If you were a young collector when the 1992-93 sets arrived, do you remember the excitement? Everyone was looking for Shaq and Alonzo Mourning! Their entry into the league really brought some energy with it. Topps’ last basketball card set was 1981-82, but they weren’t going to miss the demand that came with this season. They produced a regular set, but also this premium Stadium Club set. And this set was all about the Shaq rookie card. I have a 2001 price guide that places the value at $20 with the next highest card being the Michael Jordan base at only $7. It was found in Series II and, even today, those boxes sell for much higher than Series I, primarily due to this card as well as the Beam Team cards (the only Stadium Club insert set this year). The only distinctive feature of the design is the inclusion of “’92 Draft Pick” in gold foil marking this card as a rookie. Topps actually forgot to label some of the rookies in this manner, but not the Shaq!
On the reverse, the picture of the Topps rookie card actually matters because it is, well, a rookie card! Since Topps hadn’t produced cards since 1981-82, for most players in the set, the “Topps rookie card” was just a photo of their 1992-93 card from that same season. Also noteworthy is there is an “Intimidation” ranking on the reverse of the card. I would love to know the details of how they landed on 4.7 and not 4.8…seems a bit of an arbitrary category here! And just to take the excitement down a notch, they made sure to mention shooting range with a much-to-be-desired 3.3.
There’s not too much more to say about this card! It’s definitely the reason that collectors today still turn to the ’92-93 Stadium Club cards.
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