on to the back of every base and parallel Alexi Lalas card ever printed. The correct stats for Alexi Lalas only appear on his hard-to-find unnumbered promo card, a two-card set shared with Carlos Valderrama, that was issued the year before this national set was sold.
Recently submitted my autographed 1997 Upper Deck MLS regular cards to PSA for authentication through a PSA Forum group submission. This 50-card set, of which I have 48 autos, depicts five players each from the original 10 teams in their 1996 inaugural season. As expected, all 48 were returned as authentic! Couldn't be happier as most of these autographs were personally obtained. The rest came from a verified local autograph seeker who would go to the visiting team's hotel lobby back in the day. Now if I could just locate the final two cards ...
A friend recently shared this wonderful 8.5 x 11 sales sheet of 'That First MLS Season' cards. A valiant effort by Upper Deck to boost sales and awareness for their new sports card product and this fledgling league. They also spelled inaugural wrong
A four month turnaround on this 27 year old beauty. It wasn't until I started submitting my entire collection to PSA that I realized 'pack grading' was even a thing. Happy to get a Mint 9 ...
Interesting read. Thank you for sharing!
What would this collection be without a UD logo shrink-wrapped sealed box of 1997 Upper Deck MLS?
Likely very few boxes left. I know of only five other boxes -- Bryan, Robert, Jeff, Jimmy, Cynthia, maybe a sixth?
The 1996 Inaugural MLS Season! Just got my 49th of 50 authenticated autographed cards (Jean Harbor!) returned from PSA. Those first-year players were a special bunch. Need to focus on getting that last autograph -- Jorge Rodas #13 San Jose Clash, currently living in Guatemala -- who only played that first season, and was gone by the time these cards appeared in the spring of 1997.
Thanks for sharing, great collection! This is why i still check these forums out!
While you are right that Upper Deck did not produce a 1998 MLS set, there are various card sets that feature the 1997 MLS season that were issued by/as regional Team-Issue sets.
I love this thread and am so incredibly impressed with your collection. Thanks for sharing.
I've seen some of those smaller regional issues. Love how someone, somewhere, has managed to collect those gems. Perhaps they're even more special given the missing national card presence.
Very kind of you to share your thoughts. It's been my pleasure. I've enjoyed seeing interest grow in this set across various Facebook card groups, having other collectors assist with auto's/upgrades/challenges -- with new collectors still joining the Set Registry!
Busy times for 'That First MLS Season', courtesy of 130point.com ...
I have two 👍
That is awesome! How did you come by these almost 30-year-old treasures?
I've had them since release. I had another box that I opened over the years but I can't find it 🙁