2010 Allen & Ginter Box Break Part 3: Packs 5-8

Four more packs! Yeehaw!

Pack 5:
88 Kosuke Fukudome
103 Niccolo Machiavelli
299 Robinson Cano (-1)
166 Chris Tillman
282 Tyson Ross RC
77 Ricky Romero
L01 Zeus (+3)
TDH41 Aaron Hill (+1)

ZEUS... and Niccolo are the only interesting things about this pack.

Number of packs without a standard base mini: 5

Pack 6:
246 Geovany Soto
48 Alan Francis
40 Carlos Beltran
124 Andrew McCutchen
169 Felix Hernandez
304 Carlos Pena SP (+2)
22 Lucy Mini black border (+3)
TDH55 Ryan Braun TDIH (+1 +1 = +2)
Crack the Code ad

Close only counts in hand grenades and horseshoes. In Gint-A-Cuffs, not so much. This pack is basically a minor star convention. Beltrans's past his prime, McCutchen's not quite there yet and Felix plays in Seattle which may as well be Bangladesh with the amount of coverage they get. I'm still pissed off at Soto for beating out McCann for the starting catcher spot in 2008. At least Braun provides some actual star power. Lucy the Australopithecus is my first black border from 2010 and I must say it is attractive even if it is miscut. I compared the border design to last year's model and I like it better. The subject art is a bit unnerving though. A walking hominid skeleton, surrounded by a pink cloud as if her flesh just suddenly vaporized right off the bone? Egads. Is this horrific card worthy of the FrankenSet?

YES

Lucy bumps a 2008 Chin-Lung Hu A&G mini out of the binder. I can't pass up a black border.

Number of packs without a standard base mini: 6


Pack 7:

280 Koji Uehara
128 Hans Florine
34 Delmon Young
151 Kanekoa Texeira RC
141 Matt Cain
36 Victor Martinez
SSS5 Francisco Vasquez De Coronado Sailors of the seven Seas (+4)
Curtis Granderson (+1 -1 = 0)

Granderson cards are wasted this year and that makes me sad. I must say that the Sailors of the Seven Seas are a damn fine looking insert. I especially like the sea monster. They don't hold a candle to these though. Some food for thought about our hobby. Delmon Young is finally really starting to show his vast potential playing for the Twins this year. His first cards came out in 2003 to much hype and fanfare. He didn't make is debut in the bigs until 2006. Now five years after that, he's finally starting to break out for his second franchise. Remember that, all you get rich quick prospectors... phollowing phenoms takes patience. Heyward and Strasburg are the exceptions to the rule (and you still had to wait two years for those two).

Number of packs without a standard base mini: 7

Pack 8:

236 Shawn Johnson
275 Clayton Kershaw (+1)
WHAT THE FUNGUS?!?

53 JASON HEYWARD!!!!!!!!!! RC (+eleventy billion)

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

This card can be found in the rookie case at Atlanta Sports Cards. There is a $15 price tag on it. Totally worth it.

And now back to your previously scheduled program.
276 Daniel Runtzler RC
19 Tommy Hanson (+1)
311 Chone Figgins SP (+2)
52 Gavin Floyd Mini A&G (+1)
TDH72 Jay Bruce TDIH (+1)

Heyward and Hanson in the SAME PACK. This box is a complete utter total success no matter what else I get out of it. Night Owl thinks she's cute, but the Shawn Johnson card creeps me out. TOO YOUNG. I don't want young girls in my Ginter. Makes me feel like a dirty old man. Well, I AM a dirty old man, but not that kind of one. Night Owl also approves of my Kershaw. Clayton seems to be following that little girl around... maybe he's the prevert. A short print of Fantasy Flop Chone Figgins and yet another A&G mini back gets a few more points here and there. Which means:

Number of packs without a standard base mini: 8

That's right,one-third of the box is done and not ONE standard back non-shorted mini card. And once I finally get a standard mini, there's a 300 in 301 chance that it is not a Strasburg. So all you people looking to pull one, despair. Despair! Give up and stop driving up prices on boxes, you ain't gonna get one anyway.

So did Gavin gain entry into the exclusive FrankenSet club?

NO

Blocked by a 2008 black border card of Carlos Delgado. Can't win 'em all.

Time for the post post-mortem.

Most interesting non-scoring card:

When I first read about Niccolo Machiavelli in school, I envisioned him looking like an evil villainous caricature with dark, menacing eyes and a big drooping mustache lurking in the shadows waiting to pull the strings of government to perform dastardly deeds upon an unsuspecting populace.Then I saw this picture of him and it turns out he's a PoliSci nerd. Put some glasses on him and he's Nate Silver. A fedora, Matt Drudge.

Coolest This Date In History:

 
The Heidi Game

It's hard to believe that sports programming was so insignificant not all that long ago. Unlike today's ridiculous, disgusting overkill.


Gint-A-Cuffs total:
Box Topper: 8 points
Pack 1: ???
Pack 2: 3 points
Pack 3: 15 points
Pack 4: 8 points
Pack 5: 3 points
Pack 6: 7 points
Pack 7: 4 points
Pack 8: 10 pints
TOTAL: 58 points + Pack 1's points

I said be patient.