Backgrounder on Dr. Brian H. Price and a list of his hobby innovations

Dr. Brian H. Price, President of In the Game, Inc. has a longstanding history of introducing innovation to the sports card and collectibles industry. Here is a list of some of those innovations.

Dr. Price (in a partnership with Pro Set) was the first major manufacturer to sequentially number cases of product with 1991-92 Parkhurst hockey.

Dr. Price was the first mainstream manufacturer to introduce the concept of a retro-style product with the 1956-57 Parkhurst Missing Link product issued in 1993-94. This was the first of three retro-style hockey sets he released in the 1990s together with the Parkhurst Tall Boy set (issued in 1994-95) and the 1966-67 Parkhurst set (issued in 1995-96). Dr. Price literally had to secure contracts with hundreds of retired players one at a time for inclusion in these products. The concept of the retro-style set has remained popular with other manufacturers to this day. Millions of dollars of revenue have been generated over the years for the retired players in the way of royalties and public appearances as the result of the popularity of these "retro" trading cards.

Dr. Price and his company, In the Game, Inc, generated controversy and a degree of notoriety when he announced he had purchased the only known pair of game-used goalie pads from the legendary Georges Vezina and planned to cut them up for use on hockey trading cards. A great deal of debate was generated within the hobby as collectors discussed the pros and cons of the promotion. The Vezina goalie pad cards first appeared in the 2000-01 Be A Player memorabilia Series. That product subsequently sold out. Attention to the hockey trading card hobby was brought by the release of these cards with articles in the USA Today, the LA Times, the NY Times, and the Financial Post.

Dr. Price was the first manufacturer to insert extra-thick decoy cards in every pack of Be A Player trading cards (beginning with the 2000-01 Signature Series set. These cards were not only designed to deter pack searching, they also featured player images and could be collected as an insert set. In addition, each card had a redemption-point value and collectors could collect enough points to exchange for unique and valuable game-worn jersey cards.

Dr. Price introduced the Ultimate Memorabilia hockey card product in the spring of 2001. This was the first hobby product to strictly use memorabilia cards. It was the first hobby product to be encased in hard plastic holders. It was the first hobby product in which no single card had a print run greater than 90. It was the first hobby product in which every card was sequentially numbered one of two different ways. It was the first hobby product to sell at $99 per pack (one card per pack). And it sold out!

Dr. Price was the first manufacturer to introduce an insert set featuring redemption cards based on the 2001 NHL Entry Draft (found in the 2001-02 Be A Player Memorabilia Series). Collectors have the opportunity to send in their redemption cards when each respective player makes his NHL debut.

Dr. Price was the first manufacturer to introduce a hockey card set exclusively featuring goalies. The Between the Pipes set was issued in March 2002 to rave reviews from collectors and the hobby media.

Dr. Price introduces the Made to Order redemption card, the first trading card in which the collector decides which NHL player will be featured on his game-worn memorabilia card.

"I am very proud of my contributions to the hockey trading card hobby and hope the I will be able to make as many contributions in my second ten years in the business as I did in my first. I am certainly going to try."
- Dr. Brian H. Price