I finally joined 'The Club'!!

 It's been a little while since I've last posted. Nothing too earth shattering has happened since then. I did, however, get to join a select club. 

In 1991, Topps Stadium Club was the biggest thing. I was in 2nd grade back then, and mainly had some 1989 Donruss, Topps, and Bowman cards in my collection. Add in a pack of 1990 Donruss from Grandma DeJong for my birthday, and that was about my whole collection back then, and Stadium Club, let alone regular Topps, wasn't really on my radar. The next year, 1992, I got a ton of 1992 Topps, a pack or two of 1992 Donruss, and a pack or 2 of Pinnacle and Ultra. I also dipped my hands in Stadium Club for the first time. We were in Michigan for a family reunion (it may have actually been 1993), and we stopped at Meijer's grocery store. There were packs of cards by the checkout, and I asked for 2 packs of '92 Stadium Club, and my mom, like usual, told me I could only have 1. I whined, and for some crazy reason, she gave in, and I got 2!  The only time in my life I remember it happening. I enjoyed the cards, especially the back, with the rookie cards. So many designs I had never seen, including the MLB Debut ones from '90-'92. The BARS charts were neat as well. 

I believe I got one of those info cards that told you how to join the official Topps Stadium Club. Something like sending them $20 or $30 bucks check or money order, and you would get your official membership card back, and a special 30 card set. I never did it, and always wondered what everything looked like. Well, with the help of the internet, I am now finally part of the Topps Stadium Club around 35 years too late, and for only about 10 bucks. 

This is the first of 3 cards that I ordered. I'm actually not quite sure what it is, and maybe a veteran collector can help me figure it out for sure. 

So the set that you got for joining the club appears to come in a box, and along with it, you got a gold Nolan Ryan card, a keychain, and this Nolan Ryan membership card with your club number and Charter Member designation. I'm not sure what the card could get you. Perhaps a discount at the Topps mail order or telephone store if you give them your membership number?

The back of the card looked like that basic back of a credit card, and an address for you to return a lost card to. I wonder if it is still around. 

The card is almost the size of a regular card.

The confusing thing happened when I looked at a few other listings. There was one for an almost identical membership card, but it had the members name on the card instead of Nolan Ryan's. Perhaps this card came when someone joined the club but didn't get the 'Charter Member' set? 

Another listing, which I won, included a 1991 membership card with the members name on it, and a 1992 membership card with the members name. I guess you had to renew every year, and this member must have done that, and it looks like they had the same number as in 1991. I'm not sure if the club continued into 1993, but in 1991 and 1992, it seems like it was going strong. 

I am kind of drawn to odd things from important card sets. The 1991 Stadium Club set was a historic set, with full gloss photos, no borders, gold foil, and rookie cards and the BARS system on the back. It paved the way for more super premium cards. I feel like the membership cards are nice pieces of that set that aren't too common. I also got a promo sheet from the 1996 Topps Chrome set. '96 Topps Chrome was a parallel set that paved the way for Bowman Chrome, and the Topps Chrome sets that we know and love/hate 30 years later. Lastly, I have a promo sheet from 1997 Bowman Chrome. This set added so much value to card that would be worth maybe 1/3 to 1/2 as much as the Chrome version. If the '97 Bowman Chrome set had never become a thing, just 4 years later, we wouldn't have had a Bowman Chrome autographed card of Albert Pujols. A regular Bowman card with Pujols signature and a 'Certified Topps Autograph' stamp would still have tremendous value, but if money was no object, I would get the Chrome one every time. This set opened up the floodgates for high value Chrome autographed cards with Bowman. 

I also have had some Donruss autographed cards come in. I purchased a blaster of 2026 Donruss, 2026 Elite, and a hanging pack of 2026 Donruss. Out of those packs, I got cards that gave me 400, 400, and 250 Panini points. I almost wonder if Panini is still printing 2026 Donruss, putting them on shelves to satisfy demand, and maybe they have been running low on autographs and are putting the 'points cards' in the product. I think that instead of putting points into packs to redeem for old autographed cards, maybe Panini should focus on collation. Topps as well.

Anyways, I redeemed them for 5 cards, basically 2 Rays, 1 Tiger, a cool Dodger, and a Cardinal who is a borderline Hall of Famer. Not bad for my point total. The thing that got me was the shipping. 20 bucks!!!  For 5 cards!!!  I will admit that the cards went from TX to FL in 3 days, and that it was packaged pretty quickly (I expected the process to take a month or so), and that was surprising. I will mess up the Elite years, but here goes: 2015 Elite Extra Edition Daz Cameron, 2022 Mosaic Scripts Luis Patino, 2017 Elite Extra Edition Ronaldo Hernandez (which I couldn't find on TCDB), 20178 Donruss Signature Series Andrew Toles, and a 2025 Donruss Signature Series Jim Edmonds. I got Toles, because I liked his story of how the Dodgers kept him on the roster so he could have insurance to help his mental health, and I've always thought Jim Edmonds was a borderline Hall of Famer. I wasn't sure if my Cardinal-autograph collecting friend Jim had an Edmonds autograph (he did), so I figured it was a decent pickup. 

Tomorrow will be the 25th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. I was 18, away in college at the Univeristy of Mobile. I didn't understand the gravity of the attack, as I wasn't into history and hadn't traveled much, but you knew by how everyone acted around campus and how everyone was glued to the TV that this was something big that we were witnessing in real time. Karen's mom worked in the pentagon at the time, and they know people who were supposed to work in the towers that day who didn't go in for whatever reason. I didn't know anyone who worked there, but did manage to get an autograph of a victim who did around 5 years before 9-11. 

Marty Boryczewski played for the Lakeland Tigers in A-ball for a few years in the early '90's. Being the baseball fan I was, I went to a few Lakeland games then, as well as many Spring Training games. I usually had a ball and some cards to try to get signed every game. I must've gotten Marty a few times, because I found his autograph on a ball and a pennant while going through stuff a few years ago that will go in my future man cave. 

Marty started working as a trader after his baseball career, and was in the North tower on 9-11. I am grateful to have these 2 autographs of him, but if any of his family happens to be reading this, please reach out to me and I will be happy to send them to you. 

While I have never visited the towers pre- 9-11, and haven't got to see the memorial as it was being constructed in 2007 when I visited NYC, I did go past Ground Zero, and got a piece of cinder block from the area. While I am not positive that it was from the towers, I think there is a good chance that it was from the rubble, and although not a part of my baseball collection, I might put it by the autographs of Marty if I ever get a man cave going. Hopefully, we as a country never go through something like that again, and may we always remember how the country came together that day. 

On a more positive note, I will have some 'alone time' after work on Saturday, and I pan to stop over at K n T Sportscards in Ormond the minute I get off, and dig through dime and dollar boxes until they kick me out of the store. I also hope to hit up Orlando Sportscards with Jim at some point in the future, hoping to dig through their cheap '70's boxes. 

I am still waiting on 3 cards to get delieverd to my SportLots box, and once they get there and are shipped, I will have the 1980-2026 Topps sets complete (I guess until 2026 Update comes out). It will feel good to basically have all of the cards I need to update my binders, and then comes the process of actually doing it and finding time to do so. So far, I have the Diamondbacks, Braves, Cubs, Rockies, and Marlins done. I have the Reds binders and loose cards out, but have just been doing other things on evenings when Karen is working. Tonight, I have mostly done this blog post, but might have a chance to do so starting on Tuesday night. Hopefully I will have a ton of cards from Saturday to add. We will see. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy