The Holidays Are Late

*takes a sip of coffee, yup, it's time for Cards Over Coffee*

Sorry about the hiatus on this blog and don't worry, I didn't take any breaks from coffee in the meantime. How can anyone do that and be sane?

A couple of weeks ago, my father timed it right and arrived at Walmart when the vendor was there. It never happens and is once in a blue moon when it does. So he called me and asked if I wanted anything and listed off a few of the products.

There wasn't much to choose from in terms of variety or even amounts brought, but here were my options.

• 2020 Panini Contenders Football both blasters and rack packs (great hobby, but terrible retail product with autograph offerings from undrafted free agents)
• 2020 Topps Heritage Baseball Hangers (bleh, not really a huge fan of that product)
• 2020 Donruss Football Hangers (already opened some)
• 2020 Topps Holiday Baseball ( hold on say what?!)

Yes, 2020 Topps Holiday baseball. Exactly what the Dr ordered. That's Dr. Cards of course.

So he grabbed me a box of holiday and I worked out a trade for it. Of course nothing in life comes easy and I had to sell my soul to the devil for the box, but knowing how much I like Topps Holiday, I happily obliged and signed on the dotted line. In other words, I gave up a decent card to land this box so it better be worth it.

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

There are 10 packs of 10 cards to be found in every 2020 Topps Holiday Mega Box. Each box comes with a guaranteed autograph, autograph relic or relic card. 9 times out of 10, be ready for that relic card. Boxes go for $25-$30.

Each box also comes with new-to-the-product cool ornament as well. I will say its not as awesome as the ones in the late 90's-early 2000's Pacific but I really like this addition to the product. I pulled the recently traded Nolan Arenado.

*takes a sip excited to have a new ornament for the tree next year, not sure how the wife will feel about it but I will sneak it on*

The base set for Topps Holiday is a spruced up version of the base with touches of Christmas joy and some snowflakes. Not bad to fish this out of the first pack.

Topps All-Star Rookie Cup. I would expect another big year from Tatis Jr and the Padres could make a run with the team they have assembled.

A couple of Yankees for my PC. I was especially happy to find Aaron Judge.

A few solid rookies as well in this break.

Overall, there are 200 cards in the base set to collect. I know a lot of collectors like to land the base set but with the product release so late this year will be interesting if it is as popular of chase as it was in years past.

I like the base cards and design this year, but for me, it's not the base cards I was after. I wanted the short prints with the unique Santa Hats, Presents, Stockings, Ice Skates and other Christmas related items that aren't as plentiful this year.

 

I only pulled two in my box which was disappointing. There was this Pete Alonso, the one on the right is the base and the one of the left is the Rare Presents Above The Dugout that falls 1:20 packs. If it wasn't for the codes, I never would have seen this one. Its really hard to see those presents.

Then there was this Super Rare of Alex Bregman that falls 1:161 packs. Candy Cane stockings, kinda cool. The card was backwards in the pack so I had a feeling this one was an Sp before I turned it around to see it

*takes final sip of cup one, immediately pours cup two and continues on with today's post*

The metallic parallels, unless you have Super Vision, are really hard to spot. I didn't think I pulled a single one when I was opening the packs, that was until I read they landed 1:2 packs so I checked back through and found some.

 

This Tim Anderson is one believe it or not.

I tried to capture it in the sunlight...nope.

So I tried the sun again, blew up this picture a little more and added a red circle to try and show it. I think if you click on the image you might be able to see it. Years past they were a bit more glittery so they stood out more.

There is one card left to this break to show off and that was my hit of the box.....

Danny Jansen relic. I like the design but not tootles of excitement with the player pull.

That was fun, but felt a little weird opening up a holiday themed product after Christmas. I may have tried to trade for another but with it being past Christmas it's not as tempting to.

Not sure I got my soul's worth out of this box in terms of value, but the fun I did and that's what matters most.

*takes a gulp of delicious coffee before closing*

Now that this post is done, I need to grab some breakfast. I promise the next post won't be too far down the road. 

I hope you enjoyed this break with some breakfast and a cup of coffee yourself.