Coffee Break:2024 Topps Allen and Ginter Value Pack (autograph pull!)

*takes a sip, gets ready for a new post on Cards Over Coffee*

Before I begin with today's post, I wanted to remind everyone who hasn't voted yet, get your vote in for the 2024 Cards Over Coffee Hall Of Fame Cards. You can vote under that post HERE.

Speaking of voting, Nachos Grande is doing some End Of The Year Blogging Awards (hobby ones too). You can vote on those HERE.

Now onto today's post. Sip first.

I mentioned a few posts ago that my parents were coming over for their Christmas and that I had a feeling that some cards would be involved. Not only did my father bring a nice box of trade bait, but my parents also picked out a cool gift for me as well.

A value pack of 2024 Topps Allen And Ginter! 

Each of these come with 14 cards and cost less than $7. It is my first rip in a long time. Allen and Ginter is my second favorite Topps product other than Topps Chrome. I still haven't opened a pack of that yet. If I don't, a streak of opening a new year's worth since 1996 will come to an end.

But, at least my much shorter streak of opening Ginter continues.

I don't usually get Allen and Ginter retail due to lack of luck with it, but this pack surprised me.

I think this was my first Chisholm Yankee card.

Rookie cards of hitters are always welcomed.

Some non-baseball subjects which happens to be my favorite part of this product.

A couple non sport inserts including another dog card. Between the two rounds from Oren and now this one, I really wonder how many I am off from the complete set. I should check.

A mini-Trout chrome card. I haven't ever seen these before in Allen and Ginter, so it kind of surprised me.

And a mini non baseball card. There are so many subjects in this year's product I don't know.

Then came the biggest surprise of them all...

 

An autograph! I don't know who in the world this is, but an auto is an auto especially from a hanger pack. It's impressive. Especially since I used to break/review hobby boxes for Topps and every time I pulled three relics. Autographs were near impossible to find. Not today I guess!

Thinking the next time I get to open something that I need my father to use his magic for it.

*takes a final sip thinking about pulling something bigger next time he brings a pack*

Well, I spent time showing off the pack I opened for Christmas from my parents, now I will have to show off my box of trade stuff I landed from my father. I can't say it's the best stuff he has ever brought over, but there are a few hidden gems in there.

Thoughts on my pack pull welcomed in comments!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

90's Cards Over Coffee:1996 Fleer Ultra Sensations Football 2-Pack Break

*nothing wrong with a cup of hot joe on a rainy day. takes a sip, sits down and gets ready for a new Cards Over Coffee post*

This post has been a long time coming.

Back in December, blog reader Oren sent me two packs of 1996 Fleer Ultra Sensations to open knowing my passion for cards from 1995-1999.

This is a product I opened back in the day, but only a few packs I bought from our local Mobile gas station. Which by the way, I think my Cards Over Coffee passion began because of that gas station. Every time we went there to pick up some packs, the scent of coffee would greet you when you opened the door to go in. It still brings those memories today when I go in there with the scent of coffee, except there are no longer cards.

*takes a sip and a sniff of the coffee before moving on with today's post*

Let's take a look at 1996 Fleer Ultra Sensations details before we open up these packs. It was a simple product with a foil bordered player focused base set totaling 100 cards. Each card was produced in five different foil border colors with each inserted at various ratios. The Rainbow foil was the most difficult of the group to pull with only 1% of the print run. I am still in desperate need of the Rodney Hampton version to finish my rainbow.

There were also a few inserts to chase as well that didn't feature all of the foil glimmer and glam.

The 10-card packs carried a suggested retail price of $2.49 at the time. Now I have seen some on eBay for around $5.

I originally was going to open one pack and keep one sealed like I have been doing with all of my 90's wax, but ended up opening both anyways since the temptation got to me.

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

PACK 1:

Base (nice Dave Brown find!)

Pewter (not the singer but I dig the old Ravens logo)

Marble Gold (Hall Of Famer find)

Blue finishes up the last three card in the pack.

Next up, Pack 2.

*first takes a sip, then begins to rip*

PACK 2

Base Cards (Andre Rison in a Jags uni is weird)

Marble Gold

Blue

Pewter (start of a Miller rainbow chase?)

And the final card...

Wait....what's this final card.....

1:12 Creative Chaos insert of Terrell Davis!! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! New card for that side PC. It's just too bad it stuck a little and left some snow look on the card but it's not too bad.

Pack 2 was even better than Pack 1! Nice score on the insert which is also impressive for a two-pack break.

Thanks again to Oren for the pack to open.

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

This was a really fun time. I like opening packs that bring me back to the good ole days of the hobby. I spotted that Davis insert in the middle of the second pack but switched out some cards to make it the last card in the pack. That's what I used to do in those days so why not bring back that approach to make this even more enjoyable.

Thoughts on the product, my rip welcomed in comments.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

A Pack Sized Friendship

*getting ready to head out the door for a dentist appointment, fortunately only a cleaning, so need to down a couple of cups and get a new post for Cards Over Coffee up!*

I have found in the last 9 years of being on Social Media Hobby that some of the friends I have made being apart of it are better than the few friends I have nearby. Some are better than some family members and feel like they are apart of your family instead. 

These are friendships that go much further and deeper than some pieces of cardboard. These are people who message to check in on you and how you are feeling. These are people who ask how your daughter, son, grandmother, uncle are doing. These are people who go the extra mile to help you out when you need it. These are people who pray for you, cheer you up when you are down and even sometimes send you surprises just because.

I know a few of these people, but the one that comes to mind today is @CardpocalypseNC.

Yesterday in my mail I had an unexpected package from Tim. We hadn't made a trade and were working on one so I had absolutely no idea what was in there. So I opened it up, saw a greeting card that I set aside (I always like saving those for last when I open up any package) and began to dig through many packed layers. There was a bubbler, than bubble wrap, then a Heritage Hanger box, then inside of that was more packaging and then inside of that packaging was this,

 

A hanger pack of 2020 Prizm football. I couldn't believe it. It was as if I had unwrapped a wad of cash was my reaction to it. That Indiana Jones feeling when he found the Crystal Skull.

As many of you know, finding retail right now especially Prizm is like finding that a unicorn in your cup of coffee or a winning Powerball ticket on the ground at your feet.

Tim however, had tweeted a picture on Twitter that he had actually found some in the wild back in December and I was certainly jealous. What I didn't know though was he actually took one of those packs and had mailed it to me for Christmas. But, the magic of the mail delays right now made it not arrive until yesterday.

I would certainly call that true sacrifice for a friend.

*takes a sip of coffee while smiling*

The thought of holding onto the pack and waiting for the right moment to open it came across my mind, you know one of those days where you have a really big itch to open one, but I couldn't hold back. So I ripped into the pack, each pack comes with a 12 card Prizm pack along with a 3 card Red,White, Blue parallel pack, and here were my results,

Isaac Bruce kicks off the pack

Followed by a group of base led by DeAndre Hopkins

My rookie of the pack was Antoine Winfield Jr. Far from Justin Herbert or Joe Burrow but a solid player in the playoffs.

AJ Brown Brilliance Insert

Laremy Tunsil Green Prizm

Then came the pack with the three Red,White, Blue Prizm parallels.

Bryce Love. Seems like I pulled a ton of him last year.

Tedy Bruschi. Long time legendary linebacker for the Patriots

And the final card....

Tyler Johnson. I don't know much about him but with Tampa Bay with so many weapons at that position I can't imagine he gets much playing time.

Nothing too spectacular in this pack, but to me, that's not what this pack was about.

*takes a sip before closing. Okay you got me, I finished the cup*

The pack may not have held the big hit that Tim had hoped I would pull from the greeting card note he left me, but these cards mean more than a Silver Prizm Joe Burrow and that says a lot. Especially to those hit-flipper thrill seekers.

Tim, I know I have told you thanks already multiple times on Twitter but I will say it again. Thank you. Thank you for checking in on me, thank you for the thoughts and prayers, thank you for our long distance pack sized friendship. 

What is a pack sized friendship? It's everything you would want in a friendship, or even a pack of cards, packed into one friend. I hope I am also that pack of cards and more to you as well.

Black Friday

*takes a sip of non black coffee, one thing I haven't ever enjoyed about coffee was it being completely black. Not that I drown mine in creamer to make it all creamer either. It is a little lightened that way I get more coffee than creamer flavor. I think a great cup needs a great balance and today's cup hits that spot*

Black Friday is known to most as a day of shopping, whether that means online or in a store people go crazy for the crazy deals. Sometimes even trampling others to get to them.

Black Friday to me is tomorrow and isn't anything close to shopping or landing a crazy deal. Tomorrow I will be going into surgery to get my kidney stone removed. Well, hopefully removed. The past two surgeries I have had to remove a kidney stone, I have had to go through two surgeries to get the job done. The first surgery usually tells the tale of whether the urologist can reach the stone or not. If they go in and can't get to it because of my "narrow tubes", I apologize for the TMI, I will get a stent put in place and will need a second surgery to remove the stent and stone.

It's all the party that it sounds to be.

*takes a sip of coffee, hopes it can calm down the nerves and stress of tomorrow. Then realizes he can't drink coffee in the morning since can't eat or drink after midnight. Starts drinking this cup faster to get more in today*

One positive at least this week is I found a pack of 2019 Panini Black Friday kicking around so figured to fit the theme of today's post, I would show off the results. I will promise in advance that I won't show off the results of tomorrow's Black Friday though ;)

There are two cards per pack of Panini's promo Black Friday packs. It was actually quite sad this year not to see this fun promotion continue. There are some really nice cards that can be found in these packs. I know the odds are against me since the pack is skinny and it's just one pack but I was still hopeful for a possible parallel or autograph.

First card, Hall Of Famer Kurt Warner. Kurt was a Super Bowl champ and MVP when he led the Rams to victory in Super Bowl XXXIV over the Tennessee Titans. What an ending to that game with the Titans falling just one yard short of trying to tie the game up. One of those Super Bowl memories I will have.

I am also a fan of Kurt's. He was a NY Giant for one year (I try to chase down cards of him in Big Blue but not too many out there), he is an underdog and who doesn't root for them, and he is a devout Christian which I am all for.

Back of the Warner card.

Next card, Josh Jacobs and it's a rookie. I would have rather found Daniel Jones but not going to complain too much about one of the top players of last year's draft.

Jacobs is having a great sophomore year and proving he wasn't just a one year wonder for the Raiders last year. Their offense definitely builds themselves around how he does.

Back of his card which is slightly different than the Warner.

Not too bad of a pack break with a Hall Of Famer and a possible Hall Of Famer.

*takes another sip to finish up the first cup, will pour a second very soon*

I am hopeful they will find a way just to get the stone out with one surgery and hoping not for a second. I know I will be a bit out of it for the rest of the day tomorrow so watch for updates in the near future on here or on Twitter if you follow me there.

Maybe while I am knocked out in anesthesia tomorrow, I will dream about actually landing more of these Black Friday packs or that big screen TV I always ask my wife for. Which will be great until I wake in realization of how my Black Friday actually went.

Me And MAHOM(i)Es

*sits down to his already second cup of coffee of the early morning. Looks over his shoulder at the breakfast offerings and is intrigued on which ones to pick...what will the decision be?*

As the days of September roll on, the cooler weather has started coming in. This means foliage, football and the taste of fall to have with my coffee.

My wife and I were stuck in line at the grocery store just waiting to get to checkout, that's when we noticed a nearby display of some tantalizing treats.

Everyone knows that every grocery store is as evil as the Amityville house. They purposely know that you haven't had lunch, they put their best baked goods up front and purposely have their cashiers go slower than squeezing honey out of a bottle to make you stare, drool, and be tempted to grab those items. Which works pretty much every time.

(insert evil store laugh, let's say a Tim Curry one)

And on that day, it targeted us and knew we hadn't eaten lunch yet and were waiting what felt like years in line. If you haven't also noticed, a lot of these evil grocery stores will stick the 80 year old cashier on while the 20 year old bags the groceries. Why not switch that around? Well, the baked goods wouldn't end up in your cart that way....and that's what a variety of donuts did that day.

(another evil store laugh, this time insert Jack Nicholson with the Joker laugh)

*takes another sip of coffee, begins to open up one of the packages of donuts*

The taste of fall offering is what we grabbed that day.

This is a Pumpkin with cream cheese frosting

 

This is an Apple Cider one with caramel topping

And there were plain versions to both as well with Pumpkin Spice and Apple Cider. Which after trying a couple made me feel, well, the donuts explain it the best.

*decides on a plain pumpkin to go with this cup of coffee, grabs one and closes the lid. Even though I could eat a few, gotta limit my intake right now with a few health issues lingering*

In the hobby, just like at the grocery store, there are evils that lie beneath the surface. Some are obvious, some are not. Some are used to manipulate your mind into telling you that you need something when you most likely don't. You know, those donuts.

One of those evils took over me.

Something supernatural in 2019 made me want to start collecting some Patrick Mahomes cards. I don't know if it's because his cards were hot/popular, because he is likable, or is it because of the underlying money value. For whatever evil reason, I started a very small PC of him that I have been adding to.

A couple of months ago, I was looking to add a few cards of Patrick and found an unopened pack of 2017 Elite Draft listed on eBay. Instead of buying the Elite Draft rookie card outright for $25-$30, I decided instead to grab the pack for half that. Figured it was worth the shot if I could land it for cheaper and who doesn't like a fun rip. I also noticed that these packs usually sell for as much as the rookie card and that I had stumbled upon a deal at the time.

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

In every 2017 Elite Draft fat pack you get 20 cards. Most packs go for $20+ but I landed this one for $16.  There is also one orange status die cut parallel per pack. My hope was at the very least land the base Mahomes rookie, but an autograph or the orange status die cut parallel would be amazing.

*takes a sip before sifting through cards*

There are 199 cards in the base set, for some reason there is no card 101, this is very paranormal, and features 100 veterans. My pack had 12 veteran base cards within.

The next 7 cards in my pack were rookies. With 99 rookies in the base set, landing the Mahomes wasn't going to be easy. And as I expected, it wasn't. Not much to brag about in this group....

But I did land one of the top rookies of that draft in Alvin Kamara. I would place him third behind Mahomes and Watson, so not going to complain.

 

My last hope was the orange die cut parallel for my Mahomes.....nope. Some QB named Kirk Cousins. Angelic designed one however.

It was a fun try in this pack. The Cousins looks nice and I did land a Kamara so not too much to complain about. Some of the pack will be PC adds, while the rest heads to trade bait which is a win in my books.

*takes another bite of doughnut, another sip or two or three of coffee and tries to sum up this post*

My Mahomes PC may be missing this Elite Draft rookie, but I did manage to add other rookie cards in trades,some I had and even discovered I had recently. Been adding some base, inserts and parallels when I can to. Something that started out on a whim has grown. It's just me and Mahom(i)es.

The doughnut PC however, has some HOLES now but I am still fulFILLED by it.

 I wished the grocery store was set up like it used to be in the 90's when they had packs of cards upfront by the register, that is something I could go for and no longer worry about their bakery evil goodness. Well, maybe.

*cup of coffee done, corny jokes have been had and this blogger is out*

*closes laptop*