1993 Stadium Club Master Photo

In order to get one of these you either had to buy a box of of 1993 Stadium Club or get a mail-in redemption card which were inserted 1 in 24 packs. The mail-in card got you 3 of the Master Photos.There were 30 of these in the set, of which I have 11. In Beckett, they don't carry much of a premium over the regular card. Beckett lists the Nolan Ryan card at $3 and the Master Photo at $5. These are big, 5" by 7". The 'Master Photo" card features the same photo as the player's regular card but the photo area is a bit bigger. The regular card is cropped at the on-photo gold foil border. Here's what the regular Ryan card looks like:

These are available on eBay. Someone is offering 25 copies of the Mark McGwire for $4 plus $6 for shipping. The McGwire books at $3 so its a pretty good deal. Someone else is offering two packs of these with Bonds, Strawberry, Clark, Canseco, Boggs and Tartabull for $99.99. I'm temped to ask him a question. "Are you kidding?"

1993 Stadium Club First Day Issue

This is an early example of baseball card companies trying to create scarcity in a product this is produced like a commodity. In 1993 through 1995, and again in 1998 to 2000, Topps put a foil label on the Stadium Club cards they made on the first day of issue. I have no doubt (not much anyway) that the cards so labeled were actually made on the first day but really, what difference would it make. I'm sure Topps got this idea from the postage stamp collecting world where first day covers are a big collecting item. In that world, a big deal is made of the first day issued stamps as usually they come on a post card or envelope which is canceled with a special stamp showing the date.

Topps idea in 1993 was to put the FDI stamp on 2,000 cards. Beckett lists these as being worth 8 to 20 times the base card. It also says to beware of transferred FDI logos. I know mine are genuine because I got them in a pack. They were seeded into packs a 1:24. Did they really only produce 2,000 sets on the first day?

In the 1998 to 2000 run, they upped the ante on these. In addition to the FDI logo, the cards were numbered, for example, to only 200 in 1997. Did they really only make 200 sets on the first day? Are these the first 200 sets made? Who knows? Who cares? In 2000, there were also Stadium Club Chrome cards, and FDI Chrome cards. I actually have a First Day Issue Stadium Chrome Refractor card, numbered to 25. Unfortunately, it's only Ryan Klesko, but Beckett says it's worth $20. The 2000 cards don't have a gold foil logo like the earlier cards. It has "First Day Issue" printed in gold foil. Probably harder to counterfeit.

1997 Stadium Club Patent Leather

Cards made of leather!

Or at least leather textured something. This is a two ply card. The back is regular card stock. The background of the front is either real leather or imitation leather. There are cut outs in the background where the webbing of the glove is. In the photo, the black area below the foreground glove is also cut out. The player name and the Stadium Club logo are in gold foil.

Mark played for 16 years, the first 13 with the Cubs, the last three with the D-Backs. I never got used to seeing him in a D-Backs uni. He was a 4-time Gold Glove 1st baseman and a 3-time All-Star.

His life-time fielding percentage is 0.995. 1996 was one of his best years with a fielding percentage of 0.997. How good is that? He had 1,259 put-outs, 107 assists and only 4 errors. He was also a career 0.303 hitter with 173 home runs.

1997 Stadium Club Firebrand

Cards made of wood!

For whatever reason, wood was popular in baseball cards. I've got several different types. This is my favorite. I got this with a redemption card. It is actually made of wood with some sort of non-glossy finish on the back.

It also is laser cut at the top around the "Firebrand". I think it's laser cut rather than die cut. Topps had several cards in the mid-1990s that were laser cut. They must have gotten a new toy down at the printing shop. The card also features gold foil on the player name and Stadium Club logo. Topps was playing around with various materials for baseball cards in those years. I've got another Stadium Club insert from 1997 which is made of leather (or maybe faux leather) with a card stock backing. I'll feature that one later. Wood and leather, two natural materials associated with baseball.

2000 Stadium Club Clear Shots Chrome

Transparent baseball cards.

Card companies have played around with different materials for many years. If you look around you can find baseball cards made of cloth, plastic, wood, tin, steel, and aluminum.

Clear acetate has been a popular medium. Think about Topps Tek and EX.

This card was an insert in 2000 Topps Stadium Club Chrome. There was a refractor version as well.

This is perhaps my favorite example of a clear card. Although it is hard to tell in the scan, the background of the card is transparent. The printed player photo and the black area with the player name at the bottom are printed on both sides, although they let the "Clear Shots" logo show through in reverse on the back.

What I really like is that the front of the card shows the front of Ken Griffey, Jr. and the back of the card shows his back.

There were 10 cards in the set. All have posed standing shots like this one. It takes a brave man to allow his butt to be plastered on a baseball card. I can think of some players who probably shouldn't appear on a card like this. Cecil Fielder comes to mind. Maybe Prince Fielder as well.

Someone recently posted another Griffey card where he was smiling. He's smiling here as well.

1995 Stadium Club - Wilson Alvarez

My first impression of this card was, "What's with the multi-colored polo shirt?"

Isn't Wilson a little old to be in his good clothes looking for a pick up game on a street corner? Apparently not. There he is on a Sunday afternoon shaking kids down for money. The billiards hall wouldn't be open for hours, so he had to kill time by hustling kids on the street.

"I bet you can't hit my fastball", said Wilson.

"I bet you ten bucks that I can, old man", said some snot nosed punk kid.

Wilson then proceeded to blow the kid away with three pitches. He made ten bucks and sent the kid home crying. This is what multi-millionaires do when they are on strike. The 1994 strike hurt more than baseball, it hurt real live people. Major League players were forced to take to the street to practice their craft. It was a sad time indeed.

I suspect Wilson could only fool a handful of kids in 1994. He was famous enough to where he could be recognized. He threw a no-hitter a few years before and made the playoffs last season. His team was primed to head back to the playoffs. He wouldn't be a man to fool many. He took whatever money he could get.

This card painfully reminds us that the strike had an impact on even the most talented players. I hate to think what the common players did to make ends meet during this time. I would imagine it wasn't pretty.