Topps Stadium Club baseball is due to hit hobby shops tomorrow.

I remember how exciting the first Topps Stadium Club set was in 1991, with beautiful, full-bleed photography on glossy cardstock. My favorite part of the set was the little picture of the player’s rookie card on the cardback. I remember hunting around town to find anybody selling the cards, and usually having no luck whatsoever.

The 2008 Stadium Club cards share only one thing with their 1991 predecessors – the name.

This year’s base set has 200 cards – 100 veterans that no one will care about, and 50 rookies which each have a variation. Nobody’s going to care about most of those, either.

The selling point for Stadium Club in 2008 isn’t photography. It’s the guaranteed autograph in every $25 pack. 

Without further ado, lets see how many Mets made the checklist.

Base Cards
#28 Ryan Church
#50 David Wright
#58 Jose Reyes
#66 Carlos Beltran
#76 Johan Santana
#89 Pedro Martinez
#97 Nolan Ryan
#100 Tom Seaver

How the heck did Ryan Church find his way into this set? Eight Mets, though, pretty good for a 100 card set. I guess that’s to make up for them having zero representation in the rookie cards. I guess I’ll have to see if anybody wants to unload their “useless” veteran cards, because I have zero intention of buying packs/boxes.

Rookie Autographs
#182 Nick Evans

I’d want this, but that’s because I’m a diehard Mets fan and I don’t have a Nick Evans-signed card picturing him in a Major League uniform yet. Otherwise, I’d be pretty ticked if this was my autograph in a $25 pack.

Beam Team Stained Glass Autographs
#BTA-DSA Duaner Sanchez
#BTA-JR Jose Reyes
#BTA-CD Carlos Delgado
#BTA-CV Claudio Vargas

Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes are pretty solid choices. Duaner Sanchez? Not in 2008. (Though I still need a signed card picturing him as a Met, so I wouldn’t mind picking one up cheap somewhere along the way.)

Claudio Vargas? Really? This isn’t some kind of a weird joke?

I really do want this card – I can’t imagine Claudio’s going to have another Mets card, and this one is signed. For my collection, that’s great. I’m sure I’m the only one that’s excited to see Claudio Vargas on the Stadium Club autograph checklist. And that is why I will not be spending $25 a pack for 2008 Topps Stadium Club.

Triumvirate Autographed Triple Relics
#TA-JS Johan Santana

Meh. They’ve got it pictured on the sell sheet. It looks kinda like all the Triple Threads cards. I need a Santana autograph, but with these Triuvirate Triple Autographs being one per case it will be out of my price range.

Good luck to those who decide to plunk down the money for Stadium Club this year. I hope you get some nice cards. And if you should happen to get Claudio Vargas instead, let me know