Coffee Break:2020-2021 Upper Deck Series 2 Hockey Blaster Box

*coffee has awoken the beast, well, me. It's early but a few sips will get the blood flowing and the typing hands working. I will also need my hands to open up a hockey card product. I am not a huge fan of collecting hockey, but I am a huge fan of Upper Deck and have always been. Just ask Chris Carlin who knows this as well*

 

2020-2021 Upper Deck Series 2 Blaster Box

6 Packs, 8 Cards Per Pack

1 Jumbo Young Guns Per Blaster

$19.99 Per Blaster

Summary: Upper Deck Series 2 picks up where Series 1 ended. It includes a new batch of base cards which are cards 251-450, but most importantly Young Guns which is what the big draw is for Upper Deck's flagship product of hockey. Series 2 will include 50 cards,451-500, that fall 1:4 packs and includes the skaters not in Series 1.

You can find the following parallels as well for the base cards and Young Guns that includes, French, Clear Cut, Exclusives, and High Gloss.

The product also includes an Update Set for O-Pee-Chee that is rookie heavy alongside other inserts and Sp's. The Dazzlers insert continues to be my favorite and dazzling to say the least.

The autographs and relics are both rookie and veteran laden.

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

Here are the key cards from my break:

 

(jumbo Young Gun)

 

*takes a sip before finishing up today's break and post*

I didn't land one of the top Young Guns but being a rookie card collector I was pretty happy with just one. The O-Pee-Chee Lafreniere was a solid find for an update rookie for O-Pee-Chee being the top rookie going into the season collectors were hunting for. Also being a Rangers fan of the past helps with that one as well.

*takes one final sip, well for the post more sips are coming today, Coffee Card Blogger out*

CAPTION THIS CARD!

 

I like to bring this segment back here and there. The fun of reading the comments and captions being the biggest reason or maybe a lack of thought on what to post for the day. Either way, have fun with these!!

Please CAPTION THIS CARD in comments. Keep it clean for the little eyes. If I was to caption this I would call it,

"Big Module (reference off from Big Unit)"

Episode 1:Heart Breaking A Box Of 1995 Topps Series 2 Football

BLOGGERS NOTE: For the next few weeks I will be publishing some posts that appeared on Now That's Some High Quality Cardboard blog starting with today's. I have decided to no longer blog on there because it's too hard to keep up with more than one and the fact that it didn't quite have the response I had hoped. Since not many viewed those posts and I didn't share most on Twitter, those posts will become new to most on here. So for those that viewed them and maybe even commented, you will be seeing them again.

Also these are helping be filler posts for me since I don't have any new content and it's been kind of nice taking a hiatus from having to be on here everyday. All of those posts will be posted with the word Episode in front of them. Enjoy!!

I recently made a big trade with my friend and fellow 90's wax buster Shane. He is the one who runs the Cheap Wax Wednesday and Other Stuff where he breaks boxes that cost under $50 from 80's, 90's and today.

In my trade, I not only got some set help along with some sweet singles,I will show off on here, I  was also able to land some boxes of stuff from 1995-1999 that I will bust and show off on here as well.

I thought for the very first episode of this series, I would take a dive into a very disappointing box of 1995 Topps Series 2 retail football.

Why was it disappointing? Let's take a look.

In every retail box of 1995 Topps Series 2 football, there are 36 packs with 12 cards per pack. This box was $12 so it was a good deal for a lot of cards and memories. I thought maybe I would build the base set or at the very least have the rookies and inserts to enjoy.

However, that wasn't the case.

I ended with this Stanley Richard face after seeing that every pack had damaged corner and stuck together cards.

It was beyond fixable and heartbreaking. My hobby OCD hit an 11 on a 10 scale.

Here were some more base that got the worst of it. The key word here, some. As 95% of the box contained destroyed cards.

Even this Air McNair didn't survive.

or any of the Steve Young subsets that I really wanted back. I think I was able to save one.

Fortunately enough for me, I was able to save this great 1995 Draft Pick card of Kordell Stewart. This was the only one from the box break.

Let's check out my pulls from this box to see if they survived at least.

Here is a Jacksonville Jaguars expansion booster of Kelvin Pritchett. This card didn't get damaged and looks amazing. These fall 1:36 packs. Would be fun set build...hmmmm....

Up next, I pulled three Profiles by Steve Young that fall 1:12 packs. This insert has Steve Young giving his thoughts on each player. The first one I landed was Chris Spielman

This was a set I am building and all three are new additions. Luckily for these as well that they stayed away from having any damage.

Barry Sanders or as I call him, GOAT.

Jerry Rice, another GOAT.

Then I pulled a 1:36 Topps Finest insert of Bruce Smith. These took on the base card design from 1995 Finest. One of the most iconic Finest designs ever.

Then came more heartbreak after being on a streak of positives with my inserts. One of the newest set needs was Air Raid which you can find in these boxes. Which is why I wanted it. They fall 1:36 packs, which should be one per box.

However, I found two. That meant only eight more to go for the set. Well, it didn't quite work that way.

The first one I pulled, a dual of  Cunningham and Barnett had damaged corners.

The second one I pulled and was extremely shocked to see was of Marino and Fryar. Sadly though, it was severely stuck to another card and upon finally prying off very slowly and carefully, it had leftover card on it.

This box wasn't quite as much fun as I thought it was going to be just because the cards were all damaged. I may have been able to save 30 cards from the box as the rest I have given away already to kids who needed some beginning cards to practice with.

I will need to update all of the set adds and needs from this box when I can. In the meantime, you can check out what I already need on the tabs above.

Blast From The Past:1997 Topps Baseball Series 2 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 1997 Topps Series 2 Baseball!

Each pack of 1997 Topps Series 2 baseball came with 11 cards. I got this pack for $1.19 so let's see how I did with it.

 

Here were the odds on the back. I was hoping to find a Mystery Finest. Those things rock!

Time to see what this pack provided me

Ernie Young played in the Majors for ten seasons for five teams. He 27 home runs and a .225 batting avg.

Pudge in the uniform I remember him best in. Played 20 seasons for 7 teams. Made the All Star game 14 times, won a World Series, was AL MVP once, 13x Gold Glove, and a 7 time Silver Slugger. He had over 300 Home Runs in his career as well.

One of the most iconic to me photos from this set is in Mark Wohler posing with the baseball. He was apart of the great Braves teams of the 90's. He also played for four other teams including the Yankees that I don't remember. He had a 3.97 ERA with a 39-29 record as a relief pitcher.

Kenny Rogers is apart of the Country Music Hall Of Fame. Oh Wait. This one played for almost 20 MLB seasons, was 219-156 overall with a 4.27 ERA and played for 8 teams in which the Yankees was most memorable for me. He was a 4 time All Star and a World Series champion.

Coppinger wasn't around in the majors too long. His 5.47 ERA with a 17-11 record probably didn't help. He played for two teams in five seasons

Danny Graves pitched for four teams in 10 MLB seasons. Was a two-time All Star with a 43-44 record and a 4.05 ERA

Willie whipped out 8 seasons in the majors playing for four teams. He hit .234 average and 86 home runs.

David Cone pitched 17 MLB seasons and for 8 teams, most notable the Yankees. I don't even remember him with the Royals besides what I see on baseball cards. He was a 5x All Star, 5x World Series Champion, AL Cy Young winner, MLB Wins Leader and had a no hitter in 1998. He had a 194-126 record with a 3.46 ERA.

Bere spent his 10 seasons on 6 teams. He had a 71-65 record with a 5.14 ERA. He made the All Star game in 1994.

Ogea played for two teams in five seasons. Had a 37-35 record with a 4.88 ERA.

Jay Payton was on 7 teams in 12 seasons. Had a .279 batting average with 119 home runs in his career.

Overall, a few highlights. No inserts I had hoped for but some memories and that's what this series is all about.

Still many more of these to come in this series so stay tuned!

Cardboard Review:2019 Topps Series 2 Baseball

It's already June folks. June! This summer and baseball season has flown by so far. I remember just reviewing Topps Series 1 to open up the 2019 card season and here we are already to Series 2. Before I know it, Update will arrive. This is crazy! I hope it doesn't fly by too fast, I haven't really had summer yet. Still stuck in spring with the rain. At least the temps have gone up.

Enough with my rambling on about the weather, Let's take a look at Series 2 now shall we?

In every HOBBY BOX of 2019 Topps baseball, you will find 24 packs of 14 cards. Each box comes with one hit, either a relic or autograph, and boxes currently run right now just under $60.

The base set for Series 2 is the same design as always as Series 1 and starts where Series one ended in terms of the set. There are 350 new cards in Series 2 to collect.

In the Series 2 base set it includes,

Some of the hottest rookies including Vlad Guerrero Jr who is an Sp, but not that tough of a pull, found as an unnumbered card in the product.

Future Stars subset.

Stadium Scenes

Team and player highlights (rookie cup as well but I didn't cover those)

And some great photography.

Speaking of great photography, there are some really great shots on the Sp cards. Yup. More Sp photo variations to find in Series 2.

There are 75 Sp cards and 25 SSP cards to find in Series 2.

The best way to distinguish the difference is as always, going onto the back of the card, looking for the CMP code.

Here are the codes you are looking for,

• Base Cards end in #962
• Advanced Stat parallel ends in #968
• SP Variations end in #031
• SSP Variations end in #032

Here were my pulls of them. Both just plain Sp which are way easier to find than the SSP.

(despite my hatred of the Red Sox, hard to deny this is a great card)

Here is the front of a Advanced Stats parallel

The backs in comparison. Notice how there is numbering and how condensed the stats are on the card compared to the full stats on the other.

And as we always have, there are some parallels to find! I can't think of any products without parallels.

Gold /2019

150th anniversary with a foil stamp on the front that fall 1:6 packs

Rainbow Foil that fall 1:10 packs

Other parallels to find are,

• Purple
• Vintage Stock
• Independence Day
• Black
• Mother's Day Pink
• Father's Day Blue
• Memorial Day Camo
• Platinum 1/1
• Printing Plates 1/1

 Now onto the inserts in Series 2. Most inserts have the following parallels, Blue, Black /299, 150th Anniversary /150, Gold /50, Red /10, and Platinum 1/1.

1984 Baseball Rookies and All Stars. There are 100 cards to collect.

Black /299!

Iconic Card Reprints has 50 cards to collect. If only this Trout wasn't a reprint!!!!!

150 Years Of Baseball has 100 cards to collect in the set.

Evolution has 25 cards to collect and digs deep into the back history of advances in baseball.

Significant Statistics has 25 cards to collect

Gary Vee's Top Entrepreneurs in Baseball has 10 cards to collect.

And there are 35 cards in the Home Run Challenge set. But, most won't be collecting this as a set. they will be using the codes to win cards.

Now onto the hit. I am going to be brutally honest, 9 out of 10 times, you should be expecting a relic or manu relic. Out of all of the years I have been busting flagship baseball or even football when they had a license for that, I pulled one autograph total. One.

And I did this year to.

Other hits I didn't find that you might are,

• 1984 Topps Baseball Autographs Set
• Aaron Judge Highlights Autographs
• 150 Years of Baseball Autographs Set
• Franchise Feats Autographs
• Gary Vee's Top Entrepreneurs Dual Autograph
• Iconic Card Reprints Autographs
• Legacy of Baseball Autograph
• Legacy of Baseball Dual Autographs
• Significant Statistics Autograph
• Cut Signatures
• Major League Material Autograph
• Significant Statistics Autograph Relic
• Topps Reverence Autograph Patch
• 150th Anniversary Commemorative Medallion Autograph
• 150th Anniversary Manufactured Patch Autograph
• MLB Logo Golden Anniversary Manufactured Patch Autograph
• In The Name Relics
• Mookie Betts Highlights Relic
• Major League Material
• Significant Statistics Relics
• 150th Anniversary Commemorative Medallion
• 150th Anniversary Manufactured Patch
• MLB Logo Golden Anniversary Manufactured Patch

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Well, Series 2 was exactly what I thought it would be. Nothing new to me besides new inserts and what appears to be more inserts as well. Keep in mind that this product is mainly a set collectors kind of product. Meaning don't go chasing the big hits even though they are in here.

For me though, I look at this kind of product as a two option product and not three. I would either buy a jumbo box meaning a guaranteed auto with relics or some blaster boxes since you are most likely going to hit a relic anyways. Just think for the cost of this box I could have gotten three blaster boxes that would have given me three manufactured relics instead of just one plain relic I got from a hobby. Just a thought.

Wanna give it a try without the risk/cost of a hobby box, well I suggest a box break with  Midwest Box Breaks. They pull heat and always look out for their customers first. And newbies get freebies as well.

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.