2008 Allen & Ginter Box Break Part 2: Packs 2-4

Here, as promised, are the next three packs in the box. No more packaging folks!

Pack 2:
204 Julio Lugo
150 Johan Santana
195 Russell Martin
241 Ryan Garko
102 Ray Durham A&G mini
US41 South Dakota - Mark Ellis
6 Brian Barton RC
198 Steve Holm RC


First parallel of a parallel in the A&G back Durham card. Does anyone pay a bit of attention to what's on the back when they try to build a set of mini cards? I can understand if someone wanted to collect all black bordered cards for the aesthetic value. Goths collect trading cards too ya know. I'd actually like to build a mini set where every other card was a black border. That way all the plastic sheets holding the set would have a checkerboard pattern. Also, Johan Santana is a) in a Mets uniform b) not pitching a no hitter and c) not ridiculously short printed (as far as I know). So that's nice.



Pack 3:
120 Derek Jeter
68 Frank Thomas
36 Michael Young
111 Dan Uggla
311 BJ Ryan SP
64 Brad Penny mini
AGR-JM Joe Mauer Jersey
Allen & Ginter Code Contest Advertisement
187 Les Miles

The crappy "Crack the Allen & Ginter Code" junk advertising card is awesome. It's like pulling a card of Old Planter. Two things I love about the Frank Thomas card: 1) He's in an A's uniform on the front, and it says Toronto Blue Jays on the back. 2) His forearm looks like a friggin' Virginia Ham. Good Lord, the man is huge. Jeter looks nice and smug on his card. Dan Uggla gets a horizontal 'action' pose. 'Cause he's a STAR, baby. He's caught too much shit over a stupid game that doesn't count. BJ Ryan has a sneaky look on his card. He's up to somethin'. All I can think when I look at the Les Miles card is that if we had just beat goddamn South Carolina, that could be Mark Richt on the front of that card. Maybe in 2009... Oh yeah, there's also this:

I could certainly think of worse hits to pull. A Joe Mauer jersey swatch is better than a kick in the junk for sure. I knew I'd get a good hit because I listened to this CD while busting the box:

Aw yeah. Ska MOJO, baby.

Pack 4:
35 Eric Byrnes
186 Jarrod Saltalamacchia
165 Justin Verlander
215 Aaron Harang
303 Jason Bay mini black border SP
US2 Alaska
272 Matt Tolbert RC
130 Tim Wakefield

I know I just posted the Byrnes mini card in the last post, but I love the flying dive on this card. It's no Torii Hunter, but I like it. A much better horizontal card than Jason Bay's card, which has about three miles of border on either side on his picture. Every time I pull a Jarrod Saltalamacchia card I think of Scott Boras and my blood pressure rises. Note to Frank Wren: The season is over. We are not making the playoffs. Trade Tex and his agent already. Interesting trio of pitchers in this pack. Justin Verlander is in the same bent over pose he's had in every Topps Set for the past two years. Aaron Harang once again looks like Lurch on his card. Worst of all, Tim Wakefield is shown throwing with a fastball grip. The only knuckler to stick in the league in the past decade and they don't show him with the knuckleball grip. Terrible. I thought I'd love the state flag cards, but there's too much player and not enough flag. I must admit I miss the Dick Perez sketches.



The box so far:
Base cards - 24/351 6.8%
Short Prints - 2/50 4%
mini -2
mini A&G - 1
mini black - 1 (1 SP)
State Flags - 3
Jersey relics - 1 (Joe Mauer)
Old Planter ad - 1