MLBPA Says Upper Deck Has Fallen Behind On Payments To Players

The MLBPA in an e-mail Friday told agents that Upper Deck is "experiencing financial difficulty and had not paid a large number of players money it owed them," according to Michael Schmidt of the N.Y. TIMES. The MLBPA said that it is "working with Upper Deck to ensure that the players would be paid." But the union "strongly advised players not to return to Upper Deck any autographs they had signed for the company or to enter into any new agreements with the company until the payments were made." MLB last summer chose Topps as its exclusive trading card licensee, leaving Upper Deck "without a license for the first time since 1989" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/16). BECKETT.com's Tracy Hackler noted the report "would appear to be another in a series of heavy blows delivered to Upper Deck in recent months that has included a stinging settlement in the MLB Properties suit and its failure to come to terms with the NFL Properties on an agreement for 2010" (BECKETT.com, 4/17).