Pain And Pleasure With Series 1

There was a lot packed into this week.

Sunday, was the Big Game.

Tuesday, I had surgery. 

Wednesday, was Valentine's Day. 

Yesterday, I had a checkup with my PCP.

And mixed in with all of that Topps released 2024 Series 1 baseball.

It's been a mixed bag kind of week.

But at least I had coffee to carry the week and guess what...some cards too!

When you have cards and you have coffee, you know that means....some Cards Over Coffee.

*takes a sip*

Yesterday on my way to PCP appointment, I checked out on my online health portal on my phone-don't worry my wife was driving- and found out that my urologist wants me to wait until March 22nd to get the stent out. For one, the OR is booked and for two, the longer I can wait, the better chance for the stone and no other issues afterwards with needing to add another stent in.

Ugh.

That is a long time to wait and have pain for. It's been a rough three days, but I was at least able to get some sleep last night.

Hopefully that continues.

*takes a sip*

At my PCP appointment, everything else looked good and I was able to get my hernia referral sent over to the surgeons so I can meet with them. I assume that won't be fixed until an even later date. But I have to take care of things in order and the one I am dealing with right now is at the top of the list. I still need to get some PT done on my injured shoulder so I can have my arm back again.

After I was done with that appointment, I went and spoke to my urologist whose office is downstairs from my PCP about my pain and the surgery and trying to move up the date. Good news is I guess I can be put on a surgical cancellation list, bad news is I am doing all I can do for the pain.

*breathes, takes a sip*

*gets up and puts a new warm beanbag on the back*

*sits back down to do more on this post that already has taken an hour*

After my appointments, my wife wanted to go to Walmart since we were actually close to it for once. All Walmarts here are 45 minutes to an hour away from my house so when you get close to one, you go.

I wasn't expecting to get any cards, but figured I would go look anyways. There was plenty to choose from with Prizm basketball and football (two of my favorites but way too pricy), Stadium Club baseball, Mosaic for all sports and so on. 

And on the top shelf was where it was loaded with 2024 Topps Series 1 baseball. I stared at it...contemplating...my wife saw this from a distance and said it was okay to grab something. Knowing how tight finances are, even though I wanted a blaster for the Easter/Spring parallels, I went for a Hanger Box instead.

But, at least it was something and something I needed this week.

*takes a sip*

Hanger Boxes come with 59 cards. Such an odd number but a good amount. Each box has no guarantees other than some new cards from 2024.

My main want from 2024 Topps Series 1 this year is Jasson Dominguez cards, key rookie cards of hitters and the Easter/Spring parallels. Already knowing I won't get any of the parallels I want from a hanger, I was hoping for the other finds in the box.

Let's see if I did,

I pulled the clear pack out of the box and it started off well finding a Trout at the top. I haven't quite figured out if I like the new design yet or not. Maybe it will grow on me.

I didn't take all 59 pictures as that is a lot and I am not quite up to that yet, so I took pictures of key cards from the break.

(best base rookie I found, no Dominguez or Elly)

(is Ohtani tall or Mookie short?)

These were my key base cards. Looks like there are 350 base overall in the Series 1 set.

Now onto the inserts and parallels which were located in the middle of the pack. I skipped over them when scrolling through and did all of the base first, then backtracked.

Lars is a Royal Blue parallel found in retail.

I will say that the rainbow foil looks super sharp on this card design. Not too bad of a pull here.

Yellow Parallels. I think these are only in hanger boxes.

It wouldn't be a Topps product without throwing it back to an old design for one of their inserts. I despise these.

My favorite insert find was the Stars Of The MLB. Clean design with a shiny background and plenty of them in a hanger box to go around.

 

And the final key card of the box was a blueprint of McCutchen. These are meh.

Overall, didn't quite land anything I needed per say, but it was fun to rip into something new. Actually, it was fun just to be able to rip something for once.

It was definitely a week of pain and pleasure.

*takes a sip before finishing up today's post*

I probably won't grab anymore of these to open this year and I will be putting my focus on acquiring the cards I want from the product via pwe trade. If any of you have extra rookies or the Easter/Spring parallels call me interested!

Thanks for swinging by today and checking out today's post. I hope all of you have a great weekend.

And make sure you have your coffee ready for the next post!

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Finally Found One!

*sits down, cup of coffee, box of cards in hand, it's time for a new Cards Over Coffee*

\

I finally found one!

 

My reaction (same one I have with my first cup of morning coffee)

For some reason or another, 2022 Stadium Club Chrome became a hot product and took off like it was Prizm, Mosaic or Optic football. Shelves were cleaned, product was being flipped, you know the bad old days of Covid.

Fortunately, in my area, I was able to find a blaster just sitting there on the shelf and even though I technically didn't really have the funds to do so, I couldn't leave and grabbed it and tossed it in the cart with no glare from the Mrs...this time. Of course, explaining to her how hard it is to find this product helped as well.

*takes a sip, rips the plastic off the box, stacks the packs, takes a sip and gets ready to rip*

Each blaster box of 2022 Stadium Club Chrome comes with 4 packs of 7 cards. So there really isn't a lot of cards in a box so you are hoping to score on one of them. Blaster boxes are $24.98 which makes the packs $6+ each.

Let's hope this gamble was worth it. I am just hoping for some cool looking inserts, some base for my PC's and some rookies. Maybe get lucky and land a Julio.

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

Not a bad start on my base, which was one of the best base cards I pulled from the box. Not a single Judge, Jeter or Griffey Jr for my PCs.

Guess I will be on the hunt for those.

As for the card itself, I like this version of Chrome more than Topps Chrome. The photography is much better because of the Stadium Club branding.

The rookies I pulled from the box. Not any big names.

Overall there are 400 base cards in the set to collect with rookies, legends and present players.

Up next are my parallels,

Base refractor, never heard of this guy. But, a rookie refractor seems like a PC fit I suppose.

X-Factors, one fell per pack. 

Overall, there are X-Fractor, Base Refractor, Wave, Blue /199, Green /99, Gold /50, Orange /25, Red /5, and SuperFractor 1/1 parallels to be found.

Now onto my inserts...fingers crossed on landing Trophy Hunter card of Griffey, Judge and Jeter.....

Nope, Beam Team of Oneil Cruz and Pete Alonso. These fall 1:6 packs and has 25 cards to collect.

Team Of The Futuer of Fernando Tatis Jr. Whatever happened to this guy, goes from hobby sweetheart with Acuna Jr and now both guys are way out of sight. These fall 1:6 packs and have 20 cards in the set to collect.

*takes a sip to build up two other finds in the break*

Then came a couple big surprises....

In Pack 2, I found this Brandon Marsh autograph!

Then in Pack 3, another autograph!!! 2 retail autos!! I don't know who this is but this is a green parallel autograph /99.

 

Overall, I am feeling like this after the break....and after two cups of coffee.

*takes as sip before finishing up today's post*

I didn't quite get the PC cards I had hoped for, but pulling was pretty cool. One of the best retail breaks I have had in a while.

Thoughts on my break welcomed in comments. Most of the cards including the autographs will be available for trade as well.

I hope everyone has a great Wednesday!

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Coffee Break:2022 Topps Allen And Ginter Baseball

*mug is shaking as I am holding the mug. the excitement and smell of coffee is in the air.*

*takes a sip, is ready for the latest box break*

ALLEN AND GINTER!! If you have been reading my blogs for the past 10 years, you know I have a mad man crush on Allen and Ginter.

Yes, the product has the same feel every year, but for me, it's all about the non-sport subjects. That's my main focus.

*takes a sip before getting ready for today's new post*

Every hobby box of 2022 Allen And Ginter baseball are 24 packs of 8 cards. Each box comes with 3 hits and boxes are roughly $100-$110 each. I think that is a good deal comparing other three-hit boxes.

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

Each box also comes with a box topper

 

Oversized Allen Ginter card of the legend, Mike Trout.

BASE:

The base card set is built up of 298 cards, two cards don't exist in the first 300, and has players of now,

The past

The future

Then my favorites, non-sport characters. There aren't as many for me that I am dying to chase like the past two years, but there are still a few. Hopefully Topps will finally see my years of nagging about being included in the product myself as a sport card blogger. How much fun would that be? Or what happens if they put all of us bloggers into a mini insert series??? COME ON TOPPS!!

There are also another 52 base cards that are 1:2 Sp's that complete the full base card set of 350 cards.

MINIS:

There are 350 mini cards in this year's product, 50 of those being the extended or sp part of the set.

 

INSERTS:

Famous Rivals. From food to baseball they are all here. There are 10 cards in the set to collect. 

Mini Rookie Design. They fall 1:8 packs.

What's Cookin'? Digging these non-sport inserts this year. There are 10-cards to collect. It's about time that Ketchup got it's first rookie card!

Banner Season features players from their best seasons and has 50 cards to collect.

Pitching a Gem. Looks like a similar insert to one that was in Gypsy Queen, but I still really like the design and theme of this one. There are 25 cards to collect in this set.

Get That Bread!!...and make me some toast with my coffee! There are 10 cards to collect.

It's Your Special Day. May be one of my most favorite inserts this year. Now I can have a card to post on these special days! (looking for others I don't have)

20 cards to seek in Baseball Lexicon.

Inside The Park isn't just about baseball, there are 32 cards to collect featuring National Parks.

Mini Ducks Quacking their way into this product with 10 cards.

HITS:

Fingers were crossed on pulling my first ever rip card...but...as my luck goes...

Castillo relic

Luke Williams auto. My first Ginter auto pull in many years.

And by far the pull of the break, Judge pinstripe relic. This will match the autograph mini I have of him really well.

Ratings (ratings based on 1-5 🍵 on this break and not overall product)

Design 🍵🍵

Photography 🍵

Inserts 🍵🍵🍵🍵🍵

Hits 🍵🍵

Price 🍵🍵🍵

Value 🍵🍵

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I didn't pull anything huge, but the Judge relic in my very first pack was decent. The price point as I mentioned above is really great for three hits compared to other products and other products that are less fun.

I really dig this year's inserts and hope to build the sets off from them. Mainly the non-sport ones are what I am seeking.

Let me know your thoughts on this product in comments and what your favorite non-sport inserts or person you are chasing this year.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*