3/6/2023

March 6th 2023.

What were you doing? Do you remember?

I don't. I am lucky if I remember what I did two days ago at this point in my life. Yes, I even forget about the good cups of coffee.

All I can recall though is that I was counting down to turning 40 in 13 days from that date.

Otherwise, blank.

But, apparently with a recent, yes RECENT mail day I was reminded I was waiting on a mail day as well.

That mail day was coming from @tacocarebear and she had mailed me a Jasson Dominguez card for free for my PC. The card had never arrived and the tracking had never been updated. I kept in contact messaging @tacocarebear back and forth about it for a few months and by late summer last year, I had completely given up and forgotten about the card.

And then out of nowhere last week, it arrived.

A year and a half later.

 

The tracking for the card showed no history other than it arriving in CT on July 23rd 2024 and if I wanted to do an expand search on it for tracking, USPS wanted to charge me. Though I was curious, I wasn't going to give the USPS any further funds for their mess ups.

I was just happy the card actually showed up.

 

Funny enough, the card is a 2021 Mosaic International Men Of Mastery. I guess he was a master of going into hiding....maybe Internationally. Who knows.

I know USPS has been bad recently but didn't expect this bad. I don't think I have ever seen this level bad before.

Thanks to @tacocarebear for the card.

I may not have remembered much about 3/6/3023, but now it may be a date I never forget.

Counting It Down

Coffee is hot, cards are even hotter. 

I have a mail day from blog reader Oren to show off from our latest trade, so, let's do some Cards Over Coffee so I can show it off.

*takes a sip*

We all like countdowns. 

Whether that's a countdown to launch for a spaceship, a countdown til you retire (I bet most people now-a-days don't count this down because nobody can afford to retire), a Top 20 music countdown, maybe a countdown to some big life event such as a wedding or family vacation, or maybe everyone's favorite, a sport card mail day countdown.

Today, I am doing a countdown of my favorite cards in my trade with Oren.

12.

11.

Wild Card created Chrome before Chrome was Chrome. Imagine if these had refractor parallels?!!?

10:

 

Brian Griese Finest Rookie. Griese was one of those sought after rookies in the 1998 class along with Ryan Leaf and of course Peyton Manning.

9.

Topps Chrome inserts whether they are refractors or not, just look good.

8.

7.

 

7 and 8 are set needs. This set had different levels to chase. There was the green base level, the next level was blue and the top was red. I think the reds were a little tougher to chase. Each pack also only came with only one red or one blue.

6.

 

Flair Wave Of The Future design got better by the years. This is probably the weakest design, but I love the blue on it.

5.

Dufex. That's all.

4.

I rank Plax up there as one of my all-time favorite Giants despite not having a long tenure with them. He is teh one that helped create Eli's career and in his early years with the Giants was pretty much unstoppable. Go ahead and YouTube him.

3.

I think a lot of Giants fans forgot what Daniel Jones was like his first year with the Giants. He led a huge comeback in his very first start and made some incredible throws his rookie year. Yes, the mistakes especially the fumbles were there but look at what Coach Daboll did his first year with him. I am still hoping he has a future with the Giants, though I have a feeling his time will end soon.

2.

 

1.

 

Are these really 2 and 1. More like 1A and 1B. I gave the slight edge to Dorsey because he was a Giant and I think the design is slightly better. But, Topps Chrome refractors in the 90's will always trump all. These cards are just stunning and make me want to set chase them both.

Well there you have it. My countdown.

Let me know if you would have made an changes to this.

In the meantime, thanks again to Oren for yet another awesome trade and you guys enjoy your coffee and cards.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Blog Bat-Around: 5 Best Pack Pulled Hits (Cards Over Coffee Version)

There are some Blog Bat-Arounds I like so much, I do them twice. The difference this time is I am doing it with coffee.

*takes a sip*

Matt over at Diamond Jesters has sent forth a new Blog Bat-Around challenge where he posted his Top 5 best pack pulls and wanted others to do the same. I did do this already over on Sport Card Collectors, yes, I revived the blog for a day I can do that, but I wanted to do one on here as well. I have opened up packs on both blogs so figured why not do one of these for each.

Now the one I posted on Sport Card Collectors will strongly be the better one especially with the top card, but this one I feel isn't too shabby. You can read the Sport Card Collectors one HERE.

Now onto the Cards Over Coffee version.

*takes a sip, moves on with today's post*

5

1996 Summit Turf Team Emmitt Smith. They don't make inserts like they used to! This one is numbered to 4000. They were randomly inserted into packs.

4

A Case Hit with this Genesis card which also happens to be in the Coffee Card Hall Of Fame. It had to make this list didn't it?

3

It's Jeter, it's an X-Factor. The odds of landing an actual good player that fits my PC is not easy. I would call this a solid pull.

2

Tua has shown flashes of big-time stardom and then he has moments where he has you shaking your head. But, he is still on his way up and playing for a good team and coach. Pulling a good silver Prizm is something I never do, even though this is a Prizm Black meaning the value isn't as great as it would have been as an actual Prizm silver, but it's my best card of his and it's a keeper.

1

 

It's numbered to 5, Hall Of Famer autograph. Looking at the others I have on this list, it's an obvious number 1 to me.

Well, there you go. My best 5 pack pulls on this blog.

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

I hope all of you join in on this fun Blog Bat Around. I want to see your best pulls.

Thanks to Matt for the creative idea and for helping me come up with a post for today.

Hope all of you have a great day!....and with lots of coffee!

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

The Trade Game

You can buy cards, you can sell cards, but nothing is better than trading cards. There are many ways to trade them, and I have done most of the ways to do so in what I like to call, The Trade Game.

In The Trade Game, it's funny how trades work out sometimes. Sometimes you win some, sometimes you don't. I remember a trade back in 2017 I made for a Patrick Mahomes Optic rookie card where I gave up six base autographs for it which at that time was an even deal. 

After a second Super Bowl win last night, I think Patrick Mahomes may be worth just a tad more now.

Other trades, I lost. For example, I traded away a rare Upper Deck Jeff Gordon fire suit relic for a Sp rookie card of an upcoming running back in Denver named Terrell Davis. At the time, it was a great trade. Then the injuries kicked in and it was a huge loss.

Then there are trades where you trade for a card intending to keep it, but then decide later on to trade it away. This is exactly what happened this past weekend with a recently acquired card.

A few weeks ago, before the NFC Championship game, I had been looking to add a Brock Purdy rookie card to my collection thinking he was going to continue his amazing run with the 49ers. I also needed one for my rookie card collection as I try to collect one rookie of everyone, and he has a limited amount of them out there. So, I gave up some decent RJ Barrett cards as I move away from collecting him and acquired the 2022 Chronicles Prestige rookie of Purdy.

Then came the NFC Championship game. Purdy got hurt early in the game and the 49ers lost to the Eagles badly. The end of his run was over and so was the end of his card values and possibly his future as starter on that team.

That usually doesn't affect whether I keep a card or not, but when I found out my father found two impossible-to-find blasters of 2022 Mosaic football and he wanted a Purdy rookie, I have to admit, it got me.

So, I drove an hour away to Walmart and traded him the Purdy rookie along with a couple other cards for the blaster box of Mosaic. This isn't the first time I have traded cards for wax with him as my desperation to rip open stuff sometimes overwhelms me when I hadn't opened anything in a while. The thrill of the pull!

My hope was that this box would replace the Purdy I traded away so I would have a rookie of his for my collection still, but, it didn't. It did however provide something much bigger which was great since I usually take a big loss on our past trades like this.

I am going to take a sip and then show you how this box break went.

Each blaster box of 2022 Mosaic football comes with 6 packs of 6 cards. Boxes run $35 each and no guarantees at all.

Here was my best base rookie card of the box. It was also a subset version of it with NFL Debut.

National Pride parallel is a new addition to this year's product. I would have gone right by it if I hadn't seen someone else post this parallel on one of the Facebook groups I am apart of. At least this is a card of the assumed 49ers starter.

Not bad silver pull. Treylon Burks had a few moments this season, but he had big shoes to fill in when they traded away AJ Brown.

Tyquan Throton Mosaic Parallel.

Here's a guy that knows a thing or two about winning Super Bowls.

Green on Green. The offensive Rookie Of The Year Garrett Wilson.

HoloFame Mosiac parallel insert of Jerome "The Bus" Bettis. He was a fun watch when he got running at full speed.

Touchdown Masters of last year Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp.

Holofame base insert of Warren Moon who felt like he played for every team in the league for 40 years.

And in the final pack....

 

Aaron Rodgers case hit Genesis parallel. Which I must mention I had my wife open up three packs and this was in her pack. She didn't know what this was and assumed it was a plain ole parallel, but I knew better. 

I would say my gamble for this trade paid off even though I am now in need of a Brock Purdy rookie card. I am sure someone out there must have one for PWE trade. Which leads me back to the trade game again. 

There is no right or wrong in trading, only fun.

Thanks again to my father on this trade if he is reading this. I am not sure if he even remembers that I have a blog haha!

Thoughts on my break welcomed in comments after you take a sip of coffee (or tea or water or even alcohol though coffee is obviously preference here)

Coffee Card Blogger Out.

Coffee Break:2021 Mosaic Football Hanger Pack (GENESIS ACHIEVED!)

*takes a sip of coffee and is amazed to have posted now four days in a row. I never miss a day of coffee, but I don't always post consecutive on here. you guys should feel lucky. so let's get on with today's post*

It's been a rainy week, so I was glad to have some cards to focus on and blog about. I am just hoping that these rainy showers actually bring May flowers.

Today is the final part in my Mosaic break series and we end it with football. 2021 Mosaic football is near impossible to find unless you happen to time it right with the vendor's arrival. This product is so hot, that after my father grabbed me this pack because he happened to be there right after the vendor left, that rest of the shelf of blasters and hanger packs had sold out within in an hour of when my father left and came back to grab another pack. The woman who stands by the self-checkout by the card section told my father that a guy had come in and bought $1400 in cards within the last hour. That's crazy. I don't even spend a fourth of that a year in cards.

*takes a sip wondering if I should just keep this sealed and stare at it instead of opening it knowing how hot the product is*

*nope, it's going to be opened*

*another sip leading up to the pack opening*

Every hanger pack of 2021 Mosaic football comes with 12 cards in one pack and a bonus three card pink camo parallel pack. Each pack runs $30.

When you open it up, you get these two packs.

As always, I save the parallel pack for last.

I opened the main pack and there was something blueish hiding towards the end. Oh my....I may have hit a case hit Genesis finally! So just like the 90's, I peeked around all of the other cards first and set the Genesis one off to the side to reveal after I open the parallel pack.

*excited sip commence!!*

Here are the other key cards,

My rookies in the pack.

Silver Kyle Pitts NFL Debut. I keep pulling this guy.

Holofame insert of side PC guy Davis.

Pink Camo Parallel pack time!

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

Melvin Gordon III

Tom...oh wait. Kyle Trask who was going to be starter for about a month. I am sure he is Tom Brady's biggest fan.

Najee Harris NFL Debut. This is a solid pull.

Now that those are revealed, it's time to peel away this Myles Gaskins...

SLOW...SLOW...SLOW......AND....DRUMROLL NOISE LIKE ON CHRISTMAS VACATION....

 

BOOM! Tyler Lockett!

Well, my Genesis wasn't anyone too big, but these look super cool and Lockett is a top notch wideout.

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

That wasn't a bad break at all, by far superior over the basketball ones. The Pitts, Harris and Lockett were outstanding. Then you add a TD insert and it's a winner for me. Needed that sunshine on this rainy day.

I hope everyone has a great Thursday and your thoughts on my latest pack break is welcomed in comments.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

PS: PLEASE remember if you find any of these cards Coffee Card Hall worthy, nominate them!

Coffee Break:2020-2021 Mosaic Basketball Blaster Box

*takes a seat with a basketball box in hand remembering just a year ago when no basketball could be found on shelves. takes a sip and gets ready for a new post on cards over coffee*

Yesterday, I mentioned how this was going to be a three-part break of Mosaic and that the next one I was going to do was a blaster box, well, here I am with that today.

Finding Mosaic football is almost impossible, but, finding the basketball version is pretty easy. Every time I go to Walmart there is at least some form of it there on the shelf. It's strange how the hobby continues to evolve. Last year you couldn't find a single pack of basketball and now that's all I can find. I am not sure if the last two rookie classes are garbage or if the popularity has slowed some or maybe the prices are driving people away, but something has changed it.

That doesn't bother me too much, I get to open basketball cards again. 

Speaking of which...

Every blaster box of 2020-2021 Mosaic basketball comes with 8 packs of 4 cards each. Each blaster comes with 4 Mosaic Prizms and other shiny finds. Each blaster runs $35 each.

Once again, I was hoping to find that hidden Genesis gem.

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

Here are the key cards in this break,

The rookies I pulled.

Bang! Damon Lillard. I love the photography of this insert, I bet the Mosaic parallels look amazing.

Holofame Tracy McGrady

Silver parallel of Sabonis

Silver Mosaic parallel of Sabonis

Silver Mosaic of Elevate insert

 

And three green parallels, Haliburton, Love and O'Neale.

Well, that wasn't the best break. So far, my luck with Mosaic basketball hasn't been good. Once again, I really do like the parallels and the Bang insert.

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

Tomorrow will mark the third post in my Mosaic breaks with a football hanger pack. Let's hope this time I found a winner especially since the football version is so hard to find.

Thoughts on my break welcomed in comments.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out

PS: PLEASE remember if you find any of these cards Coffee Card Hall worthy, nominate them!