Members Only

I found these in a small stack of cards from my childhood collection given to me by my Dad not too long ago.  Both of my brothers and I were indeed members of the Topps Stadium Club back in the early '90s, and we each received our small black boxes containing our 1991 Stadium Club Members Only sets.

As a 9-year-old at the time, I figured the cards would earn me hundreds one day.  After all, you had to be a member to get your hands on these.  I couldn't have possibly imagined that 20 years later they would not be worth the cardboard they're printed on.  Oh well, they're not half bad looking cards at least...

There were 30 cards in this set in total, I've picked out just a few of my favorites to highlight here.  We'll start of with Jeff Bagwell, one of the worst trades in Red Sox history...

Here's my favorite card from the bunch.  I'm always happy to add a new Nolan Ryan to the collection.  I've got over 200 different Ryan cards now, not too bad for someone who's generally a set collector I guess...

Rickey Henderson just looks fast on his card...

Here's one commemorating the combined no hitter thrown by Kent Mercker, Mark Wohlers, and Alejandro Pena of the Atlanta Braves on September 11th, 2001.  Great card.

The Rocket represents the only Red Sox card in the set...

Bret Saberhagen's card features what I think is the best photo in the bunch.  He's got a card in the set due to his no-hitter against the White Sox during the '91 season, I'm guessing this photo was taken after that game.

The only problem with this card is that Carlton's in the wrong Sox uniform.

Here's the AL Home Run Leaders card, featuring Cecil Fielder and Jose Canseco, who each clubbed 44 round-trippers in 1991.

Fittingly, I'll leave off with Cal Ripken Jr.  Cal's 1991 season was absolutely insane.  It is up there statistically as one of the best single seasons in the history of baseball.  If you believe in the WARP stat (wins above replacement player), which I confess I only have a general understanding of, it was the fourth best statistical season in baseball history, and the best since 1923.  While I don't understand the ins and outs of how WARP is calculated, I can appreciate Ripkens .323 / 34HR / 114RBI stat line as a shortstop.  He also smashed 46 doubles and another 5 triples.  Cal was the AL MVP, was the home run derby champ and the All-Star Game MVP (first player to do so), won Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards, and was named Player of the Year by both the Associated Press and the Sporting News.

Were any of you Stadium Club members back in the day?