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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

2011 Allen & Ginter Box Break Part 2: Packs 2-4



If this post was a Wondermark comic, its title would be as follows:

"In Which the Box Was Killed"

Not much to say when you're completely out of Gint-a-Cuffs by pack 4. Here's the damage.

PACK 2:


273 Brent Morel
279 Jose Tabata
222 James Shields
AOM09 Ascent of Man Placoderms
AGR-ARA Alexi Ramirez
78 Luke Scott Mini
HH65 Adrian Gonzalez Hometown Heroes


Pulling a hit in pack 2: good. Pulling a jersey card of Alexei Ramirez: bad. This is why you don't buy boxes for "The Hits". You buy boxes for insert cards of Placoderms!  Saying it right now for all posterity: 2011 Allen & Ginter Ascent of Man is the insert set of the year. My crappy scans notwithstanding, these things look amazing. The subject matter of the set also pisses off my local school board something fierce, so there's a bonus. I'm not entirely sure how placoderms illustrate the evolution of man since the card back specifically states they went extinct. But hey, armor plated fish.

MINI CARD - Did Luke Scott make the Frankenset? - NO. Cockblocked by 2008 Ivan Rodriguez.

PACK 3:


228 Brandon Snyder
81 Yonder Alonso
194 Rick Porcello
104 Huston Street
174 Joakim Soria
322 Trevor Cahill SP
NO FRIGGIN MINI
MMF39 Samuel Colt Minds That Made The Future


Topps quality control strikes again with a missing mini card. Crap like this is why you have to pack search just to make sure you're getting what you're supposed to get in the pack. I'm looking at you, 8 card Heritage pack I bought from Target two days ago. Whoever pulls two mini cards in your pack, remember... THAT'S MY MINI YOU SHAFT.

On a positive note, I got a "Minds That Made The Future" card in this pack. These cards are frickin' sweet. This and the Evolution set are going to be the two standard sized inserts I collect out of this set. The rest I'll snag Braves and maybe a type card or two but I don't really care about them anymore. I can't care about them, because Topps has so overly bloated this product that Master Set collectors across the country are all committing suicide faster than a Hackergate whistleblower. Back in 2006 and 2007 there was one one-per-pack insert set of 30 Dick Perez Sketches. In 2008, we get 50 State flags as the one perpack insert. 2009, 75 World flags. Last year Topps was kind enough to keep their Newspaper Headline set at 75 cards. This year?  The one a pack insert is a 100 card Hometown Heroes set. But wait! It's not one a pack anymore, because you can also pull Scientists or Ships instead of  a Hometown Heroes card. So in summary, 5 years ago you have a kickass base set and an easily attainable one per pack 30 card set. Today you'll probably have three full sets completed (with SPs!) before you knock out that Hometown Heroes set. Oh well, I'll sacrifice any chance at completeness for a cool Steampunk looking set I guess.

PACK 4:


177 Aaron Crow
24 Kristi Yamaguchi
171 John Lackey
37 Fausto Carmona
AGR-TC Tyler Colvin
258 Howie Kendrick Mini
HH36 Gordon Beckham Hometown Heroes


A Cub. My second relic is a Cub. Not even a good Cub! A .105 hitting Cub! (are there good Cubs?) Ze box... she ees dead. I'd have to pull a cut auto of Jesus to pull this one out. One other thing about relics this year - do the edges of the swatches look burned to anyone else? Like they were cut by laser or something? The mini cards are inside the frames tighter too. You used to be able to slide them around, now they won't budge. The pack is saved by a colorful Kristi Yamaguchi card and the Beckham Hometown Hero. I ain't collecting them all, but this card of a fellow ATLien and Georgia Bulldog is neat.


MINI CARD - Did Howie Kendrick make the Frankenset? - NO. 2009 King Felix retains his throne.

I'll do my best to post packs 5-8 before August.

13 comments:

flywheels said...

Outside of cynicalbuddha over @ Collector's Crack I've yet to see a fellow blogger pull anything good out of their box(es) of A&G...me included.

moremonkeys138 said...

Wondermark is good stuff. I work for the place that prints their shirts (along with the other Topatoco stuff). Sorry about stealing your mini, I did get a pack with two in it.

dayf said...

SO IT WAS YOU

Since you work tangentially for TopatoCo I'll let you off the hook. Did you print the Giant Isopod shirt? I kinda regret never buying one of those although I'd never be able to wear it in public.

Mets88 said...

Oops some shitty pulls!

Play at the Plate said...

I guess all the good stuff is in the two boxes I ordered from the boys at Community Gum. I'm busting one of them tonight.

gritz76 said...

No, there are no good Cubs and yes, all the relics look a little burnt. I will be sending you a package real soon, like tomorrow, so if you need a place to dump the shitty Cub relic, feel free!

Nachos Grande said...

Yes the relics are burnt looking. And there is a 50/50 chance you'll get a pack (usually right before or after the bad pack) that will have two minis. That's ok (I guess) for people who buy the whole box but sucks for hobby shop buyers. In my boxes though, I was shorted five minis overall so you might end up screwed. I tried to help.

Anonymous said...

I'm really feeling the cut auto of Jesus later in the box.

Greg said...

Anyone else have boxes missing hits? I think they thought it would be ok to keep two, because they gave me an awesome relic card of Joba Chamberlain (sarcasm).

Dhoff said...

Pudge will always block Mr. banana-chip-throwing Luke Scott. Good choice.

Kevin said...

I've ripped six packs out of my box so far (I know, showing remarkable restraint). No hits yet, but I got Rasputin and a gorilla, so anything else will be gravy.

Commishbob said...

Wow, I don't even have my box yet and I'm already bummed out. Has anyone had a good box at all?

Kevin...word on the street is that Rasputin is a crazy big points card in Gint-a-C. Nice pull.

LOL, just saw my verification word for this comment is 'hydro'. Means I'm hosed.

Steve Gierman said...

Two Chicago relics and a bunch of White Sox? You dun stolen my box... if I had actually ordered one that is. :-)