Can't Believe I Did That

 

*takes a sip of freshly brewed coffee. Mmmm that first sip tingles the tongue and awakens the body like nothing else can. Today is going to be a good day.*

Back in August, I made a mistake. I did the one thing I told myself I wouldn't do, I bought off from a flipper. It goes against everything I believe in, but I was in desperate times of needing something to open. I needed to itch the fix. With no wax retail in months and my father not finding anything to trade to me, this was the last resort. 

I felt like I had sold my soul to the devil.

At that time I really wanted to open some Prestige. Its a favorite of mine and something I had opened every year of since its production in the 90's.

My break today of 2020 Prestige, may my soul burn forever, is a Mega Box. A Mega Box has 40 cards and includes 2 autographs. There are 10 cards per pack and 4 packs per box. 

The base set is a simple design as always. This years edition features 300 base cards with 200 being veterans and 100 being rookies.

You find quite a few rookies in every Mega, at least for mine. Some of the lesser known players are actually Sp's in the base set and are 20x tougher to find than the top rookies. Some names to keep an eye out on are,  Antonio Gandy-Golden, Laviska Shenault Jr and Zack Baun.

Found some Love, but the way is Rodgers is playing it may be some time before he hits the field.

And found Justin Herbert who at the time I didn't think would be playing as well as he is.

*takes a another sip of coffee, not that I haven't been sipping the whole time but didn't want you to wonder. Moving onto the parallels*

There are always a good group of parallels to find in Prestige. For 2020 you can find the following for veterans,

BASE XTRA POINTS PARALLELS: Green, Blue, Red /249, Purple /100, Gold /75, Orange /50, Platinum /25, Black 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

The rookies have different parallels which are,
ROOKIES XTRA POINTS PARALLELS: Green, Red /399, Blue /299, Purple /100, Gold /75, Orange /50, Platinum /25, Black 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

Here is gold as you can see by the gold foil on the base.

Sweet! PC pull of a purple parallel /100 of Saquon

*takes another sip before moving onto inserts*

Power House! Saquon is just that when he is healthy. There are 20 cards in this insert set to collect.

Highlight Reel has 20 cards to collect. I pulled Kupp and Jacobs.

Old School has most of those legendary names you have heard in NFL history with 30 to collect.

Impressions has 20 cards of players who made the most impact for their teams immediately

*my hits are next. Always such a risk buying something like this especially when you pay above retail for it. But, here we go...sips coffee aggressively trying not to slurp it everywhere*

My first autograph was as I expected...

Who in the Sam Hill is Jaylon Johnson...oh look a defensive player as well...ugh.

The next pull though...

Not too shabby at all! Ozzie Newsome autograph /5 with HOF inscription. I won't complain about that one.

*feels good about this break. Smiles behind the mug and notices that the cup is empty. So grabbed another cup to finish up this post*

The break I would give an A+ on. Low numbered HOF autograph, Herbert rookie, two PC hits. Can't argue with this kind of success on a retail box break.

Since this one time purchase in August, I haven't ever bought from a flipper again. I simply can't support those who clean off shelves and mark it up. The more any of us buy from them, the more they will continue to do that. So let's take a stand.

Considering most of my 2020 has been spent not opening that much, especially the last few months, I finally realized I can survive without ripping that much anymore. Until at least this hobby comes back down to earth again.

However, if they start clearing off shelves of coffee, then we will have a problem.

The Grady Bunch

Grady M has been a long time reader of Sport Card Collectors and follower of my Facebook page. I just recently brought back my Facebook page and renamed it Cards Over Coffee in case you are interested in following it. I post mail days on there you won't see on here. Same goes for Instagram and Twitter for Cards Over Coffee.

Grady recently mailed one of his goodie boxes that he sends my way a few times a year and I couldn't have been happier. These boxes are always loaded with fun/shiny items from a variety of sports. Sometimes there are even some surprises.

I opened the box and placed all of the contents inside of a box lid so I can go through it card by card and sort as I go.

It took me quite awhile to go through all of this and I will start to post some, not all, of the fun discoveries within. I could never get them all up on here. But, the ones I have chosen to show will still take a couple of posts.

You can also check out a few of the cards I wrote about over Cards Over Coffee that you can read, here, Trying The Off Brand

I can't wait to start showing some of this off starting next week. So come back if this kinda thing intrigues you, even if it doesn't, please come back anyways.

Have a great day!

Ten Things I Like That You Don't Like

Nick, of Dime Boxes fame, seems to have started something that's been rather popular across the blogs a couple of months ago with the 10 things list and now it's my turn. Better late, than never!

I found this to be a really cool conversation piece as I saw he landed close to 20 comments on both of his posts for it. I have only reached twenty a few times on any of my posts and that was because they were giveaways.

Let's see how my lists do. These are in no particular order.

 

 1. Panini Baseball Cards. Yup, I know they are missing logos, but, they are packed with value and a good portion of them look awesome especially the inserts in Donruss. If you can push past the fact there is no team logos, you will find yourself really engaged with what Panini is putting out.

 

 2. Allen And Ginter Pop Culture. The top thing I like about Allen and Ginter is the non sport PC. Other than that it's just another product. The mix of pop culture and baseball is what makes it worthwhile. I see so many that complain about the inclusion but I root it on and can't wait to see who they include.

 

 3. Non Sport Card. This is kind of a follow up to number 2. I love Non Sport Cards and have continued to grow my collection the last few years and will continue to.

 

 4. Fleer from 1995. This set is very nostalgic to me and I enjoy the wacky/90s colors and designs on the product.

 

 5. Sticker Autographs. Well, it's more like something I can deal with. Autographs are autographs to me, sticker or on-card. I don't cry when I pull one. Well, unless it's an awful player.

 

6. Collecting Football Cards. The blogosphere is very baseball heavy and I am one of the very few football guys on here. Which is a positive for me as I can send baseball your way in exchange for football cards.

 

7. Watching the NFL. There are a lot of die hard fans and then there is the blogosphere/die hard baseball fans which doesn't seem to like football a whole lot. Either way, I am happy to watch it.

 

 8. Set Collecting. Many have pushed away set collecting as buying/flipping is such a huge thing but I am still into it after 24 years. I have made my set collecting more specific now, but it still exists and I enjoy it.

 

 9.Trading. So many prefer to sell, but I prefer to trade. How could I not like unloading something I don't want for something I do. Makes sense to me.

 10. Shipping PWE. It's my most preferred method of shipping and if done right, it can very helpful in your trading. For me it's also a way to avoid going to the post office during these times.

Well that does it. Sadly, I found this list harder to make than the things I hate one..hmmm....

If you haven't tried out these posts yet, I hope you do. Would love to see what you come up with.

(by the way, another think I like is the contest that Chavez Ravining is hosting over on his blog. You can enter as well, HERE.)

Breakin' Wax:1995 Pinnacle Zenith Football

1996 Zenith along Ex and the Spx's of the 90's were king to me. Nothing topped those. I know I mention often how much I love this set or that set, but deep down, those three can't be touched.

One product in the 90's I never got to open for football was 1995 Zenith. I opened TONS AND TONS of 1996, but never once laid sight on 1995.

In my latest box break from Shane over at Project Pedro Blog, I finally got the opportunity to open some even in box form for the first time.

In every box of 1995 Zenith football, there were 24 packs of 6 cards. There was a shot at three different inserts in every box, most notably, Z-Team.

There are 150 base cards in the base set, designed like the yellow brick road I would say, including veterans and

"rookies". For some reason or another, Zenith didn't do real rookies. They made it like baseball and called rookies, "rookies" from the year before like this Willie. In the three year run of the 90's, it never once put a true rookie card in it's product.

Like I said earlier, there are three chase inserts in the product.

Second Season which I didn't recognize at first. I assumed it was apart of the base set until I saw the numbers on the back. These fall 1:6 packs.

 

Give me some dufex baby! These Rookie Roll Call fell 1:72 packs and are beautiful both front

 

and back. I am chasing this set as well and you can also see that not more than 1200 sets were produced.

And finally the moment you have been waiting for....Z Team John Elway. Wowza!! These fall 1:24 packs or one per box. Much different than the 1:3 boxes the 1996 ones fall.

Just like with the 1996 version, I plan on chasing down the 1995 one as well. Cards look amazing.

How does this one live up to 1996? Well, it falls flat with the one insert and the base cards. 1996 base cards put these ones to shame. The Z-Teams look better in 1996 as well, but love me some dufex so this one is solid. Hard to beat a perfected product like the 1996 version.

I am working on so much from the Zenith 1996 product still and this one as well including the dufex inserts, Z-Teams, and base ones.

What are your guys thoughts on Zenith? Have a favorite year of it?

Breakin' Wax:1998 UD3 Football Pack

Nothing is better than breaking some memories.

On one of my $25 A Week challenges, I told you about a couple of packs of 1998 UD3 football I got for cheap that I would be breaking a pack of later on, well, it's time to break it open. Remember, I am only opening one of these packs, not both. I plan on keeping the other sealed for fun.

UD3 returns for it's second season after a successful 1997 in which I bought a ton of. I don't remember how much 1998 I was able to find but I did break some.

A look at the overall base set is pretty deep. The 270 card base set is broken down into so many subsets,
Future Shock-Embossed (1-30), Next Wave-Embossed (31-60), Upper Realm-Embossed (61-90), Future Shock-Light F/X (91-120), Next Wave-Light F/X (121-150), Upper Realm-Light F/X (151-180), Future Shock-Rainbow (181-210), Next Wave-Rainbow (211-240), and Upper Realm-Rainbow (241-270)

Obviously being 1998, my hope was to land Randy Moss or Peyton Manning. I knew my odds were against me, but you never know.

The seller actually even tossed in one of the base cards which is actually the toughest pull at 1:125 odds. This is an Upper Realm embossed.

Now time to bust the pack.

Inside this is what you find. Cards are protected by two pieces of cardboard.

John Elway Upper Realm Light FX 1:6 packs.

Future Shock rainbow, great looking card up close, only falls 1:1.3 packs. Too bad it wasn't the rookies I had hoped for but solid card to have regardless just because of design.

Next Wave embossed falls 1:4 packs.

Keep in mind, these are just base cards at different levels of severity. I think it's a fun concept and makes it challenging to build a base set which is what a set collector like myself enjoys. Also helps give it added value so you want to chase it.

There are also multiple levels of die cut parallels and since I didn't pull any, I am not even going to touch that project.

Let's see how long I can hold onto the second pack without opening it. Because who knows what treasure could be hiding in there....

You Wanted More

Packs are tragic, cards are bold, you will always open what you wanted more
Packs can be hard, cards are strong, you will never say they don't belong

Cause I wanted more
More than I could get
More than I could afford

For about a year, I have watched a five pack lot of 1997 Bowman's Best football packs rot away in my watch list. I just couldn't pull the trigger on them despite the slight price decrease every couple of weeks.

Why wouldn't I want the shiny-goodness that comes from Bowman's Best? Well, I busted a box not too long ago and have most of the base set-I still have some needs for it-and wouldn't want to bust more just to land a bunch of dupes. It's not like its 1997 anymore and I can trade my duplicates with my friends. They no longer collect and haven't for years.

Then the price dropped again....

I wanted more
More than I could bear

And for $3.49 and shipping, I finally pulled the trigger. Those packs went for much more individually back then and the risk over reward seemed worth it. What happened if I pulled a refractor of Brett Favre? Autograph? Tough insert? Maybe even some set help?

A few days later, they arrived and I was in happy anticipating. Remember that this was awhile ago I picked these up before Coronavirus. Mail right now must be carried by horse and buggy at the speed it moves. Most packages for me take a week to ten days to arrive depending on where it's coming from.

I believe packs of this in the 90's carried a $6.99 price point. At least it did where I bought them. Today's gamble lot I grabbed is $1.47 a pack with shipping involved in that price.

Each pack of 1997 Bowman's Best Football comes with 6 cards and with chances at Refractors,
Atomic Refractors, Mirror Images with Refractors and Atomic Refractors, and Autographs with Refractors and Atomic Refractors. With key rookies to find of Jake Plummer, Corey Dillon, Tony Gonzalez, Tiki Barber, Warrick Dunn, and Jon Kitna.

Any of those names hit the spot?

With five packs in hand, I couldn't decide how many I was going to open. With any pack lot I buy, I always find myself not opening the entire lot. I always save one or two for memories sake. So I decided to break three out of five and save two for the memories. At least then sealed, those two packs would be worth the price of admission I paid for the lot.

I broke these down by pack. So let's see how I did and let's hope for something good!

Pack 1: Key highlights, Eddie George, Cris Carter and Andre Reed base. I also dig the old school Ravens logo on the Vinny.

Pack 2 Key Highlights:Derrick Thomas, Marvin Harrison and Natrone Means with the Jags uni.

Still no rookies. Hmph.

Ohhhh, that's because Pack 3 Highlights has two rookie cards in it. We have the two rookies in Ike Hilliard (PC material despite having three copies already), David LaFleur (who appeared in every pack I opened I felt in 1997) and a Drew Bledsoe base.

Not a whole lot of whoopie here, but it was fun. That's what truly matters to me.

Opening these three however left me staring at the other two like they were still in my watch list. Like they were the last box of Dunkaroos on the store shelves. Like they were the last chance date with Kelly Bundy.

Will I be able to withstand the temptation......time can only tell.

Cause I wanted more
More than these packs could give
More than I could handleAnd packs that I can't live without opening

Today's lyrical re-write is from the song You Wanted More by Tonic in 1999. Great song that you should listen to over and over again like I do.

Let's Talk About Sets Volume 31:1995 Pinnacle Showcase

Nothing says sets more than some personal photos and that's exactly what Pinnacle did in 1995.

Pinnacle's insert Showcase took 21 photos of players around the league, turned them black and white to build a unique insert of its time.

 

There were a variety of super stars included like Steve Young with every photo having it's own unique touch.

I am not sure what wanted me to collect this set, I don't remember it from my youth, I think it was just because I had a good start to it due to some 1995 Pinnacle football breaks.

Here is what I have so far towards the set,

3,7,9,12,18

1/4 of the way there. Hopefully someday down the road I can knock this one off as well.

Curing The Winter Blues

Winter can be, or at least feel, so long and grueling where I live that it sometimes it gives you the blues. Between the snow and cold, you feel like you are in a forever land of no sunshine.

I can't complain about winter fully though. I don't mind the snow up until New Years as I can't imagine the Christmas season without some white. I am not sure how you guys in Florida do it with palm trees, but I need my White Christmas like Bing Crosby.

Growing up as a child, I loved winter. I played football with friends in it, football by myself in it-I would toss the ball to myself and be both QB and WR and then use the power lines as my Field Goals as I had to kick it over-and even enjoyed some sliding down some massive hills. But, as an adult, it's not quite as much fun.

You have to shovel, you have to make sure you heater vents don't have snow blocking them, you have to drive in it, and you have to pay for fuel which feels like you are making a deal with the devil.

Winter is technically only roughly three to four months, but it feels like a year. Winter can start in November and even October some years. But it's mainly end of November thru March. It hits freezing cold January, and long drawn out February-even though it has less days than the rest-with its snow storms. Not to mention March that can be a surprise. It either gets really warm and by mid March spring begins or it has a few snow storms that drags out the process til April or May even.

 

Here was one of the last storms we had here in February. Can you see out my kitchen window?...yeah...me neither.

 

And there is nothing worse than winter driving. Going to give myself a heart attack driving on it someday.

So instead of focusing all the time on the negative facts of winter, I try to focus on non winter things I can do inside. Such as the hobby of collecting sports cards.

And nothing is more distracting then having a box of something to rip open and sort. Such is the case for me with this box of 1997 Pinnacle Certified football.

1997 Pinnacle Certified football had 6 cards per pack and 20 packs per box. You can find some boxes today between $40-$60. One of my hopes was pulling a rare Mirror Gold but I actually had a couple of Rodney Hampton needs in here as well.

The base set was a thick foil heavy front with a featured player. The cards also have the Peel Off stickers I refuse to Peel Off. One, it protects the card and two, I feel it doesn't make the card mint anymore if you peel that off.

There are 150 cards in the base set featuring veterans and rookies from the 1997 draft.

Warrick Dunn Rookie

Tony Gonzalez rookie

Ike Hilliard rookie. I didn't have this one for my Giants PC and I just saw he just got hired as WR's coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Mirror Red parallels I pulled, there's one of every player in the base set so 150 in all. These fall 1:5 packs. So no MIrror blue (1:199 packs) or Mirror Gold (1:299 packs) in this break.

Epix! 24 cards in this beautiful set. Absolutely love these. 1:15 odds of finding one of these, so roughly one-per-box.

Certified Team has 20 cards in the set and falls 1:19 packs which also means one-per-box unless you land the gold version of Certified Team that is 1:119 packs. Only difference is the silver is gold. Silver and Gold, Silver and Gold....oh no...thoughts like that are only going to make this a longer winter.

I plan on building the base set and have my numbers ready, just haven't posted them on here...yet. I will be revamping the pages soon as I saw a perfect way to do it and make it easier for everyone to read them.

I would love to find another box of this down the road and maybe pull something big, but, if not, that's okay to. This box served it's purpose of getting me through the winter blues.