Coffee Break:2021 Inception Baseball

*box of newer product, cup of fresh coffee, it's time for some Cards Over Coffee in today's Coffee break*

Inception was a brand I wasn't sold on when it first released. Being a collector with action photography in mind I pushed off products that didn't include real photography. But, after giving it a couple of years and landing some of the cards actually in-person, my perspective changed and I realized I don't always need those full action shots. I could deal and enjoy the cards with an artistic touch.

So here we are today with a box of 2021 Inception to show off. Let's see how this Coffee Break goes. Grab a cup yourself and sit down and enjoy.

 

Every box of 2021 Inception Baseball comes with one pack of seven cards. Each box comes with one autograph, two parallels and four base. Each box is $185 currently so it's a gamble.

*takes a sip, begins to rip!*

The base set is made up of 100 cards and contains key rookies and veterans.

The design sticks to similar design of the past couple of years.

The back has a small write up along with one year of stats and career stats. 

Other base I found in my break were,

Ozzie Albies

Devin Williams

Alex Bregman

Now onto the parallels.

*takes a sip, moves onto the next part of the break*

There are multiple parallels to be found in Inception this year. These parallels include, Green, Purple /150, Magenta /99, Red /75, Orange /50, Blue /25, and Inception 1/1.

I got two base parallels in the Green.

Blake Snell

And Ronald Acuna Jr.

That does it for my two promised parallels. Now onto the last card of the box which is the hit.

*takes a sip before showing off the final card*

I have not had much success in hits in past breaks of Inception. It usually is a rookie pitcher autograph which does not tickle my funny bone.

This time however, I lucked out.

Pulled a PC card of one of the few Yankees I still collect in Gleyber Torres. It also marks the first time I pulled a patch autograph from the product as well. So not too shabby of a hit.

*takes another sip, then another because coffee is getting cold. Moves onto finishing up the post*

Inception looked good again this year especially that patch auto. That's a really sharp card. But, once again in the "new hobby era" with prices going up, the risk is there more than ever. You just gotta hope that one hit will be a big one.

*Here's to another Coffee Break, hope everyone has a great day and remember, coffee is best served warm. Coffee Card blogger out*

Ratings (ratings based on 1-5 🍵 on this break. Ratings are not based on overall product run)

Design 🍵🍵🍵

Photography N/A

Inserts N/A

Hits 🍵🍵🍵

Price 🍵🍵

Value 🍵🍵

Heritage

*takes a sip of coffee on this cold 22 degree day. Wind chill and snow probably take that down a few more degrees. But, I have coffee and I have cards and that's all I am focused on right now. Time for some Cards Over Coffee*

Heritage is a noun that means "property that is or may be inherited; an inheritance: and also "valued objects and qualities such as cultural traditions, unspoiled countryside, and historic buildings that have been passed down from previous generations." 

I think I know what my heritage is, it's sport cards.

It's what will be passed down to me and what I will one day pass down myself. I just hope the hobby is at a better place when that day comes for me or I could see my once "valued possessions" not be passed down again. Most likely would be sold off.

The thought of that happening is mightily disappointing.

*takes a sip, wonders if my passion of coffee would be passed down as well*

Heritage is also a twice-yearly Topps baseball release with it's first release, Low Number, just hitting the shelves recently. I was fortunately lucky enough to find a blaster box at my Walmart, which also happened to be the last of anything left on the shelf as well. Either way, I wasn't leaving it there for someone to flip. I wanted something to rip.

I am not a huge fan of the product, but I do like to pick up a few retail offerings of it every year just to say I have some. Hobby box wise, I stay away. A little too costly for one hit that 9 times out of 10 will be a relic. Hobby Boxes this year are in the $140 range.

I haven't seen a lot of rips or previews of the product this year so this rip will be fresh for me. So there is only one thing left to do....

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

 

There are 8 packs of 9 cards in every blaster box of 2021 Topps Heritage baseball. There are no guarantees in each blaster other than having a good time ripping something new. Each blaster box not being flipped will run you $20.

The base set takes you back to the 1972 design which to me is a good one, though I wasn't around to collect it at the time. I do own a few cards from that set now.

It is also a pretty large set for modern day collecting.

There are 500 cards in the base set. FIVE....HUNDRED. That's 5 and two 00's.

The base set breaks down into Veteran Base and subsets of

League Leaders from 2020

In Action (I really like these because of the unique photography on the card. This Cutch was my favorite from the ones I found in this break)

 

2020 Postseason and World Series moments

Along with these Boyhood Photos.

You can't have a base set without rookie cards, so insert these Rookie Stars, which I did really well with landing Adell and Bohm.

I also pulled a Ruiz

 and a Yankees one for the PC.

There are also short prints, no surprise there.

Cards 400-500 are short printed and found 1:3 packs. It will be a challenge to complete this set, fortunately for me I have no interest in chasing it.

*takes a sip before moving onto the inserts*

Then And Now of Dick Allen and Luke Voit. Overall there are 15 cards in the set to collect.

 

New Age Performers. There are 25 of them to chase. I feel like I landed the best one.

And finally 1972 Topps Candy Lids insert. Can't complain about ever finding a Clemente in a break.

*takes a sip before finishing up the post*

As usual with my breaks of Heritage, nothing big but a few decent cards. I have seen many though hit it huge in retail Heritage with autographs of Acuna, etc. I don't have that kind of luck. Guess that's my Heritage, never finding the retail big hits. Hopefully that kind of luck doesn't get passed down.

The New Mentality

*brews his cup of coffee, pours the last little bit of Peppermint Mocha creamer that's in the bottle and decides that's probably it for the Christmas season on that.*

  

The New Mentality in the hobby is spreading and spreading fast.

When I got my father back into the hobby three years ago, he was all about adding cards to his collection and opening packs for the thrill of the chase. 

Then 2020 hit and he caught The New Mentality.

He started to see how others were making big time money off from retail flips and decided to dip his feet in. That's the starting point of The New Mentality. First it was a fat pack. Then a blaster. Then a blaster and a hanger. And then he started to do the thing I hate most, clearing off most of the shelves of products and even attempting to flip the unflippable products like Score. It had gotten so bad where he wouldn't even tell me what products were on the shelves when I texted for him to pick me up something. He preferred to flip it for more than have me be able to open some. 

That was a painful realization.

The New Mentality is an ugly disease in the hobby. It's when greed and money means more than card collecting. It's all about the money and not about the fun. I believe the only cure for people who have caught The New Mentality is to show them how to have fun collecting again.

I am currently working on that with my father. It's a slow, slow cure especially if someone has had that mentality for awhile.

*takes a sip of coffee while game planning the next part of my cure*

Before The New Mentality fully hit him, I was able to land myself one more blaster box from him in trade. It wasn't the hottest product on the shelf but it was better than nothing at the time.

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

In every blaster box of 2020 Panini Optic baseball, there are 27 cards. There are 6 packs of 4 cards of Optic then an extra 3 card pack of Pink parallels. Each blaster is $20 unless you are buying from a flipper.

There wasn't much in terms of names of note for base, so I will skip to the rookies which I was impressed with. There was almost two in every pack which seems odd to me. Feels like the last time I ripped Optic on here there was maybe a couple total. 

Even found a Gavin Lux Rated Rookie. He's no Luis Robert in terms of value, but maybe down the road he will be.

*takes a sip happy at what I have seen already*

 

Now onto the shiny stuff and inserts

Nelson Cruz Silver

Inserts of Illusions with Trevor Story, The Rookies AJ Puk and Stained Glass with Ketel Marte

This Lindor was my favorite designed insert of the group, Mythical.

*takes another sip before another rip*

Now onto the bonus Pink Pack Parallels.

Each of these have three cards. Could be insert parallels, subsets or base. It's all a surprise.

Andres Munoz. Not sure who this is.

Acuna! 

Hiura

Not too bad at all!

*finishes up cup of coffee with the remaining Peppermint Mocha creamer, now back to Hazelnut for the next cup and to finish up this post*

Remember above where I mentioned the spread of The New Mentality is fast, since my father started doing that, others around the area caught it. They have the disease much more than my father does as they follow the vendor store to store to store taking all they can and leaving the scraps. Scraps are known as Hockey cards. This has helped me out some in trying to fix my father's catch of The New Mentality. He isn't getting the opportunities as much to flip anymore and I have been trying to take advantage of that and remind him how great the hobby is just collecting again.

And believe me, collecting is great. So isn't coffee.

Before I close, I wanted to give you some insight on what to look for when you or someone else you know has caught The New Mentality.

Here are the signs to look for to know if you or someone you know has caught it, it's as simple as one, two, three.

1. Buys a pack, blaster, hanger or mega box of a popular product when its able to be found
2. Looks up value online to see what it goes for.
3. Flips it.

It will be pretty obvious when you have or someone you knows does.

How do you know if you are cured or don't have it? Well, that's as simple as one, two, three as well.

1. Buy a pack, blaster, hanger or mega box of a popular product when its able to be found.
2. Barely make it to the car before ripping it. It's okay to rip it just outside the Walmart or Target door. We all have been there.
3. Enjoys the cards that were opened.

I hope this helps. If you or someone you know has caught The New Mentality, remember to remind them why they got into collecting in the first place. It may or may not work but it's worth a try.