2 for $5 off

The nice thing about eBay notifications is that every so often, you get a free $5 coupon, good toward anything on the site. I've seen these a time or two, and I especially like that they don't mandate a minimum larger purchase. As long as you're at $5.01, you're good to go. One of these coupons went out earlier this month, and I used it to pick up two cards, including shipping. My total out-of-pocket was a mere 99 cents.

2013 Topps Mini Chasing History #MCH-46 Troy Tulowitzki

As part of a longtime goal I've had to complete a rainbow, I ordered the mini version of Troy Tulowitzki's 2013 Chasing History card. It's been on the Eight Men Out list for a while, and might be the first that I flat out just decided to buy for myself. On the other hand, I guess you could say eBay bought it for me.

This is the last one I needed to complete the rainbow. In my collection, that includes the full-size base card, the silver holofoil, the gold holofoil, and the relic. According to Beckett, there is a gold relic out there, but I'm most likely just going to call this good. Getting into the business of completing rainbows is dangerous and expensive territory to tread, and even that type of collector probably has to get used to writing off the printing plates and other 1/1s more often than not.

In all that time since these cards started coming my way (spanning almost the whole history of this blog), Tulo was traded to Toronto, and then was signed by New York. This card documents his 25-HR seasons, but Topps jinxed this too, as he hasn't put one up since. He came within a hair's breadth in 2016, hitting 24 as a member of the Blue Jays.

1996 Stadium Club Extreme Winners Bronze #EW3 Andres Galarraga

The other card I ordered was an Andres Galarraga card from 1996 Stadium Club. What I actually ordered was the Members Only parallel, but the seller appears to have goofed and sent, uh, something else. Something I did not know existed. Shocking, I know. Every time something turns up from this set, I basically question my whole reality. Because I have learned, time and time again, that I actually have no clue when it comes to mid-'90s Stadium Club.

Presumably, neither does the seller, but I really can't say I'm too upset about it. It's not worth the time and trouble to correct for 49 cents, and the Members Only cards back then are much more plentiful than the needle-in-a-haystack case hits they are today. Instead, it's just yet another surprise from the rich vein of 1996 Stadium Club, and frankly, 49 cents is a bargain for another surprise.

So what the heck is this thing anyway?

What we're looking at is a Bronze-level winner card from the Extreme Players contest. Topps printed a 180-card partial parallel set in Gold, Silver, and Bronze. When the 1996 season concluded, Topps ran a formula against those 180 players, and the top ten players' cards became redeemable for a ten-card Extreme Winners set featuring those ten players, matching whichever metal color your redemption card was.

Follow all that?

You should see the Extreme Batter calculations used to determine who those top-ten players were. They're right on the back, and Topps did a great job showing their work. The formula goes something like this:

[(HRs * 0.2) + (RBIs * 0.07) + (SBs * 0.15) + (((Avg*1000)-200) * 0.06)] = Extreme Player Score

Galarraga's 1996 stats plugged into that formula resulted in an Extreme Player score of 28.84, topping other first basemen like Mo Vaughn, Frank Thomas, Mark McGwire, and Jeff Bagwell. Whoever redeemed Galarraga's bronze card in late 1996 got this in return, along with nine others. The foil is a rainbow bronze, and the lettering around the TSC logo says "1996 Top Rated Extreme Player". Returning to the card back, we're told that you'd have to go back to Ted Kluszewski in 1954 to find a first baseman who led the NL in homers with more than Galarraga's count of 47.

Upon closer investigation of my 1996 binder, I actually have one of the redemption cards.

1996 Stadium Club Extreme Players Silver #148 Johnny Damon

Unfortunately, Johnny Damon's performance in 1996 finished in the lower 170 among Extreme Player (EP) candidates, forever leaving this redemption card as a what-if in my collection. It looks familiar, and it's probably been in my collection for a while. The large foil seal denotes it as a redemption card (Silver-level, no less), and it differs from normal 1996 Stadium Club cards by including the position above the player's name.

Hypothetically, if Damon had a better EP Score at Center Field than Ken Griffey, Jr., this could have been redeemed for the Silver Winner cards. We know what the Bronze Winner cards look like, but what about Silver?

Turns out I have one of those too.

1996 Stadium Club Extreme Winners Silver #EW4 Chuck Knoblauch

I have no idea where it came from, but this Chuck Knoblauch card was once in the possession of a collector who drew a better ticket in the Silver redemption contest than I did. Knoblauch sat atop the second base rankings that year, edging out Eric Young, Roberto Alomar, Craig Biggio, and Ray Durham. Eric Young almost joined his teammate in the 10-card set, but didn't have the power to out-hit Knoblauch.

Side note, a fun fact I learned during my 2015 trip to Vienna is that "Knoblauch" directly translates to "garlic".

The Silver Winner cards are obviously quite a bit different from what we're used to from 1996 Stadium Club. It's a lot more like a Finest card or a Chrome Refractor, and the background has a repeating pattern of the same "X" lettering that is found on the redemption cards.

Someday, I should just buy a box or two of 1995 or 1996 Stadium Club and better educate myself on what these sets are all about.

But these surprises are much too fun.