Topps Stadium Club - Thank you Target!

You never know what you might find at the big box stores...


Yesterday, I headed to the mall to purchase my final Christmas present (I can't believe I'm done shopping either). On the way back, I decided I ought to reward myself for being so diligent in my shopping so I stopped in at Target to see what baseball card goodies I could find.

Most of the packs looked "searched", so I avoided those. Instead, I picked up a retail box of Topps Stadium Club (the more of this set I buy, the more of it I want). I took the single $19.99 box up to the counter and prepared to charge it to my credit card. The cashier was completely disconnected from her job...she mumbled $23.16 and I swiped my card without paying attention (apparently I was also disconnected from reality).

As I walked back to my car, it slowly dawned on me that I just paid $3.17 in taxes (that's almost 16%!) Needless to say, I wasn't happy - but it was cold and I figured oh well...however, a quick look at the receipt turned my disappointment into "wow!" It seems I was mistaken - I got charged $2.99 for the box, not $19.99... Apparently the cashier said three sixteen, not twenty-three sixteen as I thought I heard.

Now, that wasn't the only good news for me with the box. You see, I almost never pull autographs. I probably bought 20 Allen & Ginter retail boxes and at least 2 hobby boxes this year, all without seeing a single autograph. I bought countless retail boxes of Goudey without an auto (though I did pull one auto of Noah Lowry in my hobby box of Goudey...of course you are guaranteed an auto with hobby boxes of Goudy...)

With that in mind, I said to myself "I bet I pull an autograph from this box, despite the horrendous odds, it's been that kind of box."

Lo and behold, I was correct (and seriously, who says "lo and behold" anyway...I don't even know where that came from as I typed it.)

I pulled a gorgeous Beam Team autograph of Delwyn Young.

Scans don't do these cards justice - I love the stained glass effect, if you hold them up to the light you can see through the cards. I absolutely want to collect more of these.

As for the rest of the box, nothing spectacular. I got a nifty shot of Albert Pujols (nifty in the fact that it is basically a shot of infield dirt). Albert's card is one of seven First Day Issue cards in the box (one per pack).

I also pulled a card of Chipper Jones that was interesting in that the shot appears to be of Chipper (failing) to break up a double play. I say failing because it appears the two Pittsburgh Pirates in the background are running back to their dugout.
Quick question for other collectors out there. Is there a first day issue version of each card? Is there more than one first day issue per card - because in my limited buying I have two different first day issues of J.R. Towles.



See my want list for the cards I'm missing from the set.

2008 Topps Stadium Club cards I have for trade (update 12/10/08):
Regular issue: 4 (2), 7, 11 (2), 13, 17, 22, 25, 26, 29 (2), 31, 32, 37, 55, 59, 61, 65, 68, 76, 77, 79, 83, 89, 98, 101 (2), 104 (2), 106, 109, 112, 115, 116, 118, 124, 130, 149