Thirty years ago... Trevor Hoffman made his pitching debut for the Florida Marlins against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Joe Robbie Stadium. The Marlins lost the game, but Hoffman struck out the only batter he faced: Eric Davis.
Figured today was as good a day as any to show off this shiny parallel of Hoffman sent to me by Reader X earlier in the year:
1997 Stadium Club Matrix #202
By 1997, Topps had already taken the hobby by storm with their refractor parallels. But those required chromium paper like the stuff used for their Chrome, Bowman's Best, and Finest products... and Topps was still two years away from releasing Stadium Club Chrome cards in baseball (although they did produce SCC basketball and football cards in 1998).
According to Baseballcardpedia, Topps used something called Power Matrix technology on these parallels. Holding it in my hand... it looks like something created from a one night stand between a Topps refractor and a Pinnacle Dufex parallel.
Thanks Xavier for this very cool 90's parallel of one of the greatest closers in MLB history.
As for the rest of you... happy Thursday and sayonara!
"Stadium Club Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now in this very blog post." - MorpheuX
ReplyDeleteWhatever Topps uses now or in the future, I pray it remains (the card) FLAT....perfectly flat. Maybe they should hook up with Panini, just kidding their cards started bowing/curling two years ago where as they didn't before.
ReplyDelete1997 Stadium Club is one of my favorite sets. Very fond memories of receiving a box for my 14th birthday.
ReplyDeleteI've been working on the basketball set off and on for about a decade now. To me, the Matrix effect looks better than any refractor ever has.
ReplyDeleteI loved the Matrix parallel in the NBA set. Sadly they were only used in series 1 so only 90 exist, and they are not particularly easy to find. No photo or scan accurately captures their awesomeness.
ReplyDeleteThat's a really cool card!
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of Matrix, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeletexavier higgins - i can only show my readers these cool parallels... they are the ones who need to choose to collect them :D
ReplyDeletejohnnys trading spot - i hate the dreaded curl... especially when i want to binder a set
the lost collector - that must have been a blast for your 14th. did you pull a co-signers autograph?
jon - i love refractors... but there is room for both in my collection :D
billy kingsley - i agree. these parallels look stunning in hand
adam ryan - thanks
jafronius - i think topps produced these for only a year or two