The New Mentality

*brews his cup of coffee, pours the last little bit of Peppermint Mocha creamer that's in the bottle and decides that's probably it for the Christmas season on that.*

  

The New Mentality in the hobby is spreading and spreading fast.

When I got my father back into the hobby three years ago, he was all about adding cards to his collection and opening packs for the thrill of the chase. 

Then 2020 hit and he caught The New Mentality.

He started to see how others were making big time money off from retail flips and decided to dip his feet in. That's the starting point of The New Mentality. First it was a fat pack. Then a blaster. Then a blaster and a hanger. And then he started to do the thing I hate most, clearing off most of the shelves of products and even attempting to flip the unflippable products like Score. It had gotten so bad where he wouldn't even tell me what products were on the shelves when I texted for him to pick me up something. He preferred to flip it for more than have me be able to open some. 

That was a painful realization.

The New Mentality is an ugly disease in the hobby. It's when greed and money means more than card collecting. It's all about the money and not about the fun. I believe the only cure for people who have caught The New Mentality is to show them how to have fun collecting again.

I am currently working on that with my father. It's a slow, slow cure especially if someone has had that mentality for awhile.

*takes a sip of coffee while game planning the next part of my cure*

Before The New Mentality fully hit him, I was able to land myself one more blaster box from him in trade. It wasn't the hottest product on the shelf but it was better than nothing at the time.

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

In every blaster box of 2020 Panini Optic baseball, there are 27 cards. There are 6 packs of 4 cards of Optic then an extra 3 card pack of Pink parallels. Each blaster is $20 unless you are buying from a flipper.

There wasn't much in terms of names of note for base, so I will skip to the rookies which I was impressed with. There was almost two in every pack which seems odd to me. Feels like the last time I ripped Optic on here there was maybe a couple total. 

Even found a Gavin Lux Rated Rookie. He's no Luis Robert in terms of value, but maybe down the road he will be.

*takes a sip happy at what I have seen already*

 

Now onto the shiny stuff and inserts

Nelson Cruz Silver

Inserts of Illusions with Trevor Story, The Rookies AJ Puk and Stained Glass with Ketel Marte

This Lindor was my favorite designed insert of the group, Mythical.

*takes another sip before another rip*

Now onto the bonus Pink Pack Parallels.

Each of these have three cards. Could be insert parallels, subsets or base. It's all a surprise.

Andres Munoz. Not sure who this is.

Acuna! 

Hiura

Not too bad at all!

*finishes up cup of coffee with the remaining Peppermint Mocha creamer, now back to Hazelnut for the next cup and to finish up this post*

Remember above where I mentioned the spread of The New Mentality is fast, since my father started doing that, others around the area caught it. They have the disease much more than my father does as they follow the vendor store to store to store taking all they can and leaving the scraps. Scraps are known as Hockey cards. This has helped me out some in trying to fix my father's catch of The New Mentality. He isn't getting the opportunities as much to flip anymore and I have been trying to take advantage of that and remind him how great the hobby is just collecting again.

And believe me, collecting is great. So isn't coffee.

Before I close, I wanted to give you some insight on what to look for when you or someone else you know has caught The New Mentality.

Here are the signs to look for to know if you or someone you know has caught it, it's as simple as one, two, three.

1. Buys a pack, blaster, hanger or mega box of a popular product when its able to be found
2. Looks up value online to see what it goes for.
3. Flips it.

It will be pretty obvious when you have or someone you knows does.

How do you know if you are cured or don't have it? Well, that's as simple as one, two, three as well.

1. Buy a pack, blaster, hanger or mega box of a popular product when its able to be found.
2. Barely make it to the car before ripping it. It's okay to rip it just outside the Walmart or Target door. We all have been there.
3. Enjoys the cards that were opened.

I hope this helps. If you or someone you know has caught The New Mentality, remember to remind them why they got into collecting in the first place. It may or may not work but it's worth a try.

CARDBOARD REVIEW:2019 Topps Heritage Minors Baseball (bonus auto!)

If you are into prospecting, the best way in my opinion to do so affordably, is looking at minor league products.

Yes, they are no Bowman Chrome value, but they can reach those heights if you find the next Mike Trout hidden within.

I was able to bust a box of the 2019 Topps Heritage Minors so let's check it out to see how it went.

In every box of 2019 Topps Heritage Minor League baseball there are 18 packs of 8 cards. You should find one autograph and one relic card per box and boxes currently run for under $60.

Each box also comes with a box topper.

The 1970 Topps Super Baseball toploader set also has rare autograph versions numbered to 25 copies.

BASE CARDS:

The base card design revisits the 1970 design just like it did for regular Heritage.

Before I continue, we have to bring in the CMP code talk as there are variations and Sp's to find in this product. If I know about these Sp's ahead of time, I usually look card by card at the CMP code located at the bottom right hand corner on the back of the card and see if I have any that are different. I find doing it pack by pack not to be as much of a pain as looking at the very end. It also gives me time to check out the card backs which many ignore.

Back on topic, let's check out the CMP codes to find the variations and base.

• Base 1-200 end #636
• Base SP 201-220 end #650
• Image Variations end #651
• Missing Name Variations end #652

 Tim Tebow

 ends in 36

However, these.....

End in 50 which makes them the Sp that make up base cards 201-220. Which is an extended part of the base set. I didn't find any other form of Sp or variations in my box.

 Sporting News subset

League Leaders subsets.

Parallels:

I think it's normal just to pull the one parallel per box which helps with value on these. This one numbered to 99/

Overall look at parallels include,
Blue /99, Black /50, Flip Stock, Gold /15 and Red 1/1.

INSERTS:

 Fantastic Feats has 20 cards in the set to collect

Fresh On Scene finds 30 cards to collect has a fresh design I totally dig.

 And you will find two of these per box as well. Go grab your chance!

HITS:

Clubhouse Collection relic

 Tristan Pompey auto

Fresh On The Scene Brock Deatherage

Bonus auto! Can't complain!

Other hits not found in my box but found in yours could be,

• Real One Dual Autographs
• 1970 Mint Autograph Relic
• Bazooka Autographs
• 1970 Mint Relics

Find the complete checklist HERE.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: I didn't recognize any of the name I hit in here, but what I do know is this is a product to sit on. You may not know the names now, but in two to three years you might. And for under $60 how can you not want to take a shot here. There are also some big names to find in this product for autographs as well. Minor League products don't get enough love.

If you want in on a box break of this product without paying box prices, I suggest Midwest Box Breaks as they pull fire!

Please make sure to take a minute out to thank Topps for providing this box for me to review and to be able to add cards to the giveaway on Twitter I am hosting. Please follow me there to enter @SportCardCollec. Also follow Topps on all social media sites and visit their SITE, as well 

Cardboard Review:2019 Topps Pro Debut Baseball

Some people choose Bowman to do their prospecting with for baseball rookies. Some like to choose Topps Heritage Minors as an option. To me, I like to use Panini EEE or today's product review in Topps Pro Debut.

I will tell you why when we dig deeper.

Every box of 2019 Topps Pro Debut baseball comes with 24 packs of 8 cards. Each box comes with two autographs and two relic card hits per. Boxes currently run roughly $75.

The base card design uses the flagship one as it usually does and includes many if not most of the
studs of the minor league. Like this hitting machine above in Yordan Alvarez.

There are 200 of these prospects in the base set.

Keston Hiura

Seth Beer

McKenzie Gore

There are also base card variations but I didn't find one in my break.

Now onto the parallels. One thing I like about Pro Debut vs flagship, you only find a couple of the parallels per box. That makes them worth more because of it.

Green /99

Orange /25. This was a solid find!

Other parallels to find include, Gold /50, Red #/10,and Black 1/1.

Now a look at the inserts. Most show a lot of fun that the minor leagues bring us. Inserts may have the following parallels, Green /99, Orange /25, and Black 1/1.

Promo Night Uniforms has 10 cards to collect

MILB Leaps and Bounds has 25 cards to collect.

Pro Debut 10th Anniversary set has 5 cards to collect including Mike Trout which I think put this product on notice.

Ben's Biz has 5 cards to collect (I wished I had an insert line)

Now onto the hits!

One of my favorites with Fragments Of The Farm. Love the unique relics included.

Distinguished Debut Manufactured Medallion numbered to 99

Autograph number one

Autograph number two which is a green./99

Other hits to find not included in my box,

• Future Cornerstones Autograph
• Jumbo Patch Relic Autographs
• MiLB Leaps and Bounds Autographs
• Pro Debut 10-Year Anniversary Autographs
• Jumbo Patch Relics (this one looks awesome especially the throwback to 90's relics)

OVERALL THOUGHTS:I mentioned above that I would choose EEE or Pro Debut when it comes to prospecting, well, that's because both are affordable and come with multiple hits as opposed to Bowman that comes with one. I am also a big fan of the Fragments set.

I also notice this year that Mike Trouts autographs are included in this years product. How great is that? $75 for two autographs (well relics too) and one could be the most popular player in baseball right now? Sign me up!

As for my break above, well, I didn't hit it big. Yet anyways. You just never know when one of these guys could be the next big star. I am a little more patient than most with prospects who just unload them immediately. I have sat on mine a lot and it has paid off for me when I go to do trades.

So if you are looking to prospect, go chase a box of Pro Debut!

I don't think any breakers do Pro Debut, but if you want to mention it to one and find a breaker to do so with, I suggest Midwest Box Breaks as they pull fire!

Please make sure to take a minute out to thank Topps for providing this box for me to review and to be able to add cards to the giveaway on Twitter I am hosting. Please follow me there to enter @SportCardCollec. Also follow Topps on all social media sites and visit their SITE, as well.