New 2001-2002 Signature Series Debut

In the Game, Inc., the manufacturer of the Be A Player and Parkhurst brands of hockey trading cards announces the return of one of the most eagerly anticipated and successful brands of the year, the 2001-02 Signature Series.

This is the ninth year of the Signature Series and the 2001-02 edition will be one of the best ever. It features one autographed card in every pack drawing from a tremendous list of signers, double the number of memorabilia cards, autographed 500-Goal Scorer jersey cards, and that's just the beginning!

The 225-card base set features established veterans and big-name rookies alike. As is now the tradition, you can collect both the base set and an autographed version of the base set. To make matters especially interesting, players have also signed an extremely limited number of Gold cards as well as their regular Silver cards.

"The idea of including one autographed card in a pack has been a winner ever since the Signature Series made its debut several years ago," said Dr. Brian H. Price, President of In the Game. "Rather than tamper with a successful concept, we are taking strides to simply add to it. Now in addition to all the signed cards, this product offers an excellent selection of memorabilia cards at a more generous insertion rate than ever before. And through it all, we've managed to hold on the price point."

This year's edition of Signature Series includes a special insert set (non-memorabilia cards) called Certified. This 60-card set focuses on the premier veteran stars of the NHL and can be found in one of three versions with stated print runs of either 100, 50, as well as one-of-ones. Thirty-five of these 60 cards are also found in special "limited" and "extra-limited" autographed versions. Key signatures include Mario Lemieux, Joe Sakic, Dominik Hasek, Paul Kariya, Owen Nolan (a first-time signer for In the Game) and Wayne Gretzky.

Hobbyists will find 12 different memorabilia insert sets comprised of over 400 different cards to collect. These will be inserted at an average rate of one per every two boxes and as has been the case with every Be A Player and Parkhurst product in 2001-02, the stated print run of each of these sets will be under 100 cards.

We'll begin with a selection of 70 Game-Used Jersey cards featuring all of today's top stars. Names like Kariya, Thornton, Iginla, Sakic, Roy, Yzerman, Lindros, and Lemieux... they're all there. As an extra bonus, 49 of these cards will also be found with the player's autograph. This is the Signature Series after all! With only 10 signed cards of each of these players, anybody who pulls one of these will truly own a high-value collectible. There is also a 70-card Stick and Jersey set along with a 50-card In the Numbers set (featuring a piece of number from a player's game-worn jersey) and a 50-card Game-Used Emblem set (featuring a piece of an emblem from a player's game-worn jersey).

The Franchise Game-Used Jersey set (30 cards) focuses on the premier player of each NHL team while the 30-card Teammates Game-Used Jersey set presents impressive duos from across the league.

The NHL's best rearguards get their due in the 12-card Department of Defense set. Then there's the Vintage Autographs set, a series of 41 cards signed by some of the most notable names in hockey history like Phil Esposito, Jean Beliveau, Bobby Hull, Guy Lafleur and the immortal Mr. Hockey.

International Gold, International Silver, and International Bronze are each eight card series paying tribute to the medal winning players from the 2002 Olympics. These are a fitting tribute to the stars from Team Canada, Team USA, and Team Russia and each card is adorned with a piece of game-worn jersey from that player's respective NHL team.

Finally, we have to bring your attention to the 28-card 500-Goal Scorers set. Not only have we produced a set featuring game-worn jerseys from every member of the 500-goal club, we have done it for the third time this season. The concept (with a different design) also appeared in the 2001-02 Memorabilia Series and the 2001-02 Parkhurst set. To sweeten the pot, many of these 28 cards will also be found with autographs. This is truly one of the most impressive insert sets ever created.

The popular He Shoots, He Scores decoy and point redemption program continues in the Signature Series. The popularity of this program is growing with each Be A Player issue. Every pack of 2001-02 Signature Series will contain either one of these extra-thick decoy cards or a memorabilia card. Each decoy card comes with a point value and if you collect enough points, you can redeem the cards in exchange for unique game-worn jersey cards of top NHL stars and numbered out of 20.

The 2001-02 Signature Series will be released on April 23. Each pack will contain four cards (plus one decoy or memorabilia card). There are 12 packs in ever box and production has been limited to 1,400 sequentially-numbered cases.

In the Game has been producing Be A Player hockey cards since the 1998-99 season. The company's product lineup for 2001-02 features six brands including Be A Player Memorabilia (released August 2001), Parkhurst (released December 2001), Between the Pipes (released March 2002), Signature Series, the Ultimate Memorabilia 2nd Edition as well as the Update Series.

For more information, please visit the website at www.baptradingcards.com.