Coffee Break:2020 Topps Series 2 Baseball Blaster Box

*sits down with a cup in hand of fresh brew, well it's actually his wife's cup but it's the biggest one in the house so it will due even though it says sisters on it. But with lack of sleep, the big cup is needed*

You wanna know what's hotter than my first cup of coffee? Topps Series 2 that is!

This stuff is flying off of the shelves!! Mainly because of one card on the base checklist that everyone wants in Luis Robert. The problem is, it's really hard to find any at least in the retail level. I prefer retail over hobby when it comes to flagship as you pay $20 for a blaster with one hit or $90 for a hobby box with one hit and most of the time the hit from the blaster (though manufactured) will be better than the hobby one color swatch.

So my father was texting me what was new from Walmart and mentioned Series 2 and how the distributor must had just filled the shelves because they were empty the prior day. So I told him to grab me a blaster and I would trade for it. I sometimes look back and wonder if I should had grabbed two.

And I did trade for it. Luckily for me he needed a 2011 Topps Chrome Cam Newton rookie for his rookie collection, those things have gone up since he became a Patriot, and I had three to spare so it was a win-win for me.

So he shipped it a few days later and it took a few days to arrive even though we are only one state away from each other. The USPS system right now is in a weird place. Fortunately I haven't had to ship much this year with my trading being down.

With it in hand right now finally, this mornings cup of coffee will go great with this break of 2020 Topps Series 2 baseball.

*takes a sip, begins to rip!*

This box was pretty heavy when it arrived. I was quite impressed for a retail box of 7 packs on how heavy it was. I also hope I don't get caught ripping this right now, it says for Ages 6+ and sometimes I may act or say things below that age. So please don't tattle on me.

In each blaster box of 2020 Topps Series 2, you will find 7 packs of 14 cards with a variety of parallels and inserts to chase. Each blaster also comes with 1 Player Medallion and is $20 a box.

The base set as always picks up where Series 1 ended. This time with a brand new 350 cards to chase. It includes players that were not in Series 1 and of course the hottest card out there right now in Robert. I was happy just to find a couple of Yanks for the PC.

(I assume this is another subset but it caught my eye)

Being a rookie card collector, I was excited to add six more rookies to the PC. But,  I will admit, I got halfway excited when I saw a White Sox in the corner only to find out it was Danny Mendick. Sorry Danny, didn't mean to hurt your feelings.

So if you're wondering and thinking I hid a Robert to post next, nope the wait is over, there was no Robert in this blaster. (seems like everyone but me has one)

 *takes another sip of coffee. Darn this is hitting the spot this morning*

Just like with Series 1, Series 2 has an array of parallels to find. Most at the hobby level but I have seen some surprises in retail before.

This is what you are looking for, Rainbow Foil , Gold Foil, Gold /2020, Advanced Stat /300, Vintage /99, Independence /76, Black /69, Mother's Day Hot Pink /50, Father's Day Blue /50, Memorial Day Camo /25, Platinum 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

Usually in years past, you pull a couple of golds and a couple of Rainbow Foils but this was the only parallel I landed in this box at 1:10 odds. I like the added toughness to the chase and believe this is the first time in a long time I didn't pull a gold.

The inserts have their own parallels as well with Blue, Black /299, Gold /50, Red /10, and Platinum 1/1 to find.

1985 insert that seem to be a staple in this product since 1985, fall 1:4 packs. I could really do without these anymore. This time around there is 100 of these to collect. Wowzahs.

Empire State award winner Pete Alonso set only available in Walmart retail. There are 30 to collect. If you are wanting the Fernando Tatis Jr versions, they are limited to Target retail.

I have had my run on these Turkey Reds as well. These are a retail exclusive with 100 of them to chase. They seemed plentiful in my blaster compared to other inserts.

Same with the Chromed version, except they have refractors. Not sure I could get tired of refractors.

Decades Best makes another return this time with another 100 cards to collect. I do enjoy the design on these however.

And finally, I pulled this Player Of The Decade Mike Trout. It's a Trout dedicated set of 25 cards, though I think 27 cards should have been the number. Congrats to Mike by the way who just left on Paternity Leave.

All I know is that the face of MLB, yes you know it's true, will be missed until he returns.

*finishes up first cup, decides to wait on a second cup and finish up this post*

Okay, so we have reached that exciting moment as we have reached the Player Medallion card. I have seen these posted on Twitter so they look really cool.

What I didn't know was how much they weighed. It was the reason why the blaster was so heavy. Maybe I should do some wrist curls with it to strengthen my wrists and fingers for typing before I move on.

*one up, two up, three up, four up, five getting tired up, six barely making it up, sev......ten. Good enough* 

Same goes with my pushups and curl ups with my counting.

The player medallion checklist is pretty deep so you never know who you will pull with 50 cards to choose from

 But was pretty solid with this one. Can't go wrong with some Bo Bichette.

And come to find out, it was a black parallel /199. Must have to do with the darker color on the front. I wouldn't have known if I didn't look at the back and then looked up if they included parallels.

Overall they have Black /199, Gold /50, Red /10, and Platinum 1/1.

*decided to make breakfast first anyways, Asiago bagel toasting and fresh cup of coffee next to me awaiting it's partner in crime*

I was pretty pleased with my break overall. The only thing I want left from Series 2 is the Robert for my rookie card collection and may seek that out via trade instead of busting more. But, you never know with this blogger.

That's of course if I can find anymore of it as well.

Ratings (ratings based on 1-5 🍵)

Design 🍵🍵
Photography 🍵🍵🍵
Inserts 🍵🍵
Hits 🍵🍵
Price 🍵🍵🍵
Value 🍵🍵

Say Hey To The Mail Day

I have been having fun working on a few smaller sorting projects and have been using some of the cards for fun tweets on Twitter.

When I posted a lot of Max Scherzer rookie cards, @thesayheykid95 saw the tweet and inquired about if I was selling the cards. I said I don't sell, but I would be down for a trade, so we did a trade. Our first. First trades are always tough because you really want to having everything go right so you will have a new trader to your circle.

And this one went that great. I got my mail day, he got his, and no hiccups.

 

My mail day landed me this Aaron Judge Optic rookie. I regret letting go of a good portion of my Judge PC about a year ago and have been very snail slow adding some of those back. Judge, Gleyber and Jeter are my Yankee PC's at this point.

 

2020 has opened me back up to collecting a lot more basketball cards and RJ Barrett is one of those big new PC's I have accomplished. I am still lacking an autograph of him which would be a key piece to my collection hopefully at some point.

Thanks to @thesayheykid95 for the trade and hope we can do more down the road!

Influenced

*sits down with first cup of coffee in front of the keyboard after sleeping in til 7:15 for the first time in almost 20 years, feels great and ready to go. Let's start the day in style*

Good morning coffee lovers! Collectors, you too!

*toasting my mug to you, holds it for a second waiting to hear an invisible clang because you return toasted*

I gotta admit something to you today, I am easily influenced. Not in a bad way. If I saw you shove your hand up a bees nest because Winnie The Pooh could, I won't do that. Or if you were to lick a toilet seat to prove to the government a virus is a hoax, I won't do that either. Or if you added laxatives to your water bottle to help with your diet and exercise and get yourself to runs, sorry run, more, I won't do that either. Now I am starting to sound like Meatloaf (the singer not the scrumptious piece of meat covered in my special topping).

On the other hand, if my spouse tells me to try an un-coffee drink from Dunkin' because its what she has been drinking, I will try it because it's your spouse and there should be some trust there. Though you may question it because everything you have really ever had from Dunkin' has been in coffee form. So this could lead to trust issues later on.

Fortunately for her, she was right. This pineapple drink (I don't know the technical name for it) was delicious and made a great mid morning drink. Could I picture myself waking up to this? Nah. It was good, but I need that aroma of coffee in my house in the morning when I wake up. Then that nice first hot sip, especially in the winters here.

*takes one of those warm sips, then moves on to discuss cardboard*

One of the easier things I am influenced by is cardboard. And I mean easily influenced.

All across the card world, I spy either a card I forgot I wanted to once, a new card release I want a card or cards from or as in today's case, a card I never knew existed but knew I had to have.

I can't remember who posted it on Twitter, but someone tweeted out a  1991-1992 NBA Hoops Will Smith "rookie card" and being the 90's nostalgic loving freak I am, I sought it out.

For $1.50 each and .50 shipping total, I landed both copies in the set. This is the first card of the two and you can tell by the design, it's totally 90's and I am totally in awe. This is Bodacious!

Back of the first card

If I was to pick the true rookie between the two cards, it would be the first. The second one is more like the team photo subset.

Speaking of that second card,

This one features Will Smith joined by a group of students who had perfect attendance as apart of Stay In School promotion.

Back of the card gives more details on that.

I have been a Will Smith fan starting with The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, adding these unknown made cards were solid additions to my non sport PC and I believe are my first Smith cards to my collection.

Also taking a look at these made me remember how much cards were used for promotions/ads like this and things like Don't Do Drugs, etc. It may not hurt a card company today to do something similar today with so much going on. Of course, I would put it in a kid-type product. I don't think too many would be happy to find a cards like these in National Treasures.

*takes another sip, hopes they don't ever create one that says "don't drink coffee". Then takes a bigger sip just in case*

This isn't the first time I have been easily influenced by cardboard, every day I find myself wanting something, then something else and something even more. The thing is and it's a hard realization, you simply just can't have it all. There is too much out there. Just pick and choose which ones mean more to you which once again is a battle in itself.

I have also learned that lesson the tough way with non cardboard and when I think about which coffee creamers I want to try. Just because I am influenced by something new and the word Snickers on the bottle, doesn't mean it's going to be good. Believe me, it's not. Choose wisely folks.

*another sip of non Snickers flavored coffee, now breakfast time*

Wes' Secret S(t)ASH

Once again, I was flapjacked by the great Wes!

I am starting to think he has a secret stash of Giants he has never mentioned to me before.

 

Today's pancake was a Tyler Sash autograph from Donruss Elite.

Sash was a 6th round pick of the Giants in the 2011 NFL Draft. He played for the Super Bowl squad but didn't play a lot for the Giants at all only getting 25 tackles and 1 forced fumble in his two year career.

It was sad to see that Sash passed away in 2015. I won't get into that on here but you can look up the story on him on Google.

Thanks to Wes for another great Giants autograph add!

Arrivals:2020 Score In The Zone Saquon Barkley

Another new cheap Giants add I needed for $1 is today's post.

 

It even came with some freebies

 

Here is the actual card I grabbed. I can't remember which number of Barkley's I have now but will hopefully be able to update everything when I get the chance to.

The pink and blue look spectacular!

  

Back of the card.

There are still quite a few cards I need from 2020 Score for Giants along with many other 2020 products I don't have much of. Hopefully will be able to trade for some.

Cards Over Coffee Prize Pack Winner!!

There were 70 entries into this contest, by far my biggest and most time consuming contest I have had to run on Random.org. But, it was worth it. My biggest goal of that contest was to continue building up the Cards Over Coffee blog while this one slowly comes to it's end.

Enough with that though. Let's pick a winner.

I seeked Twitters advice on how many to random this list by and it was by 7 as chosen by my good friend Mike. So I did so.

There were 70 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. APetrelak
2. Tracy LeVeaux
3. Dennis
4. RUFFCUTT
5. Shane
6. Stephen Furlong
7. Unknown
8. Stephen Furlong
9. Brett Alan
10. heatwave16
11. Spm18
12. night owl
13. Tim B.
14. Fuji
15. Tim B.
16. Dennis
17. Fuji
18. Tracy LeVeaux
19. Shane
20. Corey
21. Stephen Furlong
22. Dion's IP Autos only
23. NormC
24. The Diamond King
25. APetrelak
26. Dion's IP Autos only
27. Tracy LeVeaux
28. Dennis
29. heatwave16
30. Jason
31. RUFFCUTT
32. Fuji
33. Mike
34. Rippin Riders Cards (mssg me on Twitter)
35. Trevor P
36. PlainviewMafia
37. Dennis
38. Dennis
39. Jason
40. The Diamond King
41. Dennis
42. Mike
43. Stephen Furlong
44. Corey
45. NormC
46. Bulldog
47. hudsonfan15
48. heatwave16
49. Mike
50. NormC
51. Mike
52. acrackedbat
53. MEGATONE
54. Tracy LeVeaux
55. PlainviewMafia
56. Jason
57. Fuji
58. PlainviewMafia
59. APetrelak
60. PlainviewMafia
61. hudsonfan15
62. @TheReaDpan
63. Shane
64. heatwave16
65. The Diamond King
66. Dennis
67. Unknown
68. Unknown
69. RUFFCUTT
70. Dion's IP Autos only

Timestamp: 2020-07-28 11:48:22 UTC
You have randomized this list 7 times.

Congrats to APetrelak on the contest win. Please email me at sportcardcollectors@hotmail.com or DM me via Twitter your address. Thanks to all that entered. Apetrelak, you will have 48 hours to contact me with your info or it will be re-given away. PLEASE SHARE YOUR WINNINGS ON TWITTER and tag @paniniamerica thanking them as well.

I have another contest coming up very shortly so stay tuned for that one!!

Everyone else, once again, go follow Cards Over Coffee and add it to your blogroll!

Arrivals:2017 Panini Day Glove Relic Wayne Gallman

First off, I will admit, I am one who loves freebies from an eBay seller even it's un-useful junk.

Today, I actually liked what the seller sent and have use for all of it.

 

I love these non sport inclusions in Allen And Ginter

Rookie card binder Carr will go

And this Harden is a beautiful card. Wished Panini had done more like this one.

And here was the card I got. Wayne Gallman glove relic with a 3 showing. I have another relic similar to this one somewhere I will have to compare the two.

 

Back of card is bleh, but I do like the Giants colors are a nice touch.

Arrivals:2020 Playoff Turning Pro Daniel Jones

Usually, I am not a fan of single color relics unless they really have a good design to them.

And today's card, I grabbed for that single purpose.

For less than $5, I scored this Turning Pro jersey from 2019 playoff of Daniel Jones.

I love the color and the black and white photo in the background. The Giants blue goes really well against it.

 

Back of the card looks just as good. It didn't need anymore than this.

I like the little pickups I can get sometimes more than the bigger ones.

The Bucs Stop Here CONTEST!

Love an easy contest? Well, I have one for ya! Go check out The Bucs Stop here blog and see his contest for the baseball season and make your predictions for a shot to win some Series 2 or some Bowman! Both of which are not easy finds.  Actually is any retail easy to find right now?

ENTER BELOW ON THE LINK PROVIDED and find bonus ways to win! CONTEST ENDS TONIGHT AT 11:59 PM!!!!
↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓

CALLING ALL CONTEST ENTRANTS: Win Some 2020 Bowman or 2020 Series 2!

While I also have your attention, I am holding a contest as well over at Cards Over Coffee. Win some cards for just commenting on the last four Coffee Breaks on there.  Earn one entry per comment. Also add it to your reading list. As I have said, this is the final run of Sport Card Collectors with just a little over 30 posts to go.

Rodney's Cardboard:1995 Pacific Crown Royale 17th National VIP Badge

In what is I believe the final Rodney's Cardboard on here as I don't forsee anymore incoming to my mail box, I thought I would end it with something unique.

This VIP Badge recently popped up but had a tall asking price of $27 (wonder where he got that price from. If only Rodney was number 3 on the Giants) that I couldn't afford to grab but didn't want to see it go. So I worked behind the scenes and found a trader willing to snag it for me for some cards I had. I hated to give up some stuff for the asking price, but this could be the only time I ever see this one pop up and if it sold, I would feel awful knowing I had first chances.

A few days later, I found it in my mail box.

 

This is a great piece for my collection. I have added quite a few oddballs to it this year and it's helping me become a more well rounded super collector.

The only things I am still really missing are the Starting Lineups. I still don't have any of the three that Rodney has. Of course I would only take them sealed, that's the only way to right? Hopefully some day I will be able to.

So I hope everyone has enjoyed seeing my Rodney Hampton collection grow on here. All future Rodney Hampton adds, if there are any, will be posted over on Cards Over Coffee. If you haven't still followed that blog, added it to your blogroll, subscribed to it, what are you waiting for?!!

Coffee Break:2020 Luminance Football

*pours himself a cup of coffee, finds a bug floating in it, holds back not wanting coffee, dumps out first cup, grabs a new cup and nothing floating. All is good, let's get to blogging*

Last year I was able to break open a box of Panini's newest line of football line in Luminance and I was hoping to be able to repeat that this year.

Of course it will be hard to top my big pull last year in a Saquon Barkley autograph /75, but I am hoping for the best.

This years product from previews looked pretty much like it had stayed on task in comparison to last years product so I will be curious if there is any new kinks added or changes to this years product.

So sit down, grab that fresh cup of coffee and enjoy another Coffee Break with me.

Every hobby box of 2020 Luminance football comes with 4 packs per box with 10 cards per pack. Boxes come with 3 autographs and 1 memorabilia card. Boxes are roughly $210 right now. With the high price, only 40 cards per box, you are hoping there is something decent to be found.

This years base set is built up of 200 cards. 100 rookies and 100 veterans. Within that 100 veterans includes players with their updated teams like one of the biggest ones in....

Tom Brady as a Buc. It's his first card as a Buccaneer. This will take awhile to get used to.

The design is almost a clone to last years look with the rough surface, photography and no border look.

Same goes for the back. I am not too much of a fan of the way the stats are designed. Maybe it's just my hobby OCD.

I wanted to show off a couple other base so you get an idea of what kind of photography that Panini used.

I like the Jackson one.

I also pulled my first Austin Mack rookie base for the Giants undrafted free agent rookie snag.

The rookie cards feature players still in their college uniforms

While the backs tell us which teams they are on. I do like that a lot. First product of the year that offers this information.

I will say though, finding the top rookies are not easy. My best rookie pull was Jalen Hurts from this box.

*takes another sip of coffee, thinks about the Giants offense with Jones, Barkley, Lewis, Shepard, Tate, Slayton, Mack, Engram, and a new oline. Smiles, then continues onto the parallels*

There are two different forms of parallels in this product. One for veterans, one for rookies. Here is what you will be looking for,

Base Parallels: Gold /299, Blue /99, Green /75, Orange /50, Red /25, Pink /10, and Platinum 1/1.

Rookie Parallels: Gold /250, Blue /99, Green /75, Orange /50, Red /25, Pink /10, and Platinum 1/1.

 Green rookie /75

 Orange /50

Gold rookie /250

Gold veterans /299

*sneaks in another sip, continues on*

The inserts I wasn't overly impressed with last year, but this year, much different story. The designs and color schemes pop off of the card.

Inserts include the following parallels, Orange /100, Green /10, and Platinum 1/1.

Dynamic CeeDee Lamb. Honestly, I am hoping he isn't Dynamic #GiantsPride. There are 20 of these to collect including rookies and veterans.

Flash. There are 20 of these to collect as well that includes veterans and legends of the game. I really like the look as if cameras are taking the pictures of the featured players.

Light Speed. Faster than a speeding McCaffrey. Featured player in the front moving at Lightspeed to the blurred players in the background, well done. There are 20 cards of these as well in the product.

And finally, Lights Out. By far, my favorite of the group. These look so, so good. I was hoping that Jones or Barkley were in this set to chase, but they aren't. At least LT is in here and I will need that without a doubt.

*stops to drink more coffee and grab a bite to eat before taking a look at the hits*

Luminance stays true to itself whether it's base cards, inserts or even hits. You get that feeling throughout the product. I know that sounds weird, but some products look differently at their different levels.

My first hit was this Cris Carter Vintage Materials relic. Not too shabby. I always felt he was underrated.

Oh my goodness!! What a hit a Lamar....oh hold on......yeah, different Lamar Jackson. I find the back of the card numbering odd on these. They are the same card numbers as the rookie cards in the base set. Usually companies will give these different numbers or include these as the rookie cards.

Michael Pittman is my next hit. What an odd autograph.

And finally, some strong brew to end this break, a Spotlight Kyler Murray autograph /25.

*coffee mug still shaking in my hand after that last card. My current appearance looks like someone who was up all night and had too much caffeine*

I once again was impressed with this product. Think even more so this year because of the insert improvements over last year. This box wasn't looking too promising at first then the Kyler came and that changed the entire outcome value wise in here.

If you're looking to take a gamble on an early product for this years rookie class, I say look no further than Luminance.

*done typing, gets up to stretch and grab another cup of coffee before the days chores begin*

Ratings (ratings based on 1-5 🍵)

Design 🍵🍵🍵
Photography 🍵🍵🍵🍵
Inserts 🍵🍵🍵🍵🍵
Hits 🍵🍵🍵
Price 🍵🍵
Value 🍵🍵🍵