1992-93 Stadium Club Beam Team #4 Clyde Drexler

When Stadium Club Basketball hit the market in 1992, it revolutionized the hobby. First of all, the price was much higher than other cards. I just couldn't justify buying them at the time. Too expensive. Now compared to the $100+ packs these days, these are cheap.

Next was the images. The photographs were such high quality. They were frequently well cropped action shots. At a minimum, the pictures were always interesting. And they were full bleed all the way to the edges.

Third was the card quality. True photo quality instead of cheaper print techniques.

Finally, there was the Beam Team insert set. The Beam Team rookie card of Shaquille O'Neal had people buying pack after pack. But all of the Beam Team cards were highly sought after because of their perceived scarcity. Today we know that they really aren't that scarce, but they're still very nice cards to collect.

The 1992-93 Stadium Club Beam Team #4 features Clyde Drexler. Let's start with the card layout. The Beam Team logo is in the top right. Clyde's name appears at the bottom. Oddly the Topps Stadium Club logo is front and center. In my opinion, it's too large and in much too prominent a part of the card. Finally the background/border features what I assume is supposed to represent lasers bouncing around. I don't really like it, but it was considered one of the most high tech card effects at the time.

The picture features Drexler going up for a dunk. I never really noticed, but something odd about this card is the fans in the background. They seem so uninterested. You can see some people talking to each other and others not watching Drexler going to the basket. Usually if there is a about to be a dunk during the game, you'll see fans clapping, standing, and showing enthusiasm. I wonder if this picture wasn't taken during warm ups. Even if it is, it's still a nice picture on a card worth collecting.