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

Hit Machine 3000 part deux

At the very start of September I blogged about receiving some cards in a giveaway from Jeff at Wax Pack Wonders. It included a numbered card from an insert series that Pacific released to celebrate Tony achieving his 3000th hit in the game.

I recently watched Tony's speech from his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and he talked about how when he scored his 2000th hit his former team-mate Jerald Clark was on first base for their opponents, the Colorado Rockies. He said he remembered saying to Jerald, "I need to get another thousand hits." Six years to the day later, he snagged his 3000th.

The Pacific insert series was called Hit Machine 3000, which is such a turn-of-the-Millennium phrase it's almost comical. 

I said in my blog-post about Jeff's generosity that "It might not be easy tracking any more of these down." Then, strangely, two cards appeared from that set on eBay from a UK-based seller. I thought they were a bit over-priced at first and I watched them as they cycled through their first auction period. They got relisted at a slightly lower price and I rewatched them again. Then, 24 hours before the auction ended the seller made an offer to everyone watching, and I decided to buy them. 

Card Number 454: Pacific Omega Hit Machine 3000, 1999; #8

Pacific declared Tony an American Hero on this card. The picture would be slightly over the top, without the fireworks!

This is card number 482 in the 3000 print run. Perhaps I should have kept this for a few blog posts' time and it could have been card number 482 on this blog too!

The back shows Tony in a more natural pose - one of the back rooms in the stadium. There aren't many 'behind the scenes' photos on baseball cards. 

Card Number 455: Pacific Omega Hit Machine 3000, 1999; #9

On the 9th card in the insert series, Tony was described as a 'Fan Favorite'.

Although it a posed photo like the previous card, Tony looks much happier here than he looked when he was draped in the American flag. This card is numbered 681 / 3000.

On the back we have a photo of him signing autographs. One of my favourite kinds of photos of Tony 'in action'.

On the back it mentions Tony's humanitarian award in 1995 and also his charitable foundation. There is a moment in his Hall of Fame speech when he mentions the community service team at the Padres and just says, "We've done a lot of good work, haven't we?" That outward focus and care for others is part of Tony's lasting legacy.

Total: 455 cards.