Topps disappeared from the basketball card scene after their 1981-82 set. But then Shaquille O’Neal joined the NBA, and that was obviously going to sell some cards! So Topps returned with not only a regular set, but a premium set that they called Stadium Club. And both sets were successful as collectors chased rookies Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning. These important rookies, along with rookie appearances by Latrell Sprewell, Robert Horry and Christian Laettner help the set maintain its importance to this day. They kept things orderly, two Series at 200 cards each and minimal in a classy way. The front was simply a full-bleed photograph with everything else minimized. Even the player’s name was minimal, smaller than the Stadium Club logo itself! The team name was barely noticeable hidden on the top of two gold foil bars at the bottom. Rookies were distinguished by “’92 Draft Pick” in gold foil above the Stadium Club logo, but Topps overlooked printing this on some rookies, like Christian Laettner. In short, with these cards, it was all about the photograph and nothing but the photograph!
It was actually the reverse that was quite busy. With a basketball falling through a hoop in the background, the standard items appeared on the reverse along with two unique features. There was a ranking called, “The Sporting News Skills Rating System” that, although not explained on the cards, did give a nice way to quickly assess and compare players in certain categories. And there was also a photo of a given player’s Topps rookie card. It was neat to see another card of the player, but this felt a little pointless. As mentioned earlier, Topps hadn’t made any basketball cards since 1980-81, so nearly all of the players “Topps rookie card” was the current 1992-93 Topps. This felt more like a marketing ploy for that other set.
The only cards that differed at all in design, even slightly were the checklists (cards 189-190 and 399-400) and the “Member’s Choice” cards. Member’s Choice was the only subset in ’92-93 Stadium Club, but other than the “Member’s Choice” in gold foil at the bottom (and the fact that the gold foil has some extra sparkle to it), collectors would barely notice a difference with the base cards. And don’t confuse this with the “Member’s Only” cards! Topps really should’ve picked a different name for this subset because of the “Member’s Only”. Honestly, this subset felt more like bonus cards of great players than something distinctive. They connected Series I and Series II stretching from cards number 191-210. What makes these “Member’s Choice” cards interesting are actually the statistics on the back. The card backs are horizontal like the regular cards but the statistics are presented in a unique way, giving the statistics per 48 minutes played and a ranking of the player in the league and their team. Michael Jordan is the last card in the “Member’s Choice” subset. Jordan was, of course, #1 in points, but some of the other categories are surprising. He was only #21 in steals…and #57 in assists.
Today, Series II boxes still remain popular. The important rookie cards are there and there is a possibility of finding a Beam Team card, the only insert set for ’92-93 Stadium Club. This values Series II boxes at sometimes three times the value of Series I.
Individual Cards:
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