The Question Is Why?

The question is why?

Why would someone overpay for this card? 

 

Why would someone pay $26 for this card?

When they could have just scrolled down and bought one for under $4 like I did.

 

I mean the only difference was the way the card was listed and the fact it was put into a magnetic case. Mine came in a toploader. I don't feel like paying the extra $22 for a nicely set up picture and a $4 magnetic case is worth it. I don't know about you.

I am happy to have added this Griffey to my PC and especially for the price if I am comparing here. Maybe I got a deal but looking at the average rate for this card I got it for what it should have been for.

What do you guys think about when a card like this sells for more? Is this done by mistake? Is it the misleading title catching unsuspecting buyers off guard if they are new to collecting? Or was it literally because of the picture and magnetic case? And have you ever paid more for a card by mistake?

Leave your thoughts in comments.

I hope everyone has a great Thursday!

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

The One Steal At The Show

For the second time in 30 years, I went to a card show last weekend.

I was happy to see another one after the success of last year's show.

However, this year's show had a much different feel to it.

*takes a sip of steamy, hot coffee with a dot of hazelnut creamer*

It started out just like usual, a quiet hour-long drive to an Elks Lodge a few towns away from me.

I arrived about 45 minutes into the show, but you would have thought I was a few hours late. The parking lot was pretty packed already which was already completely different than the previous year's show.

Which immediately had me concerned about how it was going to go.

After finding a parking spot, I went inside and once again paid the $10 to get in which immediately cut into my limited budget for the show.

But I stuck on the wristband and tried to be on my merry way and look for tables worth checking out. This time instead of fifteen or so tables, there may have been closer to double that. Double the tables and double the crowd to start.

 

I never would have expected to find the things I wanted the most at the first table, but that's just the way the cookie crumbled at this show. I hit up the first table I went to and found the $1 bin and dug,dug and dug through. I found some goodies, spent $10 on 11 cards and moved onto the next tables. 

Sadly, I am sure most of you who attend shows where you are probably would have found this stuff in the dime boxes or a little more. But those kinds of boxes didn't exist here at this show.

The problem I had after the first table's stuff, it all went downhill.

Flippers, Pokemon and TCG and "recent sellers" made up the rest of the show. There was so much stuff overpriced. For example, a 2025 Prizm Jaxson Dart rookie you could get on eBay for under $6, were priced for $25-$25 at the show. And that was just some of the overpricing. It was quite depressing and really made me think of where the hobby is heading even more so.

Not to mention, about 95% of the show was all modern cards and anytime I asked a seller if they had any cards from 1995-1999 they just stared at me and shook their head no. This time the show was about modern overpriced, overproduced junk.

What happened to the hobby being a hobby? I remember in the 90's when we had card shows all of the time here that cards were actually affordable and made sense.

It had gotten so bad after the first table, I wasn't sure if I was going to find anything else to bring home.

And I almost didn't.

Until I decided to check out two other boxes from that first table and landed a few 90's hockey insert/parallel cards end my show visit. I spent $10 to get in and $20 in cards overall. I went there with $40 and there was no way I was going to force myself to spend the last $10 just to say I spent it. There wasn't anything priced well enough for me to do so.

Instead that last $10 went into a little over two gallons of gas along with $30 more to fill my tank again.

That's really sad.

So, let's not turn this into a depressing post and show off my scores all from that one table. After spending an hour to dig not only did I find some great 90's goodness, but I also found a cheap surprise that was a steal at the show.

Here are my pickups,

 

(I do have this one, but I couldn't leave it there)

(possible set need)

(I actually overpaid for this one since he wanted $10 but gave me a $5 offer that I accepted, but was worth it. Epic Looney Tunes episode that hit core memory)

(my first hard hats for hockey)

(I never leave Summitt parallels behind)

 

Now drumroll on the big steal of the show......

2022 Mosaic GENESIS parallel rookie of Seiya Suzuki! I don't think the seller knew it was a case hit genesis parallel. This card alone paid for the ticket and the other cards I bought. Right now I am holding onto it until the right trade comes along for it. I paid $1 for it.

Despite the overpricing by everyone, I will say there were a few bright spots. For one, there were actually kids there. Two, some sellers were very friendly and cut some deals. The guy I went to cut prices on a few of the cards above and even gave me a couple free. Three, most sellers that I watched interact with kids were nice. I felt bad for one kid who kept getting shot down sometimes rudely, while trying to trade off an autograph rookie card of Dillion Gabriel. Other than that, it seemed most sellers were treating kids the way they should be treated.

Another cool thing that I wished I had pictures of, was a hockey card sellers table. It was epic. Gretzky rookies, Gretzky autograph, Lemieux autographs, Sidney Crosby autographs, Bobby Orr autograph, Gordie Howe autograph and other legends autographs. It was mind-blowing and probably the best table in the whole show.

Well, that does it for my second show in thirty years. It wasn't as good as last years but was still fun to walk around at. I hope they have it again next year. I know they mentioned something about having another in the fall, but not sure I will attend that one. I guess it depends on how busy I will be recovering still from shoulder surgery, attending school and getting ready to coach basketball again.

Let me know your thoughts on my pickups and how I did. Let me know your favorite one as well. Also, how was the last show you went to in comparison to mine? Lots of conversation can be had in comments.

For now, *takes a sip*, I need to finish up my last project so I can enjoy two weeks off from classes.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

One Down, Nine To Go!

We are only two months into 2026 and I just posted my Top 10 I want to acquire in 2026 list a few weeks ago and one of those ten have been acquired!

A couple weeks ago, I received a message from long time friend Stephen on Instagram, @keyon_korner, that he was about to acquire one of the cards from my Top 10 list and send it to me just because.  

What a great friend he has always been. 

Within a few days he did just that and threw in a very low numbered bonus card as well that I will show off below.

The main card he sent is the 7th card on my list, though none of these are in any particular order of which one is most important.

90's collectors, try to not be jealous of this one...

 

I now officially own the 1995 Summit Ground Zero parallel Curtis Martin card. One of the toughest ones I needed for my set chase!! I am not too far away from finishing this one now!

Only, 35,53,60,64,71,79,103,109,125,136,137,138,159,160,169,174,177,178,179,180,182,188,189,193,195,196,197,198,200 remain and I will finally complete this bad boy after 31 years.

I guess I should have added completing this set as one of the Top 10 cards I want to add in 2026. Maybe I should do a set version of this list.

Speaking of the Top 10 list, here are the other nine cards I am looking to add in 2026 if any of you have them,

1. 2024 Prizm (not draft) Caitlin Clark base rookie. 
2. 1994-95 Collect-A-Card Mighty Morphin Power Rangers The New Season - Acetate Character PlastiCards #CS-6 - The White Ranger. 
3. 1994-95 Collect-A-Card Mighty Morphin Power Rangers The New Season - Acetate Character PlastiCards Lord Zedd 
4. 1998 Fleer Ultra Gold Medallion Peyton Manning 
5. 1997-1998 Metal Universe Base Michael Jordan 
6. 1996-1997 Metal Universe Base Michael Jordan
7. 1995 Summit Ground Zero Curtis Martin 
8. Pop Century Ed O'Neil Autograph. 
9. 1997 Topps Chrome Refractor Jake Plummer Rookie 
10. 1992 Bowman Mariano Rivera

Now onto that really cool bonus card I mentioned above that Stephen sent along as well,

Check out this 2014 Select Blue autograph parallel /5 of Andre Williams, who is one of my bigger Giant player collections and this a new one for it. Really sweet card, more so in person.

Thanks goes out to Stephen for this great mail day and for helping me knock down a big set need.

I will hopefully be able to finish this set now that Stephen gave me the big boost. This was one of my favorite parallels of the 90's.

Hope everyone has a great Wednesday night. I know I am after looking at these two cards again.

In comments, let me know what big card are you still missing in your set chase?

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

The Ghost Of Christmas Box Part 2

 *sits down with a big stack of cards nearby, takes sip, gets ready for a new post on Cards Over Coffee*

I felt like the good version of Scrooge this Christmas season as my mail box was visited by three blogger mail days. 

I had the ghost of Christmas Box, the ghost of Christmas Card and the Ghost of Christmas Package.

For today's post, you will be visited by the last ghost, the Ghost Of Christmas Box which was sent by Wes who is famously known for the packages he sends.

And this one was such a whopper, I broke it up into four posts and didn't even come close to covering it all. I had to narrow it down to the like the Top 45ish and leave the rest for your imagination.

Let's keep the momentum flowing!

*takes a sip*

 

When a sweet Eli Manning is the first card in the next post, you know that whatever all of this is leading up to will be huge.

   

And I don't know what people have against Leaf and Wild Card, this card has more Pow! to it than anything Panini and Topps puts out.

Charles Way Bronze parallel from 1999 Upper Deck. Not the easiest card to find.

Same way with this Fleer Tradition Heritage Parallel. Not easy finds. I haven't added much to my Way collection in a few years.

 

Film Cel relics still excite me, I don't know why. I rather have real ones that include real Cels from the movie, but these are cool despite being manufactured ones.

 

This card caught my eye right off. Not only is it attractive, but the creativity of using the fists attacking each other on opposite sides of the card really brings this card to life.

 

J-Lo rookie? I am not sure on that. I just know I wanted it just in case. I also want the Lady Gaga version of this card as well.

 

Someone must have read my Top Want Lists because this one.....

 

And these two have been on there forever. The Crown Royale Deion was a HOT card back in 1995 as it featured Sanders with the Cowboys for the first time and that just stirred up some memories.

The 1998 Playoff Contenders Rookie Leathers were the two hardest ones I needed for my set chase. Now I can probably continue to pursue that set chase that those two were knocked down.

Well, there is Part 2 for ya. Still two more parts remain which means two more cups of coffee, or more, to finish them.

Hope everyone has a great Saturday! My second game is today, fingers crossed on another great result! This team today will be tough.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Unfinished Cup:1995 Zenith Z-Team Football

By now you may be thinking....how many sets is this guy chasing all at once??

And by now I may replying....too many!

It would be nice just to finish up one set, but, another one pops up and I have to chase it.

There is just so much nostalgia for me and so much of it I want to chase as sets.

Not all of my set chases are even under the Set Chase tab on here. There are so, so, so many I would need hours and hours of time to list them all. There are base sets, there are insert sets and there are even relic sets. I know I am never going to ever complete them all, so I am just trying to narrow down the most important ones first and try to complete those.

One of those is 1995 Zenith Z-Team football. If you remember, a couple years ago I completed the 1996 version which was my favorite Z-Team design but today's chase is pretty good too.

There are 18-cards in the set and each card fell at a rate of 1:24 packs.

Dufex was the name of the game with these with a simple but on point design.

So far I have 7 of the 18 in this slow chasing set. Two of those are the bigger ones.

But, that's why I am turning to you! Do you have some I need? You can check HERE and then comment below or even better, drop me an email to sportcardcollectors@hotmail.com and let me know!

Thanks for coming to read today's short post. I will now get back to accomplishing some more school work.

Have a great day!

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Unfinished Cup:1995 Pro Line Classic Autographs

With paperwork all submitted, school textbooks ordered, and life calming down for a few days, I thought I would get some posts up before September 2nd when everything begins to ramp up and I won't have time to post on here.

Today, I am doing a quick-simple post asking again for any assistance on a set chase.

And this is a major one.

 

I decided to start chasing the 1995 Pro Line autographs set because the checklist is full of fun and interesting players from the 90's.

The set consists of 170 cards, but with a few variations on some of the players, I really only want to chase one of each player. I believe there is 120-130 overall or so.

At the point of this post, I have 38 of them. Which seems like a lot, but I still have miles to go.

Do I expect to finish this set? Nope. The big names will hurt me. Do I expect to put my best effort into doing this? Yes, absolutely.

You can find the needs here (needs in white)

1995 Pro Line Autographs - Google Sheets

If you or anyone you know has some collecting dust and don't want them, let me know and drop me an email to sportcardcollectors@hotmail.com

Thanks for reading today and hope to see you back again soon...with a cup of coffee in hand.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Unfinished Cup:1995 Stadium Club Ground Attack

Okay, I am going to admit, when I think about 30 years ago, I am putting myself in the 1970's.

The harsh reality is that 30 years ago was the 1990's.

So, when I think back to my favorite years of the hobby 1995-1999, it's hard to comprehend how long ago that was now.

Which makes it even harder when a set like the one that pops up for today's post and feels like it just came out yesterday.

BUT IT'S BEEN 30 YEARS.

I am feeling old or as some of my family and friends joke, I am old.

The other sad part is that I have many sets just like the one today that I haven't finished up yet even after the thirty years. I feel like it's finally time to do that.

And it starts with this one.

Especially since that set only has one card to go.

  

1995 Stadium Club Ground Attack was a foil-based set found in packs at the odds of 1:18. I am officially only missing card #8 which is the dual threat of Byron Morris/Eric Pegram.

I am not sure why I haven't added this card yet. Maybe was hoping a reader had an extra copy to help me finish this or maybe because of my old age I forgot that I am only one away. Either way, this needs to be completed.

Let me know your thoughts on this set in comments.

Hope everyone has a great evening.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Unfinished Cup:1995 Summit Ground Zero Football

It has become apparent that I am not very good at remembering things, after updating my Set Needs tab on here, I began looking for new Unfinished Cups to feature and for some reason I found I doubled up on a few of the ones I already did. 

Ooops! That won't happen again.

First, it's walking into a room and forgetting why I was in there and now it's publishing the same blog posts twice. 

My forgetful 40's are kicking in.

Now you probably ask, why bother posting them when you already have them in your Set Needs Tab. Well, that's because I find that featuring them in a post may help get them the reach I need and hopefully someone will be able to help fill those needs.

Because I know not everyone clicks on the tabs to check them out and my set needs may never get out there to be seen otherwise.

I will say by posting them, I have had some help over the years, so I know these posts are useful.

So, let's get on with today's before I forget what it was.

This parallel is 1995 Summit Ground Zero which was found 1:7 packs of 1995 Summit football. The base card design for Summit was one of my favorites of the 90's and still ranks easily in my Top 10 for base designs.

So, we top that off with a cool looking parallel, one of my very first parallels to pull, and you have a chase.

I have come so close over the years, and I think and feel like it's time to finish up this bad boy. It's not every day you finish up a 200-card parallel set.

Here is what remains,

35,53,60,64,71,79,103,109,125,136,137,138,159,160,166,169,174,177,178,179,180,182,188,189,193,195,196 197,198,200

If you have any, please comment below or hit me up in my email at sportcardcollectors@hotmail.com.

Thanks for reading, thanks in advance on any help and hope you brought your coffee.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

The Three Blog Mailings

With so much to catch up on, I have been using nighttime to get some blogging done and trying to keep pace with what I have to get posted. The only problem with this is that I am using the little bit of free time I have to do this. Which means blogging is taking place of sorting cards or playing a game of Madden.

As I get caught up, I will have to find a better balance so I can enjoy all three downtime things.

But here I am until then.

When I took a couple months off in the fall, which by the way was a nice refresher, I struggled with getting mail days which led to no content to post about and led to thoughts of retirement from blogging. 

Things started to change in December as my mailbox found quite a few mainly from bloggers, former bloggers and possible future bloggers. 

Like Crocodile Sports Cards who I won a football prize pack from his contest. 

The box was loaded with vintage (like actual vintage in the 70's, 90's is not vintage), 90's, and even cards from today. A mix of teams, players, rookies and a few stars.

Some examples to follow,

(absolutely adore this card)

Thanks Croc!

Then there was a very generous mail day from The Diamond King that arrived pretty fast despite how slow the mail was around the holidays,

A Trout for my player PC

Shiny!

Then came the eye candy of an Shohei Ohtani rookie! Pretty stoked to add this one.

Thanks DK!

And finally, Johnny's Trading Spot saw my comment on one of his recent posts

 

About this Keenan McCardell and how I didn't have it for my set chase. Guess what, the always generous guy sent it my way. Now I can cross this one off! With this addition, I now have 36 of the 120 or so autographs. I am not sure I will ever be able to tackle the big boys but would be fun to try and get close. Here is my list of needs if you are curious or have some help for me:1995 Pro Line Autographs

Thanks as always Johnny!

This is just the beginning of the fun mail days I have to share.

Hope everyone has a fantastic Friday! I have basketball practice tonight to prep for our first game tomorrow so I know I will have a great one...and busy one.

*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.