2011 Allen & Ginter Box Break Part 5: Packs 13-24

All righty then. After essentially dropping the blog because there was too much stuff to do and not enough time and I really didn't care anymore anyway, I returned triumphantly on a herd of Little Ponies refreshed and renewed. And then started 14 more projects that I'm already hopelessly behind on and I still have no time whatsoever for any of them.

BUT - before I start neglecting all of those new projects I need to knock out one old one just for my peace of mind. The blog started in December '06 but it didn't really get cooking until I opened my very first hobby box  of Allen & Ginter in the summer of 2007. Since then I have meticulously opened a hobby box every single year including the one where I had to mug an old lady of her Social Security check just to be able to afford one. What? That food would have just made her fat anyway.

My 2011 box break did not go swimmingly. There were two awful relics in the first four packs. I don't like the design this year. The product released right when I hit the peak of my absolute disgust with baseball cards.  I got through half the box and gave up. Now that I'm in a better place collecting-wise, I want to knock this off my to-do list. Who knows? I might even bust a hobby box of 2012 A&G next year.

What I have no interest in is scanning all those damn cards. Eff that with a rusty chainsaw. Instead, I spread out all the packs over my immaculately clean desk. The same one all the Macigks come from. Behold my workspace:

This gif is seriously the best thing to watch while listening to techno music. It goes with anything.

My camera phone is kinda crappy, so I took closeup photos of each individual pack for those of you with older eyes or ones with bad eyesight. I guess I'll list the cards in each pack too. You all are so needy.

Pack 13

Mini Tasmainian Devil
J-HEY SHORT PRINT!!!11!1!!
Cheryl Burke
Pedro Ciriaco
Xavier Nady
Matt Garza
Yovani Gallardo
Floating Fortresses Mary Rose

Rarity is as surprised as I was when I saw J-Hey. Short print, dancing queen and 2 inserts in one pack. Not too shabby.

Pack 14

Mini A&G Supernanny
Jeremy Jeffress
Mark Trumbo
Scott Kazmir
Hanley Ramirez
King Felix jersey
Hometown Hero Brandon Morrow

If you're female, is it a prerequisite that you have to be in a Reality Show in order to get in this set? Felix is the best relic BY FAR I got in the box but I'm not attached to it at all.

Pack 15

Mini Babushka Lady
Smilin' Stan Lee
Michael Cuddyer
Ben Revere
Chone Figgins
Marco Scutaro
Aaron Hill
HH David Price

THIS is how apathetic I was about these damn cards. J-Hey, Smilin' Stan and a King Felix relic and I still couldn't be arsed to write a post about these packs. Stan's become one of my favorite cards in the entire brand though. There's a spoiler to one of my 14 projects in this pic somewhere

Pack 16

Mini SP Alex Gordon
Jordan Zimmerman
Joey Votto
Josh Johnson
Curtis Granderson
Edwin Jackson Code Bullcrap Thingy
Ascent of Man Chordates
HH Dexter Fowner

Anyone figured out that code thingy yet? I haven't been paying attention. Someone e-mail Clay Luraschi*  "BE SURE TO DRINK YOUR OVALTINE" you might end up winning...

Pack 17

Mini SP John Buck
Jeremy Hellickson
Ozzie Martinez
Nick Swisher
Ian Desmond
Neftali Feliz
John Lester SP
HH Josh Hamilton

I used that ruler in 9th grade! I used that sharpie to write the address on my Nightmares On Carboard package! I still need to post that trade package! I still need to post ALL my trade packages! I never throw out my scratch paper! Short prints, blah blah. Hambone's from Raleigh?

Pack 18

Mini SP Gio Gonzalez
Ryan Howard
Ricky Romero
Carlos Ruiz
Miguel Cabrera
Jayson Werth SP
Dallas Braden Sketch
HH Danny Valencia
Code Ad Thingy

Ponies, stickers, Knucksie, Braves stadium cup from 2009, 5-Hour Energy, mini SP, big SP, sketch. I'm including the mini SPs in my main set this year. They're more common than the big ones.

Pack 19

Mini Aristocratic Freeloader Nuptuals with border as black as their souls
Jimmy Rollins
Wade Davis
Jose Reyes
Miguel Montero
Elvis Andrus
Brett Wallace SP
HH Derek Lowe

Does Kate Middleton have a reality show? Give her time... I probably could have sold that mini for big bucks a few months ago, couldn't I? Drats. Derek Lowe is the new Kenshin Kawakami.

Pack 20

Mini Snake Charming
Annika Sorenstam
Jered Weaver
Carl Crawford
Jonathan Broxton
Pablo Sandoval
Ryan Ludwick SP
Floating Fortresses La Gloire

Hooray! An actual female athlete! And a snake charmer and a boat! I can't take photos for crap, can I? Can't blame this one on the camera phone. If you squnit, you can see my Jack Daniels shotglass and the place where bad ponies go.

Pack 21

Mini Tonto is not the second to last one of anything ever
George W Bush
Carl Crawford
Alfonso Soriano
John Axford
Shin-Soo-Choo
AOM Hominoidea
HH Carl Crawford

Carl Crawford hot pack. What the smeg does Tonto have to do with Penultimacy? Someone e-mail Clay Luraschi**  "PENULTIMATE DOES NOT MEAN WHAT YOU THINK IT MEANS" and you might win the Ginter Code if it hasn't already been won. Not even going to comment on Topps' putting G-Dub and a monkey in the same pack. Too close to election season for that.

Pack 22

Mini A&G Clay Buchholz
Evan Longoria
Lou Holtz
Carlos Pena
Marc Forgione
Drew Storen SP
HH Adam Wainwright

I'm a FAN of Allen & Ginter. Waka waka waka! There's a blaster of the stuff in the upper left corner I never bothered to post either. Not doing this again most likely though. I'm not entirely sure that mohawk + rapidly receding hairline is a good look, but what the hell do I know. Oh yeah, when Adam Wainwright went down this year I wrote off the Cardinals. That's what I know.

Pack 23

Mini Lars Anderson
Andrew Romine
Jo Frost
Kendrys Morales
Jonathan Papelbon
Nelson Cruz
Russell Martin SP
HH Jerek Deter

Two Yankees, Two Sox and a Nanny. Oy Gevalt. An actual non-short print non-parallel mini found its way into the pack at least. Those peanuts in the corner were purchased at the Braves-Phillies game the last series of the year. I munched the last of them while creating this post. No more ballpark peanuts for 6 months ;_;

Pack 24

Mini A&G Dan Haren
Mini Toto has as much to do with Penultimacy as Tonto, nice one Topps. Buy a f@$&ing dictionary
Carlos Zambrano
Casey McGeehee
Heath Bell
Jair Jurrjens
Eric Sogard
AOM Homininae
HH CJ Wilson

Penultimacy isn't even a word

The missing mini from pack 2 or 3 or whatever showed up in here. I got a gorilla too! That box on the left is an Ashton VSG Torpedo cigar box. I got it for two bucks at a cigar shop in Alpharetta and it makes a fantastic pencil case. Nope, I don't really have anything more to say about cards. I guess it's time to put the set in a binder. And make a want list. And put the minis in my FrankenSet. DAMMIT. This post was supposed to get things off my To-Do list!

*Does he still work for Topps? I really haven't been paying attention.
** I really have no idea.