After nearly 20 years in the sports card business, Upper Deck is getting a new look.

Specifically, the familiar green diamond logo that has adorned every set since Upper Deck's historic 1989 baseball set is history, replaced by a modernized blue version. You can see both the old and new versions right here. The first new release to feature the new mark will be 2008 Upper Deck Series 1 Baseball, due to go live on January 15.

What brought on the change? In a press release last Friday, Upper Deck's vice president of Creative Services, Martin Welling, said the company had very specific goals.

"Specifically, we wanted to accomplish three things: make our branding more contemporary; make our mark more legible to improve our presence at retail; and to make our logo more prominent so that it stood out against our competitors," Welling said.

My personal take is that it definitely accomplishes the first goal, updating the logo while still keeping the diamond shape that collectors identify with Upper Deck products. Hobbyists are already debating the merits of the new look though, especially at Beckett's Behind the Scenes blog.

Images courtesy of and copyright Upper Deck.