The Unicorn Of Bloggers

The Unicorn; Informal definition, "the term unicorn is used to describe someone or something that is very rare and almost impossible to find".

I consider myself that when it comes to being a sports card blogger.

About 99% of the blogosphere is built up of baseball card collectors, a sport I don't dabble much into anymore other than Ken Griffey Jr, 90's inserts and a couple of NY Yankees players. I guess that makes me the other 1%.

So, when it comes to exchanging cards with fellow bloggers in the mail, things can get a bit more complicated since I don't have "that baseball team" like the other bloggers.

Despite the challenge, my latest mail day from Night Owl Cards showed that these types of exchanges can still take place despite me being that unicorn.

Just check out what he sent,

I think I made a comment about this Mondesi in one of his posts. Great 90's insert back when creativity was top shelf. These were found 1:30-1:36 packs depending on hobby or retail.

This is a nice tribute to the 1998 insert, I will take it. Volpe has also shown some bright spots.

I have the Griffey, the Frank Thomas and now own the Piazza. Such a cool looking insert. I am thinking it's set chase time. These fell 1:12 packs in 1997 Fleer.

I got quite a few of these from my father and surprisingly did not have this Piazza version. Each player has nine cards in the set.

Own The Game is a tribute to a past Topps insert line, they look really nice in hand. Nicer than the pictures I posted or ones I have seen online. I also won't ever turn away Aaron Judge cards. Love his story and his game.

Mining For Gold fell 1:12 packs of 1996 Metal Universe. It's shiny, gold nugget goodness.

I like inserts outside the usual; this is one of them. Once again, inserts in the 90's will always rule over today's stuff. These fell 1:8 packs.

 

I have always been a big Fleer Metal fan, this 1:8 insert falls into my category of a keeper.

Thanks again for the mail day Greg!

I was really happy with everything you sent and sorry for my unicorness (if this is even a word) which made your search a little harder.

I have more many Dodgers to send your way soon, just for a heads up.

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.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Yankin' Em Out

 

My collecting continues to change on a daily basis.

Especially with what and how I collect.

I recently started going through my NY Yankees collection and started to change things up. 

Since I don't really collect Yankees anymore, I decided to strip apart my collection and treat it like other cards I have in my collection. I pulled aside star players or players I enjoyed growing up and kept those by player. 

This is the separation stacks

where I put the base now just like other teams

Others I stripped down to base, inserts and rookies and put those each into a separate section like I do with other teams.

So, basically, most of my Yankees are up for trade besides a few players like Jeter and Mantle. And even then, I am flexible on Mantle. But, not Jeter, those are to stay. The other Yankees that are no-go's are my 90's inserts. I don't EVER trade off 90's inserts. 

If you are interested in any Yankees players, let me know. I would mainly just trade away the inserts or rookies I have since base are base and it would be a pain to dig through.

Hope everyone has a great Saturday. I have family up for Tennessee so I won't have time for the hobby again for a week and not sure if I will have any more new posts unless I pre-do them. 

We will see. I mean if I have cards and I have coffee, you just never know.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

The Yankees Box

 

In my previous post I mentioned how my mother-in-law didn't completely miss with gifts on my birthday and in this box, I am about to show you why.

*takes a sip of smooth creamer filled coffee*

The box above she won at an auction. I don't know what she paid for it, but it was loaded with Yankee items. I assume this box was probably from someone who passed but can't say that for sure as I don't have the details either of the auction.

I didn't bother quizzing her about it, I was too distracted by the items I found.

There were two brand new table tennis Yankee paddles.

A very vintage American League Baseball guide for 1924. I wished the cover had been on this, but still a really unique collectible. Doesn't appear they don't have a lot of value even with the cover.

ESPN25 book and disc.

Very old Sports Illustrated. How cool is this??!

Some Yankee books.

 

Physics of Football book

Two 8x10 photos that someone took and printed off from home it appears. These were hung up on their wall at one point looking at tack holes and coloring of the corners. Two Yankee legends though! Not sure if this was before a game in warmups or spring training.

A couple of ripped out pages from a calendar. I assumed they used the pictures on the other side and hung them up. What I found interesting was the month and year included. My wife and I got married on October 19th 2002. What a coincidence that was.

And finally, the coolest of the cool find. This is a newspaper clipping from a local newspaper from 1969. It features Mickey Mantle making a career decision but also features local athletes from that era. Some names I recognized. On the opposite side of this, it featured a huge snowstorm that hit back then. I believe it said 34 inches dropped in spots. That's crazy for here, not for people that live in Buffalo.

Some really unique finds in here. I need to find a way to preserve that newspaper page so if any of you have any tips on that, let me know in comments.

Otherwise, that's it for another post and it officially closes up my birthday goods.

Have a great day.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

The Un-Doing

Coffee is ready, I am too. Let's get to a new Cards Over Coffee.

*takes a sip*

With not many cards incoming, I am having to create new project ideas to keep my mind busy especially this year when so much has gone on.

One of my latest projects is Un-Doing a project that I just did a few years ago.

Where I had put all of my NY Yankee cards into a binder by player. 

At first this was a great idea and was working out well. However, when you reach a certain number of cards and with new players being added every month, it was becoming overwhelming, and I was running out of space, time and money to keep buying binders and pages.

I had begun finding myself getting a little lazy when it comes to taking care of new incoming Yankees that I had started a box of them instead of having to dig out 8 binders and search through them for every player.

So why not just stick them all into this box then? Doesn't that make more sense? Even though I had just put a lot of work into bindering them.

 

It does to me which is why I have begun pulling cards from binders and adding them to this box one binder at a time.

I am two binders down so far.

What has been entertaining in this project so far, the pulling cards and putting them away has not been, is finding fun cards along the way that I had forgotten about.

This Casey Stengel is how I look at my coffee mug every morning.

Shiny!

This card is really unique turned in the light.

Newer Mantle with an old school feel.

Possibly one of my favorite Bernie Williams cards I own. Die Cut, Shine, it's all there.

 

And this Wade Boggs is really cool.  The player in the in the background when the card is tipped makes a swinging motion. SportFlix was ahead of its time.

I am sure I will make even more fun discoveries as I tear it all down.

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

This project may take me awhile. As I have been putting players away, I have realized I have doubled up on some of the players so I am having to adjust as I go along and combine the cards, so they only have one section. But that's what happens when there are so many players to track.

I hope everyone has a great Wednesday and let me know if you are currently working on any challenging hobby projects.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Cheer Up Mail Days

I can't believe it's almost been a week since I last posted on here, but that's what happens with life sometimes. 

We all know life comes first.

And we all know my life has been rough so far this year.

On Thursday last week for my urology appointment for my kidney stone, I found out my Urologist wasn't going to be available on Friday for surgery as she had the day off. So, I was given a few options including letting it go the weekend and trying to pass it on my own and if I didn't I would have surgery early this week which is the option I took. Sadly though, nothing has passed, which means I am heading into surgery tomorrow morning to get it removed or have a stent put it so they can remove it in another surgery a week or so later.

I have had this procedure done many times and it's not as fun as it sounds. I am absolutely dreading it. Even though they always say the dreading is worse than the doing, I just know how this will go from past experiences.

Ugh.

At least I have my coffee and a strawberry/banana muffin to pair with it along with some cards to post about to keep me distracted until then.

So, let's do some Cards Over Coffee.

*takes a sip, bite of muffin*

I actually didn't have any cards for today's post originally when I was forming it, but then on Thursday after I got home from my appointment, I found two surprises in my mailbox that instantly brought a smile to my face.

First one, is a mail day from Grady M who has been a long-time reader of all of my blogs. At first glance this looks like four blaster boxes, but it's better than that. Grady has shipped me all of his shiny inserts along with any team player cards to me for years and packs them safely this way for shipping. It's like opening up a treasure trove of fun. I haven't fully dug through it all yet, but I plan to when I am resting from surgery and will post some cards along the way.

When time permits.

My second mail day was from the generous Dennis from Too Many Verlanders Blog who surprised me with a bubbler of goodies. I will not be showing off all of the cards here, as most were NY Giants and those get posted on Big Blue Cardboard (make sure you are following that blog and have it on your blogroll) but I will show off some here.

A new Jasson Dominguez for the PC. I am still looking for more and can't wait to get some 2024 rookie cards instead of five years of prospects.

 

My boy Junior! I recently announced how I am deep diving back into adding Griffey's again and hope to come up with a PC number at some point of how many I have.

The final card from the portion I am showing on here I was extremely giddy for.

 

Ruben Rivera Circa Rave parallel /150. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVEE IT. There is nothing greater than late 90's inserts and parallels. NOTHING.

Thanks again Grady and Dennis for cheering me up. You guys are some great friends and I really needed this.

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

I am not sure when I will feel up to posting again. All depends on how tomorrow goes but I am hoping it will be sooner rather than later.

I hope all of you have a magnificent Monday and not a manic one.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Cards From A Blogger

*coffee is poured and cards are next to the computer and are ready to be discussed. It's time for some #CardsOverCoffee*

I realize every time I get a package or pwe from a fellow blogger, how I don't trade enough with my own kind. Is there a reason for that? I don't think so. I always have plenty of trade bait of every team from every sport but maybe it's wondering if they have something I like. I would say 95% of card bloggers are die hard baseball card collectors and I have been slowly drifting further away from that sport other than late 90's inserts/parallels/set building (which for me is 1995-1999), Ken Griffey Jr and Derek Jeter. It's mainly football and non sport for me at this point other than obviously that 90's stuff for every sport.

I can't say that all bloggers may not have something for me, because one definitely has me figured out. Dennis from Too Many Verlanders blog fame recently sent a package my way that included a little bit of everything I collect.

*takes a sip, gets ready to show off the package*

  

 

Dennis sent along some eye popping Giants cards. Only a couple I had, so the rest are brand spankin' new.

 

This Frank Gifford I have, but this is a huge upgrade to mine that has bad corner issues. Out with the old, in with the new! Still need a Gifford autograph card at some point.

*takes a sip, coffee is starting to get a little cold. Maybe it's time this cup goes out with the old and comes in with the new*

 

I don't nearly collect Griffey as deeply as I used to, but I have a feeling it will be making a bigger comeback soon. These two new cards helps.

Always was a fan of these Boss inserts of the 90's. Colorful and embossed, awesome.

Paul Perkins auto from Infinity

Ramses Barden Red Zone parallel autograph. This card is numbered to 30.

Here's a new one for me, Jai Lewis autograph. A Giants player I had no autographs of. Big plus here!

Hakeem Nicks Freshan Orientation relic

Paul Perkins Mirror Red relic.

Another Ramses Barden autograph. This time from Topps Magic.

This wasn't the end of this mail day however. Dennis threw up some trade bait on his blog and fortunately I was one of the first able to claim.

Keep in mind, I am not a Twins fan.

But I am a 1997 Leaf Fractal Matrix fan.

So I claimed every one he tossed up.

Also claimed this Chuck Knoblauch Artist Proof which will also go in my 90's collection.

Next card, yes another Twin, is this Marty Cordova Stadium Club Matrix card. Really beautiful parallel and I will take 'em all!

 

The next card, well, this doesn't quite fit with what I listed above. But, it is a side PC. I collect oddball relics you don't see every day. Move over jersey cards, Authentic Game Used Court swatches are winners!

And the final card, yes I do have this Rueben Randle. But, in my collection a different numbered card counts as a different card. So welcome Rueben Randle number 200something.

Thanks to Dennis for the latest mail day.

*takes a sip before closing*

There are a couple bloggers I trade with a couple of times yearly, with Dennis being one of them and a couple of former bloggers I trade with as well. But, maybe it's time I start to reach out to other bloggers and see what we can work out.

*until then, Coffee Card Blogger Out*