For a flagship product, 2004 Upper Deck Football is decidedly simple. Rookies are the focus in both the base set and the memorabilia inserts. But outside of that, there isn’t much in the way of checklist bloat and an endless run of insert sets.
The base set has 200 cards plus another 75 short prints. Fifty rookies are inserted one per pack. Another 25 Star Rookies, which encompass the top rookies at the time of the set’s release, are 1:8 packs. Eli Manning, Larry Fitzgerald, Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers lead a strong rookie class.
The base set and rookies have three levels of parallels: Exclusives (/50), Vintage (/10) and one-of-one Press Plates that are inserted at a rate of one per case.
The majority of the other inserts in 2004 Upper Deck Football are memorabilia cards. These include Rookie Futures Jerseys, UD Game Jersey and Dual Game Jersey. UD Game Jersey cards have extremely tough patch versions as well. Rewind to 1997 skips back to the early days of jersey cards in Upper Deck Football.
Autographs are sparse in 2004 Upper Deck Football. Signature Sensations has a large checklist of 60 cards and are considered a case hit.
The only basic insert set in the product is Rookie Prospects. Inserted one per retail pack, it has a 30-card checklist.
2004 Upper Deck Football Trading Cards Breakdown
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Base Set: 200 cards plus 75 short prints (50 rookies – 1:1, 25 Star Rookies – 1:8)
Cards per hobby pack: 8
Packs per box: 24
Release Date: August, 2004
Parallels
Exclusives /50
Vintage /10
Printing Plates 1/1 (each card has four different)
Memorabilia Cards
- Rookie Futures Jerseys – 36 cards, 1:24
- UD Game Jersey – 21 cards, 1:32 Hobby, 1:28 Retail
- Dual Game Jerseys – 8 cards, 1:288
- Rewind to 1997 – 14 cards, 1:288
- Rookie Review – 20 cards, 1:288
- Upper Deck Game Jersey – Numbers – 14 cards, 1:1,500
- UD Game Jersey – Logos – 14 cards, 1:2,500
- UD Game Jersey – Names – 14 cards, 1:5,000
Autographs
Signature Sensations – 60 cards, 1:288
Inserts
Rookie Prospects – 30 cards, 1 per retail pack