Saturday, May 10, 2025

Five

 
Can you believe it's been five years since I created Cards Over Coffee?

*takes a sip*

Believe or not, it's here. Five years of Cards Over Coffee.

Five years of cards, coffee, and hopefully fun for all of you.

I know for me it's been a ride. I never expected this blog to ever make it this far, mostly because most of my side blogs didn't, but this one has weathered the storm. 

The growth of this blog continues to be slow and maybe that reflects the slowdown of all blogs in general or the fact the last few years my posts haven't been as creative as they were the first couple of years. I am hopeful I can regain that energy/creativity again after today's post and bring the readers back or new ones in. To do this, I may be taking a break from blogging on here.

Thanks to all of you who have followed, read this blog over the last five years. I appreciate every one of your comments and I also make sure to reply to every one of them.

My goals for the blog in the next year would be to hit 100 followers on the blog along with having this blog on more blogrolls and hitting that 500,000 view milestone.

Thanks again for the support over the five years.

*celebratory sip*

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Friday, May 9, 2025

Looney For This Mail Day

Wow! What a busy week it has been.

*insert coffee sip*

Family and fun filled the week.

I expect more of this as May turns to June and as the summer rolls on. I may be spending a lot less time in the blogging world and more time in the family world.

The way it should be.

But family left today back to Tennessee, and not only do I have to pack up almost 10 PWE mail days from giveaways and trades I did, but to also get the one draft I have in my Cards Over Coffee drafts posted.

The one draft has been sitting in there for almost a week and includes my latest trade mail day with reader friend Oren.

Yeah, I cut back on collecting Yankees like I posted in my last post on here, but I am sooooo collecting 90's cards of them.

I do have this card, but didn't mind having another. I actually have this set coming up in a Unfinished Sets post as I am only missing one card to completion.

90's inserts at their finest. When I say I am looking to trade for 90's inserts, this card alone is a prime example of what I want.

Another 90's insert. Not as appealing as the last, but I still take 'em!

DJ Hall rookie

Then came some surprise cards in our trade.

And they are exactly what I looked for in cards.

Looney Tunes+classic 90's designs. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.


(will he ever be caught?)


(looks like my ex)

(we all want a granny in our life)

And then he threw these in,
The 1998 Fleer Diamond Ink Exchange Program

 
Back of the card is 1 point. Once you collect 500 points you get an autographed baseball of the player on the front.

Great promotion, great way to sell cards. However, I can't imagine too many collectors actually were able to pull off this. With so many names and so many points needed, that would have been near impossible.

Thanks, Oren, for another fun mail day. Hope you have some more of those Looney Tunes cards kicking around, I really liked those. Would love some of the inserts and parallels too!

Hope everyone has a fun Friday and weekend.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Don't forget you can start to nominate cards for the 2025 Coffee Card Hall Of Fame!! Cards don't have to be autographs, patch cards, super star cards. It can be whatever you think is Hall Worthy! Find details and current nominations HERE.

Saturday, May 3, 2025

Yankin' Em Out

 
My collecting continues to change on a daily basis.

Especially with what and how I collect.

I recently started going through my NY Yankees collection and started to change things up. 

Since I don't really collect Yankees anymore, I decided to strip apart my collection and treat it like other cards I have in my collection. I pulled aside star players or players I enjoyed growing up and kept those by player. 
This is the separation stacks

where I put the base now just like other teams

Others I stripped down to base, inserts and rookies and put those each into a separate section like I do with other teams.

So, basically, most of my Yankees are up for trade besides a few players like Jeter and Mantle. And even then, I am flexible on Mantle. But, not Jeter, those are to stay. The other Yankees that are no-go's are my 90's inserts. I don't EVER trade off 90's inserts. 

If you are interested in any Yankees players, let me know. I would mainly just trade away the inserts or rookies I have since base are base and it would be a pain to dig through.

Hope everyone has a great Saturday. I have family up for Tennessee so I won't have time for the hobby again for a week and not sure if I will have any more new posts unless I pre-do them. 

We will see. I mean if I have cards and I have coffee, you just never know.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Friday, May 2, 2025

Can't Stand Ya!

Maybe it was just a pre-2000's thing, but I always felt high school teachers came up with teasing names for some of their students.

I know I had one.

Mr. Angel who not only was my freshman football coach but he was also my gym teacher created the name Big Hoss relating me to a horse because of the way I "galloped" because of my height and size. So anytime he met me in the hallway or when I got into gym class I was always greeted with a "Big Hoss" whether I liked it or not.

I can't say if I did or didn't. I guess I must have meant something to him if I got a name I looked at it.

I assume with today's culture you can't create such names anymore.

When Nine Pockets blog, who creates some amazing customs, offered up a free custom to a reader, I chose to get a surprise Seinfeld one because why not.

When the card arrived last week the first thought that came to my mind was the Seinfeld episode The Library where George's gym teacher called/teased him "Can't Stand Ya!" using a play on words from his last name.
 
Even though this card image is from the episode The Understudy where George runs home and plows over Bette Midler. But the sports image is what made me think of that memory.

 
Back of the card. Go visit his blog and go buy yourself a custom!

Thanks again to Nine Pockets for another great mail day.

Did any of you have a high school gym teacher tease name? Let me know in comments even if it's embarrassing.

Have a great Friday!

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Thursday, May 1, 2025

A Card Show 30 Years In The Making

Hope you have your coffee ready today, because I do.

If you read this blog title and no you didn't read it wrong, I was able to go to a card show. And yes, it was the first time in 30 years of doing so.

*sips cheerfully*

Locally, there are no LCS'. There are no card shows. And that's the way it has been for 30 years.

But, this past week, I kept getting a Facebook ad for a Card Show that was about 45 minutes from my house. I spent the week debating on whether I was going to go or not because I knew my sister-in-law was coming up from Mass and didn't want to lose out on family time.

However, when I mentioned said card show to her, she actually jumped in on going with my nephew since they both partially collect Pokemon and we went in the pouring rain.

The building wasn't too hard to find as it was right off the exit north of where I live, it was held at the usual Elks Club where I think most small shows are held everywhere.

I had no idea what to expect and how card shows even were ran in today's times. I also knew I had a very tight, small budget to work with so was hoping to find some dollar bins or dime bins and load up like I see other bloggers accomplish.

I did know that admission was $10 per adult. Far cry from the $3 it used to be in the 90's where your admission also counted as a raffle ticket, and you could win hourly prizes. This one was just paying the $10 and you are in.

Not sure if all card shows charge or not but I felt that was a little steep. 

I felt like a rookie right off the bat.

I walked past the check-in table and was greeted by the room and took a quick walk around to take pictures before going back to the beginning to start "my business".








There were roughly 25 tables set up with a variety of sports cards, Pokemon cards, memorabilia, products, coins, and even a gaming table.

Now it was time for me to go attack the room.

I didn't have anything specific I was chasing but was taking a look at everything I could at the tables that attracted me.
The first table had stuff I jumped on immediately. One-dollar 90's packs, but the guy threw in a ton of free ones since his son opened the tops of them.

 
He also had this Terrell Davis in a box I couldn't say no to. Rest of the box was boring, overpriced stuff.

The card I really hated no to at his table was one he whipped out of his safe. A Leaf trio autograph that had Phil Simms, Eli Manning and YA Tittle numbered to 2. But, I don't have that kind of money.

I hit up a few more tables and looked through their stuff but hitting a dry spell. I saw Eli Mannings I already had, a hockey table, a Wrestling table, a vintage table, a Pokemon/TCG table but no other 90's related inserts or anything that I really needed.

Then I came upon a table in my last row of tables to search where a guy had a stack of Donruss Rookie Sweater cards. I was able to wheel and deal and fill in some set needs.

Of course, he didn't have any values on these, so he had to whip out his phone for "comps". Last time I went to a card show guys were whipping out their Becketts.






He also had an Eli Manning relic card I wasn't sure if I had. But it was Super Bowl related, so I added it to the stack anyways.
It's still a nice-looking card.

The next table was where the real magic happened.

They had a box with 90's inserts sorted by player, and I went to town.













(pretty cool error card)

And fortunately, the guy cut me a pretty good deal on them all. Like less than $1 each. I haven't done my research to see how "rare" any of these are yet, but I will. I think I fared well with his table and that one alone was worth me taking the trip.

Finally, I hit up one last table which had a Malik Nabers I didn't have.
Come to find out, the seller was the guy running the show and he also is starting a card shop up in his Cigar Shop. He is moving away from tobacco and moving onto cards. That's kind of cool. An LCS! But, it's still 45 minutes away and I don't head north too often, a few times a year, so maybe when I do, I will swing in. He also mentioned having more of these card shows so maybe I will get to go to another. Just hopefully with more funds.

Overall, I spent two hours there searching through everything, talking to people and not spending too much. It was a little overwhelming at first getting into a groove of digging through others card collections, just felt odd picking them up and looking at them, but I had a great time and some fun conversations. 

Before I close up today's post, here are some other things of note.
  1. Kids were buying, selling and trading.
  2. There was no wax. No packs, boxes, mega boxes of any kind other than those 90's packs above. I was shocked by this. I expected the flippers.
  3. Lots of overpriced cards and I avoided the three tables that had them. I am not paying $10 for a base Mosaic Malik Nabers card or a 90's insert of Brett Favre for $40 that goes on eBay for $3.
  4. Lots of good mix of new and old cards and sports and gaming.
  5. There were no nickel, dime and dollar boxes
  6. No non-sport cards at all
  7. It didn't appear a lot of sellers were actually selling
  8. There weren't a lot of people, but a decent small crowd
  9. Everything was done by comps
  10. Lots of friendly sellers giving cards away to kids which was great to see.
  11. There were no Ken Griffey Jr cards. One guy bought out the show (I should have gotten there earlier!)
  12. When I interviewed most sellers, most got into the hobby in the last five years. Interesting to think especially since most were about my age.
Let me know about how your card shows go in comparison. I would love to hear in comments to see if there is anything similar.

Thanks for reading my recap with your cup of coffee (or beverage of your choice).

Have a great first day of May.

Don't forget you can start to nominate cards for the 2025 Coffee Card Hall Of Fame!! Cards don't have to be autographs, patch cards, super star cards. It can be whatever you think is Hall Worthy! Find details and current nominations HERE.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*