2016 Stadium Club hobby box (with case hit!)

The other day my lovely wife randomly sent me a link for an eBay discount code that was expiring within the hour. I searched around for a wanted card or card lot over the minimum dollar amount so I could take advantage of it. At first I couldn't find anything good that fit in that price range, but then I searched for hobby boxes, and when 2016 SC popped up, that worked for me so I pulled the trigger. The coupon code brought my cost down to a tick below the trending price, so I was happy with that.

Let's check out what the box had in store for me...

Starting out with some inserts, I think this is the first time I'd ever been able to piece together a couple of those Triumvirate die-cuts, so that was kinda cool. I think the "Luminous" cards are supposed to only be one per box, so guess I got lucky pulling a second one.

I kept seeing the back of the inserts as I was opening the packs, seeing names like Trout and Kershaw and getting excited for a second thinking "Maybe this is one of my 2 promised autos!" But nope, I'd flip them over and realize they were just regular inserts.

Here're some base cards of current superstars.

And some of this year's hot rookies.

Here are the parallels I got. The Rondon is black, while the rest are gold. I was happy to pull the Giancarlo, though the rest are available for trade.

Here are some retired stars I grew up watching.

And some guys from before my time. Lou Brock tragically got boring cards most of his playing career, usually just standing around, so it's nice to see an exciting photo of him on a card for once.

A few more active guys I collect. Per usual, Stadium Club delivers with some great photos.

My autos didn't really knock my socks off, gotta say. Rob Refsnyder and Kevin Plawecki. I've already pulled autos of both these guys from Panini products within the past year, so I had some "Not him again?!" feelings. Both are decent young players (and hey New York teams so big fanbase) though definitely not among the better names on the auto checklist to hope for. As I pulled the second auto (Plawecki) from the dwindling packs, I began to worry the box was a bit of a bust for me (I know, I know.. Stadium Club isn't about the hits). But that feeling only lasted a brief moment because the very next card in that pack was this case hit:

Boom! Coverboy Carlos Correa Members Only parallel! Again, these Members Only parallels are one per case. To pull a big name such as the reigning AL ROY is quite lucky on my part. These aren't serial numbered unfortunately, but we're talking about a print run in single digits. If I wanted to sell it, it's reasonable to think I might be able to fully recoup the cost of the box with this one card, or at least get close. There don't seem to be any on eBay yet, either in current or completed listings, so it's hard to say. But I like the idea of having a good card of Correa, so I plan to hang onto it.

So yeah, thanks in large part to the Members Only hit, this turned out to be a pretty sweet box for me.
Thanks for stopping by and checking it out! I'll have plenty of base cards to trade for you guys working on the set.

P.S. Don't forget it's Pull Tab Awareness Week! I've got a little contest going n' everything, if you missed it yesterday.