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Upper Deck: SPx

My Upper Deck: SPx Collection (Updated December 23rd, 2024)

1996 Upper Deck SPx: “Rodney Thomas” #18

In 1993, Upper Deck added its "Super Premium" title to counter all the other "Super Premium" brands that had entered the hobby. But one title wasn't enough for Upper Deck, so they added another in 1996; they called this one "Upper Deck: SPx". Since I assumed the "SP" stood for "Super Premium", I can only assume that "SPx" stood for "Super Premium Xtra". In my opinion, the '96 SPx didn't crush the hobby the way it's elder brother did, but it was still offered another forum for amazing cards from Upper Deck, (See the 1996 Upper Deck SPx "Rodney Thomas" #18 left). The '96 release was also the first offering of the 

spx insert set called "Holofame". The "Holofame" insert set was another of the holographic sets.

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Upper Deck followed up the tiny '96 release with another puny release. If I forgot to mention in the previous paragraph that the '96 release sucked due to it's set size, my apologies. I always thought that sets this small are cheap packaging for your expensive chase cards, (See the 1997 Upper Deck SPx "Bobby Engram" #5 left). The cards definitely aren't cheap looking, (unlike several Collector's Edge sets), but Good God put more than 50 cards in the dang set! The real gems from the '97 release were 2nd edition of the "Holofame" set, the "Promotion" insert set, and the "Promotion Autograph" set. All 3 of these sets are still extremely pricey....all these years later.

1998 Upper Deck SPx: “Heath Shular” (Steel) #29

1997 Upper Deck SPx: “Bobby Engram” #5

The cheap packaging continued for the 3rd straight year in '98. Another 50-card set to protect the high-end chase cards, (See the 1998 Upper Deck SPx "Heath 

1998 Upper Deck SPx: “Terry Allen” Holofame #HF20

Upper Deck made up for it's below average base sets with it's '99 release. Gone were the days of the 50-card base sets and in came the 135-card memorable set of the '99 season, (See the 1999 Upper Deck SPx "Donovan McNabb" Rookie Autograph #132 right). The only issue I had with this set, (other than the size), was the card stock. The card stock made the autographs fade over

1999 Upper Deck SPx: “Donovan McNabb” Rookie Autograph #132

 Shular" Steel #29 right). Now, this set had 5 different versions to it, making it extremely cumbersome to put together. The Silver and Steel versions looked too much alike.  But the real cards in this release were the "Holofame" cards, (See the 1998 Upper Deck SPx "Terry Allen" Holofame #HF20 left), and the "Promotion" cards.

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time. So take precaution with your cards from this set to insure than the autos don't fade.

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This set was also loaded with insert sets; 7 of them, in fact. The main inset set being the initial offering of the "Winning Materials" set, (See the 1999 Upper Deck SPx "David Boston" Winning Materials #DB-S below left).  The "Winning Materials" set was a 12-card absolute winner!! Two of the 12 cards were autographed to the player's jersey # too.

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If the '99 Upper Deck SPx was the appetizer, then the 2000 release was the main course. Where the '99 SPx set was a first to include Rookie / Autograph cards, the 2000 SPx set was the first to offer Rookie / Autograph / Jersey cards, ( See

1999 Upper Deck SPx: “David Boston” Winning Materials #DB-S

2000 Upper Deck SPx: “Travis Taylor” Winning Materials Autograph #AWM-TT

the 2000 Upper Deck SPx "Peter Warrick" Rookie / Jersey / Autograph #161 below right). Upper Deck increased the SPx set size in 2000 from 135 to 162 and bumped the rookie cards up to a whopping 72. Upper Deck also increased the # of insert sets from 7 to 8; the extra insert set comes from the Winning Materials autograph set, (See the 2000 Upper Deck SPx "Travis Taylor" Winning Materials Autograph #AWM-TT below left). I guess Upper Deck had such a positive response about the 2 autographed cards from the previous release that they made a bigger stand-alone autograph set the following year.

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2000 Upper Deck SPx: “Peter Warrick” Rookie / Jersey / Autograph #161

2001 Upper Deck SPx: “Justin Smith” Platinum Blue RC #133PB

The 2001 Upper Deck SPx set took a page from the '99 Skybox Premium release and that was, not just having "Short Printed" rookie cards, but 2 rookie cards for each and every rookie, (See the 2001 Upper Deck SPx "Justin Smith" Platinum Blue Rookie #133PB below right) and (See the 2001 Upper Deck SPx "Justin Smith" Gold Rookie #133G below left). The one thing you'll notice 

However, the rookie cards didn't stop there. The Upper Deck Spx '01 release also included the "New" standard' that is, Rookie / Jersey / Autographs. And to spice that up an extra level, Upper Deck included 2 versions of those cards, as well, (See the 2001 Upper Deck SPx "Richard Seymour" Rookie / Jersey / Autograph #104PB below right). You'll notice that as we progressed into the new millennium, these sets became more and more about "Rookies" and the '98 season with it's "Short Printed" rookies were just the tip of the iceberg.

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 about the 2 cards is that they are both #'d to 999. You can say that they are both "Short Printed" or that neither of them are "Short Printed". Whichever case, Upper Deck included 2 versions of the 2001 rookie class.

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2001 Upper Deck SPx: “Justin Smith” Gold RC #133G

The 2002 release wasn't anything spectacular. The base cards were extremely busy, in my opinion. Upper Deck continued its trend of Rookie Autograph cards in 2002. But the really neat new twist that was included in 2002 was the new Winning Materials cards. Although they've been included since 1999, these cards had an elevated rubber helmet emblem to make the cards really stand out, (See the 2002 Upper Deck SPx "Chris Weinke" Winning Materials #WM-CW below right) and a huge jersey swatch too.

 

2001 Upper Deck SPx: “Richard Seymour” Platinum Blue Rookie / Jersey / Autograph #104PB

In closing, the "Upper Deck: SPx" brand was just an awesome continuation of the SP title. Yes, it was a different brand, probably with a different age-group that it was targeting, (if you were to listen to the marketing group), but in reality, the SP and SPx brand was much of the same. And that really isn't / wasn't such a bad thing!  Although by 2006 SPx had followed the hobby into a really bad trend of totally excluding defensive players from its base set, a collector should feel safe that if they are going after either one of these 2 titles, they are truly getting a lot of bang for their buck!!

2002 Upper Deck SPx Chris Weinke Winning
I have complete sets:
 

Upper Deck SPx:

1) 1996 Upper Deck SPx Set

    A) Holofame Insert

2) 1997 Upper Deck SPx Set

3a) 1998 Upper Deck SPx (Team Colors) Set

3b) 1998 Upper Deck SPx (Steel) Set

3c) 1998 Upper Deck SPx (Bronze) Set

3d) 1998 Upper Deck SPx (Silver) Set - Incomplete ( 39 / 50 )

3e) 1998 Upper Deck SPx (Gold) Set - Incomplete ( 12 / 50 )

    A) Holofame Insert - Incomplete ( 19 / 20 )

4) 1999 Upper Deck SPx Set *

    A) Highlight Heroes Insert

    B) Masters Insert

    C) Prolifics Insert

    D) SPxcitement Insert

    E) SPxtreme Insert

    F) Starscape Insert

    G) Winning Materials Insert - Incomplete ( 10 / 12 )

5) 2000 Upper Deck SPx Set - Incomplete ( 166 / 168 )**

    A) Highlight Heroes Insert

    B) Powerhouse Insert

    C) Prolifics Insert

    D) Rookie Starscape Insert

    E) SPxcitement Insert

    F) SPxtreme Insert

    G) Winning Materials Insert - Incomplete ( 35 / 36 )

    H) Winning Materials Autographs Insert

6) 2001 Upper Deck SPx Set - Incomplete ( 155 / 156 )

7) 2002 Upper Deck SPx Set

     A) Supreme Signatures Insert - Incomplete ( 23 / 27 )

     B) Winning Materials Insert

     C) Winning Materials (Gold) Insert - Incomplete ( 4 / 41 )

8) 2003 Upper Deck SPx

9) 2004 Upper Deck SPx - Incomplete ( 219 / 221 )

10) 2005 Upper Deck SPx - Do Not Have

     A) SPx Holoview Insert

11) 2006 Upper Deck SPx Set

     A) Rookie Swatch Supremacy Insert

     B) Rookie Winning Materials Insert

     C) Rookie Winning Materials Autographs Insert - ( 3 / 31 )

     C) Swatch Supremacy Insert - Incomplete ( 22 / 37 )

     D) Veteran Winning Materials Insert - Incomplete ( 47 / 49 )

12) 2007 Upper Deck SPx - Do Not Have

13) 2008 Upper Deck SPx - Do Not Have

14) 2009 Upper Deck SPx - Do Not Have

15) 2010 Upper Deck SPx - Incomplete ( 58 / 234 )

      A) Rookie Materials Insert - Incomplete ( 35 / 36 )

      B) Shadow Box Insert - Incomplete ( 7 / 42 )

 

*Note: This set was originally listed as a 135-card set, However after I discovered the #104-X Jevon Kearse and the 134-X Daunte Culpepper Exchange cards, the set is now 137-cards.

**Note: This set was originally listed as a 166-card set, However after I discovered the #139-X Curtis Keaton, the 155-X Thomas Jones, the 157-X Travis Prentice, and the 158-X Travis Taylor Exchange cards, the set is now 168 cards.

 

 

2002 Upper Deck SPx: “Chris Weinke” Winning Materials #WM-CW

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