i think it would be a great job to be tasked with finding photos for the stadium club set. a few years ago,
i went and found some photos that i would like to see on stadium club cards, and since then, a couple of those photos have shown up on cardboard - including one as a stadium club auto card. that's pure coincidence i know, but it gives me hope that the folks at topps are looking for good photos in the getty images database.
one of my favorite cards in this year's set is luisangel acuna's
on field photography has really changed the look of baseball cards in the last couple of decades, and the smoke machine giving a sort of haze in front of mr. and mrs. met provides an interesting image that doesn't appear in other sets. i am still glad that the dodgers don't have a mascot, but i recognize that it is fun to see mascots on cards.
for the most part, however, this year's (or last year's, technically) stadium club release feels different in terms of photos used and players featured. from what i can tell, there is only one player included from before the 1970's (two if you count nolan ryan), and the retired players featured don't necessarily have the most dramatic photos. there are still plenty of good images, but i didn't get the same "wow" factor from most of the cards that i've had in the past.
at any rate, i bought a couple of mega boxes directly from topps. i'll run through one of them here.
pack 1
right away, the austin riley card leading off the pack gives classic stadium club vibes. the second card, ezequiel tovar's, features a stadium club staple dugout shot, but those images have started to leak into flagship sets, too.
the mark vientos card is the light blue foil parallel, of which mega boxes guarantee nine.
pack 2
i should note that freddie freeman is the cover boy for 2025 stadium club. the boxes and packs feature an image from his 2024 world series game 1 walk-off grand slam. the first card in this pack, however, features an image from an early 2025 game in which the dodgers wore their gold lettered champion jerseys. i am a bit surprised that there have been so few cards in 2025 that showed images from that historic home run.
the tip of the cap from pete alonso is another classic stadium club shot, but the rest are sort of run of the mill. chase petty is showing the pete rose memorial patch, and george kirby is the second light blue foil parallel of the box.
pack 3
kevin alcantara's dugout exit > dylan cease's dugout exit due to the cheetah print glove he's sporting.
topps did a reboot of inserts with this set. triumvirates are the only ones carried through from previous years. one of the new ones is the in case of emergency cards with the one in this pack featuring albert pujols.
max scherzer's card is a numbered (to 99) turquoise foil parallel
pack 4
honus wagner is, as far as i can tell (i didn't scour the checklist) the only pre-war player featured in stadium club this time around, and the only player from before nolan ryan suited up. this is a big departure from recent years when we could count on cards of brooklyn dodgers, milwaukee braves, and the occasional st. louis brown along with their contemporaries.
michael busch's card image comes from a game at dodger stadium, and mark mcgwire's card continues the tradition of people riding in cars getting cards in stadium club. finally, ronald acuna jr provides the third light blue parallel of the box.
from here on out, i'll just share some of the other cards that caught my eye.
not including players of old like walter johnson or even harmon killebrew makes room on the checklist for more recently retired players like johan santana
it's good to see santana back on cardboard and in the hubert h. humphrey metrodome, to boot.
also in a dome is checklist mainstay ichiro
who joins santana in the hat waving club
another regular checklist retiree is ken griffey jr
featured with one of his signature activities - blowing a bubble
derek jeter's jumpman logo is almost replicated on his card
which also features the long gone evergreens of the first few seasons of target field.
prince fielder
is sliding home at fenway
chase utley
is reaching for the ball
and ryan zimmerman
is reaching for home. i can appreciate a fan favorite like zimmerman on the checklist even if it came at the expense of sandy koufax or jackie robinson. i was hoping to see orel hershiser on a (base) card this year, though.
one of the older players featured in this set is george brett
who looks like he just soiled himself. no wonder we haven't seen that photo used a bunch in the past.
i found most of the cards bearing images that were shared by topps in advance of the set's release, such as paul skenes
jackson holliday
trevor hoffman
and kristian campbell
that campbell card allows me to segue in to other current player cards that i took the time to scan
bobby witt jr
and wyatt langford
show that getting post game gatorade dousings are good ways to get on stadium club cardboard
there were some horizontal cards that stood out, like riley greene's
which features a small portion of the little ceaser's mascot
fernando tatis jr's card
features some nice soft light
mike trout's card
shows off some led lighting with the angels' home run halo
kyle tucker's card
features the bright lights of the big (windy) city. this might be the best wrigley field lights card since that card from score back in the late 1980s.
lights are also visible on gunnar henderson's card
which features a low-five
mookie betts' card
is a breath of fresh air amongst the normal fielding cards, as is this card
featuring the "other" max muncy
twins' rookie luke keaschall's card
shows good flow
and braxton ashcraft's card
is really the only card featuring a portrait that i came across. suitable for framing by the ashcraft family.
hands down my favorite card of the set is shohei ohtani's
we need more cards of players rounding third, especially at dodger stadium. i would love to chase rainbows of this card, but the beauty of it is in the color of the base image, so i'm not prioritizing. i will pick up another copy for my dodger stadium collection, however.
speaking of which, matt mclain's card
like michael busch's above, features a photo taken in dodger stadium but i think i've stopped adding cards like these to that collection
i've also toyed with closing up my tatooine collection, but i think i will just limit entry to more interesting cards like chase dollander's
from here on out.
jimmy rollins' card
was quickly admitted to my double play collection
topps has done a nice job in recent years of featuring a card showing the cardinals' retired number murals in the background, and this year it's masyn winn's card
tarik skubal's card
gives me 1978 topps don gullet vibes, which is a very good thing
aaron judge's card
features an image that would also work on a 1978 topps card. only one year and a couple of months until 2027 heritage - just sayin'.
royce lewis' card
had me do a double take because the background is so light compared to the rest of the cards i was pulling from the packs
case in point, lewis' teammate brooks lee's card
is much darker. lee is wearing the twins' "aquaman" jersey. that's my term for it and it makes more sense to me than city connect since their alternate (twin cities) jerseys have that covered even if they aren't the official cc jerseys. thanks nike.
juan soto's card
features mr. met in the background, but not nearly as dramatically as luisangel acuna's card up top.
and, honus wagner may be the only old-timey player in the set, but he's not the only one wearing an old-timey uniform as joey votto's card
features him wearing one of the reds' throwback uniforms they wore from time to time a few years ago.
bryan woo's card
is pretty colorful
matt chapman's card
was the only one i found featuring an award (another stadium club staple), but this time the photo used is from the tail end of the recognition ceremony which is unique for a card
adolis garcia's card
gives the illusion that he is at the fence to make a catch, but i don't think he is even on the warning track (and
he's not)
denzel clarke, on the other hand,
is definitely at the wall on his card. this photo shows him about to rob nolan schanuel of the angels of a home run.
clarke's teammate nick kurtz' card
is a nice one to find in any 2025 product
ok, just a few more base cards, and they're all dodgers
clayton kershaw
roki sasaki
will smith
and dalton rushing
i am left needing only hyeseong kim and yoshinobu yamamoto to complete my team set
inserts! in addition to the in case of emergency insert i showed earlier, topps has introduced savage sluggers, of which nick kurtz is one
the backgrounds have a sort of skull island vibe going on.
another insert set is concentration, represented here by kumar rocker
and its background features a big ol' eye. i think.
the last of the regular insets that i found is yours for the taking (here's fernando tatis jr's card)
but i am not sure what the title of these cards mean. the backs don't really spell it out, either.
i am owed a few more light blue foil parallels, and they were there - paul skenes
nolan ryan
sandy alcantara
and some mariners - george kirby
randy arozarena
and logan gilbert
the box promised two sepia parallels as well, and i found zack wheeler
and nick kurtz
that's not too bad!
and, if you were counting, you'd know that there is one light blue foil parallel i haven't shown yet. it's yamamoto's
which was a heck of a surprise because stadium club hasn't been friendly to me with the dodger parallels in recent years.
i always enjoy seeing stadium club released, and this year was no exception. lots of interesting photography even if the wow factor seemed diminished to me. i think it would great if they expanded the checklist to include a fuller array of players from baseball's history, but taking a year off from some of the perennial subjects isn't a bad thing, either.
what do you think of the stadium club cards you've seen this year?
i am pretty confident about this one, which was one of the cards i most wanted to add.
danny ozark
earl weaver
and fernando arroyo
brian downing
as with guidry up top, i had tried to get otis ttm but was unsuccessful. one of my favorite lines from ted lasso was "way to notice, amos otis".
and jim slaton
represent the brew crew
the former dodger signed a 1974 topps card for me in a private signing, but i didn't send his '78 card, prioritizing a dodger card over this effort.
from what i can tell, plummer signed all of his 1978 cards the same way in the same place
love the shiny jacket that the then-future dodger was sporting
the former rookie of the year reminded me and my friends of lenny from laverne & shirley
came from a seller who also sold me a dave freisleben signed 1978 topps card, except he sent a 1976 card
by mistake. i was refunded so no harm no foul
was one i really wanted for the set, and he doesn't sign. i also added the stolen bases league leader card
but have no path i am aware of to have frank taveras sign it. i did find taveras' individual card
i settled for this one that is made out "to bill". there were a couple of authenticated bonds cards i came across, but the prices were high and the autos maybe not as bold. i have a couple of things signed by bonds, and the auto looked good to me with a reasonable price. besides, i figure if it's a fake, it wouldn't have the endorsement.