Join the (Stadium) Club

A few posts back I included a couple of cards from Topps's Stadium Club range and realised I hadn't yet blogged about any Stadium Club cards. So to rectify that, I'm going to post some over the next few posts.

Stadium Club was Topps's premium product in the early 90s, produced to compete with Upper Deck. From the outset the cards featured 'full bleed' imagery, in other words, they didn't have borders. They also tried to use better, more innovative photography, and had jazzier card backs.

Card Number 151: Topps Stadium Club, 1991; #308
This shows off the best of Stadium Club's very first set. A close up, high resolution, photo that is in focus and captures the subject in a way that makes them look good. In other words, it's the opposite of the kind of photos Topps used on their regular flagship products at the time.

Perhaps to highlight my point about Topps photography they used a picture of Tony's rookie card on the reverse, where the main focus of the picture is Tony's bottom.

I have a theory Topps included rookie cards to remind everyone that they were the company with the history in the baseball card world, unlike those upstarts Upper Deck. (I've only just noticed he's not wearing number 19 on that uniform. Whoah!)

Topps also tried to provide some more in depth 'analysis' on the back, dividing up Tony's hitting averages on fastball pitches and identifying strengths and weaknesses. I don't think that would be much use to the average baseball card collector, but it may have informed some discussion among pitching staff. "Pitch it at waist height on the inside!"

Card Number 152: Topps Stadium Club, 1992; #825
Another iconic photo. I particularly like how the photographer is reflected in Tony's Oakleys.

The cardback is very similar to the previous year, including the rookie card.

Again, the analysis is about how well Tony fared against fastballs, although they have limited this to batting against left-handed pitchers. The square for right-handed pictures is confusingly left blank. I'm certain he hit a few.

There was a special issue of Stadium Club in 1992 called Stadium Club Dome. It was mainly rookie cards, draft picks and the players selected for the All Star Game in 1991, which was held in Toronto.

Card Number 153: Topps Stadium Club Dome, 1992; #73
The first Stadium Club card to feature Tony at the plate.

The back includes the logo for the All Star Game in Toronto. There was a fashion in the early 90s for cards devoted to the All Star Games - Tony had an Upper Deck card from the Toronto game as well, but they had stolen a march on Topps and released it at the tail end of the 1991 season.

The statistics on the back explain why Tony was selected for his seventh consecutive All Star squad in 1991. His good form continued as he got two hits in the game, although he ended up on the losing side.

Card Number 154: Topps Stadium Club, 1993; #538
This photo looks like it's from the same day as the 1992 card photo.

This was the last year of the oval Stadium club logo. Nineties design was starting to creep in, with the little ball element whizzing in from behind Tony on the card.

The cardback includes a photo with very crisp Padres pinstripes. The rookie card makes its final appearance on a Stadium Club cardback.

The stats on the back have grown more eclectic. Tony's hitting average when playing on artificial turf was high. His percentage of missed swings was incredibly low, getting down towards 1 in 20. (That's actually quite incredible, almost 19 times in 20 swings he connected with the ball.)

Card Number 155: Topps Stadium Club, 1994; #151 (Gold Parallel)
The foil bit under 'Gwynn' marks this out as a parallel. I actually didn't realise this until I came to write this blog post. That's another ordinary base card to chase down.

I think this is a great photo, reminiscent of the best of the Studio cards. Tony has a no nonsense expression. He looks serious, but not stern. Also, that's his name on the bat he's holding. Product placement!

To be a proper Nineties cardback, a card needs a mix of fonts, all in different colours, odd kerning, design elements dropped all over each other, and as many licensing logos as possible. There are at least six fonts crammed onto the cardboard rectangle here.

The little batting graphic is supposed to illustrate which areas of the field Tony was most likely to hit the ball towards. He was remarkably consistent, according to this, as he sprayed the ball in every direction about equal amounts of time.

Card Number 156: Topps Stadium Club, 1994; #537
A second card for Tony in the set, part of the "Quick Start" insert series.

The blur effect makes this card look cool. And a bit like the overly airbrushed monstrosities being issued today.

From what I can work out, the players in the Quick Start series all had a tendency to start the season well and then tail off. In Tony's case that usually because his injuries started to mount up. One of the contributors to He Left His Heart in San Diego reckoned that if Tony hadn't played the final few weeks of the season for most of the seasons his overall batting average would have been higher and he would have won more titles. But Tony wasn't that kind of player. He wanted to go out and play even if his form was tailing off.

There are more cards from the Stadium Club to come over the next few days.

Total: 156/394

Monday Mixer Miscellany

The usual round up of unconnected odds and sods today, although there is sort of a theme here. These cards are just slightly odd ones.

Card Number 101: Upper Deck Collector's Choice "Push Out", 1999; #24

Trading Card Database lists this as "mini bobblehead". I'm intrigued whether they actually work as bobbleheads, but I'm not pushing out my push out card to find out.

The back has the instructions of how to assemble it.

This is one of those innovations from a card company that leaves me wondering if anyone actually did this.

Card Number 102: Score, 1992 (All Star), #779

Another case of putting Tony's real head atop a cartoon body.

I actually really like this card. I even love the funny way they've written 'All Star' in a cartoonish font. Panini own Score now, and they've revived this style of card, which is a great choice for a retro card design in my opinion (I have a card of Fernando Tatis Jr in this style that somebody sent me.)

In a previous post about Score base cards I said that Score tended to have better cardbacks than card fronts. Not true in this case, but this is definitely one of the better cardbacks for an All Star card. For one thing it has the National League line up for the 1991 All Star Game.

For the record, the 1991 All Star Game was in Toronto and the National League lost 2-4. Tony had 4 at bats, got 2 hits, scored 1 of the National League's 2 runs. He made it home when Andre Dawson hit a home run. (Box score)

Card Number 103: Upper Deck Collector's Choice You Make the Play, 1996; #17 (Groundout variant)

I think that is officially the longest set name I will ever write on this blog. 'You Make the Play' was a baseball card game you could, um, play, in some way. There are two versions of this card, a "Groundout" and a "Single". Every card in the 90 card set has a variant, making it a 180 card set in actuality.

Every time I see this card with Tony surrounded by a neon glow it makes me think of the Ready Brek Kid, with his bright orange outline after he'd eaten Ready Brek. The adverts had the tagline "Central heating for kids!" Which in turn reminds me of the rumour that Viz Comic got done for a tasteless joke that a high strength lager was "Central Heating for Tramps!" It's funny where a train of thought ends up, and mine always ends up there every time I see this card.

The back is like this.

All the card backs in the set are the same, so that you can actually play the game. From the packaging pictures on TCDb, it looks like You Make the Play cards were inserted as 'bonus cards' in regular packs of Collector's Choice cards. 

Card Number 104: Upper Deck Collector's Choice Stick-Ums, 1998; #23 

Another insert from Collector's Choice packs. They are stickers, not cards.

You actually get five sticker elements on the front, which include Tony, his name, and two San Diego logo motifs. The fifth sticker is a generic baseball.

The back is a checklist of the Stick-Ums. There are some star names on the list.

That's the end of this week's Monday Mixer. I hope you enjoyed it.

Total: 104/394

Hitting the Upper Deck

As I've mentioned in my hello panel on the right hand side of my blog, I live in Wales. Baseball cards are a niche interest in the UK that is growing with a lot of new people starting out in the hobby. So sometimes I include some information about the cards that I show, or about baseball, that is well-known to long-time collectors.

Today's blog post is about the Upper Deck Card Company. A lot of card collectors and bloggers will know a lot of this, so please be patient, or scroll down and just see the cards. (I don't mind, honest!)

Towards the end of the 80s, the baseball card market was getting a bit crowded. Topps, Fleer and DonRuss were all producing larger and larger sets of cards, and the hobby was entering what became known as the "junk wax" era. The nickname is from the way cards were wrapped in wax packets, and because so many were produced. Unopened packs from that time are still widely available.

In 1988 a new company entered the fray, Upper Deck. Their cards were different - a premium product - which sold out in their debut 1989 season. The popularity of Upper Deck cards was such that they won "Card Set of the Year" every year from 1989 through to 2004. Upper Deck cards are noticeably different to their contemporary competitors. They are of better stock, glossy, have colour photos on the front and the back, and boasted much better photos. I've already written about how Topps chose some odd images of Tony Gwynn, but he was much better served than some other players. Upper Deck didn't do weird behind the plate photos of a players shoulder.

Upper Deck were true innovators as well. They were the first card company to insert autographed cards into packs. They created the concept of relic cards. They also led the field in other innovations like foil on cards and insert series in their collections.

In 2007 Upper Deck almost bought the Topps company, which was struggling at the time. However, they failed in their takeover bid. The new owners of Topps paid for an exclusive licence with Major League Baseball and Upper Deck were sued for copyright infringement for including team logos and team names. Rather than produce cards without logos, Upper Deck quit the baseball card market.

So, this blog post is a tribute to the wonderful disrupters, Upper Deck.

Unfortunately I don't have Tony's card from 1989, so I'm going to have to start with...

Card Number 17: Upper Deck 1990, #344

I really like this card. Tony is trying to avoid getting tagged out at a base there. I think he looks like he is dancing. I'd love to be able to identify the baseman. I think that orange stripe on his arm is an Astros uniform, and his name seems to end RAN. The Astros second baseman in 1989 (when this photo was most likely taken) was Bill Doran, so maybe he is Tony's dance partner here.

On the back we have Tony following through on a swing. The only criticism I'd make of this card is that the stats look awkward perpendicular to the photo.

Card Number 18: Upper Deck 1991, #255

Tony on the bench, watching the game. I'm trying to work out what he is doing with his fingers. I think he is applying tape to them to improve his grip on the bat handle.

I'm just going to call this now, I don't think there will be a better photo on a card back in any post on this blog. Here Tony is sliding headfirst to try and touch the base. I presume he made it. I don't think there's any way to identify the baseman's leg in this photo, although he is wearing Nikes! The stats and the photo align much more satisfactorily with each other, if not with the card number and licensing logos.

Card Number 19: Upper Deck 1992, #274

This must be a photo from a training session. Tony was one of the first players to popularise wearing sunglasses in the outfield.

On the back he's signing autographs, most likely at the 1991 All Star Game. It looks like fans are handing him special sheets for him to sign. He's holding a Sharpie marker but someone is handing him a sheet of paper and a really chunky marker as well.

In the book He Left His Heart in San Diego, one of Tony's longstanding friends said that Tony was always very careful to sign things properly because he felt it was important for the fans to have his undivided attention. Judging by this crowd he was going to be signing for a while!

Card Number 20: Upper Deck 1993, #165

After sticking with roughly the same format for a few years, this Upper Deck design was a bit of a gear-shift in direction for them. This is another outfield photo, this time of a genuine outfield. That looks like Smokey the Bear on the advert behind him. (Tony actually appeared on a card with Smokey once, as chronicled by Fuji, one of my favourite card bloggers.)

The back features Tony starting a slide towards a base or home. The photographer has managed to catch him with both feet off the ground, though.

One thing I noticed looking at all 4 cards is that only once in 8 photos is Tony shown at the plate, and even then he is not in his batting stance, having followed through on a swing.

And, as a bonus...

Card Number 21: Upper Deck Final Edition 1991, #97F

Towards the end of the 1991 season, Upper Deck brought out a smaller range of cards called Final Edition. There were 100 cards in the range, including several rookies who had debuted during the season, a few big names and twenty All Stars. Tony was among the 20 All Stars and had the logo from the All Star Game in Toronto on his card.

It's another card picture where he is signing autographs. He is wearing exactly the same outfit as in the picture on the back of the 1992 base card, including the sunglasses and wristguards, so I think this photo was taken at the same time. I particularly like the really excited kid in the Athletics cap who looks like he is reaching out to touch Tony. You don't get many cards with fans' faces on. They're always fun.

Tony was in the starting line up in Toronto. As the back of the card says he got two hits and scored one of the National League Team's two runs. For a plain cardback, this is a simple and effective design. Yet another thing that Upper Deck did well.

Total 21/394

I mentioned the Chronicles of Fuji in this post. It's a great blog. I really want to thank Fuji for his encouragement and for giving this project a shout out on his blog a few days back.