Two products I have yet to purchase are Stadium Club and a new product from Topps called Big League. These products are the Odd Couple when pairing them together.
Big League is a new release catering to younger collectors. When first announced I expected it to be more like Opening Day and, for me, a throwaway (not literally – I’m a hoarder). Stadium Club, meanwhile, is a flashy product with amazing photography and super glossy stock.
After my daily trip to the post office I had to stop by Target to pick up some painter’s tape and wanted to get in on this Big League action to see what it’s all about. And since I haven’t picked up Stadium Club, I’ll grab a couple blasters. Each year I only buy a couple Stadium Club blasters. It’s not my thing, but like to check it out.
The Stadium Club boxes are adorned by….Kris Bryant! Then I opened my first box and he’s on the packs. I considered setting a pack aside for my Cubs collection, but decided to just keep an empty wrapper since this will be the only Stadium Club I buy.
And maybe if I kept an unopened pack it would have been the hit I pulled! It’s a Cam Gallagher Auto.
One Cubs Insert was among my two boxes. The set is called Power Zone and here’s the Kris Bryant.
Two Cubs rookies made the set. First is Dillon Maples.
The second is Jen Ho Tseng. This is an awesome card. It’s so simple with Tseng heading out of the dugout, and that’s what makes Stadium Club great. It mixes great images whether it be a portrait type shot to an in action shot.
A similar image was used for Kyle Schwarber in that its not your typical action photo. Schwarber is shown with a cap tip. Maybe after a Schwarbomb?
Here’s an action shot of the most unlikely subjects. Jon Lester isn’t exactly a hitting pitcher. His first big league hit came with the Cubs in 2015 against the Cardinals. Until that single he had gone 0-for-66 at the plate dating back to his 2006 MLB debut.
Jose Quintana also has a great image even though he’s just standing. The Cubs colors on Quintana’s uniform really pop on this card, and his game face look stands out.
Addison Russell is shown signing autographs at Wrigley Field. You can see the Wrigley scoreboard on the bottom right of the card and the video board in left field below Russel’s elbow.
Had to save the Stadium Club best for last. Check out the emotion of Javier Baez. That’s the look I see when I think about Baez playing the game. It bothers me that many people don’t think Javy respects the game or that he does too much “hot dogging.” Baez is so good for the game with his raw emotion and leave it all on the field play. He makes the game exciting. A game that needs this type of player and this type of excitement to attract a young audience in our era of impatience.
On to Topps Big League. I have heard varying opinions on this product. Overall, I’ve heard more positive than negative. I like this release. Its a classic design and I really like the Cubs logo in the bottom left of the card. The Topps BL logo is in the upper right and the player name/team/position in the bottom slight right all flows well. The card stock is in between what I would consider matte (Heritage) and glossy (Stadium Club). The thickness is similar of the regular Topps base sets.
I bought six fat packs and the inserts are all at the bottom of each pack. There are also variations that seem to be difficult to see, so I’ll have to check out the checklist. There are three gold parallels in each pack and I pulled a Jon Lester.
There was also a Jason Heyward Parallel and I also pulled his base card.
Ben Zobrist’s card shows him making solid contact at the plate.
Addison Russell claps on base.
Javier Baez looks to make a play in the field. I like the contrast of images used for Javy in the last three products (Bowman Platinum, Big League, Stadium Club). Of the three, surprisingly the Platinum is the most bland.
The Cubs didn’t have many league leaders in 2017, so I was surprised to find Kris Bryant on a leaders card. He was in the top three in walks in the National League last season.
And I pulled the Bryant base card.
These were fun breaks. I won’t go out of my way to find Topps Big League, but it’s definitely a nice product and I’ll pick some up again next year.