All About The Photography

*computer is open, looks out the window above it and can see where the hard frost had left behind its white freeze on everything. Fall has officially fallen hard here. Nothing better to fight the chill off then a nice warm cup of coffee*

I am a little behind the 8-ball when it comes to posting the latest hottest products when they come out, but I have had somewhat success in acquiring them via retail.. All of my retail finds this year have come from trades with my father who will pick up extra packs when he can find them. He of course grabs a couple for himself as well.

 

As we all know, the Flipper Vultures lurk around every corner waiting to swoop in on any retail they can find and flip for three times its value. Gotta love them. And yes Sheldon Cooper, that is sarcasm.

*takes a sip, always glad to toss in a Big Bang Theory reference when applicable*

Today I will be breaking a "once upon a time" red hot product in Stadium Club baseball.  When this product came out it was all about hunting for Luis Robert for most. When I saw this product come out, it was all about the photography for me. Why else buy Stadium Club if you're not chasing the photography?

 

My father managed to find a couple value Packs of Stadium Club and traded one of them to me, while keeping the other for himself.

I wasn't expecting much out of the 12 cards, but was hoping for at least a good time and some great scenes of baseball.

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

 

Each value pack of 2020 Stadium Club baseball comes with 12 cards. That's it. No guarantees within and each pack is $5.98. Unless you buy from a flipper which will cost you three times that.

*takes another sip before looking at the very small stack of cards from the opened pack*

Once again I will say it, let's be honest that we all buy Stadium Club for the base card photography and there is 300 cards of it to collect.

Mike Soroka immediately jumps out at me with the great photo angle. I know a lot complained about this years design, but I like it. The photography pops with the design.

 

I will say though that the name not having capitalization does bother me some and my OCD.

Next card is of Juan Soto who is having a heck of a year and showing that maybe he is the best young talent in baseball.

Next two cards are of Joey Votto (dig the throwback uni) and Yu Darvish

Jose Altuve, Giancarlo Stanton and Joey Gallo make up the next three cards in the pack

Then came the rookies. No there wasn't a Robert but I think I did well still.

Kyle Lewis is having a good time and so aren't collectors with his rookie cards as he came out of nowhere this season. Easily should be American League Rookie Of The Year.

Gavin Lux who I have been holding onto waiting for him to explode. This is a fun photo choice for his rookie in Stadium Club. Sometimes the non action photographs are more fun then the ones with it.

We are 11 cards down in the pack with one more to go which happens to be a 1:3 pull of a red foil parallel. These are not numbered.

I am not sure what Dale is thinking here, probably wondering why they used this photo for his 2020 Stadium Club card.

Other parallels you can find in Stadium Club are, Red Foil, Black Foil, Sepia Black & White, Blue Foil /50, Rainbow Foilboard /25, First Day Issue, Members Only, Photographer’s Proof, and Gold Rainbow Foil 1/1.

*takes another sip before recapping this pack rip. Also thinking about breakfast since I hadn't eaten since early afternoon as I got busy*

 

For about $6 pulling two good rookie cards, a red foil and some excellent base cards I can't go wrong with a rip like that. I wonder if I will find anymore in the wild as I wouldn't mind opening another one.

Coffee Break:2020 Donruss Optic Baseball Blaster Box

*has already finished his morning coffee as it is now mid-morning, how can this be Cards Over Coffee today when I am already running late on the coffee part. Should I make a cup just for this post? contemplating....*

I feel like I am on a rare tear on here with four posts in a row. Something I haven't ever done on this blog as these posts take a good amount of time to write. But, today, I have some extra time on my hands and I am trying to catch up on a couple of recent breaks I had thanks to a couple of trades with my father. So here we are.

Today's break is a 2020 Donruss Optic baseball blaster box. This a newer Panini product that released not too long ago. So I was a little surprised how quickly I was actually able to get my hands onto some the way things are going in the hobby currently.

 

*still thinking over the coffee idea, but will break into this box some first*

In every blaster box of 2020 Donruss Optic baseball there are 27 cards. Those 27 cards are split up to 6 packs of 4 cards plus a 3 card pack of Pink Parallels and blasters are $20. There are no guarantees in here other than the pink parallels.

The base set and basis of this product is basically chroming everything that the regular Donruss offered. That's the easiest way to put it.

 

The base set is made up of 200 cards. First are the Optic Diamond Kings in the base set

Next are the Rated Rookies. Two things to note, Luis Robert is in here for you prospect chasers (I think some form of Jasson Dominguez as well) and what is up with my run of Brendan McKay cards?! That's the fourth I have found recently in my breaks.

The Rated Rookies are followed by the base cards and ending with All Stars which I didn't get any of in this break to show off.

 

Another thing I didn't get a lot of to show off in this break are the parallels which are aplenty in this product.

 

So if you're looking to build a rainbow, good luck.

They include,

BASE:Holo, Pink Velocity /199, Red/White/Blue /150, Black Stars /125, Orange /100, Spirit of 76 /76, Blue /75, Red /60, Carolina Blue /50, Teal Velocity /35, Black /25, Gold /10, Green /5, Eagle 1/1, and Gold Vinyl 1/1.

FOTL PARALLELS: Pandora /99, Pandora Blue /99, Pandora Purple /99, Pandora Red /99, Cracked Ice Blue /7, Cracked Ice Green /7, and Cracked Ice Red /7.

CHOICE PARALLELS: Red Dragon /88, Green Dragon /84, Liberty /45, and Freedom /45.

RETAIL PARALLELS: Carolina Blue & White, Lime Green, Pink, and Red Wave.

 

If you're keeping track at home, that's 30 parallels including two 1/1's. Though it would look amazing to build one, it will be quite the challenge.

I was just happy to find this Aaron Judge holo silver in my first pack. It's pretty stunning.

Which was my only other parallel besides the three promised pinks which were,

Joe Palumbo. I have no idea who this is

Shane Bieber. Which song does he sing again?

And Jorge Polanco. Those aren't the strongest names in the hobby.

Now that we have taken a look at those, time to move onto inserts!

*before I do that I gotta finish making my coffee, yeah you knew this was coming. I expect you to do the same*

 

Inserts have their own form of parallels but nothing like the base cards...fortunately. Just three to find with Holo, Gold #/10, Gold Vinyl 1/1.

There are 25 of these Retro Donruss 1986 inserts to chase.

Illusions looks really cool, I would imagine the parallels to it helps it stand out more. There are 15 of these to find.

Mike Trout! Alright! These Mythical have 15 cards to chase as well. Solid design here too.

Stained Glass. This card is eye popping. This is actually the holo silver parallel to it. My PC guy Gleyber and all. Solid way to end this break. 

*takes a sip of very hot coffee, then moves onto finishing up this post*

Well my first break of Donruss Optic baseball in some time was okay. The Trout, Judge and especially the Gleyber will be going straight to the PC. I am pretty happy with those. The base and other parts were weak, but overall was a fun break regardless.

However, don't think I felt strongly enough about it to go back for more. I haven't ever been a huge fan of Optic like I am with Prizm. Which coincidentally enough will be our next Coffee Break. Til then, drink your coffee while it's warm and have a good day.

Ratings (ratings based on 1-5 🍵)

Design 🍵🍵
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Inserts 🍵🍵
Hits Not applicable
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