When I was opening my blaster of 2023 Stadium Club I was reminded how much I liked the photography and the look of the cards. I was working in the LCS when they first came out. I remember the Topps rep telling us about them and showing us the promo cards. Once they were out everyone working there ordered multiple sets of the members only and the gold Nolan Ryan.
I tracked down all the Padres team sets since 1991 and going to take a look at them here.
1991 Stadium Club was 600 cards issued in two sets of 300. There were 22 members of the Padres in the set.
The only two horizontal cards in the team are Dennis Rasmussen and future HOFer Fred McGriff. These two photos demonstrate what you got in that first year, either an action photo or a posed candid shot. Once in a while you would get an unposed candid shot.
Tony Gwynn and Benito Santiago were the stars of the team in 1991.
Two of the members of the 1991 Padres team are now members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Seeing the grip on the ball makes the Santiago card my favorite of this group.
ReplyDeleteI was working at my LCS when this came out too... but never met the Topps representative. I think the owner bought most of his boxes through a distributer... although he did get some stuff direct.
ReplyDeleteAs for being a member of the club, I signed up too. That Nolan Ryan metal card is really cool.
The thing I remember most about this set is the $5 boxes of it that could be found at the Gresham K-Mart in the late 90's. I know I bought at least one of each series.
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