Completely Impractical

*takes a sip of hot brewed coffee, gets ready for the new post*

In 2015, Topps included four lifelong friends who do stupid things to compete to embarrass each other.

Those four were Brian Quinn, Sal Vulcano, James Murray and Joe Gatto.

These four make up the Impractical Jokers. A show that has been on television since 2011.

I personally didn't get into the show originally, despite multiple recommendations, until a couple of years ago and I loved it. I spent many days watching it on TV, watching reels as a distraction when I was on the treadmill, then spending time sharing the best moments/reels with others.  Yes, I am one of those guys.

Everyone needs a good laugh and what better way to do it then with the stupidity. As my wife knows with me.

*takes a sip, almost chokes then laughs to himself about some stupid things that had been done*

Like with anything that connects to my life or past, I try to find cardboard related to it. Topps included Impractical Jokers base, relic and autographed cards in its 2015 Allen and Ginter product,

In 2022, I was fortunate to had completed the four base cards (which since then I have misplaced and am frantically searching for them the past month) and now I have completed the four relic cards.

Brian Quinn

James Murray (I like the relic color)

 

Sal Vulcano

And I guess to fit the stupidity theme for the Impractical Jokers, Topps decided to not use the same layout design for Joe Gatto's relic.

I am glad to have it but will admit my hobby OCD is eating me alive with it not looking like the rest.

These took me a few months to hunt down and accomplish with Joe actually being the last one. He is the most valuable of the group and is actually my favorite one of the jokers.

(let's just ignore for now the recent accusations against a couple of the jokers and focus on the show aspect)

They have autographs in the product as well but those go for a ton, so I am not expected to chase those. I am happy with the relics and the base (if I can ever find them or find someone who has them for trade again) anyways.

I hope everyone has a funny day. Make someone laugh today even if it's something stupid you do or at the cost of laughing at yourself.

*final sip for the post*

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*

Cafe Trade #1 2024: Oren

Boy, what a year this month has been so far. First, the broken shoulder, followed by the septic issues into the house, today I have laryngitis and also had our vehicle backed into at the gas station.

Can I hit the reset button yet? Is there one? 

There may not be enough coffee in the world to get me through January. Though I am averaging three cups a day right now. That's like Patrick Mahomes numbers.

Despite life problems, there is at least a hobby I can come back to and know there is always happiness and a distraction there.

And there is always coffee to go with it, such as today.

*takes a sip*

Today's mail day was my first trade of 2024 and comes from blog reader and friend Oren who sent along some non-sport goodies.

A nice stack and variety of Allen and Ginter. Most from 2023, but some from other years.

Courtney Hansen relic. She is mostly known for being a television host on the show Overhaulin'. Not something I have ever seen.

John Cynn relic. Professional Poker player. I have never watched Poker on TV, but have played some with friends over the years. I am far from being a professional.

And finally, the last card I was super excited about.

 

Danielle Harris relic.  She has spent most of her acting career being in horror especially for the Halloween Franchise something I grew up watching with my mom. Lots of nostalgia. Now I just need to add her autograph as well.

Thanks goes out to Oren again for always sending the goods!

I hope everyone has a better Saturday than I am. But there is still a chance I can save the rest of today.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

The Good, The Bad And The Fun

Coffee is ready and so am I, let's get a new post up!

THE GOOD:

For the second straight year, I am Fantasy Football champion of my league! I started out a little rough as you can see by my record, however, it's now how you start your season, it's how you finished. Adding some key free agents when injuries occurred was huge.

THE BAD:

 

A few days after Christmas, I went to get out of my car, slipped onto some ice, reacted to catch myself by reaching into the car with my right arm bent backwards and felt my arm get sore. I figured a guy that's 40 with a muscle strain would take a little while to heal so I didn't go to the doctors.

That's until the pain got worse over time.

So, yesterday I went and the Dr as well suspected a muscle strain but decided to send me to an Xray anyways just in case. Well, that Xray showed a fracture on the back of my shoulder the shape of a crescent. 

After seeing that, the doctor thought maybe when I fell, I dislocated my shoulder and it snapped into place tearing ligaments, muscles and breaking a bone in the process. He said it's rare, but can happen. When I hear rare, I want to think cards, not shoulder injuries.

Good times. Great way to start 2024. And always fun to move around with low mobility in your dominant arm.

Now I must see ortho, maybe PT and hopefully no surgery.

THE FUN:

At Christmas time, I had a mail day from long time Twitter follower and friend @DarkCards66 that included a ton of awesome cards from Pieces Of My Past. I know a lot of collectors don't value or care about the products they put out, but I think what they put out is pretty cool.

This mail day included a lot of handwritten or typed relics from some legends of the past.

 

To be honest, there are a lot of amazing ones, but this Beethoven really caught my eye.

Thanks to my buddy @DarkCards66 for the Christmas mail day. I hope you got yours as well and enjoyed it as much as I did mine.

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

I am hoping they call me from Ortho today with an appointment date, so I know what I am doing going forward. Right now, it has been hard leaving the sling on and trying to drive and do household chores. I am not one to sit down and relax with so much going on in my life.

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*

Explosive Mail Day!

*sits down and preps the newest post for cards over coffee. sorts cards on the table into piles for pictures and discussions. well, short discussions. it is a holiday, takes a sip, is ready to go*

My mind is always running like a machine. Sometimes that is a good thing, other times it gets overwhelmed, and I can't focus. 

I spent this weekend trying to think of a post for today and my mind got overwhelmed as I couldn't find any cards featuring Independence Day or fireworks or even grilling. I wanted something exciting to post, so I went to see what I had in my blogging drafts and up popped a mail day I hadn't posted yet.

Let's hope this brings out the fireworks.

So, let's celebrate today's holiday by looking at a pretty explosive mail day I got from @Brent3323.

*takes a sip, tries to figure out what to grill today....then wonders what a cup of coffee would taste like on the grill*

I knew about a few of the cards coming from Brent, but I wasn't expecting all that I got in a packed bubbler. It was so much that I couldn't even post it all.

Since today is a historic day, why not look at some cards of history. There are a ton of these here, most are hidden in the team bags. I might dive into these more at a later date.

Hopefully soon I will have all of my Giants PC numbers updated and broken down.

Evan Engram and Sterling Shepard.

Tiki!

Terrell Thomas college relic.

This is what I believe is my first Lorenzo Carter autograph. It's just too bad that he didn't make the team after a decent season and now plays in Atlanta. I wish him all the best!

And finally, the one key card I knew that would be on the way....

A newspaper clipping relic from The Titanic! Awesome!

 

Back of the card. I really wished they would post a picture of the article they cut the swatches from.

Thanks again Brett for the mail day! I will hit you back hopefully soon.

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

I hope all of you have a Happy and especially safe 4th of July. Please also remember others today and don't make foolish mistakes such as drinking and driving.

In comments today, let me know what you will be grilling and celebrating today along with thoughts on my mail day.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

*also, I really don't plan on trying coffee grilled. that was just a thought. but maybe meat grilled in coffee marinade.....*

Cards From Dennis

Good Morning Coffee Card loving people!

Before I begin today's post, I wanted to take a second to say that my thoughts and prayers are with the families and community from the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. I can't imagine what they are going through. I hope you all will take a second out as well before you begin to read this post. They could use all of the good thoughts, prayers and vibes we can send them.

*prays*

It's been a long stretch of no mail days and no trades for me so when I saw a surprise in the mail from Dennis from Too Many Verlanders Blog, I knew it would make up for all of the lost time without any.

Every time Dennis sends a mail day, there is usually plenty of excitement involved.

That's why I had to have a full cup of coffee to sip and rip his envelope.

We kick it off with a NEW Eli Manning card. With as many Eli's as I have now and no checklist for anyone to see what I am missing, it's impressive to find any new ones for me.

Coming up next, a few new Kerry Collins cards. I do have a wants/needs list for Kerry that you can find HERE. 

I am not sure how they every captured a small video on a card when you move it, but that technology is still top notch even in comparison to today's cards.

Numbered Kerry Collins from Leaf Limited.

 

And finally, a Donruss Elite Zoning Commision relic. I actually don't have a lot of Collins relic cards in my collection just yet. This will help knock one down I would have needed later on.

Need a sip before I finish up showing off this mail day.

 

If you grew up in the 90's, you may have heard of Louie Anderson's cartoon Life With Louie which was a cartoon based on his childhood. I don't remember a lot about the cartoon, but I did watch it many times. Louie also did some hilarious stand up, starred on TV shows and was in movies. He also had a voice you would never forget. RIP Louie!

Heath Shuler doesn't mean a lot to my collection in terms of player, but the autograph card from 1995 Pro Line Classic does. At one point I considered to do the crazy chase of that set.....yeah....that would be nuts. That checklist is loaded.

I don't own a dog nor do I want to as I am more of a cat person, but I like these manufactured relics that Upper Deck put out. Fits in my non sport/unique relic collection. Dennis had this card available in his pile of trade bait so I snagged it.

 

And I also grabbed this dual bat relic of Paul O'Neill and Bernie Williams from that trade bait stack as well. Two of my more favorite Yankees back when I watched more baseball.

Thanks again to Dennis for the cards. I am still working on what to send back.

I think I will enjoy the rest of this cup of coffee before I have to dive into the day and maybe think of something good to eat to go with the rest of us this cup.

I hope everyone has a fantastic Friday.

Coffee Card Blogger Out.