Coffee Break: 2020 Topps Inception Baseball

 

*a product I didn't get to open last year combined with a fresh cup of joe is all I need today. Well, the sunshine and melting snow helps as well*

I know I said it may be some time before I post on here again ,but here we are. I guess I can't keep all of my promises and I am hoping none of you are hurt from me sharing a new post. I don't think you will be.

Today, I have a box of 2020 Inception baseball, which was roughly released a year ago, to share with you....in more than one way. But you will have to keep reading to see what I mean.

In order to do that, I must open this box up first. So let's get to it!

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

In every box of 2020 Inception baseball cards there is one pack. That one pack comes with 7 cards in which one of those cards is an autograph. Boxes are still running high with them holding around $200-$225. So it's a gamble for sure at $33 a card in here.

You open the box up and you find the pack on the inside.

Here is what the pack on the inside looks like. 

*takes another sip to do another rip*

There are 100 cards to collect in the base set for 2020 Topps Inception baseball.

This years design features a bold, vibrant full of color touch. Up until this break I hadn't seen any of these base, but these may be the best ones I have seen from Inception. It took me some time to grow a liking to products that use art, but this design is a home run.

Back of the base card isn't quite as vibrant as the front. I do wish there was expanded stats on these. I am a man of numbers.

Here were the other base in my break,

The base set consists of veterans and rookies. I think it would be fun to see some legendary stars make their appearance in this set. Ken Griffey Jr base card like this....yeah...wow.

*takes a sip before tackling the parallels*

Parallels in this set come in a variety of colors such as, Green, Purple /150, Magenta /99, Red /99, Orange /50, Blue /25, Inception 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

I pulled two greens in my pack. Both players not too bad.

And now onto the autograph of the pack....

Mike Tachman on-card autograph. It is also a eBay 1/1 with 50/50 because it's an orange parallel.

*takes a sip before summing up. Well, takes a few sips to be honest because honesty is the best policy*

My overall thoughts is that the product looks really nice, but man, it's hard to swallow landing a Tauchman autograph for the $200. Though as a Yankees fan it's exciting to see a PC card. The overall checklist though has some huge names and some really nice looking autograph patch, button, etc hits. So I guess it depends on what kind of gambler-type-collector you are.

Ratings (ratings based on 1-5 🍵)

Design 🍵🍵🍵🍵
Photography 🍵
Inserts: Not Applicable
Hits 🍵
Price 🍵
Value 🍵

(my ratings on this product looks bad because of the way I break things down, but I actually enjoyed opening this)

*takes another sip before announcing some exciting news...and may or may not have taken a bite of a raised donut that just happens to be sitting next to me*

I said earlier something about sharing...well... I will be announcing a contest in the next few days for a chance to win some cards from this break and my Series 1 break! I haven't decided if the contest will be held on this blog, Matt's Wonderful Blog Of Hobbies or on Twitter. But stay tuned!

*takes a final sip of the current cup, moves onto cup number 2. Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Update

*it's time for some update, coffee and cards. Sounds like a good start to a "warm" 30 degree morning. Almost T-Shirt and shorts weather! Takes a sip, begins to start today's post*

The title of today's post is update and I have a few. Let's start with these,

1. The blog is still snail paced growing after much promoting of it. Not sure what steps to take to get this blog going more.
2. Trying to build up this blog more has cost my other two blogs better content. I may take some time off from here to work on them. No worries about my coffee though, there won't be a break from that.
3. I had my virtual non alcoholic fatty liver appointment. The Liver Specialist is going to send me for multiple blood work, possibly put me on some medications (that's all I need is another medication) and have me come down to her in May to run a test on my liver to see if there is any scarring from having this issue for years. Just hoping all of that goes well. She did say however, keep on drinking coffee as coffee is good for the liver! Woo Ha!
4. My kidney check-in is for the 23rd of this month to see if the medications they gave me helped the blockage in my right kidney. I will be getting an ultrasound before that appointment to check. If the medications didn't work, they will test me further and who knows what happens from there.
5. Have any cards to trade? Well, I do to. I am always up for a good trade!

One more update....

Some 2020 Topps Chrome Update baseball.

Each 2020 Topps Chrome Update Mega Box comes with 28 cards which is 7 packs of 4 cards. There are no guarantees in here but I have seen some pull 1/1 Superfractors and autographs from the product. I was hoping for the same. Each box roughly costs $30-$50 depending on when and how you buy it.

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

The base set is built up of 100 cards. Players featured are from the past and present.

I found a few PC guys in this break including the Tino above, Gleyber here

Aaron Judge (awesome photo)

Cal Ripken Jr (well not really PC, but dig a 90's guy find)

And Ken Griffey Jr, still my biggest PC I have.

*takes another sip before moving onto the rookies*

My rookies started off rough.

Not many big names to see in the first six packs.

That's not until I got to the last pack. Where I found this Bo Bichette.

And Luis Robert.

So not too bad of a start to this box. Let's check out the inserts next.

*takes another sip, hopes that his readers are joining in on the coffee today*

I found it odd that I didn't pull a single parallel in my break but they must be hard to find. There are these offerings to be had if I had pulled one,
Pink, Pink Wave, Refractor /250, X-Fractor /99, Gold /50, Red /25, SuperFractor 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

I did land some insets though, all of which I really liked the designs of.

Decades Next 2020 with Yordan Alvarez and Pete Alonso.

There are 25 cards in this set and they fall 1:4 packs.

Numbers Game Tony Gwynn

And my favorite card of this break, Numbers Game Jackie Robinson. I cannot tell you in words how great this card looks and my picture doesn't even touch it's beauty. It's like that perfect cup of coffee you can only taste, but can't describe.

There are 25 cards in this set and falls 1:4 packs.

*takes a sip, definitely not the perfect cup for this morning but is at least something to keep me going*

I am sure I will have updates on my updates to post when the time comes to do so, that way I won't leave you all hanging.

As for now, I am going to finish this cup of coffee and get going on the day. As you get older you come to realize more and more you don't want to waste a single minute of your day and I have lots to accomplish.

*takes another sip, coffee blogger out*

Coincidence

 

*Cards Over Coffee time. Time for a hot cup of brew as I sit here on the beach listening to the Sounds of Summer. By beach I mean my kitchen. By sounds of summer, looking at this card. I would rather play pretend then look out my window and see the wind whipping with -20 temperatures*

Coincidence. This is defined as a "remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection."

A couple of weeks ago, I was out and about on social media (mainly Twitter) looking for trades without much success. It wasn't that I didn't have plenty to trade, they just didn't have anything I needed. So I figured I would give it a break and go back and try after a few days.

This is where the coincidence comes in.

A day later, I received not only one, but two emails seeking trades from people I had never had any interaction with before. One was from a reader and one was from a fellow blogger whose blog I hadn't heard of before. It was quite odd and something like that never happens to me.

Coincidence? You tell me.

I began the conversation with both blog reader Oren and blogger Johnny from Cards From The Quarry and we all worked out trades pretty quickly.

We also mailed pretty quickly. What a coincidence that we all are easy to trade with and mail quickly?

*takes a sip, begins to look back through the small stack of cards from the trade and takes another sip. Time to show off what I landed*

First, I will show off my trade from Johnny.

I collect a lot of non sport cards from base to inserts to hits. I like having pieces from some of my favorite actors/actresses and musicians. 

I never got my hands onto any of the Beach Boys trading cards to open, but I have picked up a few relics. My father actually found a Brian Wilson autograph at a Yard Sale for cheap but sold it before I had the chance to make a trade for it. Curses!

The next two cards I landed in this trade were Giants.

Paul Perkins silver Prizm

Eli Manning Zoning Commission that is numbered to /1000

I think I already have a copy of this Manning, but I don't mind a second and being numbered I consider this a new card to the collection. Different Numbering=Different Card.

My final card in this trade I mentioned to Johnny how I collect 90's inserts from 1995-1999 and it didn't matter the sport.

So he passed along this fun surprise. Far&Away insert from Pinnacle X-Press.

Thanks for the trade Johnny!

*takes a sip, then another, then chugs the rest of the cup. I need another cup now.*

*brews another cup, gets ready for the next part*

My next trade comes from blog reader Oren. He read my post on collecting what you enjoy and not what is hot because that's what collecting is truly about. He also noticed how much I was into non sport cards and sent me a list of available ones he had.

All of which caught my attention.

2018 Goodwin Champions When Robots Rule The World were randomly inserted in packs. I hadn't ever seen one before and actually had to look it up before I traded for it so I knew what I was trading for.

The next cards are Harry Potter. I loved the movies, but there wasn't enough coffee in the world that would help my mind focus on reading the really in-depth books. Usually a book is better than a movie, but not in this case. At least to me.

All three of these cards have a Sportflix feel to them. Or in Harry's world, they are magically moving.

The final card was this Topps Star Wars Evolution Commemorative Flag Patch of Chancellor Palpatine. The cards simply shines.

It is also numbered to 25 as well.

Thanks to Oren for the trade.

I hope to see both of these guys come back for more trades and actually Oren and myself are working already on a second one.

*takes a sip before finishing up the post*

I was hoping receiving that Beach Boys Sounds Of Summer card that the next day coincidentally would be summer. That wasn't the case however and won't be the case all week with cold weather still around. 

I guess that some coincidences are simply just coincidences.

The Unicorn

 

*stops by Dunkin' on the way back from an appointment. Takes a sip of sweet mocha goodness. Oh, and I may have found that blaster in the picture to but you will have to continue to read the rest of this to find out. Takes another sip, begins to tell his tale*

Last week, my wife and I had to take a two-hour trip so she could see a specialist on her Thyroid problem. Originally, I was supposed to see a liver specialist at the same hospital/time for my non alcoholic fatty liver, but my appointment got rescheduled to an online one this week. I despise online appointments. Especially since I have never met this doctor before and I prefer in-person meetings to begin with.

Enough with that as I could rant about that for hours.

So with Covid, I wasn't allowed into her appointment and instead sat in the car over an hour in a parking garage listening to static on the radio and no internet reception. I felt like I was back in the 90's except I wasn't outside with my friends playing baseball....or at the very least had my writing notebook for a story.

It was boring, but the good news was at least my wife had good news. She will have to go back in six more months, but for now, all is good.

*takes a sip, mocha goodness continues to make my tongue dance*

Now you're probably wondering where the blaster box came into play.

On our way back, there were many options for shopping and eating establishments since we weren't close to home where there is nothing. But, with so much road construction, which you don't see often in the winter, we decided just to head back to one of the local three Walmarts that are all equally an hour from my house or in this case half way home.

The last thing I expected was to find cards since I have been told this was the Walmart where the vendor is literally stalked by the vultures. So I was basically going in to see if I could find some Sour Gummy Worms. Love those things.

My wife had to use ladies room and told me to check out the card section since it was across from it. As we approached both areas, I could spy something from the distance. Something magical. Something...

Like this white unicorn.

It stood out to me among a bunch of empty display boxes.

A BOX OF 2020 OPTIC FOOTBALL. 

Just like that unicorn, boxes/packs of that stuff is impossible to ever find like Prizm. It's a four leaf clover basically.

I ran over to the shelf like it was the last Turbo Man almost shoving my wife to the ground and spun around, like Barry Sanders, an older woman who was using the self checkout in that section. I had it. It was in my hands.  I held the box up like Simba in the Lion King and proceeded to my cart like a champion. I bet Eye Of The Tiger was playing as well.

Now to protect my findings from everyone else until I exited the building.

I never once left my cart unattended, I made sure to bury it underneath all of the other items in the cart and did self checkout to make sure it got into the bag. Pretty sad I had to take all of these precautions, but the hobby is what it is now.

 

I knew I wasn't completely out of the woods until I put the bags into the trunk with the box. Phew.

*takes another sip, proceeded by another*

With the box in hand, there is only one thing left to do and don't you dare say flip it. Nope, that's not for me. It's time to rip it!

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

Every blaster box of 2020 Optic football comes with 24 cards. Which is 6 packs of 4 cards each. There is also one 3 card Blaster Exclusive Purple Shock rookies or Rated Rookies pack as well. The box doesn't list it from what I see but apparently there is also one relic card per box and 6 total rookies/Rated Rookies. Blasters sell for $20 but on eBay go for $100.

There are 200 cards in the base set to collect and the design is a chromed-up Donruss. I found this Daniel Jones and was pleased.

My other base,

Some stars in there.

Up next, the rookies. I didn't expect as many as I landed but I was pleased.

My two Rated rookies. Shenault had a decent season with the Jags despite all of their QB issues and Evans I seem to keep finding when I am able to open 2020 products.

Now onto the parallels. There are tons of parallels as you would expect to find but the most sought after ones are the holo silvers like Prizm.

Here is an overall look at the parallels,
PARALLEL CARDS: Holo, Red Stars, White Sparkle, Aqua /299, Orange /199, Wave /199, Blue /179, Silver Circles /125, Red /99, Orange Scope /79, Pink Velocity /79, Purple /50, Lime Green /35, Black Pandora /25, Purple Stars /25, Gold /10, Green /5, Black 1/1, and Gold Vinyl 1/1.

PREMIUM SET PARALLELS: Wave /199 and Black 1/1.

ROOKIE/RATED ROOKIE ONLY PARALLELS: Bronze, Blue Hyper, Blue Scope, Green Velocity, Orange Scope, Pink, Purple Shock, Red Hyper, Red Mojo, Teal Velocity

First holo silver, T.J. Watt

Bleh. Non QB/RB/WR silvers are pretty much bleh unless they are from the Giants of course.

Then a big whopper!!! BOOOOOM! Jordan Love Rated Rookie holo silver. Pretty big card and it actually came out of my first pack! This is my third huge Love hit. I sure hope he turns into the next Mahomes.

Now onto the Purple Shock parallels.

Logan Wilson. Meh.

Jonathan Taylor..not too shabby at all.

 

Then....WOW! Tua!! I was in Purple Shock!

And somewhere in the pack ripping I pulled this relic. Didn't really catch my eye like my two really good hits. In a product like this it's more about the rookie parallels then the actual hits.

That was quite an impressive rip. By far the best box, including hobby, I have opened in a year.

*takes the final sip before finishing up today's post*

That was a pretty good day overall. My wife's good news, finding the box, enjoying that coffee. Couldn't have asked for a better day.

Now I just need to get done with my appointment this week and hope for the same kind of good news. I also need to find the main card in Optic football I need, the Rodney Hampton autograph. I know that's not a flipper kind of chase, but it's my kind of chase.

*goes to look to make a cup of coffee now that the Dunkin' is gone, coffee card blogger out*