Staying in the Club

Fuji commented on yesterday's post saying how much he likes Stadium Club cards. So this post is for Fuji!

Card Number 1012: Topps Stadium Club Members Only, 1994; #43

Tony featured in this 50-card set that was only sold to members of Topps' Stadium Club. According to Baseballcardpedia, in 1994 Topps issued 50-card sets of baseball, football, or ice hockey players, and members could choose one set as part of their membership. They were also given the option to buy the other sets. The 'Members Only' card design is different to the main Stadium Club release in 1994.

I suspect the guy who wrote this cardback was later headhunted by Fleer/Skybox, because the Picasso references are reminiscent of the fanciful cardbacks found in their ranges. It looks like Tony is signing a baseball card in the photo - I hope that card is treasured somewhere. 

The cardback doesn't add in this context, but Tony's "2nd-best mark ever" in 1993, wasn't enough to win him the batting title that year. His second run of four titles in a row began the year this card was released!

And now for something a little bit different - not a new card, but one that looks new.

Last year I acquired a number of cards close together, so I'm not sure where this came from, but it was in a job lot of cards. When I saw it, I thought, 'ooh, that's a variant'. but weirdly, it's not. The card in question was this one:

This is a card from a subset in the 1995 Stadium Club set, where various players were recruited into the "Extreme Corps". I thought this might be some kind of foil variant, except the only variation I can find listed is a silver versus a rainbow foil variant. These cards are both rainbow-ish, albeit covering different parts of the spectrum - the blue end and the red end. 

So, although this isn't a new card, I've put both of them in my binder. They look different enough due to the foil colouration and look nice next to each other. Of course, I've also now learned that there is one with just silver foil on, so I am going to have to keep an eye out for that too. And any other colours of the rainbow!

Total: 1012 cards

Flying high with Skybox

Skybox and Fleer were merged together when Marvel acquired both companies and then stayed together after Marvel went bankrupt and sold off their trading card companies as a going concern. (That sentence is proof, if any were needed, that the 90s was a different time. Imagine Marvel going bankrupt now!) 

Anyway, as part of the Fleer family, it's fitting that some Skybox cards are squeezed into Fabulous Fleer Fortnight.

Card Number 951: Skybox Supernatural, 1999; #141

This has a metal sheen to it similar to the Skybox Metal Universe cards. It makes it a rascal to scan.

The awkward poise in the photo, combined with the finish and the colouration of this card, make me feel slightly uncomfortable. Tony is running, but it looks like he is jumping. His bat is flying off the card. It's all angular and weird, mainly because of the graphic design choices. 

The back is remarkably restrained for a Skybox card. An unfussy picture and a big stats box. The curves on the stats box are unusual.

Card Number 952: Skybox Thunder www.Batterz.com, 1999; #4

That web address is part of the name of this 10-card insert series insert series from Skybox Thunder. It's all fancy and cyberspacey because it was 1999 and the Internet was going to change the world! In case you think I'm joking, look there is a vintage web page header on the card front!

On the back we get a pure trademark Skybox weird cardback write-up that kicks off with plagiarising 'Ghetto Superstar' by Pras. 

There is also another reference to 'Death, taxes and Tony Gwynn batting over .300' being the only certainties in life! This one predates the Fleer Focus card from 2000 that I blogged about a couple of days ago. Not content with plagiarising popular songs, Fleer also reused their own weird descriptions!

One day, when I run out of new cards to blog I am going to do a 'Best of Skybox Weird Write-ups' post. I promise. (Remind me of this and hold me to my promise!) 

That batterz.com web address is long dead by the way. But continuing on the Internet theme...

Card Number 953: Skybox E-ticket, 2000; #9

Back in 2000 just about every word had an "e" attached to make it internetty. Also, check out the hand cursor icon. 

On the back is a slightly more restrained write up. There is also another long-dead website that a keen fan could surf to and look at more photos. How many more photos? It feels to me that if Fleer had lots of photos they wouldn't have used the same photo on the front as they did on the back. That pixellation effect doesn't fool me!

I love these late 90s nostalgic reminders of the innocent days of the Internet when it was all shiny and exciting and the thought of seeing more photos would persuade people to type a web address into their computer. Who would have predicted it would have ended up where we are now?

Total: 953 cards

Fleer have fun with puns

I imagine the ideas meetings at Fleer Corp were fun occasions, given what sometimes resulted. How about an insert series that was basically a pun?

Card Number 652: Fleer Showcase Consummate Prose, 2000; #6

I imagine the brief for the designer went something like this.

"It's consummate prose, see. You know like how people say a guy is a 'consummate professional', like that!"

"Yeah, but you don't spell pros with an 'e' on the end, that's like writing."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know. I dunno, put him on a scroll or something."

"Put... him... on... a... scroll...er....okaaaaaaay."

And voila!

In it's favour, this card looks a bit different. It might have worked better if the scroll had been covered in some actual prose instead of the words 'consummate prose' repeated over and over.

But then they wanted to save the prose for the back.

I'm used to reading comparisons between Tony and his contemporaries, or with baseball legends of yore. I think this is the first time I've read comparisons with Edison and Beethoven.

Fleer employed some florid writers at the time. Usually they were let off the loose on Skybox or Metal Universe cards, but sometimes they got to liven up Fleer's short-lived random ranges as well. This is one of those times.

Total: 652 cards