Cheap Wax Wednesday Box Breaks: 1994 Stadium Club Series 1 Football
Topps Stadium Club is a brand known for its photography. And it has been this way from the start. The 1991 product advertised the use of Kodak Imaging Technology and labeled the brand as “Super Premium Picture Cards.” Today, Panini holds the exclusive NFL trading card license, though Topps continues the Stadium Club tradition of great photography with their baseball releases.
1994 Stadium Club Football features 634 base cards spread across three different series: Series 1, Series 2 and High Series. The base cards featured gold foil branding and names, as well as some ’90s-esque graffiti position labels. Each series has different insert sets. Though I don’t think Series 1 quite lives up to the Stadium Club legacy of great photography, there are still some great shots.
1994 Topps Stadium Club Series 1 Football Box Break
Cards per pack: 12
Packs per box: 24
Price paid: $12
Shop for 1994 Stadium Club Series 1 Football boxes on eBay.
Pack 1 highlights:
Michael Irvin
Pack 2:
Sterling Sharpe, Irving Fryar & Derrick Thomas
Pack 3:
John Elway & Barry Sanders CT
The Chalk Talk card backs feature some great art work.
Pack 4:
Steve Atwater & Ben Coates
Pack 5:
Carl Pickens, Ben Coates & Barry Sanders
Pack 6:
Emmitt Smith
Pack 7:
Thurman Thomas, Steve Young & Walter Payton/Emmitt Smith Dynasty/Destiny (1:24 packs)
Pack 8:
Emmitt Smith & Cris Carter. When was the last time you saw a player wearing a long sleeved windbreaker underneath his uniform?
Pack 9:
Ricky Watters & Thurman Thomas
Pack 10:
Not much for star power, but three draft pick cards; Jeff Burris, Aubrey Beavers & Ryan Yarborough
Pack 11:
Jim Kelly, Derrick Thomas & Qadry Ismail
Pack 12:
Shannon Sharpe
Pack 13:
Barry Sanders (probably my favorite photo from Series 1 because of the intensity in Barry’s eyes) & Junior Seau
Pack 14:
John Elway, Jerry Rice & Michael Irvin
Pack 15:
Dan Marino & Junior Seau
Pack 16:
Herschel Walker, Thurman Thomas & Marcus Allen
Pack 17:
Tim Brown & Willie McGinest DP
Pack 18:
Eric Metcalf
Pack 19:
Joe Montana & Herschel Walker
Pack 20:
Ricky Watters
Pack 21:
Sterling Sharpe & Jason Sehorn DP
Pack 22:
Andre Reed, Phil Simms & Shannon Sharpe
Pack 23:
Minnesota Vikings Super Team (1:24 packs)
These Super Team cards could be exchanged for prize sets based on how the featured team fared during the 1994 season. If your team won the Super Bowl, your card could be exchanged for a 540-card set featuring a foil Super Bowl logo. Since the Vikings won the NFC Central with a 10-6 record, this card would have earned me ten Vikings cards with Division Winner foil stamps.
Pack 24:
Vinny Testaverde, Marcus Allen & Tim Grunhard 1st Day Issue (1:24 packs)
Lastly, a Michael Irvin card back. Topps chose to highlight their own Skills Rating System over Irvin’s actual stats here, but a pretty fitting card back for a ’90s card.
This was a fun break, especially considering the price I padi for the box price. Many of these boxes I feature were bought with pre-pandemic pricing, but this one can still be found for $12 if you know where to look (I won’t give up my secrets). The best card of the box was definitely the Walter Payton/Emmitt Smith Dynasty/Destiny insert card. I seem to pull Emmitt Smith inserts quite often. I certainly won’t complain, especially when the card also features Sweetness!
Now I just need to track down boxes of Series 2 and High Series.
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Want more installments of Shane Salmonson’s Cheap Wax Wednesday? Check out his other breaks in the archives.
What is a Bob Griese All Pro Dolphins # 120 on back and a Ted Williams Outfielder Boston Red Sox Topps 319on back worth thank you
that smith / Payton dynasty destiny was a chase card for me back then! awesome memory looking through your break! just bought a box of my own for my dad and I to rip. Question: did you have any trouble with the cards sticking together?