Fansided

2017 Topps MLS Stadium Club brings iconic photography and simplicity to sport

By Derek Helling

A digital mockup of a Scoreless Streak insert from 2017 Topps MLS Stadium Club. Photo courtesy of Topps.
A digital mockup of a Scoreless Streak insert from 2017 Topps MLS Stadium Club. Photo courtesy of Topps. /
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Stadium Club is best-known among Topps’ several sports card brands for emphasizing quality photography in a no-frills approach to collectability. That has been brought to the MLS line for 2017.

In chasing rare short prints or trying to create comprehensive catalogs of favorite players, sports card collectors often lose sight of an important truth about sports cards. They are photographs at their most elemental level. Fans of the beautiful game in North America looking for the best in soccer photography should look to 2017 Topps MLS Stadium Club.

The set drops on Friday, Sept. 15, in both hobby and retail versions. A hobby box consists of 16 eight-card packs, and the 100-card base set is the meat of the product. The set does offer several base-card parallels to consumers in both hobby and retail modes. Black and White, First Day Issue, Gold and Sepia parallels can be found in either product. Lens Crackle parallels can only be found in value boxes. Members Only parallels are located in hobby boxes. There are 20 image variation short-printed cards according to the official checklist.

The set also offers two inserts, Profiles and Scoreless Streaks. Two autograph cards come in each hobby box to ensure that the set isn’t devoid of any chase factor. Autographs are featured in a base-card parallel, a 21-card Lone Star Signatures subset and a 10-card dual autograph subset called Cosigners.

Free of cumbersome graphics, frames or finishes, the base cards feature only the player’s name and club at press time along with the Stadium Club logo. There is nothing to detract from the simple beauty of the photography. The parallels highlight that photography even further by displaying the dynamic tones cameras can deliver.

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Appreciating MLS action is best done visually, as simply listening to or reading about a match forfeits much of the tenacity of moments on the pitch. Stadium Club has always endeavored to deliver that same experience in the static medium of photography, and now that experience has come to MLS fans.