2015 Stadium Club: Picture Perfect

Making a post about the Griffeys of 2015 Stadium Club is kind of like writing a book about the British rock invasion and limiting your subject matter to The Hollies. There is a LOT going on in this set that doesn’t involve Griffey cards: inserts new and old like Triumvirate and True Colors as well as a decent autograph checklist and some interesting Co-signer pairings. In fact, the only non-base card or parallel thereof Junior got in this set is a #/5 autographed buyback.

The stars of the show, though, are the base cards. Topps has kept true to Stadium Club’s original theme of stellar photography which has remained unchanged since 1991. As time has passed they have also included more and more retired players in the checklist which has given us a look as some rarely-seen photos of inactive players going back decades.

It’s been a while since I showed a bunch of non-Griffey base cards, hasn’t it? These are just that good.

The cards themselves are thick, glossy, and very sensitive to damage. Topps made the nameplate a little more legible by washing out the color slightly at the bottom of each card much like 1995 Upper Deck shaded card bottoms for the same reason. The nameplate itself has a minimalist, high-end look that keeps with this brand’s tradition of non-interference with the photography. It’s funny how excited collectors get to see new card designs every year while with Stadium Club I get excited to see how they facilitated subtle non-design. In 2015, they nailed it.

2015 Stadium Club #260

As for the Griffey, this is simply one of his greatest base cards ever, and it is no less a Junior card than a Senior one. That photo is priceless. More does not need to be said.

The back, also keeping with the Stadium Club design tradition, uses a baseball field as the dominant theme. The nameplate design carries over nicely with a superimposed portrait, blurb, and career stat line. You can’t ask for much more from a card back.

2015 Stadium Club #260 Gold

This is the only parallel of the Griffey I own: the Gold Foil version. I want this thing in every color, but so does everyone else. Prices on parallels remain pretty high, particularly for the orange and first day issue versions, the latter of which I’ve never even seen an example.

Here are the Griffeys I still need from 2015 Stadium Club:

#260 Black Foil /201
#260 Foilboard #/25
#260 Orange Foil /17
#260 Members Only /7
1992 Stadium Club Autographed Buyback #/5

I could come to terms with not getting one of those buybacks, but I would love to have a binder page full of parallels for that base card. It’s an instant classic.

Also I am building the complete 300-card set, and at the time of this post I need only sixteen cards to finish it off. Here they are:

15, 53, 69, 77, 115, 141, 148, 162, 175, 184, 190, 212, 233, 243, 265, 278

If you want to help but it’s been a while since this post went up, go ahead and check my current set-building wantists here for an updated version of this list.

I eagerly await 2016 Stadium Club. If the last two years have been any indication, it should be quite a doozy.