Random Wax: 2024 Stadium Club

2024 Stadium Club:  3X MVP Albert Pujols won 2 World Series Championships with the St. Louis Cardinals.  In 10 postseasons totaling 88 games, he batted .319 with a .422 OBP and .572 slugging percentage which included 19 home runs and 54 RBIs.  

World Series play starts tonight.  Willson Contreras won a World Series title with the 2019 Chicago Cubs.

Two Chrome inserts.  Tanner Bibee has pitched in the playoffs in 3 of his 4 MLB seasons.

The backs are nice.  Not enough stats but still plenty goodness to enjoy.

Ty Cobb won 12 batting titles and also led the league in steals 6X.  

2X MVP and 3X Triple Crown champ Roger Hornsby won a title with the 1926 Cardinals.  He was a powerhouse in his time leading the league in so many stats it looks like they just made them all bold for about a period of 8 seasons.

My 3 Pink Foil Parallels and my Red Foil Parallel.  Lou Gehrig won 7X World Series titles with the Yanks.  In 34 World Series games, he had an average of .361 and 1.214 OPS hitting 10 home runs.

BREAKDOWN:
15 – Total Cards
6 – Retired Greats
3 – Pink Foil Parallels
2 - RC
2 - Chrome
1 – Red Foil Parallel

Random Wax: 2025-2026 Topps Basketball Hanger Box

25-26 Topps:   Cooper Flagg was the 2025-2026 NBA Rookie of the Year averaging 21 PPG, 6 RPG and 4 APG.  This Diamante Parallel which is exclusive to hanger boxes.  NBA starts tonight!

Great pull in this box. SGA won his second consecutive MVP award.  He and the Thunder will play at San Antonio tonight in a rematch of the Western Conference Finals.

One of my checklist cards.  I'm a big Domantis Sabonis fan so this was a fun pull for me.  I like that photo.

Dylan Harper was 4th in Rookie of the Year voting and a big part of the Spurs' run to the NBA Finals.

Kon Kneuppel really was clutch and gave Cooper Flagg a run for the Rookie of the Year award, coming in 2nd place receiving 44 of the 100 1st place votes.  He averaged 18/5/3 while shooting 42% for the Hornets.

Another Dylan Harper pull on this 1980-1981 Topps Basketball card.  We also have a Rainbow Foil Parallel and another Diamante Parallel.

Generation Now inserts are fine.

Paolo Banchero on a very colorful and sharp looking Power Players insert.  He averaged 22 PPG, a career high 8 RPG, and 5 APG last season.

DeMar DeRozan is now with the Denver Nuggets and another of my favorite players in the league.  He's 16th on the all-time points list.

KAT is one of the newly minted 2025-2026 NBA Champions.

Checklist card.

Great box of cards and so much fun.  I love retired greats and these are definitely some of the all-time greats.  George Gervin could flat out score.  The 4X scoring champ averaged 25.1 points per game for his career, good for 14th all-time.  He was also a 7X All-NBA, 2X All-NBA, 12X All-Star, and a member of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.

BREAKDOWN:

59 – Total Cards

12 – RC

4 - Checklist

4 – Retired Greats

2 – 8-Bit Ballers

2 – Diamante Parallels

1 – Power Players

1 – Generation Now

1 – Rainbow Foil Parallel

1 – Clutch City Prospects

1 - 1980-1981 Topps Basketball

Random Wax: 2024 Topps Baseball

 

2024 Topps:  Tyler Glasnow's health is a big subject for the Dodgers as the playoffs loom.  Ohtani isn't pitching so he could factor big into their postseason pitching.  Glasnow had a great 1.69 ERA for LA in last year's playoffs.

Bregman recently took a foul ball to the face while in the on deck circle.  The Blue Jays were eliminated from playoff contention this week.  Still plenty to be decided this weekend as teams are still jockeying for wild card position in the NL and the AL West is still up for grabs.

Riley Greene had another solid season for Detroit.

The 1989 Topps backs.  And aren't they glorious with all those stats.

Team card.

Good photos.

Stars of MLB and a Rainbow Foil Parallel.

Nice checklist.

Pete Alonso had a really good year in Baltimore after signing a deal there as a free agent.  Cutch looking good in the retro Pirates look.  

BREAKDOWN:

36 – Cards

6 – RC

2 – Team Cards

2 – Stars of MLB

1 – Checklist

1 – Future Stars

1 – 1989 Topps Baseball

1 – Rainbow Foil Parallel

1 – Topps All-Star Rookie Cup

Random Wax: 2024 Topps Stadium Club Blaster

Stadium Club 2024:   We like us some Stadium Club photos and it's hard not to like Jose Ramirez.  He is struggling this year but he's a 6X Silver Slugger and has a career batting average of .277 with 1700+ hits and 295 home runs.  And it's hard not to like this photo.

So many excellent photos and we get Austin Martin on a Red Parallel.  Love the Trident the Mariners use as part of celebrations.

Mike Yastrzemski laying out.

I think of Stadium Club as having an old school feel, so these inserts feel a bit out of place for me.  Still, there are some good looks here.  Here we have Chief Fantasy Professionals, Chrome Triumvirates (diecut) and Special Forces.

Sepia Parallel.

This is Steven Kwan's 5th season with the Guardians and in his career, and he already has 4 Gold Gloves and a career .280 batting average.

The backs are good.  Lots of color, a different photo and player info even if we don't get career stats.

Another of my 4 Chrome Parallels from the blaster.  Ozzie knows a thing or two about Gold Gloves with 13 in his Hall of Fame career.

Mariner greats.  Enough said.  Great box of cards and lots of fun.

BREAKDOWN:

40 – Total Cards

16 - RC

6 – Red Foil Parallels

4 – Chrome

3 – Retired Greats

1 - Triumvirates

1 – Sepia Parallel

1 – Chief Fantasy Parallels

Random Wax: 2025-2026 Topps Basketball

25-26 Topps:   Kevin Durant is nothing short of amazing.  One of the best scorers in his era, if not the best, he could shoot from anywhere on the court and is just a baller.  So happy I was able to see this guy play and he ain't done yet.  He was 37 years old last season but still scored 26 points per game while shooting 41% from deep.  He's led the league in scoring 4X in his 18-year career.

Happy Tyrese Haliburton will return from injury this year.  Last time we saw him, he was hurt in the 2025 NBA Finals against the Thunder.  He only played 7 minutes in game 7 before getting hurt.  Man, we wanted to see that game with a healthy Haliburton.

Walter Clayton Jr. averages 7 points and 4 assists per game for the Utah Jazz.  The Jazz have made plenty of moves and look to make a big move this next season.  Should be fun to watch.

Everyone's excited about Dylan Harper and the San Antonio Spurs who made it to the NBA Finals this year.

Jaren Jackson Jr. is one of those new pieces in Utah meant to take them to the next level.  

Nice Checklist card.  Neither Zaccharie Risacher (Mavericks) nor Trae Young (Wizards) are still with the Hawks as have both been traded.

Big man Alex Sarr took a step forward this year averaging 16 and 7 for the Wizards in 2025-2026.

My other Checklist.

Guard love.  One of the all-time greats in Chris Paul, shooter Trey Murphy and Kyrie who can do so much.

All-time greats!  Always a favorite of mine.  Nice pull with KG and Dirk Nowitzki.

8-Bit Ballers is an okay insert.  Not really my thing but Topps is doing a retro thing which is fine.  Great pack of cards.

BREAKDOWN:
36 – Total Cards
4 – Retired Greats
3 – RC
2 - Checklist
2 – Generation Now
1 – 8-Bit Ballers