1992 Topps Stadium Club #24 - Wayne Presley

I thought the Rob Zettler card was the strangest card from the 1992 Topps Stadium Club hockey set, but I was wrong. Apparently Rob was not the only player with a desire to show off his motorcycle. The odd thing is that on Wayne's card, the motorcycle itself is cropped right out of the picture (aside from some crappy red racing stripes and some fishnet near the back). The focus here doesn't seem to be on Wayne's ride so much as his riding "look".

This card is a prime example of how things went terribly wrong in the 80s and early 90s on the style front. Wayne has commited a classic fashion faux pas of denim on denim. The jacket and pants are such a similar shade that it almost gives the illusion of a denim jump suit. The gloves are just plain creepy. I have no idea why the knuckles have to be exposed. I wonder if there are any more motorcycle shots in this set?

1992 Topps Stadium Club Hockey #225 - Rob Zettler

In 1992, Topps Stadium Club's hockey release contained player ratings (from 1-5) for various different skills (depending on position) on the back of each card. Rob Zettler earned a 4 out of 5 for crease-clearing ability. Yeah, you don't want to mess with Rob. In case that completely arbitrary and meaningless rating doesn't convince you, just check out this great shot of him on his hog.

If this were another player, we might see a great, high-quality action shot on the card, like the ones early Stadium Club cards are known for, but Rob wouldn't settle for that. In 1992 he walked into Topps headquarters with a single goal in mind, to force Topps to use on his Stadium Club card a photo of his two-wheeled beauty from a private photoshoot he'd arranged on an abandoned dock 2 weeks earlier. He strolled in there with the collar to his leather jacket in an upright position and a second collared shirt under his sweater, kicked some ass and took some names.

Sixteen years later I pulled this card out of a pack and laughed my ass off for a good 5 minutes. I bought a wax box of this stuff and I've still got a few packs left. I hope I pull 10 more of these...

My Original Cards!

Ever since I started buying cards last year after more than a decade away from the hobby, I've wondered about the cards I originally collected as a kid. I was absolutely obsessed with them from around age 7 until I was 13 or so. Like many kids my age, I'd spend hours just flipping through binders or thumbing through my commons boxes, reading the names, memorizing the stats, resorting and reorganizing. When I reached high school I moved on to other things. My time and energy were instead devoted to things like music, girls, crappy part-time jobs and underage drinking. My card collection was carefully packaged and banned to the basement. A couple of years later, we moved. My parents have always been pack rats, so after the move my carefully packaged card collection ended up somewhere in the basement or the garage, both of which are literally packed floor to ceiling with junk.

Yesterday I was visiting my parents and looking through the garage with my brother when something caught my eye. Buried away in a back corner and covered in junk was a green Rubbermaid box that looked all too familiar. After about 10 minutes of excavation I was finally able to free the box and confirm my suspicion, it contained some of my old sports card collection! I immediately packed it in my car exactly as it was, cards, magazines, dirt and grime included.

Finding this box was like finding a time capsule from when I was 14 years old. It gave me such a great feeling that I was actually glad I took some time away from the hobby. Now I can enjoy these cards all over again, as if I were seeing them for the first time. So far I've resisted the temptation to look through the contents, I've decided it will be more fun for me if I take it a piece at a time and show some of the goods on my blog.

It will be interesting to see how this stuff faired after more than 10 years of storage in a musty basement and then a garage that had 2 broken windows, exposing the inside to the elements. There was no lid on the box, which could also be a contributing factor to the state of the items inside. As an example of just what kind of condition this box is in, it seems that some type of insect at one point made a home in one of the handles:

For this first post, I'm going to take a look at a binder facing upright near the front of the box. I didn't have official sports card binders during my first crack at collecting, but instead had spare 3-ring binders that my dad would scavenge from his office job. I also recall using some cheap 9 pocket sheets to fill them. My dad probably figured (and I agree) that it wasn't worth spending the money on Ultra-Pro sheets to protect cards that would probably end up pretty dinged up and were undoubtedly sorted more than once by someone with Cheeto residue on their hands. I recall being frustrated on more than one occassion by the pockets peeling back as I attempted to slide cards into them.

Sweet Jesus, my 1992-93 Topps Stadium Club basketball set! I think I was into basketball cards for about 10 minutes growing up, and this is the only set I ever purchased. Countless hours of yard work were logged in order to come up with the funds for this one. I never really got into following basketball or collecting the cards, but if I remember correctly Shaq was just emerging on the NBA scene and his cards were the hot item at the time. Before I check out the binder I do have to say that is some impressive custom artwork on the front. Just check out the detail on that basketball! Not too shabby considering this was created before Windows '95 even existed. Let's take a look inside...

It just keeps getting better and better! Looks like I had just enough room in here to cram in my 12 card 1991 Fleer Pro-Visions insert set! I hate to admit it, but I ripped a lot of God-awful, bright yellow 1991 Fleer back in the day, and these Pro-Vision cards are from an era when pulling an insert actually meant something (or at least felt like it). I have to say, as bad as the '91 Fleer set was, these insert cards still look great to me, better than half of the insert cards you'd pull from a modern day set. Way to go Fleer.

I can't believe I would've stored these in here without some Fleer Pro-Vision artwork to go along with the basketball on the front of the binder, I guess I wasn't as anal as I thought. There are a page and a third of Pro-Vision cards, and I do mean page and a third, as I literally cut one third of a nine pocket sheet out to hold the last 3 Pro-Vision cards that wouldn't fit on the first sheet. Some things clearly had to be sacrificed in the name of organization. After that we have the entire 1992-93 Stadium Club basketball set in all its glory. If I was only going to purchase a single basketball set, I certainly picked a good one. This 400 card set has the simplistic design and wonderful full-bleed photos that Stadium club was known for, at least in its early years. Just click on the picture above for the full-size shot and check out the picture of Jordan dunking right over someone (Patrick Ewing?) on his card for proof. Also note the mysterious brown substance on the edge of the binder, ugh!

There's a great blend of cards here, from the all time greats like Michael Jordan and Larry Bird to the next generation of up and coming stars like Shaquille O'Neal and Larry "Grand-Ma-Ma" Johnson. While there is some definite wear to the binder and a few of the sheets, the cards themselves appear to be exactly as I left them so long ago. What a great start to a box full of surprises. I'll scan and post a few of my favorite cards from this binder when I get some time...

#64 - Dave Philley - Philadelphia Athletics

Alright, after a few complete duds we finally have a card of someone who actually achieved some level of success playing baseball. Dave Philley's career spans 21 years in the majors (he did miss 3 seasons due to military service), although the latter part of his career consisted largely of pinch-hit appearances.

Dave was regarded as a great outfielder as well, but unfortunately this was primarily in the pre-Gold Glove era. Had they awarded them at the time, it's likely he would've received at least one, as he led A.L. outfielders in assists in 1948, 1950 and 1953.

Philley was definitely a servicable hitter during his early career, but it was his pinch-hitting prowess that allowed him to continue his career into the early 60s. He was successful in each of his last 8 pinch-hit appearances in 1958, as well as his first of 1959, setting a record for most consecutive successful pinch-hit appearances that stands to this day. At 41 years of age, Dave had 24 hits in 72 pinch-hit at bats during his 1961 campaign with the Orioles, both A.L. records.

The trend of forgetful players continues here for the 1953 Topps Project. There isn't a whole lot to be said about Toby Atwell. He burst into the league in 1952 with the Cubs, posting an impressive .290 batting average with 31 RBI and 105 hits and earning himself a spot on the National League All-Star team.

Unfortunately for Toby, it was all downhill from there. In the end, he would play only 378 total games over a 5 year span. He would never again achieve the decent production he had in his rookie year. Before the 1953 season had come to a close, he was involved in a multi-player trade that sent him to the Pirates and brought Ralph Kiner to the Chicago Cubs. Just another player with a promising start who didn't pan out...

Willard Schmidt had a short, seven season career pitching in Major League Baseball from 1952 until 1959 (he did not play in 1954). He played the duration of his career for the St. Louis Cardinals, with the exception of his final two years, during which he was a member of the Cincinnati Redlegs.

When his baseball days were over, Willard settled down with his wife and raised a family of 6 children, all of whom attended and graduated the University of Oklahoma. Sounds like Willard Schmidt's achievements in the majors are overshadowed by his achievements in fatherhood. By the way, is it just me or does Willard remind you of someone?