Stadium Club... Chrome

Stadium Club. It was a big deal during my initial collecting streak in the early 90s. I think I bought literally just a single pack of 1991 Stadium Club, and maybe a couple packs of 1992. (I was in awe of the product, but they were a bit too pricey for me to buy much of.) I got out of the hobby just before 1993's version hit shelves.

Most of the subsequent sets don't do anything for me, though I've still got some sentimental nostalgia for the first couple sets. After I got back into collecting as an adult, I bought complete sets of '91 and '92 Stadium Club on eBay. Unfortunately, the '91 set I ended up with had a weird damage thing going on with much of the cards (including just about all the key cards in the set), and I ended up getting a refund and eating the return shipping. Bummer. Maybe one of these days I'll try again, perhaps relying more on trades rather than just buying it complete. Anybody have a starter set they could donate to the cause?

Anyways, that rambling intro is mostly just to say that other than the first couple sets, I'm not really a Stadium Club guy. I was even indifferent to the 2014 reboot that most collectors loved (once the price dropped). Maybe it was because it just seemed like one of the mid 90s sets I wasn't around for, or perhaps it was the overuse of that photoshop effect that gives kind of a muddy look to the photos. (Why did the Topps designers go so nuts over that effect?! Ease off the throttle for the 2015 set, guys!)

But finding a random Roberto Alomar card in a dimebox recently gave me the revelation that there was a Chrome version of Stadium Club that came out one year and one year only, 2000. It was a really nice looking card in-hand, and I made a point to keep an eye out for a reasonably priced hobby box to bust, thinking it'd make for a fun rip.

That day has come! Strap in for a 2000 Topps Stadium Club Chrome box break.

Here's what I consider the Stadium Club theme song.. but you gotta change the word "love" to "club" in your head.

I'm not sure what it is, but something about borderless Chrome is just so (excuse the term) delicious. --literally, bringing to mind jelly beans and butter mints. Each pack is like an Easter basket! So I thought it'd be fitting to post this on Easter. I also took the highlights outside for a little "cards in odd places" photo shoot in a springtime scene on my front yard. (Also, these cards don't seem to scan or photograph well, so I thought some direct sunlight might help me get decent images of them.) No autos or relics, but the tough pulls are inserts and refractors.

Some base cards. That's Ripken on the bottom.

Berkman and Thome.

Here are the acetate inserts. (If the other cards are like jelly beans, then these are the jelly beans that you've sucked the outer coating off of.) Larry Walker is a PC guy for me. Nomar and A-rod will be tabbed for trading buddies. Clemens.. yeah, I don't know.. I'm tempted to start a little PC for him. He's a member of the Springfield Nine, after all. Not many people have appeared on both The Simpsons and Mythbusters, a couple of my favorite shows. So he gets some credit for that, even if he's a douche.

I thought the Clemens was interesting because instead of a reversed image on the back, as clear cards like this usually have, there's a picture of Roger's butt.

More inserts. Burrell, Burroughs, Jeter.

Jason Jennings "first day issue" parallel is the only #'d card I pulled. The Griffey insert is nice, but was a little damaged on the back right out of the package.. bummer. That Bonds refractor is the toughest pull I got, with Capture The Action refractors seeded 1:90 packs. Like Clemens, Bonds is a guy I've been considering starting a guilty pleasure PC for even though I'm conflicted about him.

Here's the back of the Jennings, and the 2 other refractors I pulled.. not big names.. Brian Meadows and Mike Bordick (hey, he had a nice career, at least). And back to Jason Jennings, this draft pick card #'d 59/100 probably would have sold for a good price around 2002 when he won NL ROY, but doubt there's much demand for his cards these days.

Here's the most interesting card I pulled! A bizarre miscut. It's an A's pitcher, with the top third of the card being "blank" shiny silver.

Here's a closer look at it. I couldn't identify the player straight away, but some quick research reveals it's former Royals ace Kevin Appier. This would be a cool card to get signed; an autograph up in the silver part would really pop.

This is the back of the Appier miscut.. it's Brian Hunter hiding out on the reverse.

Here are some more cards. (Oops, sorry to feature the same Sanders and Thome cards twice in this post.)

These "Tatooine cards" look pretty cool.

And here's the greenest picture of baseball cards you'll see today.

So there you go: highlights from a box of 2000 Stadium Club Chrome. I'm not planning on building the set.. just nabbing some guys I collect and a few other neat cards that caught my eye, so I've got many cards available to trade.

Happy Easter, guys!

Cards from Dennis

I'm still digging through the prosperous maildays I had in late June, summing them up in short, lazy posts (I'm not even bothering to attempt coming up with clever titles.. For shame, me!) even though I could easily get several days worth of posts out of them. But hey, I've been spending much of my allotted blogging time on things like running big contests giving away lots of certified autos, so I think most of you guys will forgive me (Don't forget to play Flip The Bip if you haven't yet!)

But yeah, it was a glorious couple weeks of my card collection getting fat. First, Rod dropped off a huge box of Padres on me in-person before my trip. Then I arrived home to good sized packages from Nate and Judson. Then Marcus dropped a nice bubblemailer on me, followed by a sweet box from Bo. The spike in my card volume was capped off by a big box from Dennis from Too Many Verlanders.

Dennis graciously ran a giveaway blowout recently where you could get free cards by taking free cards. Hopefully you all got in on that action. While I just narrowly missed getting more free cards via the contest, I still got free cards I picked. Pretty awesome.

I asked for the Padres, Chargers, and Brian Giles lots that were available. I went through the box he sent and basically ended up splitting the team lots in half between keepers for my collection and probable trade bait.

A few of the cards were so pretty that I had to take them outside for a summer afternoon photoshoot.

Gotta love cards with some see-thru on 'em. Always a cool look. (And yeah, I'm sure "see-thru part" is not the technical term. Acetate cards, if you prefer.) The refractory parts on this card are nice too.

Up there are a few more various attractive cards frolicking in the grass.

Now here's a big, lazy photo of the rest of the cards that will have a loving place in my collection:

Lots of cards of Trevor, Khalil, Peavy, X-Nady, etc.

My Brian Giles collection is looking pretty good these days. (I've been "teasing" the story of going to school with the Giles Brothers since my blog began, but I'm actually working on it now. Stay tuned. Need to bust out the old yearbooks.)

I haven't followed the Chargers much these past few years, but it was fun looking through the stack and picking out some guys I remember from back when I kept a closer eye on the team. Rivers, Brees, LaDainian, Seau, Vincent Jackson, etc.

Again, huge thanks for all the great cards, Dennis! You're a good 'un! I'll try to find some cards you need to at least help cover the postage you spent on that big box, if nothing else!

Hey, that wasn't that short of a post after all!

Snow Day

The Snowpocalypse has hit Portland, so I get a much needed 3-day weekend. As I mentioned the other day, we're moving this weekend. We haven't started packing at all. Luckily, we can take our time and move over the course of the next week (although, I guess there's nothing really "lucky" about paying 2 rents for a week or two). And our new place is only 3 miles away, so (once the snow melts), it'll be an easy commute.

Today I'll start packing up non-essential stuff. I also hope to pretty much finish up the string of "special event" blog posts I've been working on drafting here-n-there for the past few weeks. Luckily I had those about 75% "in the hole" ready to go, or else I'd probably have to take a short break from blogging while I worry about the move. I should be able to continue getting posts up on the regular, though it might take a while to get an internet connection set up at the new place. I could likely still post from work on my breaks, though.

I've sent out a few trade packages in the past 2 or 3 days (Rockies, Red Sox, Mets), but will have to put a hold on future trades for the moment until the move is complete and I'm back in the swing of things.

Anyways, back to the snow. Hailing from San Diego, I haven't spent much time with snow. We don't get much up here in Portland, either, but every few years the city gets blanketed in white and pretty much shuts down for a couple days.

But one guy who is no stranger to snow is Night Owl. I got a trade package from him yesterday. That's right, we're turning this into a "trade post"!

I had sent Greg some worthless-but-kinda-cool homemade glow-in-the-dark Dodgers and he responded with a nice Padre-centric variety of wants of mine. (And no, he didn't send the J.T. Snow card at the top of this post.. that was just me being cute, taking a picture of the only J.T. Snow card I own in the snow.)

Goose! As I was naming this image file, I had to stop and appreciate "owl-goose.jpg"

Adrian! An early card and one from his days as San Diego's starpower. Very cool.

Bip! To know Bip is to love Bip.

Gant! Wow, I had this Baseball Cards Magazine freebie cutout back in the day.. I bought the oversized magazine with Ron on the cover and everything. It was the only Baseball Cards Magazine I ever bought. The card and magazine got purged from my collection when I moved to Portland a few years back. Cool to be reunited with this neat oddball. How crazy would it be if this were the very same card that used to be mine? How long till Topps starts putting tracking microchips into their cards? Damn, that'd be pretty freaking cool, actually. Way cooler than a manufactured patch or relic of questionable authenticity.

Some more additions to my Cooperstown Padres collection.

Finally, we close out this trade package with a few miscellaneous Padres, including up-n-comer Jedd Gyorko and never-quite-met-potential'er Khalil Greene. Love 'em.

Thanks a bunch for the trade, Greg! --Oh, I almost forgot, he also included 3 or 4 needs from 1973 Topps! I've already filed those away, so no scans.

Anyways, thanks as always for reading. Have patience with me over the next couple weeks as my home situation goes through a crazy transitional shift. But hopefully you won't even notice anything's up.

Now for no reason, I'll leave you with some pictures of my dog Annie playing in the snow.

Cards in Odd Places

A new feature here at da Breakdown, "Cards in Odd Places" posts will feature-- you guessed it-- pictures of baseball cards in strange locations and situations. That's it. Pictures of random cards in random spots where you wouldn't normally expect to see cards (no photoshop), sometimes with loose attempts at clever wordplay. There's no deeper meaning or any reason for it, I just think it's a funny idea. Maybe you'll be amused by it too? Let's hope so!

Without further ado, please enjoy these cards in odd places.

Shawon Dunston on a pizza?! Better be Chicago deep dish!

Now here's a "bush league" photo!

Ryan Braun in a juice container. Get it?! Juice! Because Ryan Braun loves to do steroids! LOL

The great Bill "Mad Dog" Madlock on my dog Annie. Mad Dog on a (happy) dog. Man, I am too brilliantly funny!

Sorry to BLOW YOUR MIND, but this is what a baseball card looks like held up to a mirror.

Who called an audible?! Mixing it up with a football card-- an ultra-mega-rare "Promotional" one at that-- in a dirty ashtray. You could say he's promoting smoking.

And here's the kicker.

The End.