Pujols Post - 2023 Stadium Club

I picked up a few packs of 2023 Stadium Club last week. It's always one of my favorite products every year with the great photography. I was also lucky enough to land a copy of the Albert Pujols card. It was one of the reasons I took a chance on opening a few packs. My expectations for this card were pretty high prior to pulling it from the pack.    

Here is the front.  

I like that we have a picture of Albert Pujols tipping his cap on his final Stadium Club card, but Topps already used a similar photo for his final card in the 2023 flagship set.  Here is the front of that card.....

While they are different photographs, it's the same concept for both cards. Honestly, it feels like a huge letdown. Pujols is such an iconic player over the past two decades, so I am sure that there are some great photos out there that have not been overused that would have looked great on this Stadium Club baseball card.  

Heck, I would even take overusing a classic Pujols photo like him staring down his 2005 NLCS home run against Brad Lidge.  I do not know a single Cardinals fan who gets tired of this one......

Copyright, someone. There are so many copies of this photograph floating around on the internet that I am not sure who to credit. It's one of my favorites.  

Back of the card.  

Solid write-up on the part of Topps to summarize Albert's final season in the Majors. I wish the same level of effort that was used on the back of the card was also used in finding a photo for the front of this card.  

Pujols Post - 2023 Topps Chrome Ultra Violet

I usually post inexpensive base cards of Albert Pujols in this space, but I also usually don't pull expensive inserts of the future Hall of Famer out of retail packs of cards that I purchase from Target.  

It all started two weeks ago. 

I dropped off the kids at school. It was my last day of vacation, so I decided I was going to drive to Durham and hike around the Duke University hiking trail. The path circles the university's five star hotel, The Washington Duke, and their golf course, so I always make a point of making a restroom stop and fill up my water bottle somewhere nearby in Durham before starting the 3 mile hike. 

There is a Target right around the corner from Duke, so I stopped there.

Remember that time I wrote about the Durham Wal-Mart being the 7th Circle of Hell? Well, the west Durham Target is opposite. It's the most high-end Target I have stepped foot in. It's 10 minutes from the McMansions in Chapel Hill and it's not like Duke students and faculty are going to shop in an ordinary Target.  

On this trip into the store, I noted that the snack bar has been upgraded.    

"Taste of Target" 

I see the ICEE machine, but for me it's not really Target unless the front of the store smells like stale popcorn. Note the popcorn machine is empty and looks unused. I cannot take a picture of smells, but the front of the West Durham Target smells pleasant, like someone has one of those potpourri pots going or something.   

Perhaps not having a student body and faculty that eats stale popcorn is the key to a university having it's own pair of five star hotels, a golf course, and a hiking trail. The colleges I graduated from just have a bunch of rare William Faulkner books, an automated library robot, and a tunnel you can legally graffiti.  

I bought a box of Topps Chrome cards and the hiking trail was spectacular.  

Upon returning home, I discovered that the Topps Chrome cards were hot garbage except for one very nice and surprisingly expensive Albert Pujols insert card.

Here is the front of the Topps Chrome Ultra Violet Albert Pujols card.  

  

It's an art set inside of Topps Chrome, which is different. I like it.  

I believe the cards all have the same artist, they at least have a similar piece of art work. Swirly or circles around a head shot of the player along with some sort of action shot and their name drawn inside of a circle using a similar font.  

We've got a younger Albert Pujols on this card. Face is a little slimmer, no gray hair. His batting stance in the action shot is a little lower and Albert is a little smaller through the middle. Let's be honest, this card is better than 90% of the cards that Topps put out in their art sets the past few years.  

To the back of the card......

More swirly lines. 

A nice write-up about Albert Pujols playing in the All-Star game. 

I am going to go check out the artist website.  

Great card.  

Pujols Post - 2022 Topps Chrome Platinum

How many times has Topps used the 1953 Topps design on a card of Albert Pujols?  

Probably more times than I can count on both hands. However, the latest card of Albert on a 1953 styled baseball card has been given the Chrome treatment. There are probably only two or three other Chrome Albert Pujols card on a 1953 design, so this is isn't totally overdone. 

Not yet.  

Here is the front of the card.  

So, the artwork on this year's Topps Chrome Platinum set is not the best. What's going on with Albert's beard? Why are half the players squinting their eyes or look cross-eyed?  I guess whoever made the art for these cards at least got the uniform right.  

Also a little weird seeing a Cardinals card with the position of "designated hitter" on the front. The designated hitter is still fairly new to the National League. I thought this might be a first, but it turns out several of the other Albert Pujols cards from the past year also had his position as DH.  The difference being the cards used the abbreviation of DH and did not write it out like this card.  

I did a little digging to see if Matt Carpenter had a DH card with the Cardinals, but does not. They are all third baseman or infielder cards. Albert took over the role that Matt Carpenter had played the previous season. 

Back of the card.  

It's a rehashed design, so there is not much to compliment or criticize here. Albert's career stats are really impressive and speak for themselves. You think they could have come up with a few more facts for the top of the card. Seems kind of empty and there is so much you could say about Albert.