2002 Topps Stadium Club

When Stadium Club was introduced in 1991, the borderless full bleed glossy cards were Topps attempt to enter the premium card market.

The 2002 set contained 125 cards, of which the last 25 cards (#101--125) were short printed and numbered to 2999.

There were two inserts available called Reel Time (1 in 8packs) and Stadium Shots (1 in 12packs).

There were relic cards aplenty with the overall odds of finding a relic 1 in 22packs. They included: All Star relics, Passport to the Majors jersey or bat relics, Stadium Club Bat barrel, Bat handle and Bat middle slices plus World Champion relics, which could have been a bat, jersey, Paul O'Neill or Roberto Alomar's pants or if you were one of the lucky 50, Rickey Henderson's spikes

The Red Sox base cards available are:

#1 Pedro Martinez
#24 Nomar Garciaparra
#40 Manny Ramirez
#53 Hideo Nomo
#111 Juan Diaz FS SP
#114 Seung Song FS SP

I obtained 7 packs of the 2002 Relic Edition which contain 6 cards and have $2.99 printed on the front. Making them a little cheaper than the $5 1991 packs.

Pack 1:

#2 Chipper Jones Braves

#22 Mike Piazza Mets

#40 Craig Biggio Astros

#51 Ichiro Mariners

#71 Barry Bonds Giants

#96 Darin Erstad Angels

Pack 2:

#26 Juan Gonzalez Indians

#39 Carlos Lee White Sox

#59 Gary Sheffield Dodgers

#76 Jeromy Burnitz Brewers

#86 J.D.Drew Cardinals

#99 Mariano Rivera Yankees

Pack 3:

#11 Jim Edmonds Cardinals

#18 Jermaine Dye Athletics

#50 Andruw Jones Braves

#56 Omar Vizquel Indians

#87 Ryan Klesko Padres

#SS6 Ken Griffey Jnr  

Pack 4:

#21 Carlos Delgado Blue Jays

#33 David Wells White Sox

#45 Dean Palmer Tigers

#66 Sammy Sosa Cubs

#74 Jason Kendall Pirates

#94 Placido Polanco Cardinals

Pack 5:

#46 Rafael Palmeiro Rangers

#63 Moises Alou Astros

#64 Sandy Alomar White Sox

#81 Edgardo Alfonzo Mets

#96 Brian Giles Pirates

#RT8 Manny Ramirez Red Sox

Pack 6:

#20 Randy Johnson D-backs

#22 Roger Clemens Yankees

#35 Miguel Tejada Athletics

#49 Troy Glaus Angels

#60 Curt Schilling D-backs

#100 Todd Helton Rockies

Pack 7:

#1 Pedro Martinez Red Sox

#7 Alex Rodriguez Rangers

#31 Ben Grieve Bay Rays

#34 Kevin Brown Dodgers

#55 Brad Penny Marlins

#69 Jason Giambi Athletics

With only six Red Sox to obtain, (four really the two prospects were short printed), pulling two Red Sox isn't great but not too bad - pity one of them wasn't a Nomar.  I was surprised that the packs containing inserts still had six cards. The inserts were at least 2 cards thick, which made the packs noticeably thicker. Must have been a pack searchers dream.