SHINY!

*takes a seat at the kitchen table where the laptop is placed. Realizes left coffee, cards and plate with bagel on the counter. Gets back up, grabs them and sits back down. Today feels like a Monday on a Friday*

When it comes to placing a monthly order on Burbank Sportcards Beckett Marketplace I never know what cards I will be in the mood for. Sometimes it's all NY Giants, sometimes I take advantage and fill some 90's insert and parallel sets and other times I just feel like searching for something eye appealing.

And then there are times I am like the dog Doug from Up, instead of SQUIRREL I say SHINY!

This month I went 90's and SHINY!

*takes a sip before showing off the mail day...SHINY!*

First up (SHINY!), 1999 Fleer Metal Universe Starchild that fell 1:6-1:8 packs depending on what packs you opened. I had never seen these before and was really hoping that they looked as good as their scans did on Burbank. Not only did they look as good but even better then I expected.

More SHINY!

There are 20 cards in the set to collect.

And as one may expect, I am certainly chasing the set now.

SHINY!

Magnetic Field could be found in packs of 1997 Metal Universe baseball at a rate of 1:12 packs. I already owned one of these but had thought about building the set for awhile as the cards are quite stunning. There are 10 cards in this set to be found including some big name gold glovers.

SHINY!

Another insert set from 1999 Metal Universe is Quasars. They fall 1:18 packs.

SHINY!

*takes another SHINY! sip*

The final cards I grabbed were probably my favorite of the group.

1999 Score Supplemental Behind The Numbers

There are 30 cards in the set, all numbered to 1000 and they fell randomly in packs.

I snagged a few of the cheaper ones just to see how they look.

 

I think the birth of another SHINY! set chase was born.

*takes a sip, before closing up SHINY! today's post*

With prices so high on today's cards and everything being a money grab, I am glad I collect the way I do. Cards like I grabbed today are more fun than any you can find today's boxes and are about 1/70th of the price. For me, it's not about the money, it's about the simple enjoyment. 

And the SHINY!

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Also, wanna Save 10% off your orders from Burbanks Sportscards on Beckett Marketplace? Use Code: 15BURBANK at checkout to do so! Also spend $50 and you will get free shipping. BOOM!

Shop their millions of items like the ones above and more in inventory now by clicking THIS LINK HERE:
https://marketplace.beckett.com/burbanksportscards_21/

Friends With Cards

*takes a lunchtime sip. Sips of coffee are good any time of the day. I have my latest round of cards from Cards Over Coffee reader Oren right next to me and I am ready to get the latest post up*

Little pieces of cardboard with pictures on it can be more than just that if you think about it deeper. They can symbolize joy, a hobby and even friendships.

  

I enjoy all three of those aspects and more within my little pieces of cardboard. The hobby has a lot of meanings to me, some deeper than others. But, one thing is for sure, I have enjoyed all of the friendships I have built because of the hobby especially since all of my "close friends" are no really so close.

One of those friendships I built was through email. This was a first one for me in my ten years of being apart of the online hobby community. Usually my email is the last place, besides Facebook, I try to start up any form of trading or interaction. I have gotten some funky requests over the years in my email that I usually don't respond to, but for some reason I felt good about the one Oren sent me and gambled. I am glad I did.

Not only have I acquired some excellent cards in our trades, but we have also created a solid friendship.

Speaking of our outstanding trades, we just made another and once again, it didn't disappoint.

*takes a sip of a dunkin' hot mocha that my wife just set down next to me, time to show off the goods from this trade*

There was a great mix of cards in this trade,

Alec Ogletree Purple Power /49

Mario Manningham Certified Potential

Lamar Jackson Thunder & Lightning (love the parallels in these)

Amani Toomer Stadium Club rookie (this is a picture of him as a kick returner which is how he got his foot going in NY)

 

Hakeem Nicks Bowman Chrome Rookie Refractor /99

Mark Brunell (side PC player) game worn relic from Gridiron Gear

Jerrel Jernigan Topps Precision red inked auto

I have always wanted one of these, 2001 Topps Super Bowl Bunting swatch. This fits perfect in my unique relic PC, this one just makes me sad. Super Bowl 35 was an embarrassment for the Giants I prefer not to go any deeper into. At least the relic is cool.

Believe it or not, this autograph had me hooked. Imagine how popular I would have been in 1998 carrying around this bad boy. I have been wanting autographs of guys like this and landed a Tim Couch auto not too long ago. I can finally cross Leaf off my Top 100 wants.

By the way, Ryan Leaf may have never turned his career around, he at least turned around his life after a rough stretch.

The final in this trade, but not really final card as I will get to that in a minute, is Vance McDonald Happy Holidays Santa Hat swatch for my Christmas PC.

*takes final sip of the Dunkin' coffee before finishing up today's post*

I did receive three other cards in this trade before I came on vacation, but didn't have time to upload them. I will include those in my next mail day posting from Oren which I know will be sooner rather than later.

So thanks again to Oren for the trade and I am looking forward to the next.

*takes a look around for something to eat, need to finish this up so I can grab something*

The hobby has provided me with an outlet in life when times get tough, just look at 2020 for example. Last year I started some new sorting projects, moved my card room around, traded away stuff I never wanted to and started to build sets again. It was a nice distraction which also helped me make some new friends through trading last year as well. The hobby has always been there for me and I have always been there for it and supporting others when I feel they need a pick-me-up. Who needs a stress relief ball when you have a piece of cardboard with someone's face on it to make connections..

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

The Card Pyramid

*woke up too early, sits down turns on the laptop, forgets coffee, goes to get the most important part of the morning, goes back to sit. Realizes he didn't turn the laptop actually on, he hit the caps lock button. Actually turns the laptop on, takes a big chug of coffee and seems ready to go*

It's another Monday morning. Which usually is a drag for most folks but I don't mind them. Except when I get up too early, then it becomes a drag. Like today may be.

Even though I ate a very late supper, I am already hungry this morning so I will grab what I call my complete meal.

What's in a complete meal?

Let's see,

First you start with the bottom of the food pyramid with your bread. In this case, it's a lightly toasted blueberry bagel. Which the blueberry part covers the next part of the pyramid with your fruit.

Up next, the greatest stuff known to man, Philadelphia Veggie Cream Cheese. This gives me both my vegetable and my dairy.

So I spread the veggie cream cheese on the blueberry bagel, top it off with Coffee with Hazelnut creamer (the cup I already poured this morning) which covers both the Meat/Nuts part of the pyramid and the sugar part and we have a complete meal.

I also know now what you are thinking as well, isn't veggie cream cheese gross on a fruit flavored bagel? Well, I will tell you not at all. I have also put it on a Cinnamon Raisin before. Don't gag too much before you give it a try!

It may sound like an odd pairing, but sometimes the most oddest pairings bring out the greatest things.

*sips some more coffee, takes a bite of his bagel, then another, and maybe another. Then moves onto the card portion of this post*

Another odd pairing is thinking about football players being featured on anything but a football field. You know what though, it works and it works marvelously.

My recent 1998 Fleer Metal additions tells me this. The Fleer Metal cards for 1996-1998 are some of the most unique base cards out there.

Especially the 1998 ones.

Let's take some football players, put some unique background scenes that is based off from the teams location or name that sound obscure but makes them a masterpiece. Who would have thought this genius idea would pan out and be as popular as it is today still.

There were 200 cards in this base set that featured a ton of great scenes and included a few Hall Of Fame rookies.

Let's take a look at some of my favorite cards in the base set,

Barry Sanders with a Lion, pure cleverness.

The rookies on the other hand, don't have such unique backgrounds but instead are out of this world. I mean literally out of this world.

I know one thing, the Peyton Manning and Randy Moss were nailed perfectly with their play because it was out of this world. Two of the greatest to ever play their positions.

However, Ryan Leaf should be shown with a pile of money in the background for what the Chargers spent on him to be their leader. Or maybe a watermark of Peyton Manning's head to show what could have been. I will let you guys decide on that one.

Football players and unique scenes, looks like a well balanced card to me that would fill up a Card Pyramid.

What's a Card Pyramid you may ask? I can see the expression on your face.

A Card Pyramid is similar to the food pyramid. Each section of a card set, base-insert-hits, has it's own pyramid and then has an all together pyramid to make up a product.

An individual pyramid, such as these Fleer Metal cards, has base design as the bottom, player checklist as the middle and back design for the top. Which the Fleer Metal has a well balanced pyramid. A full Card Pyramid would have three parts to make it well balanced. First would be a great base set, followed by unshakeable inserts then topped off with hits. Being a 90's collector, hits are like the sugar to a food pyramid. Not necessarily needed, but nice to have once in awhile in small portions. Though I may have more sugar and hits then I need sometimes which adds a little bit more padding around the collection/waistline.

*finishes up first bagel, moves onto second then takes a sip of coffee to finish up this post*

The big stack of Metal cards isn't a full set. I am still lacking roughly 30 or so cards to completion. I hope to have these wants posted soon.

In the meantime, give the veggie cream cheese a try on a fruit bagel and hope you have a well balanced meal and card pickup today.