Multiple Mail Days Keeps The Blog Chugging

With everything going on in the world, the hobby is the one safe place we have. The hobby is that friend that sits beside you and gives you a pat on the shoulder when you need one. The hobby has a bunch of great collectors who are there for you when you need them. The hobby doesn't need to stay 6 ft away from you or wear a mask. It's always right there when you need to turn to it.

I have spent more time actually collecting recently than ever before. I have spent a lot of time self reflecting on what I want to or should be collecting for myself while trying not to fall into the hole of "buying the next best thing".

And this has been a huge help. I have been more focused on finishing up projects more than ever and not moving from thing to thing.

One of my projects I would like to tie up is my 2019 Panini Optic football set. I haven't tackled a "new" set in almost five years as I prefer things in the past more. But, I ended up with a bunch of it in my lap and said hey, let's do this. So I have been trying to finish it up.

A little while ago on Twitter I was fortunate that two followers saw my tweet for help on my set chase.

 

Up first, a trade with @PattonCards who had a few of the key rookies I was missing such as Sanders, White and Grier. Thanks again for the trade!

And then a RAK from @SportsNerd34 who passed along four needs. Thanks man!

My other project, sticking with collecting Kerry Collins cards. I have had my doubts some days, but I keep pushing on through and picking up needs.

 @asalek77 saw that I was looking for Collins cards on the weekly Sunday giveaway thread and passed along these two Pinnacle Mint cards. As everyone knows, I always have had a crush on those cards and coins combo. Thanks for passing these along!

Up next, another mail day from Rod over at Padrographs. He had three cards up for grabs one day for my PC so I luckily was able to land em.

 1993 Classic Best Derek Jeter who is one of three Yankees I collect anymore, once again focus. Didn't have this one so claimed it.

 One of the greats, plus hologram plus 90's, sign me up! Focus.

And something about this Puckett told me to add it. I do have a small collection of Puckett cards so I will add it to that. Okay, went off focus for a tad, but that's okay.

Thanks again Rod!

Being focused and getting a few mail days in has helped keep this blog flowing for now. I could run out of posts at some point once things completely dry up for me but we will see what I do when that happens. Thanks to some advice from a fellow blogger, I won't be doing filler posts so let's hope something keeps coming in.

Thanks again to everyone I mentioned above. I appreciate it truly and thanks for keeping me on task as well.

Outbreak

The definition of Outbreak is "the sudden or violent start of something unwelcome, such as war, disease, etc."

It's something that is going on now and something that happened in the 1995 hit movie, Outbreak. In that movie, a dangerous airborne virus threatens civilization-hmm think on that-and it spreads through a small Californian town and not the world like we are experiencing today.  The movie stars Dustin Hoffman, whatever happened to him by the way, who is a contagious disease expert along with his ex-wife (Rene Russo) that the town brings in to help stop the spread of the disease. The movie also has Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey and Donald Sutherland.

To me, not all outbreaks can be taken negatively as you can turn the word into something positive with the right wording. Between 1996-1999, the hobby experienced an outbreak of creativity like no other. We had acetate autographs, cards that made players move for seconds of time, cards in cans, cards in tins, one card high end packs and coins and cards together as one hobby just to name some.

It was a great time to be alive as a card collector watching the hobby boom.

One of my outbreaks at the time was an addiction to cards and coins. They weren't worth much then and really aren't now, but I just loved it. I wasn't even a coin collector but occasionally you could see me adding a wheat penny here and there when I found one.

I actually even spent the time to put the coins in the card slots if I had the right player and coin that matched up. A lot of the time that wasn't the case as there was two cards per pack, one with a slot and one not and one coin for retail which is what I bought. Hobby had two coins and three cards per pack so your odds was better that way.

With all of my recently found extra time, I have been scouring eBay for some packs in the last few months when a bumped into a listing of a completed 1996 30 bronze football coin set in a special Pinnacle Coin binder. The set was listed for $3.99 starting bid and $6.99 shipping. It also had a make offer option which I always take the option on. So I offered the starting bid and the seller immediately accepted. One would guess that they either needed money or wanted to make sure this was gone.

You know, I buy junk.

Here is the front of the binder and the backside of the first half of coins.

Open it up and you find an outbreak of the 30 coin set that spreads across two pages

Some pretty big names mixed in including Troy Aikman, Jim Kelly, John Elway, Brett Favre (and for me Kerry Collins and Mark Brunell)

And Emmitt Smith, Steve Young and Jerry Rice just to name a few. The names alone made the purchase worthwhile to me.

Here is the final side.

I think this is a pretty unique item for my 90's PC and not something I ever see pop up. And really I haven't ever seen this item. It may not be packs to open to take me down memory lane like I had hoped, but I was still very happy with my purchase.

Outbreak was a great movie for it's time and may have to give it another watch since it has been awhile and I don't fully remember it that well. I know the timing of that isn't great with everything going on, but I just gotta remember the good guys win in the end. I foresee that at some point for us as well.

Before I close, I must point out there really hasn't ever been a creative outbreak in the hobby like that since 1999, but there has been a outbreak of positivity in the hobby as of recent. Whether its on Twitter with all of the giveaways, pay it forwards or Panini simply giving away boxes and packs or it's also bloggers helping each other out and doing free card threads almost every day for some. As the saying goes, we are all in this together and it's great to see in this hobby community that we all have each others backs when we are down.

Blast From The Past:1996-1997 Pinnacle Mint Hockey 1 Booster Pack Break

In 1999, a flick with Brendan Fraser and Alicia Silverstone called Blast From The Past came out. It was about a scientist named Calvin Webber who was played by Christopher Walken, that took his pregnant wife in a deep underground fallout shelter in 1962 when he thought a nuclear war was imminent. During that time, their son Adam played by Fraser (who seemed to had been in every late 90's movie) was born and was exposed to only the culture of 1962 in the shelter such as the music and TV shows of the time. Life was accustomed to not being at the surface. 

Fast forward 35 years later, their supplies and food was running low so someone would have to come above ground and take a risk to get new products. That was supposed to be Calvin, up until he was ill from stress from his one visit to the surface. So his son Adam would have to venture out in a world he had never met.....

This segment takes a look at products that may have been hidden in a underground fallout shelter for over 20 years and now just coming back out to be rediscovered....by me. Guess you can call me Adam even though my name is Matt. These are products I opened when I was first collecting and is a Part Of My Past, but may not have a memory or a Origins story to attach to them. Most products I post on here will, but some won't and those will be covered in this new segment.These products will be between the years of 1995-1999 only.

Let's just hope my experience with these breaks is better than Adams first visit to the surface.

So let's take a Blast From The Past with a one pack break of 1996-1997 Pinnacle Mint Hockey!

In the 1990's, one of my favorite sports to collect was hockey believe it or not. Hockey cards is what got me into this great hobby. However, it's much different today. Football is my main sport by far with hockey being the least. Baseball is second with basketball a further third (mostly due to licensing)

But, when playing on eBay one day, I was looking for some packs of Pinnacle Mint to rip and I came across a seller who was selling five packs for $5 or so. I couldn't turn that down so I jumped on it and here we are today. I left four of the packs sealed for fun and ripped just this one.

 

Here is the pack itself. They used to go for $2.49 which I think is pretty cheap for cards and coins. Each one came with 2 cards, one base and one with a coin slot, and one coin.

Here is an overall at look at what you can find, Silver Team Cards 30 Cards 1:23 Packs - Gold Team Card 30 Cards 1:72 Packs - Nickel/Silver Coins 30 Coins 1:30 Packs - Gold Plated Coins 30 Coins 1:72 Packs - Fine Silver Coin 30 Coins 1:5,077 - 24KT Gold Coin 30 Coins 1:51,641 Packs

Here is the insert included in the pack.

That had the checklist on the back. Some big names to find and that's what I was hoping for!

Jocelyn was a goalie who played for 14 seasons in the NHL for 6 teams including the Canadians pictured here. Notice that the team symbol is bronze. There were three colors to find overall.

Back of the card

The holey card of Daniel Alfredsson who played 18 seasons in the NHL, that's a lot for the hits they take, with 17 of those for the Senators.

Back of holey card

And my coin was a base one of Brendan Shanahan.Was named one of the top 100 NHL players all time, won three Stanley Cups, scored a ton of goals, and is a Hall Of Famer. Can't go wrong with this find.

This was a really fun break. I need to find some baseball and football now to at least rip a pack of. I broke a box of football a few years ago. I think this product was a genius idea with crossing over two hobbies and it gave us more options to choose from. Not something we get today.

Hope you enjoyed this Blast From The Past!

Nuttin But The Hits:1996 Pinnacle Mint Football 16-Pack Break

The late 90's. Is there truly any better time in the hobby?

The variety, the brands, the innovations, the value.

It's all in there.

For me there is also a bonus, the memories. This was and always will be my best time in the hobby. Nothing will ever change that.

So when I pulled off my last trade with Project Pedro blog I got the opportunity to take a trip back down memory lane with some packs/box breaks from my past. I loved every aspect of our trade, but these breaks were truly what hit me the hardest and what I enjoyed the most. With every pack I busted a smile can be seen for miles across my face and the next chance to open the next pack brought me joy like no other.

There will be multiple breaks coming up on here and all that remains are football ones. Football season never ends.

Today's break takes me back. I remember when Pinnacle Mint first hit the shelves and how brilliant of an idea I thought it was and still think it was with the combination of two hobbies. However, when it came to other collectors, most were split on how they felt. Some were excited. Some didn't care. I think most weren't fans which is why the line only made it a couple of years. But, it was hobby innovation and something I always reflect upon when I think about what the late 90's brought to the hobby. There were some very intelligent individuals running the card companies and marketing back then. They knew how to target, innovate and keep kids interested in the hobby. I don't feel like this kind of innovation exists today. Feel like we are in a rut.

Anyways, enough with that. Let's get onto breaking this box.

Each pack of 1996 Pinnacle Mint football came with three cards, one with a hole in the middle-to insert a coin if you pleased-and two coins in a plastic holder. Both cards and coins had parallels as well. You could be even lucky enough to even find a redemption card for a 24kt gold coin. I was never that fortunate even after busting many packs of football and baseball of the product. But, I did pull a gold coin once from the baseball version of Manny Ramirez. Those weren't easy pulls but sadly I traded it off years ago. I regret doing so. Maybe I can hunt one down someday.

The base cards were simple but looked cool. The Kosar is actually a gold parallel. I think those fell 1:4 packs. The bronze Stewart is the base.

Here is a Dave Brown I didn't have. Bet many collectors wouldn't hold onto this guy like me. But, if you look closely, Rodney Hampton exists in this photo as well....

The biggest problem I had with this break was the cards all stuck together. Many were damaged because of that. It was something I hadn't experienced in some time breaking older wax.

Here were all of the coins I found. Many of the big stars like Marino, Young, Rice, Sanders and even some multiples of those guys. The base coins were made of brass with a players imprinted face. There are 30 in the set to collect. After busting this, I am considering that to be a set chase.

I didn't find any gold redemption cards, silver, nickel, gold but I did pull a 1:48 gold plated coin of the GOAT Barry Sanders. I put it side by side with the brass. You can see the obvious difference.

 

Not a bad overall break other than the cards being damaged. I was pretty happy with everything but that. The Sanders was a nice surprise.

Will we ever see another product like this again? Probably not. But at least I was there to experience it when it first came out and had this opportunity to do it all over again.

Feeling Like A Kid Again

Last week I had posted about my most recent trade with Shane over at Project Pedro blog and I had mentioned that he helped me acquire some boxes from Black Friday in our trade so I would have something to open on Christmas Day since I wasn't expecting anything.

Now it's time to reveal my choices.

When I opened up Shane's trade box, it took me back to 1980something, yeah I kinda stole that line from The Goldbergs since I can't remember what year this photo was, when I opened up this truck.You can't really see the joy across my face, I hate photos being taken, but it was there. I felt like a child should at Christmas time and that's exactly the way I felt opening up Shane's package.

It wasn't only opening up the box that brought out my childhood all over again, it was the contents. And by childhood I don't mean that blank-stare kid in the photo, I am talking about my younger collecting years.

And this was one of the first major products I really got into.1995 Pinnacle football. It had all of the fixings to draw attention. Great base card design, dufex technology and some great photography. This was a 36 pack lot that came with a few surprises.

 

1996 Pinnacle Mint football. Yes, the coin and card combo that only I could appreciate. This came as a 16 pack lot as I was trying to chase down some silver and gold like I did in my younger years.

1996 Donruss football. This is a much different Donruss line than the one we see today. So much better in the 90's. Wasn't everything? Especially in the hobby.

1997 Donruss football. My father and I busted this to chase down Warrick Dunn and Jake Plummer rookies. I did pull those as well along with some other cool stuff.

1997 Bowman's Best football. This is all about refractor chasing!Shiny stuff is just as important as a child as it is as an adult. This was by far the best box of the 90's group.

There were also some packs of 1998-1999 Fleer Brilliants basketball I was insert chasing in and parallel searching.

And finally, some boxes of 2015 Panini Americana. That didn't tie into my childhood theme other than the fact it could have some autographs and relics from people I may have watched. It was mainly because I totally love that product.

The 90's boxes however brought me back to a great time in the hobby for me. It made me realize all over again how much I prefer opening up those packs than packs of today. Every pack I felt that giddy magic rush looking forward to the contents of that pack and the next. The toughest part was when the break was over. I was left hanging for more and if I had the funds, more would have been purchased. 

So I couldn't just let that magic end quite yet. As I busted I realized how much more fun I was having with the products and it also made me realize I wanted to chase so much more. That's the moment I have decided to do a Sets Of My Childhood chase. Where I am seeking all of the sets from my childhood I enjoyed the most. This expands upon my already search for Spx and Ex ones I am currently doing. I have included the products above and so, so much more you will find out as my slow reveal goes on. My hope is that this great hobby community can help me in my chase and trade me items if they find any at home or card shows, etc.

For now, I have included some of the sets I am chasing so far under this SET tab. I will further expand and separate that to a separate Sets Of My Childhood tab when I have more things put together and narrowed down.

These exciting box break above will be up throughout the year. Make sure you watch out for them and stay tuned for more Sets Of My Childhood chase updates as well.

Random Card On My Desk:1996 Pinnacle Mint Card+Coin Jeff George

90's Flashback:1997-1998 Pinnacle Mint Card+Coin Jaromir Jagr

Card and Coin. Coin and Card. A match in heaven when you can combine two hobbies into one.

I couldn't ever figure out if I wanted to insert my coins into the card fearing it would damage the card, but when I traded my dad for this one, it was already in there. I think this was one of the greater innovations and ideas in the 90's. And yes, there were coin parallels like Gold, Silver and more. So there was a chase involved as well. This one is just a common coin.

Products we miss: Pinnacle Mint

This was always an amazing collection to me. Cards and coins together. Wow! It was like having 2 hobbies in one. The cards also had a die cut design in the middle where you could place the coin in the I did on the card below:

Each pack had roughly 4 cards and 2 coins depending on the sport whether it was football or baseball.

The product also had random chances for Solid gold coins, nickel brass, gold plated, solid silver and proof coins as well. If you haven't ever seen or tried these, you can find lists of them and still unopened boxes and packs on eBay and many other places. Try not to get too addicted!