A little while ago, I posted 9 packs from a box of 1991 Stadium Club I posted a while ago. It was a fun, nostalgic look at the early machinations of the set, even if the photography wasn't always at STADIUM CLUB levels of awesomeness.
Today, as it's the ASG break and I've got time, we've got 9 more packs. Here we go:
Pack 10-
Needs: 12/12
Hall of Famers: 1/12
Borderline Hall of Famers: 1/12
Steroid Abusers: 1/12
Very nice dugout shot of Sam Horn, with a good emphasis on the reds and lighter colors. The Rob Deer's a nice one too, coming off his best home run hitting years.
Jack Clark in Boston...forgettable from a baseball standpoint, but we sure got a lot of cards of it. Also, a fairly pedestrian card of Mark McGwire, even if he was still riding high on his youth numbers.
The real main event in this set, a rookie card of the legendary Astros slugger, Jeff Bagwell. Yes, it may be a staple of 10 cent bins, rather than a rookie card behemoth like other Topps rookies had been, but it's still an amusing, and important, card, as it's Topps' attempt at answering Upper Deck's use of Ken Griffey Jr. as a rookie selling point. And while this may work...it doesn't work quite as well.
Pack 11-
Needs: 5/12
Dupes: 7/12 (Ugh)
Hall of Famers: 1/12
Steroid Abusers: 1/12
Again, relatively nice photos from this set, emphasizing colors and shadows, as well as showcasing this on wider photography and different cardstock. Compared to the more tame 1991 Topps, this was revolutionary.
An early, yet still career-indicative, card of Tom Glavine, as well as an early-Texas-era card of Rafael Palmeiro. The latter is still trying to play. [Embarrassed sigh]
Pack 12-
Dupes- 1/12
Needs: 11/12
Team Legends: 2/12
Guys Who Stayed With One Team for Most of the 90s: 2/12
Ramon Martinez' very long arm kept things going for LA, even letting another Martinez go to Montreal. Meanwhile, Greg Swindell shows off the cool early-90s Indians jerseys (that they should totally bring back as throwbacks one of these days)
Two smiling faces in unfamiliar uniforms: Pedro Guerrero's out of LA, and Juan Samuel's out of Philly. And yet they're so happy.
Two 90s stars- Ray Lankford, soon to carry the Cardinals on his back, and Ivan Calderon, approaching another ASG start.
Pack 13-
Dupes: 6/12
Needs: 6/12
Hall of Famers: 1/12
Guys With Awesome Nicknames: 1/12
HARD HITTIN...MARK WHITEN. Now that's just awesome.
And Junior Felix and his sturdy little batting helmet running around in those old 90s Angels uniforms.
Two guys who stuck with one team for the whole decade. Kevin Appier, premier starter for Kansas City, and John Smoltz, Hall of Fame fireballer for the Braves.
Pack 14-
Needs: 8/12
Dupes: 4/12
Borderline Hall of Famers: 2/12
Ed Nunez looking pretty classy against a black backdrop, and Mitch Webster with a really nice sideways shot in Pittsburgh.
Two enemies of the 2001 World Series. Knoblauch lost, while Gonzalez came in with the series-winning homer.
Danny Darwin being interviewed, being asked if...he's the guy from off the Beagle, while Albert Belle hits one of his zillion home runs.
Pack 15-
Needs: 11/12
Dupes: 1/12
Hall of Famers: 1/12
Guys Looking Pensive: 2/12
Guys Looking Confused: 1/12
Steve Olin, pre-accident, hurling like hell. Rene Gonzales just looks really concerned, as if he knows.
Terry Steinbach and Dave Gallagher look loose, surly. Roger McDowell looks like somebody from the Mets just shouted out his name as he's giving autos to kids.
Tony Pena's excited to be still catching. Jack Morris, in his lone, excellent season in Minnesota, sees a bit perturbed to be out of a Tigers uniform.
Pack 16-
Dupes: 6/12
Needs: 6/12
Guys From Teams That Wear Primarily Blue: 4/12
Not a lot to write home about in this pack, so here's Candy Maldonado and Jeff Montgomery, summing up most of 1990.
Pack 17-
Dupes: 7/12
Needs: 5/12
Future Yankees: 2/12
Gene "No, I'm Not Dennis Eckersley" Nelson, and John Olerud in his early years of excellence.
Pack 18-
Needs: 8/12
Dupes: 4/12
Former Yankees: 1/12
Just a pair of smiley Reds- Charlton and Reed- post WS win.
Mo Vaughn, right before going on a tear for the remainder of the decade, looking youthful, next to Willie Randolph, in one of his last few seasons, as a Brewer, still hitting well.
We're halfway through the box, so I'll try and post another quarter of this thing in a few days.
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