2013 Fleer Retro
Description
2013 Fleer Retro was a proposed 100-card set, to have been released by Upper Deck, in August 2013. The product was unveiled at the 2013 Las Vegas Industry Summit, but feedback from Summit attendees, and The Hobby at large, caused Upper Deck to cancel Retro (along with 2013 Sweet Spot Classic). Although Upper Deck had lost their MLB Properties license in 2009, UD still retained their MLBPA license. The plan for Fleer Retro was to issue cards of current Major League players, but in the style of various 1990s Fleer baseball sets.
As part of the terms of a lawsuit with MLB Properties after the release of the unlicensed 2010 Upper Deck, UD agreed to never again produce cards featuring players in MLB uniforms even if those uniforms had their MLB trademarks removed. In Upper Deck's Las Vegas Industry Summit presentation promoting the set, 2013 Fleer Retro was to feature players in generic uniforms, not in the color scheme of their current Major League team.
For the 2013 Las Vegas Industry Summit, Upper Deck -- which had purchased the rights to the Fleer brand name in 2005 -- distributed a Mike Trout promo card for a proposed MLBPA-licensed baseball set.
Distribution
Reviews
Checklist
Promo
To promote 2013 Fleer Retro Baseball, Upper Deck produced a Mike Trout promo card done in the style of the 1997-98 Skybox Metal Precious Metal Gems parallel set. 160 Trout cards were printed: 100 in Red, 50 in Blue, and 10 in Emerald Green, all serial-numbered, and randomly inserted into promotional packs distributed to attendees who were also members of Upper Deck's Certified Diamond Dealer network.
As of the Summer of 2015, the Mike Trout Precious Metal Gems Industry Summit promo cards remain the last licensed baseball cards Upper Deck has produced.
LV1 Mike Trout (Red) 100
LV1 Mike Trout (Blue) 50
LV1 Mike Trout (Emerald) 10
Base Set
A checklist was never released. 50 of the cards were to have been done in the style of the 1960 Fleer set, the other half in 1961 Fleer.