Puck Junk

The year was 1994. O.J. Simpson was accused of double murder, “I Swear” by All-4-One dominated the music charts and soccer’s World Cup was held in the United States.

As the U.S. prepares to host another FIFA World Cup this month – with co-hosts Canada and Mexico – one can’t help but look back to the summer of ’94 and an iconic Upper Deck soccer set that was released at the time.

The card set was unique in that soccer collectors, until as recently as 2018, were mostly into stickers, not cards. Trading cards are a largely North American pursuit, but one that is now global. This was not the case 32 years ago.

The Upper Deck USA ’94 set made up of 330 base cards (both in English and Spanish versions) and featured the greatest soccer players in the world at the time, including Italy’s Roberto Baggio and U.S. defender Alexi Lalas. There is also an English/Japanese version of the set that’s much harder to find.

I bought lots of these cards starting in 1993. Soccer cards were a rarity at the time. Their design and look were typical Upper Deck for the time. No other mainstream card company had ever made soccer cards in the U.S., other than Pacific’s MISL (Men’s Indoor Soccer League) or Pro Set’s English League sets. Notably, Upper Deck’s soccer set also featured two of hockey’s biggest legends: Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky.

Continue reading “Clemente’s Corner: When Hockey Heroes Crashed a Soccer Set”