more of my favorite stadium on stadium club

a week ago i showed vladimir guerrero's 2022 topps stadium club card and wrote about the photo used being from a game at dodger stadium. it wasn't the only card in this year's stadium club release to catch my eye for that reason, however.

i touted this andruw jones card

as a possibility for my favorite card of 2022 (it wasn't, but it was close). i am always pumped to see the old dodger murals show up on cards (this is the second 2022 card i am aware of to feature these turn of the century murals) and even though eric gagne has been getting a bit of attention from topps in recent years, it's nice to see his oversized image on a card. 

the image used comes from the 2004 season, which is when the mural on the outfield wall showcased dodger cy young award winners. gagne was the newest dodger in the club, having won the award in 2003. thanks to topps' relationship with getty images, the photo was easy to find. cropped out of the image on the card is jones' teammate (and fellow future dodger) j.d. drew, 

along with gagne's portrait.

jones held on to the ball, by the way, which was hit by jayson werth - one of jim tracy's collection of ja(y)sons back then.

another dodger stadium background is provided on darryl strawberry's card

another future dodger. and, we get one more thanks to will clark's card

thankfully, clark did not go on to join the dodgers, although another giant clark (jack) somehow became their hitting coach at one point.

another giant card i picked up for a mini-collection is brandon crawford's

thanks to the double play turn.

stadium club is usually good for some lurkers, and they didn't disappoint this year. willie mays gets an uncredited appearance on hank aaron's card

as does cal ripken jr on eddie murray's

along with rod carew on jose berrios' card

there's a johan santana sighting there, too, if you are interested.

the first cards i targeted were, of course, the steve garvey autographs. this is the second year in a row topps has included the garv on the autograph checklist, but it is going to be very tough for him to ever crack the base checklist as we will see in a moment. anyway, here's the base auto:

the black foil parallel auto

and the red foil parallel auto

the red on the dodger logo didn't scan as well as the other red foil parallel i picked up

but that's ok. i do appreciate the additional design elements that the foil is applied to. it makes these parallels look a little better in my opinion.

on to the base dodgers!

freddie freeman:

pensive at the bat rack.

trea turner

i wonder who the next dodger to wear number 6 will be?

julio urias and cody bellinger

looks like brusdar wants to kick the old soccer ball around. and, this may be the last cody bellinger dodger card i pick up. he signed with the cubs early enough for all the photoshopping to occur before the 2023 stuff comes out, although i guess there are still a few remaining 2022 releases scheduled.

jackie robinson, chris taylor, will smith, and justin turner

robinson is the lone retired dodger in the set, which means topps cut sandy koufax and roy campanella in favor of others, like chris taylor who got left out of flagship (aside from a combo type card). garvey is never getting in if it means having to leapfrog over dodger hall of famers and higher profile players like mike piazza.

craig kimbrel and max muncy

here's hoping there are no more kimbrel dodger cards.

mookie betts, clayton kershaw, andre jackson, and walker buehler

when i first saw the mookie betts card on the sell sheet, i thought it was maury wills. a closer look, of course, revealed that it was not. however, it is very similar to the photo of wills that was used on his 1999 fleer sports illustrated card. i feel like i have seen a wider cropped version of that image, but i can't find it now. maybe someday topps will give us a stadium club card of wills playing the banjo next to milton berle. that's the beauty of stadium club - there are always photos that stand out, like andruw jones jumping in to eric gagne.