2019 Stadium Club #112 Michael Conforto |
Anyone who watched either NLDS game yesterday can attest to that. And Adam Eaton, though Michael Conforto got the better of him on August 9th, celebrated the Nationals' first-ever playoff series win yesterday, not counting the Wild Card game a week prior.
The Mets were pretty close to having a turn in the postseason this year, and were in the mix right up until the final few days. They were three games out of a wild card spot. Disappointing, but great to build on. And it certainly helps to have Pete Alonso, who just set the all-time rookie home run record.
2019 Stadium Club #159 Noah Syndergaard |
Stadium Club for 2019 is another full-bleed design, and the lettering this year is somewhat similar to the 2017 design. The font is quite readable, and the only demerit is the drop shadow, which looks a little amateurish on such a light background like this pristine pitching mound.
My eyes are drawn to the white number 10 on the back of the Citi Field mound, and I believe that is a memorial to Rusty Staub, a Hall of Famer and fan favorite who passed away on Opening Day 2018. Staub spent nine seasons as a Met across two stints and was one of the first stars of the newly formed Montreal Expos.
2019 Stadium Club #43 Carlos Santana |
Santana signed with the Phillies for the 2018 season, but found himself right back in Cleveland for 2019, earning his first All-Star selection in the process.
2019 Stadium Club #37 Carlos Carrasco |
It is fortunate that these players are surrounded by such talented medical staff. Micah Bowie has been battling serious medical challenges for quite some time, and has found relief thanks to B.A.T., the Baseball Assistance Team. Danny Farquhar suffered a brain aneurysm in the White Sox dugout, a scary and potentially lethal situation, but recovered well enough to briefly appear in the Yankees organization before announcing his retirement this summer.
These guys are tough.
As far as Carrasco, I wish him a continued strong recovery, and hope to see him appear in lots of Stadium Club sets yet to come.
2019 Stadium Club #132 Rickey Henderson |
Needless to say, Oakland is not a fan of the Wild Card game.
But when Rickey was there? Well, he played plenty of postseason games with the A's, won the ALCS MVP in 1989, and helped bring home a trophy to Oakland that year, the year of the earthquake.
Rickey Henderson appears on his 2019 Stadium Card with fellow Hall of Famer Eddie Murray, who is fielding a throw from a very wise pitcher trying to check the runner. I'd surely try the same against the best base stealer in the history of the game.
Lots of collectors, myself included, notice and occasionally complain about recycled photos on baseball cards. I don't recall seeing this one before, but how would you feel if Topps were to use this on an Eddie Murray card at some point in the future? It's a great picture and I don't think there are nearly enough Eddie Murray cards out there.
2019 Stadium Club #86 Johnny Bench |
As the card back tells us, of all the members of the Hall of Fame, only 18 were catchers. I won't go into ranking them, but Johnny Bench finds himself toward the top of a very short list.
2019 Stadium Club #245 Lou Gehrig |
Despite all that, he is third all-time in slugging percentage, seventh all-time in RBI (and Barry Bonds edged him by one), and is in the top-10 in a slew of modern Sabermetric stats, like Win Probability Added and OPS.
And one more thing. He was the first baseball player to have his uniform number retired.
There's just no way you can't be excited by pulling a Lou Gehrig card out of a pack.
2019 Stadium Club #257 Ken Griffey Jr. |
Spoiler alert, none other than Ken Griffey, Jr scored the winning run in the 11th inning, thanks to a double off the bat of fellow Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez.
This card shows The Kid looking pensively out of the dugout, likely on the visitor's side, as you're unlikely to need eye black and flip-down shades inside the Kingdome. And we get enough of a close-up here to see that those ubiquitous flip-down sunglasses we've seen for decades are made by a company called Gargoyles.
You learn something new every day.
2019 Stadium Club Red Foil #109 Khris Davis |
It's right there on the card back in his 2018 stats, .247, right below the paragraph that Topps included about this odd feat of consistency. The only thing they missed was making that the card number. According to Beckett, a Khris Davis card #247 does not exist yet.
Topps, please make that happen.
2019 Stadium Club Power Zone #PZ-5 Mark McGwire |
And that's how you hit 70 home runs in a season.
McGwire once held the record for most home runs by a rookie, but Aaron Judge beat that record two years ago, and Pete Alonso beat that record just weeks ago, with 53. Interestingly, both Judge and Alonso won the Home Run Derby in their Rookie years. McGwire participated in the '87 Derby, his rookie year, but only hit [checks notes] one?
Must have been a different format.
2019 Stadium Club Chrome #SCC-21 Chipper Jones |
While the NLDS didn't go Atlanta's way this year, Chipper Jones managed to cleanly snag a foul ball as a fan during Game 1. He has come a long way since that high school Rookie Card in 1991 Topps. I've never been much of a Braves fan, but I have plenty of respect for great switch hitters and franchise players.
Not a bad pack when you pull 50% Hall of Famers. Yes, I am counting Mark McGwire, because he should be.
I have that Bench... what a great card!
ReplyDeleteI pulled that Rickey Henderson card out of a pack as well.
Stadium Club is a beautiful product, with the Al Kaline card being my favorite so far.
I'll try and get all the different cards of his, and if Matthew Boyd.
Good job!
In regards to photography, 2019 Stadium Club is about as good as it gets. I picked up this set on eBay during the summer and was blown away by the sheer number of awesome cards. I shared my favorite 30 in a post:
ReplyDeletehttps://sanjosefuji.blogspot.com/2019/08/resisting-temptation.html
I need to find that Marquez card, stat.
DeleteI have the red parallel of that Bench card, which works beautifully with the red in his mask!
ReplyDeleteThat would be a good combo!
DeleteAs far as past greats go, that was a loaded pack! And for what it's worth, I am of the opinion, and have stated it many times, that Lou Gehrig is the greatest baseball player of all time (Ty Cobb being second).
ReplyDelete