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We're happy to report that the Upper Deck Company has agreed to be the sponsor of the NFBC's Weekly Contest, providing 26 autographed memorabilia prizes ranging in value from $100 each to $1,100. Each participant in the NFBC will compete every week for one autographed memorabilia item with the best team from that week (Monday through Sunday's games) winning the valuable prize. You will now be able to check your standings each day three different ways: League standings, overall standings and weekly standings.



Upper Deck is one of the leading card manufacturers in the sports collectibles industry and its Upper Deck Authenticated company has a patented five-step process to ensure authenticity. It has exclusive memorabilia contracts with Ken Griffey Jr., Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui and all three are included in our list of prizes, along with items from no fewer than nine Hall of Famers. We'll picture and show the value of each item under "Weekly Prizes" later today and prominently profile each weekly winner during the season.



Look for more details on this soon and feel free to check out all of Upper Deck's items at www.upperdeckstore.com or www.upperdeck.com.



One of my goals is to provide incentive for every NFBC member to compete hard every day for all 26 weeks of the MLB season. By providing a weekly contest, it gives everyone an incentive to keep battling right up until the end because you could still win a valuable item in September even if you're out of the race for your league title or the $100,000 grand prize. So there shouldn't be any "dead teams" when everyone is battling for the top prize because you can still win valuable prizes by finishing strong or putting together that one improbable week.



Here's a list of the weekly items, not in any weekly order at this time, with the retail price of each item:



1. Ichiro Suzuki 2003 autographed All-Star baseball, $500.

2. Ken Griffey Jr. autographed bat, $400.

3. Hideki Matsui autographed bat, $850.

4. Ivan Rodriguez autographed catcher's mitt, $550.

5. Roger Clemens autographed Yankees cap, $350.

6. Ken Griffey Jr. autographed Reds road jersey, $650.

7. Jeff Bagwell autographed 16x20 photo unframed, $200.

8. Craig Biggio autographed triple exposure unframed, $200.

9. Ken Griffey Jr. autographed photo at the plate unframed, $250.

10. Derek Jeter autographed 16x20 photo unframed, $450.

11. Robin Yount, autographed 5x7 3,000 Hit framed, $100.

12. Paul Molitor, autographed 5x7 3,000 Hit framed, $100.

13. George Brett, autographed 5x7 3,000 Hit framed, $100.

14. Al Kaline, autographed 5x7 3,000 Hit framed, $100.

15. Wade Boggs, autographed 5x7 3,000 Hit framed, $100.

16. Rod Carew, autographed 5x7 3,000 Hit framed, $100.

17. Eddie Murray, autographed 5x7 3,000 Hit framed, $100.

18. Lou Brock, autographed 5x7 3,000 Hit framed, $100.

19. Tony Gwynn, autographed 5x7 3,000 Hit framed, $100.

20. Stan Musial, autographed 5x7 3,000 Hit framed, $100.

21. Hideki Matsui, autographed batting helmet, $650.

22. Alex Rodriguez, autographed Rangers jersey, $650.

23. Tony Gwynn, autographed glove, $550.

24. Hideki Matsui, autographed 2003 All-Star workout jersey, $1,100.

25. Hideki Matsui, autographed Numbers Piece, $800.

26. Ichiro Suzuki autographed Numbers Piece 2001 Rookie of the Year, $700.

Very nice indeed, Greg! Well done!

WOW! That's a nice surprize. This event just keeps getting better.

Bravo. This gets more fun by the day!

Thanks.

Keep it rolling Greg

Nice prizes Greg, keep up the good work. I can't understand how anyone who loves who loves to compete in fantasy baseball and can scrape together the money can resist joining NFBC. If for no other reason then to say they were in NFBC the very first year it was ever played. Maybe you need to make up a certificate for everyone?

I hope to do better than that. Our intention is to roll out an NFBC store next week with an apparel line that is available for anyone who wants a shirt, hat or whatever. One of my suggestions was to take orders for "inaugural year" items because I also believe we'll look back on 2004 someday and say it was the start of something special. I can't give those away, but those who feel the same pride that I do will get the chance to buy those items and wear them proudly.



Now I spoiled another surprise. Oh well, act surprised when I announce this next week.

Well done Greg and Upper Deck!! Class act!

Maybe next year the prize for week 26 will be different?

22. Alex Rodriguez, autographed Rangers jersey, $650.

23. Tony Gwynn, autographed glove, $550.

24. Hideki Matsui, autographed 2003 All-Star workout jersey, $1,100.

25. Hideki Matsui, autographed Numbers Piece, $800.

26. Gordon Gekko autographed 16x20 NFBC Inaugural Champion photo unframed, $Priceless.

Didn't Greg say that the prizes were in no particular order? In any event, a 16x20 snapshot of Gek is akin to the photos of Alfred E. Newman that Mad magazine used to sell--"suitable for wrapping fish."



So when are we going for that drink at Jake's Dilemma? Or was it Blondies...

Originally posted by King of Queens:

So when are we going for that drink at Jake's Dilemma? Or was it Blondies... Either. Maybe my crew and I will stop there after the Friday night reception. I'll let you know.

Perhaps a quick cab ride down to Hogs n Heffers is in order...

You are right, the prizes were in no particular order, but then I started putting them in order once I listed them. They are now in tentative order, but they could change as I look at the All-Star break and review September again. All of the images of the items will be posted online by STATS today, so you can view all of them under Weekly Prizes. With any luck, we'll have another announcement soon that includes more prizes.

Greg, you indeed continue to make this event special and everyday seems like Christmas with all these gifts continuing to appear...just make sure to keep the Lizard out of the prize vault, wouldn't be good for PR if gamers start opening up weekly treats and have his mug staring at them...