All About The Photography

*computer is open, looks out the window above it and can see where the hard frost had left behind its white freeze on everything. Fall has officially fallen hard here. Nothing better to fight the chill off then a nice warm cup of coffee*

I am a little behind the 8-ball when it comes to posting the latest hottest products when they come out, but I have had somewhat success in acquiring them via retail.. All of my retail finds this year have come from trades with my father who will pick up extra packs when he can find them. He of course grabs a couple for himself as well.

 

As we all know, the Flipper Vultures lurk around every corner waiting to swoop in on any retail they can find and flip for three times its value. Gotta love them. And yes Sheldon Cooper, that is sarcasm.

*takes a sip, always glad to toss in a Big Bang Theory reference when applicable*

Today I will be breaking a "once upon a time" red hot product in Stadium Club baseball.  When this product came out it was all about hunting for Luis Robert for most. When I saw this product come out, it was all about the photography for me. Why else buy Stadium Club if you're not chasing the photography?

 

My father managed to find a couple value Packs of Stadium Club and traded one of them to me, while keeping the other for himself.

I wasn't expecting much out of the 12 cards, but was hoping for at least a good time and some great scenes of baseball.

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

 

Each value pack of 2020 Stadium Club baseball comes with 12 cards. That's it. No guarantees within and each pack is $5.98. Unless you buy from a flipper which will cost you three times that.

*takes another sip before looking at the very small stack of cards from the opened pack*

Once again I will say it, let's be honest that we all buy Stadium Club for the base card photography and there is 300 cards of it to collect.

Mike Soroka immediately jumps out at me with the great photo angle. I know a lot complained about this years design, but I like it. The photography pops with the design.

 

I will say though that the name not having capitalization does bother me some and my OCD.

Next card is of Juan Soto who is having a heck of a year and showing that maybe he is the best young talent in baseball.

Next two cards are of Joey Votto (dig the throwback uni) and Yu Darvish

Jose Altuve, Giancarlo Stanton and Joey Gallo make up the next three cards in the pack

Then came the rookies. No there wasn't a Robert but I think I did well still.

Kyle Lewis is having a good time and so aren't collectors with his rookie cards as he came out of nowhere this season. Easily should be American League Rookie Of The Year.

Gavin Lux who I have been holding onto waiting for him to explode. This is a fun photo choice for his rookie in Stadium Club. Sometimes the non action photographs are more fun then the ones with it.

We are 11 cards down in the pack with one more to go which happens to be a 1:3 pull of a red foil parallel. These are not numbered.

I am not sure what Dale is thinking here, probably wondering why they used this photo for his 2020 Stadium Club card.

Other parallels you can find in Stadium Club are, Red Foil, Black Foil, Sepia Black & White, Blue Foil /50, Rainbow Foilboard /25, First Day Issue, Members Only, Photographer’s Proof, and Gold Rainbow Foil 1/1.

*takes another sip before recapping this pack rip. Also thinking about breakfast since I hadn't eaten since early afternoon as I got busy*

 

For about $6 pulling two good rookie cards, a red foil and some excellent base cards I can't go wrong with a rip like that. I wonder if I will find anymore in the wild as I wouldn't mind opening another one.

Cardboard Review:2019 Topps Stadium Club Baseball

It's that time of year again when one of collectors favorite releases comes out and it's not for reasons like other releases.

Stadium Club baseball is back again and comes with everyone's favorite photography. So why don't we take a look at a box and see what it has to offer and my thoughts on it.

In every box of 2019 Topps Stadium Club baseball there are 16 packs of 8 cards. You should find two autographed cards in every box as well which are on card. Boxes currently are $80 per.

Also in every box are these overszied Boxloaders which I hadn't heard about until I opened up the box. One can only hope it's an autograph numbered to 10 or less which is the other version but....

I just got the base. Still awesome because of it's photography.

Speaking of photography, the base card set is full of it. FULL OF IT.  Full bleed color photos without a border is the definite way to go.

There are 300 cards to collect in the base set with lots of great shots like this Kole Calhoun which may be one of my favorites. I am also sharing a few more from my box that I really enjoyed.

The base set also covers stars from today, rookies of tomorrow and legends of past. All of which add a great mix to the base set unlike other releases.

(I had to include this one, I mean, it's my main baseball PC)

His bats are on fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirre! His bats are on fiiiiirree

Shin-Soo Choo being spied on

Luis Urias looking for some lunch

THE YAAAANKKEEEEES WIN! THEEEEEEEEEEEE YANNNKEEEES WIN!

Ernie has one bat per inning

Jose Walking away from the game or into it? Hmm.

Ozzie flips us off

We move onto the parallels. Which the foil change on the names don't do much for me but still being able to see the photography does.

Black Foil. Just a name change to black. They fall 1:8 packs.

Red Foil falls 1:3 packs.

Rainbow Foil /25 falls 1:147 packs. These look great with the photography.

Other parallels to find are,

• Sepia
• Black/White 1:48 packs
• Members Only 1:256 packs
• 1st Day Issue 1:367 packs
• Photographer’s Proof  1:513 packs
• Gold Rainbow Foilboard 1/1  that falls 1:1,808 Hobby packs

Time to take a look at the inserts.

Emperors Of The Zone fall 1:8 packs

Power Zone (need the Griffey) falls 1:8 packs. At least I landed a new card for the Gleyber pc

Beam Team 1:16 packs

Warp Zone 1:8 packs

Stadium Club Chrome one per box. When do we see this as a stand alone set???!!

Instavision! Can't believe I pulled one of these sick looking cards and Aaron Judge to boot! These fall 1:320 packs. Takes me back to the days when I couldn't pull them back in the 90's either

Now to my hits of the box. To me, these aren't the main focus with this product.

Corbin Burnes

Kevin Newman

I don't know either of those guys. However, I have heard there are a lot of boxes like this so I figured my hits weren't going to be strong with this one despite there actually being a solid list of hits and signers for the product.

Here are other hits I missed out on,

• Beam Team Autographs
• Co-Signers Autographs
• Emperors of the Zone Autographs
• Lone Star Autographs
• Power Zone Autographs
• Autographed Oversized Base Topper

OVERALL THOUGHTS: I can't say this enough, if you buy Stadium Club, you are buying it for the photography and nostalgia. Don't expect a big hit or rely on one with this product even though there are some to chase. I think a lot of collectors mistake that when they rip a box and are left disappointed while other collectors like myself understand what to expect from Stadium Club and it's glory.

My box wasn't strong in hits obviously, but that Judge was a great find and a couple of PC cards along with the fun photography was enough for this collector. Once again, if you are a hit thrill hunter, it's better to go elsewhere. But, if you loved what you saw above, then dive right in.

Like what you see and don't want to break the bank on a full box, find a breaker to do so with, and I suggest Midwest Box Breaks as they pull fire! Just check them out and see for yourself!

Please make sure to take a minute out to thank Topps for providing this box for me to review and to be able to add cards to the giveaway on Twitter I am hosting. Please follow me there to enter @SportCardCollec. Also follow Topps on all social media sites and visit their SITE, as well. 

BASEically Awesome Part 10:1995 Pinnacle Football

By now you must be thinking....really....he did three of these posts in a row??!!

Yup. I am just trying to clean out my draft space as I have decided to no longer pursue segments on here. I would rather to free blog so you will be seeing lots of recurring segments over the next few weeks.

1995 had a ton of great base card set releases especially capturing the gridiron.

1995 Pinnacle not only had a solid base set design with the foil football at the bottom encasing the  name and position, but the photography throughout the 250 card set was amazing. You would have thought Upper Deck did it.

Great pic of Davis making a catch here

Kramer found on the ground. Something he did a lot of

Norton getting the recovery

Carter outrunning the defense

 

And this is only a sampling. I really want to chase down this set someday. It's on my bucket list but for now I am just focusing on my Ex and Spx projects.

So what do you guys think of this design and photography? Let me know in comments!!

BASEically Awesome Part 8:2009 Upper Deck Football

If you are a collector, well, you simply know you can't use the words Upper Deck without associating the words photography. They have always been the best at capturing moments on the field. Whether it's baseball, football or on the court with basketball and even on the ice with hockey. Their photo's are the best.

One of my favorites comes from their last NFL product possibly ever. 2009 Upper Deck.

I have only chosen a few of the images from the set. But, I think it sets a great example of how simplicity of the design combined with the colorful pictures makes for cardboard bliss.

Kurt looks well protected in the pocket

Royal cutting up the field

Mendenhall looks untouched!

This Haynesworth photo is taken at a pretty cool angle as he prepares to take the field and the Redskins overpaid money.

 

Which set had your favorite Upper Deck pictures and what are your thoughts on these? Comments welcomed!

BASEically Awesome Part 5: 2014 Topps Prime Football

(It seems my last BASEically Awesome post was out of order, so here we got back to Part 5 today and hopefully stay in order now)

If you are a fan of photography, look no further than Topps Prime. I wished the product was able to be carried on, but we know what those exclusive licenses do.....that's not a topic for today.

One of my favorite years of Topps Prime was 2014. There were some great shots taken all throughout the checklist.

Like this Thomas,

And Fitz breaking a tackle,

Don't miss on tackling LeVeon Bell or you will get burned. Cool throwback uni featured to.

Drew rolls out and continues to throw all over the Bears.

 

This is just a handful of cards from the 150 card set.  One of my favorites which didn't upload for some reason, was a Cowboys card, yes hard to admit, of Dez Bryant leaping up over Lions defenders for a sick catch. But the photo was done perfectly.

Thoughts on today's product or any of the Topps Prime line are welcomed in comments. Show me your favorite card from the product above.