post holiday post of pre-holiday card show cards

it's been over two months, and i haven't posted cards from the december 2025 twin cities club card show. i thought about skipping it, as i went to the february show and found some fun cards that i want to post about, but remembered some of the cards i picked up in december were also post worthy so here we are.

one of the regular sellers at this show always has a couple of dime boxes tucked under his table. i always stop and take a look, even though it requires some effort as his table tops is jammed full of shiny stuff and you have to squat and dig under the table. most of the time, it's been worth it. here are some of the cards i found in december

2013 panini golden age evel knievel playing card insert

big nostalgia hit there. evel knievel was a big part of my childhood for a year or two. we had the toys and his snake canyon jump had my neighborhood talking for sure. i've never looked to see if he has any other cards but i am sure panini has put some out.

2025 panini donruss prince fielder rockets parallel

knievel literally jumped over sharks, while panini has done so metaphorically with some pretty ridiculous parallels.

2017 topps gypsy queen matt kemp purple parallel

there were about 10 of these parallels in the box. they are numbered to 250. even as a brave, i can't quit matt kemp.

2017 topps gypsy queen francisco lindor blackless parallel

there were a few of these as well.

2011 bowman chrome clayton kershaw

i picked this one up for my name/number on the back collection

and this 2020 topps chrome jonathan villar sepia refractor

goes into my double play collection, and this 2017 panini donruss 1983 ozzie smith insert

goes into the dodger stadium collection. that glove in the photo belongs to mike scioscia or mike piazza, or carlos hernandez or a number of other dodger catchers. ozzie looks a bit too old for it to be steve yeager though.

the most surprising cards to find in this dime box were some oversized topps big box toppers from 2023 topps update. included in these cards were nolan arenado and vladimir guerrero jr

as well as none other than clayton kershaw!

usually when i find cards like these, the dodgers are nowhere to be seen. not this time.

there was more from that seller, but you get the gist. now on to the primary seller i visit at these shows. he's the guy with quarter and dollar boxes but always gives a great deal when you pull a lot of cards. this time, i took a look at his $2 boxes and found a few cards, including this 2006 fleer (upper deck) flair showcase greg maddux hot gloves die cut

these have a print run of just 150 copies. there are no comps that i could find - i couldn't even find one of these in comc's database. i didn't know all that when i pulled the card - i just thought it was different and i hadn't seen one before. cesar izturis has a card in the set that i will likely seek out.

as for the quarter boxes, they yielded some fun stuff, like a 2011 topps heritage adam dunn green tint parallel

and some topps heritage chrome parallels, like carlos beltran's 2005 issue

and eric gagne's from the same set

those are numbered to 1956 as seen on the back

i found a david wright chrome refractor from 2005 topps heritage 

in the dollar boxes. those are numbered to 556

it seems like more often than not, i find a legends parallel in this seller's boxes, and this was no exception. here's a 2009 topps babe ruth short print

i already have one of these in my retired number collection, but i couldn't leave george herman behind.

i don't always go for political inserts, but i did grab the gold parallels of the 2008 topps presidential nominees - john mccain

and barack obama

it's hard for me to wrap my head around what has become of the republican party since mccain (or even mitt romney) was the nominee. mccain famously defended obama on the campaign trail when a woman referred to him as something that he was not, and that sort of thing just isn't happening from the gop today.

now for some dodgers that i found - here's a 2016 topps heritage high numbers corey seager rookie performers insert

that's missing the rc logo. that logo is present on alex verdugo's 2018 topps finest card

which was the last base card i needed to complete the team set.

these boxes always have a bunch of parallels, so i have a few to show. from 2024 topps, here are a couple of rainbow foil cards

and from 2024 topps update, here are a couple of silver crackle foil cards

bobby miller and emmet sheehan both had silver pack chrome cards

from 2024 topps update and 2024 topps, respectively, while teoscar hernandez' is from 2025 topps

there are so many inserts these days, as you know, and so i was not surprised to learn that i did not already own this freddie freeman insert

from 2023 topps archives. same goes for this 2025 topps summer superstars insert of blake snell

and then there are the 2025 topps series two 1990 all-star inserts. blue and red versions, and this mookie betts card i pulled

was also a need. in fact, i didn't have the blue one of betts, either.

one more item of interest, to me at least. 

that's a 2018 topps holiday starling marte relic card. it was in the $2 box, and i grabbed it because it features a piece of the pirates' 2017 memorial day camoflauge jersey. i know that's not the holiday this set is celebrating, but i thought it was sort of meta having a holiday jersey piece in a holiday insert. 

that's a wrap on 2025 card shows, and as i mentioned, i have cards to show from my first 2026 show - stay tuned!

2025 topps stadium club mega box revew

i think it would be a great job to be tasked with finding photos for the stadium club set. a few years ago, i went and found some photos that i would like to see on stadium club cards, and since then, a couple of those photos have shown up on cardboard - including one as a stadium club auto card. that's pure coincidence i know, but it gives me hope that the folks at topps are looking for good photos in the getty images database.

one of my favorite cards in this year's set is luisangel acuna's

on field photography has really changed the look of baseball cards in the last couple of decades, and the smoke machine giving a sort of haze in front of mr. and mrs. met provides an interesting image that doesn't appear in other sets. i am still glad that the dodgers don't have a mascot, but i recognize that it is fun to see mascots on cards.

for the most part, however, this year's (or last year's, technically) stadium club release feels different in terms of photos used and players featured. from what i can tell, there is only one player included from before the 1970's (two if you count nolan ryan), and the retired players featured don't necessarily have the most dramatic photos. there are still plenty of good images, but i didn't get the same "wow" factor from most of the cards that i've had in the past.

at any rate, i bought a couple of mega boxes directly from topps. i'll run through one of them here.

pack 1

right away, the austin riley card leading off the pack gives classic stadium club vibes. the second card, ezequiel tovar's, features a stadium club staple dugout shot, but those images have started to leak into flagship sets, too.

the mark vientos card is the light blue foil parallel, of which mega boxes guarantee nine.

pack 2

i should note that freddie freeman is the cover boy for 2025 stadium club. the boxes and packs feature an image from his 2024 world series game 1 walk-off grand slam. the first card in this pack, however, features an image from an early 2025 game in which the dodgers wore their gold lettered champion jerseys. i am a bit surprised that there have been so few cards in 2025 that showed images from that historic home run.

the tip of the cap from pete alonso is another classic stadium club shot, but the rest are sort of run of the mill. chase petty is showing the pete rose memorial patch, and george kirby is the second light blue foil parallel of the box.

pack 3

kevin alcantara's dugout exit > dylan cease's dugout exit due to the cheetah print glove he's sporting.

topps did a reboot of inserts with this set. triumvirates are the only ones carried through from previous years. one of the new ones is the in case of emergency cards with the one in this pack featuring albert pujols.

max scherzer's card is a numbered (to 99) turquoise foil parallel

pack 4

honus wagner is, as far as i can tell (i didn't scour the checklist) the only pre-war player featured in stadium club this time around, and the only player from before nolan ryan suited up. this is a big departure from recent years when we could count on cards of brooklyn dodgers, milwaukee braves, and the occasional st. louis brown along with their contemporaries.

michael busch's card image comes from a game at dodger stadium, and mark mcgwire's card continues the tradition of people riding in cars getting cards in stadium club. finally, ronald acuna jr provides the third light blue parallel of the box.

from here on out, i'll just share some of the other cards that caught my eye.

not including players of old like walter johnson or even harmon killebrew makes room on the checklist for more recently retired players like johan santana

it's good to see santana back on cardboard and in the hubert h. humphrey metrodome, to boot.

also in a dome is checklist mainstay ichiro

who joins santana in the hat waving club

another regular checklist retiree is ken griffey jr

featured with one of his signature activities - blowing a bubble

derek jeter's jumpman logo is almost replicated on his card

which also features the long gone evergreens of the first few seasons of target field.

prince fielder

is sliding home at fenway

chase utley

is reaching for the ball

and ryan zimmerman

is reaching for home. i can appreciate a fan favorite like zimmerman on the checklist even if it came at the expense of sandy koufax or jackie robinson. i was hoping to see orel hershiser on a (base) card this year, though.

one of the older players featured in this set is george brett

who looks like he just soiled himself. no wonder we haven't seen that photo used a bunch in the past.

i found most of the cards bearing images that were shared by topps in advance of the set's release, such as paul skenes

jackson holliday

trevor hoffman

and kristian campbell

that campbell card allows me to segue in to other current player cards that i took the time to scan

bobby witt jr

and wyatt langford

show that getting post game gatorade dousings are good ways to get on stadium club cardboard

there were some horizontal cards that stood out, like riley greene's

which features a small portion of the little ceaser's mascot

fernando tatis jr's card

features some nice soft light

mike trout's card

shows off some led lighting with the angels' home run halo

kyle tucker's card

features the bright lights of the big (windy) city. this might be the best wrigley field lights card since that card from score back in the late 1980s.

lights are also visible on gunnar henderson's card

which features a low-five

mookie betts' card

is a breath of fresh air amongst the normal fielding cards, as is this card

featuring the "other" max muncy

twins' rookie luke keaschall's card

shows good flow 

and braxton ashcraft's card

is really the only card featuring a portrait that i came across. suitable for framing by the ashcraft family.

hands down my favorite card of the set is shohei ohtani's

we need more cards of players rounding third, especially at dodger stadium. i would love to chase rainbows of this card, but the beauty of it is in the color of the base image, so i'm not prioritizing. i will pick up another copy for my dodger stadium collection, however.

speaking of which, matt mclain's card

like michael busch's above, features a photo taken in dodger stadium but i think i've stopped adding cards like these to that collection

i've also toyed with closing up my tatooine collection, but i think i will just limit entry to more interesting cards like chase dollander's

from here on out.

jimmy rollins' card

was quickly admitted to my double play collection

topps has done a nice job in recent years of featuring a card showing the cardinals' retired number murals in the background, and this year it's masyn winn's card

doing the honors. it's too blurry to make my retired number binder as a header card of sort, and besides, it features the same folks as brendan donovan's 2023 topps heritage card.

tarik skubal's card

gives me 1978 topps don gullet vibes, which is a very good thing

aaron judge's card

features an image that would also work on a 1978 topps card. only one year and a couple of months until 2027 heritage - just sayin'.

royce lewis' card

had me do a double take because the background is so light compared to the rest of the cards i was pulling from the packs

case in point, lewis' teammate brooks lee's card

is much darker. lee is wearing the twins' "aquaman" jersey. that's my term for it and it makes more sense to me than city connect since their alternate (twin cities) jerseys have that covered even if they aren't the official cc jerseys. thanks nike.

juan soto's card

features mr. met in the background, but not nearly as dramatically as luisangel acuna's card up top.

and, honus wagner may be the only old-timey player in the set, but he's not the only one wearing an old-timey uniform as joey votto's card

features him wearing one of the reds' throwback uniforms they wore from time to time a few years ago. 

bryan woo's card

is pretty colorful

matt chapman's card

was the only one i found featuring an award (another stadium club staple), but this time the photo used is from the tail end of the recognition ceremony which is unique for a card

adolis garcia's card

gives the illusion that he is at the fence to make a catch, but i don't think he is even on the warning track (and he's not)

denzel clarke, on the other hand,

is definitely at the wall on his card. this photo shows him about to rob nolan schanuel of the angels of a home run.

clarke's teammate nick kurtz' card

is a nice one to find in any 2025 product

ok, just a few more base cards, and they're all dodgers

clayton kershaw

roki sasaki

will smith

and dalton rushing

i am left needing only hyeseong kim and yoshinobu yamamoto to complete my team set

inserts! in addition to the in case of emergency insert i showed earlier, topps has introduced savage sluggers, of which nick kurtz is one

the backgrounds have a sort of skull island vibe going on.

another insert set is concentration, represented here by kumar rocker

and its background features a big ol' eye. i think.

the last of the regular insets that i found is yours for the taking (here's fernando tatis jr's card)

but i am not sure what the title of these cards mean. the backs don't really spell it out, either.

i am owed a few more light blue foil parallels, and they were there - paul skenes

nolan ryan

sandy alcantara

and some mariners - george kirby

randy arozarena

and logan gilbert

the box promised two sepia parallels as well, and i found zack wheeler

and nick kurtz

that's not too bad!

and, if you were counting, you'd know that there is one light blue foil parallel i haven't shown yet. it's yamamoto's

which was a heck of a surprise because stadium club hasn't been friendly to me with the dodger parallels in recent years.

i always enjoy seeing stadium club released, and this year was no exception. lots of interesting photography even if the wow factor seemed diminished to me. i think it would great if they expanded the checklist to include a fuller array of players from baseball's history, but taking a year off from some of the perennial subjects isn't a bad thing, either.

what do you think of the stadium club cards you've seen this year?