i went clubbing

i decided to buy a box of 2021 stadium club. i figured it was the easiest way to get my hands on the product which is typically a highlight of the year. i had fun opening the packs and seeing the cards and wasn't even disappointed to not find jackie robinson's card which topps has ruined by wrongly coloring the number on the back of his jersey red.

anyway, here are the highlights from my box:

ernie banks

the mlb anniversary patch always brings good color to cards

ty cobb

a different image for the georgia peach!

lou gehrig

the luckiest man on the face of the earth

rickey henderson

classic rickey stealing third at yankee stadium

reggie jackson

final season reggie doesn't show up on cards very often

derek jeter

the patented jump throw

don mattingly

if you stare at this one long enough, it looks like mattingly is lying on the grass soaking up some rays

babe ruth

the babe joins the big bat on cardboard club!

honus wagner

another new image for an all-time great

my oversized boxtopper was this jacob degrom card

currently the best pitcher in the game.

according to the odds, red foil parallels fall 1:3 packs. i beat those odds with 7 cards in 16 packs. 

ha-seong kim

there have been 25 players from or born in south korea since chan ho park debuted in 1994.  speaking of which...

hyun-jin ryu

ryu was the third south korean to pitch for the dodgers.

whit merrifield

here's where things took a central division turn...

yadier molina

red parallels of cardinals make sense, as do red parallels of reds...

johnny bench

there is a lot going on here from the tie to the thing on bench's shoulder to the balloons. according to gettyimages, this is what bench wore as he presented the lineup card prior to his final game in cincy. i am guessing topps took some liberties with the balloon coloring, but the colors they used add interest to the card rather than more red and white (which would make the most sense to me regarding the actual color of the balloons). 

willie mays

this is another photo from cincinnati which was the site of the 1970 all-star game. you can tell it's a midsummer classic thanks to the variety of headwear in the dugout. that's one of the best things about the all-star game but rob manfred doesn't seem to understand.

black foil parallels run 1:8 packs, and i was spot on with this box.  first up, nelson cruz

he has been great for the twins and has had some good cards during his tenure in the twin cities

fernando tatis jr

i don't care for the padres but i really enjoy watching tatis jr play.

triumvirates fall one per box, and i wound up with francisco lindor

he's wearing the 2021 version of the tom seaver memorial patch. i'll have a further post on that tomorrow.

i got two virtual reality inserts - jose abreu and jose ramirez - which is right on with the stated odds

those two joses continue the american league central vibe of the box, as does the one superstar duos card i received

luis robert and eloy jimenez are both on the injured list at the moment, but the white sox seem stacked.

here's one of the two autographs i was promised - it's daulton varsho

he's playing the outfield in dodger stadium here.

the other autograph i found was of garrett crochet

more al central hits. crochet was drafted in 2020 and debuted a couple months after the draft. he throws the ball real hard.

stadium club greats fall 1:8 packs and i found george brett

and nolan ryan

in my box.

chrome parallels are 1 per box, and mine was randy johnson

i was surprised to see him shown as a mariner rather than a diamondback.

i beat the odds with a couple other inserts, including this photographer's proof card

those are 1:513 odds. not sure there is big demand for nico hoerner cards, though. plus, here's his base card:

i fail to see any difference between the two which is always the case with these "proof" cards. just a gimmick.

the other card i found that was unexpected was this black parallel of frank thomas' stadium club greats card

it's numbered to 99

and those are only found in 1 of 723 packs on average. those are most of the legends and inserts from the box. now let's see some dodgers

cody bellinger

robbing austin meadows in the first game of the 2020 world series

mookie betts

after he robbed marcell ozuna in game 6 of the nlcs

max muncy

after hitting his first inning grand slam in game 3 of the nlcs against the braves.

walker buehler

after scoring a run in a game back in 2019.

those four cards are the types of cards stadium club has become known for, but they also have run of the mill cards.

gavin lux

mitch white

tony gonsolin

which i just noticed is a red foil parallel, giving me 7 in 16 packs.

here's corey seager

turning two, which means i'll add another one of his cards for my mini-collection.

tim anderson

is already there.

i also found one of daulton varsho's base cards

that will go in to my dodger stadium collection

this ozzie albies card

slides in (pun intended) to my lurker collection thanks to austin barnes and brusdar graterol also being in the frame. 

i have pretty much decided to make my "name/number on the back" mini-collection official, so khris davis

and stan the man musial

are keepers for me.

same goes for these three cards of deivi garcia

bryce harper

and alex bregman

who are all playing on tatooine. the garcia card is especially interesting because of the drought-like conditions on his card with the dried and cracking mudscape. 

last card to show is cal ripken jr

whose card gains entry in to the aforementioned lurker collection thanks to wade boggs being present.

i am heading to a card show tomorrow morning, and i am hoping to find some other singles from the set. let me know if there is something i can try to find for you!