搶先看:2016 Topps Stadium Club Baseball

Ysponder

2016 Topps Stadium Club Baseball isn’t likely to wow you with its hits — at least as far as quantity goes. It doesn’t have a lot of ground-breaking technology either. As a matter of fact, little has changed over last year. And that set only had a few tweaks from 2013. That said, this is a product that is one of the most focused you’ll likely find in baseball all year. The reason is simple.

Every card uses photography to try and tell a story. That’s the bell and the whistle.

Being that it’s the modern hobby and premium content is expected, 2016 Topps Stadium Club Baseball hobby boxes have two autographs. Additional inserts are also included, most of which have been used with the brand in the past.



Base Set



A total of 300 players from the past and the present make up the base set. Cards use a full-bleed design that has little in the way of additional elements. The reason is simple: to stress that photography is the focal point. The nameplate is bigger than last year, but the player’s last name, which takes up the majority of the space, uses an outlined font that lets the image through.

Topps is bringing variations over to 2016 Topps Stadium Club Baseball with 25 players getting an alternate card with a different image.

Parallels combine to land one per pack. These come in Gold Foil, Black Foil (1:8 packs), Black and White Foil (1:48), Rainbow Foilboard (/25), First Day Issue (ten copies each) and Members Only (one per case).  



Autographs



Basic autographs use the same design as the base set, only with a small note stating it’s a signed card. They look to be on-card signatures once again. Parallels can be found in Black (/50), Gold (/25) and Orange (1/1).

Other autographs in 2016 Topps Stadium Club Baseball include Lone Star Signatures, dual-autograph Co-Signers (/5) and 1993 Autographed Buybacks (/5), which have a special stamp noting they’re part of this release.   



Inserts




Basic insets in 2016 Topps Stadium Club Baseball are a mix of familiar elements with a little bit that’s new.

Beam Team has a long history with the brand, including in each of the two years since it was brought back in 2013. These fall one per box with 25 in the set. Beam Team Gold parallels are a case hit while a handful of players have signed versions (/5).

Legends Die-Cuts (ten cards) also return and are still one per box. Gold versions are numbered to 25.

Sticking with the die-cut theme is Triumvirates, another deeply rooted Stadium Club insert. The set has 30 total cards that are divided into ten different trios. Each fits together to form a mini puzzle of sorts. Triumvirate Luminous is the most common, inserted one per box. Next is Luminescent (1:64). Illuminators are one per case.

Instavision was originally planned for 2015 Topps Stadium Club Baseball but it didn’t make the final cut. It’s back in the works here with one of the ten cards landing per case. Gold parallels are numbered to 25. In the past, Instavision used holographic technology to showcase short bits of movement.

ISOmetrics (25 cards, 1:8) is a new insert that mashes up the photography theme with advanced statistics. Like Beam Team, there’s a Gold parallel case hit.

Contact Sheet is the easiest insert set to put together in the product. There are ten different cards that combine to fall two per box. Parallels come in White Foil (/99), Gold (/50) and Orange (/25).



2016 Topps Stadium Club Baseball at a glance:

Packs per box: 16
Cards per pack: 8
Boxes per case: 16
Set size: 300 cards
Release date: June 29, 2016


What to expect in a hobby box:

• Autographs – 2
• Beam Team Inserts – 1
• Legends Die-Cuts Inserts – 1
• Triumvirate Luminous Inserts – 1
• Contact Sheet Inserts – 2
• ISOmetrics Inserts – 2
• Parallels – 16

   

Ysponder

2016 Topps Stadium Club Variations Highlight Pitchers Who Bat, Royals on Parade and More

   
Welcome to the world of 2016 Topps Stadium Club variations. For the first time since the brand was revived in 2014, select cards come with variation short prints featuring separate photos.


All told, there are 25 different 2016 Topps Stadium Club variations. They’re not easy to find with reports indicating they’re about two per hobby case.


Like most of their other variations, an initial checklist was not been released. However, while appearing on the June 30 edition of GoGTS Live, Topps’ Susan Lulgjuraj did offer up some hints as far as themes go. While there is not one continuous thread throughout, she did say that the World Series parade for the Kansas City Royals is one thing to watch for. Another is shots of pitchers at the plate. Once they started to surface, basic rookie variations were also part of the mix. And some are simply different photos.

If you’re hoping that the fine print on the back offers up confirmation over the variations like they do in some sets, this isn’t the case here. The code on the back is reportedly the same for base cards and variations.

Below is a full 2016 Topps Stadium Club variations checklist and gallery of all 25 cards along with their base versions.


2016 Topps Stadium Club Variations Checklist

20 Al Leiter, New York Mets
56 Yordano Ventura, Kansas City Royals
69 Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
78 James Shields, San Diego Padres
80 Nolan Ryan, California Angels
81 Miguel Sano, Minnesota Twins
120 Mike Moustakas, Kansas City Royals
121 Masahiro Tanaka, New York Yankees
122 Greg Maddux, Atlanta Braves
125 Corey Kluber, Cleveland Indians
137 Josh Harrison, Pittsburgh Pirates
142 Corey Seager, Los Angeles Dodgers
147 Henry Owens, Boston Red Sox
151 Stephen Piscotty, St. Louis Cardinals
200 Jose Fernandez, Miami Marlins
203 Alex Gordon, Kansas City Royals
209 Julio Teheran, Atlanta Braves
214 Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco Giants
250 Bartolo Colon, New York Mets
264 A.J. Pollock, Arizona Diamondbacks
265 Hector Olivera, Atlanta Braves
272 Michael Conforto, New York Mets
277 Kyle Schwarber, Chicago Cubs
280 Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels
295 Aaron Nola, Philadelphia Phillies