Well Dressed With A Cup Of Coffee

*just found out today is a National Day of celebration for the one and only, coffee. Takes a sip*

My wife just informed me today is a very important day.

So grab a friend and celebrate #NationalCoffee Day. Is there really any better day? Not that I need a reason to celebrate more coffee in a day but here we are.

I took advantage of the free coffee with purchase at Dunkin' today and enjoyed a nice hot brew of the coffee form,

I know it's not straight up decaf (if you missed why I have to drink decaf in a previous post it's because I get tachycardia now with caffeine) plain coffee, but I was feeling a bit excited so I went a little off course.

*takes another sip. Mmmm the mocha is where it's at today folks!*

Another exciting thing about today is my sharing of the latest mail day I had from Too Many Verlanders blog that may have led me to another chase. It seems his mail days have done that to me TOO many times.

Right here is a huge stack of.....Amani Toomer cards. 

 

Amani Toomer or as Chris Berman nicknamed him "well dressed" was a 2nd round draft pick Wide Receiver of the NY Giants in the 1996 NFL Draft. He had 668 Receptions, 9,497 yards and 54 touchdowns in his career all with NY. He retired in 2008 after winning Super Bowl 42 with the Giants and is apart of the Giants Ring Of Honor in 2010, He also holds double digit team receiving records that I doubt will ever be broken. Unless Darius Slayton really turns it on.

I have always been fond of Amani and have always felt he was underrated despite the numbers and the big catches in important moments like in the 2008 playoff game vs Dallas where he took a short pass 52 yards for a touchdown. However, my fondness of Amani has never quite translated over to cardboard

 

Well, that's until this mail day came.

Thanks to Dennis and this big stack of cards, I will officially put it out there that I am seeking Amani Toomer cards and will add him to my list of players I collect. Bring them on!

*takes another sip...or two...before showing off some goods*

I won't dive into the entire stack that Dennis sent of Amani, but will show off the ones that caught my attention immediately,

Don't tell me those didn't catch your attention as well.

I will have to update my Amani Toomer collection numbers at some point and see where I am at. Will also need to download a player checklist to avoid duplicates which there were some in this stack.

*takes another sip and actually chugs the rest before it gets cold and so this post can be concluded*

Thanks to Dennis for the mail day and for sending me yet on another quest. It's not like I needed another PC to chase but same goes for my coffee as well. It's not like I need another cup, but I always go for more. A day like today though with the celebration of coffee, I gotta grab another cup or two.

Happy #NationalCoffeeDay

FALLing For Ginter

 *takes a look out the kitchen window where this latest post is being composed and can see all of the beautiful colors of fall. Figures has to share those with his cup of coffee this morning. Time for a new Cards Over Coffee*

It was only a short time ago, a week or so before fall actually began on September 22nd, that I took these photos of the trees trying to kick into foliage gear.

 

There was some color showing at the top

 

and a few straggler leaves on the ground. 

 

Then it seemed that week passed by and out of nowhere....

My pumpkins were ready to be picked

And the colors of fall were in full bloom,

(current view out my kitchen window)

Some years foliage in my area can be dull but other years, like this one so far, it can really pop. Lots of oranges, reds, and yellows make this one of the most colorful years we have had in some time.

2020 had to get something right, didn't it?

Actually it got two things right.

The latest release of 2020 Allen and Ginter, my favorite Topps product, came out and I was biting my nails in anticipation that my Walmart would get some in and have some left for my father to grab for me. In which it did.

I was able to get a blaster and a three pack cello as well. It appeared that the one product that flippers weren't buying was the one product I wanted the most.

Today, I will show off my blaster box results. I will tackle the three pack cello another day.

Only one thing to do now...

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

 

Each blaster box of 2020 Allen and Ginter has 8 packs of 6 cards. There are no guarantees in a blaster other than a good time. Each one sets ya back $20.

The favorite part of Allen and Ginter to me is the least favorite part to everyone else, the non sport oddities. It's the only reason why I like it.

This years 350 card base set, 300 base and 50 Sp's, comes with quite a few names I am chasing base, mini's, relics and autographs of. The names include, Chip Gaines, Ken Jeong,Spike Lee, Ludacris, Paul Rudd and RL Stine. Cool Stuff or as in the 90's I would call it, Cool Beans.

Tino was the first card I pulled from the blaster so it has to be shown off. Still need a Tino autograph in my life. In a Yankees uniform of course.

My two rookie card pulls from the blaster. Not too bad.

I don't know who this is....

This one gave me Goosebumps.....One down from my wants

Sp's in this product are pretty easy to pull falling 1:2 packs, these were my finds,

 

If anyone needs them for their set chase, just let me know.

*takes a sip, feeling good about this rip so far after finding Stine. Continues on*

One of the only negatives about Ginter for me, the mini's. Minis cover base and some inserts in this product. They fall one-in-every-pack and are a pain in the butt to store. I have been sorting mine by sport/non sport and sticking them into 800 ct boxes.

 

A couple of decent names here

and not too shabby of a pull here, 1:131 odds of finding a black border Sp mini. I gotta find a Tigers fan that will enjoy this more than myself.

Then a few other minis which are inserts. I do enjoy the mini non sport inserts more than the base ones.

Citadels and Safeholds

Behemoths Beneath

And my new favorite one that glows in the dark....

 

Where Monsters Live. So need this set now.

*takes another sip*

The rest of my inserts were full sized ones.

 

Longball Lore has 50 cards to chase

 

A Debut To Remember has 30 cards to collect. Not too shabby of  a player I landed.

 

Digging Deep has 20 cards to chase

 

 

Down On The Farm is pretty cool being someone who grew up on a farm. Which probably explains my animal nature. There are 15 cards to chase in this set.

 

 

Field Generals has 20 cards to collect

 

 

Reach For The Sky.....as Woody from Toy Story says or as an insert for Allen and Ginter, whatever comes to mind first. There are 15 cards to collect.

 

*takes a sip before clo....oh hold on...what's this...a last pack hit..*

 

Yup, last pack relic hit. Not someone I particular know an wanted. I kind of wished it had been a non sport ones I wanted, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. These fall 1:82 packs.

*now takes the finale sip*

This was a solid blaster break for me. Pulled a tough parallel short print, a hit and landed one of the non sport characters I am chasing. Stine is actually the first autograph I really want from this product. I will have a list of all my wants from this product soon on the side of this blog and cross them off as I go.

Hope that all of you have a great Sunday and are having a hot cup of joe while you are reading this.

*grabs a second cup of coffee, begins researching Allen Ginter names I need to make a list of for this blog*

It Only Took One

*caught a head cold so feeling very dreary today, and no, it's not Covid. Throats a little rough and nothing is better for a throat then some warm beverage. Wonders what warm beverage could sooth his throat....only one answer....*

Finding packs of basketball cards in retail outlets is impossible. I haven't seen a single pack of anything basketball since before Christmas and here we are almost a year later. Which in itself is hard to think about.

Why haven't I been able to find any retail basketball packs? Well, that's because of the "Wolf Pack."

The Wolf Pack isn't the fun one from The Hangover, this Wolf Pack comes to hunt down the vendor putting up stock to rip them apart for any sign of retail product they could flip.

 

This is what you will see from a distance if you time it right and arrive when the vendor is there.

When you get closer you will see them ripping ALL OF the retail out of the vendors hands and off the shelves like raw meat only to follow that same vendor to the next retail location to do it all over again. The Wolf Pack are relentless hunters.

Leaving only behind their death and destruction and a lot of Jack Links beef jerky.

 

Grrrrrrrr....

*takes a sip to calm the fueling anger I have for retail flippers, then is calm focusing on the main part of today's post*

Luckily for me, I got my hands onto my first basketball card pack via a contest on Instagram from welovesportcards. Otherwise, I probably would have gone the rest of the basketball season without any.

The pack, I won in a contest, was a 2019-2020 Chronicles basketball, which is one I was really hoping to open since I couldn't find any locally.

So what's next? Let's rip it!

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

 

Every hanger pack of 2019-2020 Chronicles basketball comes with 15 cards. I am not sure what the going price for these were when they came out. As I stated already, couldn't find any.

 

*another sip to soothe the throat*

 

The basis of Chronicles is a spread of different Panini products all into one. Most of the products included in the product do not have their own standalone product anymore but some are new specifically for it.

Each of the sets has it's own base set but fall in order of an overall base set that consists of close to 700 cards. Good luck chasing that down especially with this years rookie class.

My first four cards were not a bad start with the Beard and Chris Paul. 

 

Base Chronicles has 50 cards to collect and Panini Threads has 25 cards to collect.

Then came the league MVP Giannis in which Prestige has 25 cards to chase down .

Up next, Cam Reddish rookie. What little basketball I did open around Christmas it felt like Reddish was in every pack. 

 

Playbook has 25 cards to collect.

Wait...what's this? JA?! Yessssss! I didn't have any rookie cards of him, this years ROY. This pack was already worth the winning victory. 

 

Luminance itself has 30 cards to chase.

Trae Young is a beast. Base Panini has 35 cards to collect.

A Donruss Rated Rookie (Donruss has 5 cards to collect) and another Playbook rookie this time of Jarrett Culver

Wait...Tyler Herro in here? Man, nice! I didn't have any rookie cards of him either and he has been playing lights out in the playoffs. Great pack find. Also featured is his teammate Kendrick Nunn.

Kawhi Leonard  was found for Hometown Heroes Optic which has 20 cards to collect.

Shut the front door...Zion too?!!? Can this pack get any better? Top three rookies in this class all found in here. 

 

Essentials has 35 cards to collect.

And the good pack rip continues, we end with another Tyler Herro, this time a Bronze Parallel from Essentials.

*takes a sip before finishing up today's post and trying to decide how much Vitamin C to take today to help push this cold away*

Thanks to welovesportcards on Instagram for the fun pack rip and rookie card pulls for my PC. I had truly forgotten what it was like to open a basketball pack and I can see why the sport was so much fun this year.

 

As for the wolf packs, I do like how the hobby is booming right now, but at the same time its frustrating with them taking all of the retail in my area just to flip it. If only Zach Galifianakis led this wolf pack, instead of taking all of the retail the worse they would do is end up sleeping on the Walmart roof with someones baby and some pet of Mike Tysons.