Random Ray - 1998 Stadium Club

I have posted almost every Stadium Club card of Ray Lankford, missing just a few. 

Here is the front of this week's random Ray Lankford card......

Nice action shot of Ray fielding a ball in the outfield. Not sure if this is a line drive or a tall hop off of the artificial turf shown in the picture. Either way, it's a nice, tightly cropped photo of the former Cardinals outfielder. There were not many teams playing on artificial turf that season, only the Pirates and Reds. However, I could not figure out when or where this game took place as the Cardinals played multiple day games against both teams.  

Back of the card. 

I love the effort here. The borderless, full color photo in the background with the stats over the top of the photo is a really good look. While the photo is the best thing here, I really like what Topps tried to do with the stat box. Before I get there, I want to go over my one negative, which is the fact that there are two little factoid boxes. There is the "Bottom Line" at the bottom of the card and then another little write-up above the stat box. I think that space could have been better used.  

I know, it's hard to read, and I am saying this as a person with really good eyesight.  Essentially, they use the quintessential back-of-the-card stats, home runs, RBIs, runs, hits, etc, and then add in the players ranking for that star within the Top 40 of all MLB players. 

For an underrated player like Ray Lankford, it really shows how good his numbers were playing for bad Cardinals teams. That's a lot of Top 40 stat finishes and if you squint your way to read all the numbers, there are a bunch of numbers within the Top 10. On the last line, which is 1997, Lankford finished in the Top 10 in home runs, walks, and on-base percentage.  In 1996, he was top 10 in walks, stolen bases, and triples. 

Really good idea, they just needed to crank up the font size a few notches.  

As a side note, the fact box mentions that Ray Lankford was closing in on the all-time home run record at Busch Stadium II. Lankford ended up with the record with 123 home runs, At the time he was traded to the Padres in 2001, Ray had 119 Busch Stadium home runs, but Mark McGwire would tie him late that season. Ray Lankford broke the tie and set the Busch Stadium home run record as a member of the San Diego Padres in 2002.  

The tie-breaking home run was hit off of Woody Williams who was traded to the Cardinals for Ray Lankford.