Time To Load Up on Snacks!

While the inevitable 'stay at home' order is what led me to this topic, it's not the reason for my title's suggestion. I am not advocating for anyone to go out and start hoarding junk food. It's been an interesting week or so to say the least. During the day on Tuesday, I had heard that a stay home order was imminent for Durham(where my office is located), so I decided to stop at a random Food Lion on the way home from work the other night. As I was rushing around the mostly empty store, I came upon an end cap and saw a few Topps branded packages of Utz chips. I did a double take and pondered what I was seeing for a moment. I didn't remember hearing anything about a follow-up to last year's set. I honestly assumed that they had found a few of these tucked away in a corner of the store room and decided to put them on the floor since customers have been grabbing everything they can to load up their pantry. I figured I might as well grab one since there may be a time in the coming weeks where I don't mind chips that have been stored away for a year. The dates on these things are just the 'best if used by' variety, right? Anyway, I got home, unpacked the car, and put away the few items I bought. Much like I did last year, I openened the outer package and rummaged through the small bags of chips trying to find the pack of cards. When I pulled it out, I was shocked!

They weren't 2019 leftovers! They even have a unique design(which I like better than flagship)! I quickly ripped open the pack and flipped through the 3 cards(plus one coupon card like last year).

I really like these!

The backs are not very unique and the name above the card number is the only indication that these are from a co-branded set. It's interesting that they didn't include the Utz logo anywhere in this year's design. I, for one, am thrilled that there is a food issue set to chase for a second consecutive year! I'm also really disappointed that it's going to be more difficult to track down due to the current and/or pending quarantine orders. After my excitement wore off, I did a quick search on Twitter to see what I could find out about this year's promo. Turns out I completely missed posts by multiple sources that have been floating around for over a week. Now this is the kind of news I would have loved to see overflowing my timeline about a week ago. Had I known there was a current year chase, I definitely would have picked up a few more snack packs. If anyone is interested, a complete checklist is up on the Beckett website. What do you think about this design? Are you excited about another oddball set? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments or over in the Twitterverse. Thanks for reading.

Food Issued Baseball Cards in 2019?

Could it be true? I love oddballs. Especially if they are food issued, baseball cards. In 2016, Topps and Walmart got my hopes up that we were about to see the re-emergence of these into the hobby when they released the Marketside pizza baseball set. Unfortunately, that set was a one-off and the only food-issue that has been released since was an MLS focused Post cereal release last year(yes I collected that). However, it looks like we will be getting another food-issued baseball set in 2019!

At the Topps Industry Conference which took place February 24-26, a set which will be released in Utz snack products was announced. I borrowed the following pic from @SportsCardNews on Twitter.

All of the details I can find so far are summarized in the slide in the picture. What do you honk about this news? Will you be trying to search these out? I know I sure will be. Thanks for reading!

An Exciting Find at the Local Target

No, the title doesn't refer to Bowman Mega Boxes. Thus far, I haven't been lucky enough to find any of those. While walking around my 4th different Target this morning, I found my first empty display instead. I decided to show some restraint and pass by the other offerings in the card aisle, resigned to the thought of not having any new cardboard to enjoy today. I continued through the aisles with my two younger daughters in no particular rush to finish our grocery shopping. As we were wandering, my 5 year old asked me if we could get some Lucky Charms. I wasn't opposed to that idea, so we headed towards the cereal aisle. When we got there, I grabbed the family size box of Lucky Charms with the new unicorn marshmallows that my daughter loves so much and we were off. Towards the end of the aisle, something caught the corner of my eye and stopped me in my tracks.

That's right, trading cards on a cereal box! I am not the biggest MLS fan, but I like Honey-Comb and this particular box happened to have two guys that have featured on the US Men's National Team. I couldn't resist the pull of food issue, oddball cards!

There they in all their glory. It's not the most interesting design, but simple and clean is a good thing. Once I got home, I confirmed that the back of the cards are blank. These are a real throwback. They're going to have condition issues based on wear and tear to the box and due to how carefully they are cut out of the box. I am so happy to have found these! I searched the rest of the Post cereal boxes for other panels, but this was the only one sitting on the shelf. When I got home, I searched for some additional information about this promo(I was especially interested in finding a checklist). However, I was unable to find much beyond this article. Apparently, card panels should be found on different Post cereal boxes beginning in June. I feel like a kid again, wanting to hurry up and finish the contents of the box so I can cut the cards out and go back to the store to get some other ones! 

Today's find gives me hope that this could be the start of something beautiful. That something being the return of regularly issued oddball cardboard. I was especially hopeful back in 2016 when the Walmart/Marketside baseball set was released. Later that year, the Lids/New Era set followed and I thought for sure that oddball sets had finally made a triumphant return to our hobby. Sadly, that was followed by nary a ripple on the oddball front last year. It has to be a good sign that these new Post soccer cards have the Topps branding on them, right? Maybe later this season, we will find ourselves chasing a new Topps food issue baseball set.

No Mega Boxes? No problem! This find reminded me of my collecting roots and I doubt anything I would have pulled from a Mega Box could have done that. Anyone have any thoughts on this set? On the possible return of oddballs? Thanks for reading.

Some Tim Horton's with My Morning Coffee

Yesterday I received a cage that contained some goodies from Tim Hortons.

Those donuts look and taste like cardboard... Wait! Those aren't donuts, they're my first two additions from this year's Upper Deck Tim Hortons Hockey set.

Here's a closer look. It's hard to see, but the top of the Saad has some foil loss. No, that's not from where I tried to take a bite, it was from the tape that was used on the penny sleeve it was shipped in. At first, it frustrated me that the card was damaged due to incorrect packaging, but in the end it's not terribly noticeable and I'm really glad to have a few cards from this set. I'm thrilled that UD has continued its partnership with Tim Hortons and brought the set back for a second year. Similar to the inaugural set, this year's cards are not short on shiny foil. I, for one, love he design!

Here's a look at the backs. The only thing I would have liked better here is if they were able to include full career stats. After getting this first taste of the set, I'm hoping to pick up a few more in the coming weeks or months. Thanks for reading.

Marketside Pizza Set Update

My search for more food issue cards has mostly proved fruitless since my last post. However, last night I was able to find a single meat lover's pizza that came with an elusive pack of cards.

True, it was the not the most exciting pack I could have pulled, but it did provide three cards that I need for the set completion. Additionally, more details have surfaced about the specifics of the set. Most notably, the complete checklist is now available. Check it out here. Also, it is reported that these should be available in pizza boxes(when you can find them) through June.

At a whopping 50 cards, this set will be a bit difficult to finish, but I'm gonna do it. Hopefully I can avoid eBay as much as possible since most cards currently listed have asking prices of $8-10/card and even higher for the likes of Trout, Bryant, Correa, Harper, and Schwarber. I'll try my best not to flood the blog with constant info about this set, but I will say that periodic updates will pop up here and there.

Current completion: 9 out of 50 in hand, one additional card pending in trade. Wow, I'm 20% done. Too bad the biggest name I've pulled from the set so far is the Seager RC. Oh well, like I said, lots of pizza eating to be done! Thanks for reading.

Eureka! I Found Some Pizza!!!

Late last evening I was reading a post on Night Owl's blog. If you missed out, it talked about food issue cards. Almost everyone I've come across here in the cardsphere loves food issue oddballs. What excited me most about NO's post was the mention of a present day set being distributed in this way. It's true! Topps has partnered with Walmart and will be issuing three card packs of fully licensed cards along with the Walmart brand, Marketside Pizzas. Details about the set are sparse at the moment. No ideas how many cards are in the checklist, no idea what players are on the checklist, no idea how long these will be in the deli case shelves. According to Cardboard Connection, their best information is that the set is at least 24 cards deep because they have Bryce Harper at card #24. Of course, I had to venture out to see if I could track some of these down today. Walmart number 1...no luck. So I modified the plan of fun for my daughters and I to bring me into the vicinity of a second store that I could search. As I walked over to the deli area, I had little to no hope that I'd be walking away with any new Topps oddball cards today. When I got there, it looked as if my suspicion would be correct, but as I lifted a few pizzas to check the ones below, I struck gold!

Well, green, actually! I found three of these XL Supreme pizzas with the special Topps promo on them. I picked out two of the three(the box on the third was pretty torn up, so I didn't trust the contents). When I got home, I fired up the oven and cracked open these boxes.

BOOM!!! Before I continue with the excitement of ripping these plainly packaged gems, let me share some reservations about this program. I really want this promo to be a huge success! If it is, I hope that it bodes well for the possibility of other oddball card-food item tie-ins. In fact, I kinda hope that maybe Target has(or will have) its own exclusive set. Topps has been making store-exclusive inserts for years, why can't I dream that they'd do something similar with this? I can already say with certainty that I will be trying to build this entire Marketside set, regardless of how big it ends up being or how difficult it is to track down. However, after my first purchases I am worried about the manner of distribution. Why? Well, the pizza boxes are NOT sealed and the card pack is just placed in the box underneath the chilled, packaged pizza. I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this. I mean, we've got pack searchers in the card aisles already, it would be exceptionally easy for an unscrupulous collector to open several boxes and slide the packs into a single pizza that they intend to buy. This leaving multiple, specially marked packages without the silver-packed payoff! If the intent of the promo is to potentially bring in casual or brand new collectors deeper into the hobby or even convert non-collectors, you have to guarantee the card pack is going to be in the package. Maybe I'm just being cynical. Anyway, back to the important stuff, the contents of the silver packages.

Here is the first pack I opened. I really like the design of the set. It's mostly clean with a touch of 'Tetris' in the background. I actually like it better than the flagship design(and I'm one of the rare few that doesn't mind flagship this year). Let's take a look at the card back:

It's very simple, consisting of a short write-up about the player. Seager was the highest number card I pulled, so I venture the guess that the checklist will be at least 48 or 50 cards deep. Let's move on to pack #2.

I'm not sure I agree with the inclusion of Olivera in the set, but the other five are no-brainers for any size checklist. Each pack also includes coupons and a Topps Bunt code for a free jumbo pack within the app.

Here's what the coupons can save you. I'm not really giving away the Bunt code because both were the same and the fine print allows for 5 code redemptions per account. There you have it, a concept that I assumed was dead has made its return. What do you guys think? Is it worth the chase? Who else do you think is on the checklist? How many cards do you think are in the set? Sorry, I'll reign in the excitement. Looks like I'll be eating a LOT of pizza! Thanks for reading.

Enjoying Some Tim Horton's in Good Ole NC

These days, I don't make it a habit to actively track down hockey cards. However, I had read about the Upper Deck Hockey set that was going to be distributed exclusively at Canadian Tim Horton's locations and I was intrigued. During some recent treks through the Land of Listia, I began seeing some singles pop up. I found a lot of three that offered free shipping and I pounced on it. The lot arrived earlier today and when I laid eyes on the cards, I was so impressed that I scanned them immediately and here we are. Sorry to the trade posts that I am woefully lagging behind on, but this post began writing itself as soon as I opened the envelope and saw these beauties.

Here are two of the three cards from the lot. The scans came out pretty well, but they still don't do these cards justice. The lines are textured and the foil is very refractor-like. I really like that the positions are listed in both languages too!

Here is the main reason I went after that particular lot. I've taken my family to a handful of 'Canes games over the past few seasons and I've grown to like Staal pretty well during that time.

Here's a look at the back of the cards. It's a nice clean design. At the moment, I can't really think of anything that I don't like about these. After seeing these in hand, I know that I'm going to track down some more of these. They make me wish that there was a set here in the States that we could chase. Maybe one day here will be another Denny's Baseball set or McDonald's Football issue. Until then, I'll have to settle for this international hunt. What do you guys think of this set? Have you seen this up close yet? I'd love to hear thoughts on this one. Thanks for reading!