This Pack is Named 1993 Topps Stadium Club Series 3

Greetings folks, it’s the Troll back again for another pack rip… This is part of my never ending group box break-if anyone is interested in joining the party, I have 10 slots open for the next one, find out which teams HERE. The pack of the day today is 1993 Topps Stadium Club Series 3. Generally when a card company brings on a 3rd series it means that you get a combination of yet another card of the superstars, plus whoever is left over-middle relievers and call-ups. In theory this would yield a lot of rookie cards, but 17 years later, none panned out (does Troy Percival count?). The checklist for Series 3 is only 149 cards and there are 14 (super premium) cards per pack and 24 packs per box. Each box yields 336 cards which make for a TON of dupes. This is pack #21 that I am ripping and I’ve already hit 6 copies of some cards. It’s a Bipping waiting to happen… The player selection is horrible, the collation isn’t great, but the photography is great for the most part and it’s a good looking set. Here is what I got in the 21st pack I ripped: #673 Kirk Gibson Detroit Tigers (The Pirates released Gibson after only a month in 1992. Gibby sat out the entire year, but went back to Detroit to start ’93 and played for the Tigers for 3 more years as an outfielder and DH. He retired in Detroit where he started his career after the 1995 season. Even in a Tigers uniform I can’t look at Gibson without getting the image of him limping around the bases in ’88)
#747 Barry Bonds San Francisco Giants Members Choice (Even with only 149 cards in series 3 they still had 2 cards each of all the era’s stars like Bonds. The back of the card calls Barry a “man without a weakness” and the “best all around player in baseball”
#623 Scott Fletcher Boston Red Sox (Fletcher was the Red Sox’ every day second baseman in 1993. He hit .285 and led the Bo Sox with 16 steals)
#627 Paul Molitor Toronto Blue Jays (1993 was a banner year for the Igniter. He started the All Star Game (DH), won his 3rd Silver Slugger Award, Finished second (to Frank Thomas) in the MVP vote, he led the AL in hits (211), topped 100 RBI (111), won the World Series with the Blue Jays and took home WS MVP honors after hitting .500 with 2 homers and 8 RBIs… Not too shabby for a 36 year old)
#653 Felix Jose Kansas City Royals (Jose swiped a career best 31 bases for the Royals in 1993, his first season in KC and his last full season in the big leagues)
#693 Mike Moore Detroit Tigers (The Pride of Early, Oklahoma! Mike Moore was the #1 overall Pick in the 1981 draft out of Oral Roberts University and he was no Brien Taylor. His best years were spent with the Oakland A’s. In 1989 Moore was 19-11 with a 2.61 ERA for Oakland. In the World Series he was 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA against the Giants-at the plate he added a 2-run double. His hit broke a decade long hitless streak for AL pitchers in the Series. Moore went to Detroit as a free agent right before the 1993 season. In his first season there he 13-9 in 36 starts. He had a very high (5.22) ERA, but he won ball games. He stopped winning ball games in 1995. He was 5-15 in his final season with Detroit; this would prove to be his final season in MLB as well. For his career Moore was 161-176)
#650 Tom Glavine Atlanta Braves (In the ’92 WS Glavine went the distance in each of his 2 starts, splitting his decisions. He came out on top 3-1 in game one, but took the hard luck 2-1 loss in game 4)
#738 Steve Howe New York Yankees (In my best Rick James voice-“Cocaine is hell of a drug!”-The NL ROY in 1980, Howe was 3-5 with 4 saves for the Yankees in ’93)
#711 BJ Surhoff Milwaukee Brewers (Starring BJ Surhoff as “The Flash”… Ridiculous…Make that embarrassing)
#750 Greg Maddux Atlanta Braves MEMBERS CHOICE (Maddux facts from 1992-He won the first of 4 straight Cy Young Awards. He never allowed more than 4 runs in a game. He never pitched less than 5 innings in an outing. He held right handers to a .176 BA. He won 20 games. He completed 9 of his 35 starts and pitched 4 shutouts. He struck out 199 batters in 268 innings. He batted .170 with a homer and 8 RBI. He faced 1061 batters. He hit 14 of those batters. He had a 2.18 ERA)
#660 David Justice Atlanta Braves (In 1992 Justice batted .256 with 21 homers and 72 RBI. In 1993 with the best pitchers in the league all on his team his numbers jumped to .270, 40 homers and 120 RBI. He was the NL’s starting right fielder in the All Star Game and won his first Silver Slugger Award. It all dropped off for the World Series though. Justice batted .158 in the 6-game loss to Toronto. Oh and this glamour shot picture is completely ridiculous)
#647 Ivan Calderon Boston Red Sox (I don’t know if this pic is ridiculous or completely pimp-it’s a fine line…)
#604 Bryan Harvey Florida Marlins (The first ever closer for the Fish in their first ever season. Harvey was the Marlins first All Star, pitching a scoreless 9th inning in the NL’s 9-3 loss in ’93. Harvey was third in the NL with 45 saves and posted a 1.70 ERA in his first year with the Marlins)
#626 Steve Avery Atlanta Braves (In 1993 Avery won 18 games for the Braves, 3rd best in the NL and 3rd best on his team. He was one of three Braves pitchers on the 1993 NL All Star Team (Maddux didn’t make it). Avery won the NLCS MVP Award in 1991 when he struck out 17 Pirates over his 2 victories at age 21)
Okay, I mentioned at the top that the photography was top notch. It really has been good throughout most everything I have seen so far (other than half this pack). Don’t judge the set on the few horrible shots in this pack. I mentioned that the collation was horrible. It is. 4 Braves, 2 Tigers, 2 Red Sox in one pack, plus that is the 5th Ivan Calderon card I have pulled in 21 packs. Not great, but with only 149 cards in the set that is what happens. Any pack with a Hall of Famer (Molitor) in it aint bad. Getting 2 300 win pitchers, plus a 700 homer guys isn’t too bad either. I will say that opening an entire box with no hope of inserts or autos does get boring. I am not used to pulling autos, but I am used to having the chance. I also think its foolish to have a box with 336 cards in it for a 149 card set. Also, if that BJ Surhoff card was the first card I had seen I wouldn’t have touched this box no matter how cheap it was. This is all part of the fun of junk wax though. Speaking of junk wax… Over at the Collective Troll we are filling spots for a junk wax box break. Many of the pack rips will be posted right here on this awesome blog. There are 8 slots (teams) still open and here is some of what I will be ripping for it-shoot me an email if you might be interested… Oh, I wanted to apologize to Scott Fletcher, Felix Jose and Bryan Harvey and their fans. I really thought I scanned thier cards, but I keep on searching and can't find 'em anywhere... The chances of all 3 of them being pulled in the last 3 packs I rip are good, if so I will be sure to post them then. Go Rays! Troll out.