2012 Allen & Ginter Wantlist

Made ya look. Here's the cards I need for 2012 Allen & Ginter.

compleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeete
Short Prints
COMPLETE

No clue what, if any, insert sets I'm going to bother to collect from this mess.

The Story of Larry Mudlin

Be sure to follow Mr. Mudlin at @LarryAwesomenes. Inspired by his own Tweets, here is his tale in comic format.

If you are COMPLETELY clueless about what is going on here and don't wish to solve the Ginter Code on your own click here for enlightenment.

If you enjoyed this comic you can vote for me right here.

Rapturous Blissful Joy of a Completed Page

This:

Plus this:

Equals:

First mini card out of a few dozen 2012 minis that's actually filled an empty hole in the FrankenSet. And howcome the mini card shows Chipper with a full cap

While the base card whites half of it out? It's crap like this why the blog is going to be 90% pony over the next month (or two).

THE RETURN OF THE SON OF FRANKENSET LIVES PART 3

As of right now I am STILL on the fence on whether I am going to get a hobby box of Ginter. I can probably get more cards by buying blasters or racks. I'd honestly rather get cards to build a set instead of paying extra for a lottery ticket to get some MOJO with improbably odds. But that would mean missing out on reviewing the hobby box packaging though, including the checklist and box topper. I'm conflicted.

I do know that I have acquired through nefarious means a small handful of packs. I've somehow gotten three relics so far too. Through loose packs at a Wal-Mart that was pretty obviously searched. I don't even know, man. I have enough minis though to start adding to my FrankenSet! Sadly none of them so far filled in holes in the collection so each contender has to knock out an existing card in order to make it in. Let's go through the first batch and see who makes the cut!

349 Danny Espinoza

First mini of 2012. Every time I see Danny's name I hear Peter Lorre discussing Mr. Spinalzo with Johnny in Arsenic and Old Lace. Throw Danny in the window seat! Does Espinoza make the FrankenSet?

NO.

I'd say there's a good 5-10% of the binder that cannot get replaced by any means and a Rubik's Cube champ is one of 'em.

155 Edinson Volquez A&G Back

Volquez is a Padre? When'd that happen, the Latos trade? I'm a bad baseball fan. Still in third place in my fantasy league though, even with updating my roster once every three weeks. Volquez has a good shot to get in with those dreads. Does he?

NO.

Black border Ben Sheets blocks his path. Ben is Brave now so he stays in the binder.

103 Alexi Ogando

Some Rangers dude! Relief pitcher I guess. In the set?

NO.

Stabbed in the back by Niccolo. Never go in against a Florentine when the FrankenSet is on the line.

20 Miguel Montero

Oh look, someone who is actually good. Will he be the first in the set?

LOLNOPE

It'll take more than an above average catcher to bounce Vladdy from the set.

77 Chris Young

Oh good, another Diamondback. This one's hitting .207! Blah blah set in?

YES.

Wait, what? Oh, there are three other 2009 cards on that page including Justin Verlander. Time for some variety in the set.

183 Darwin Barney Black? border

Does it seem that the black border cards have less and less black on them every year? Darwin Barney might get in just because of his name.

Eeyup.

Tommy Manzella was the only auto I pulled from 2010 National Chicle. That's enough cards of a guy who isn't in the league anymore for me.

286 Neil Walker A&G back

I see your Schwartz is as big as mine! Bat boner is going to be really hard to keep from poking its way into this set. In? Or out? Or in and out repeatedly?

Ok, I should just delete the blog right now.

Oui.

Pat the Bat gets screwed by Pirate boner.

289 Brandon Phillips Black border

Black border card of one of the best second basemen in the league. How can this not get in?

NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE

Card #289 in my set is locked in with Black Border Milky Way. This card couldn't even get bumped by 2007 Torii Hunter. Ok last one, thank goodness.

297 Justin Morneau A&G back

Horizontal Ginter cards are crap, but Morneau's a decent player at least. In?

MARK IT ZERO, SMOKEY 

Black border bowler ain't going nowhere.

Ginter Relic

I am having an EXTREMELY difficult time posting on blogger right now as the formatting keeps going wonky on me. As a result I have three huge Ginter posts in the works and can't get any of them written because I'm spending all my time trying to fix the HTML. I don't think it like me having 20 images in one post. I may need to scrap the whole thing and just do little mini posts. Here's a little mini post for you, a Rick Porcello relic card pulled from a rack pack.

If this post ends up with white blanked out text or an upside down image I may just need to pack it in and move to WordPress or Tumblr.

No Post? No! No Number.

Work is going to preclude me from doing a proper Ginter post this morning, but I'm not going to leave you hanging on release day with no A&G posts. Here's a mmmmmmmmmmini! for Night Owl who is having similar financial issues as I am. I'm still not sure about getting a hobby box of this stuff. Never mind reality, here's a mini!

I will never be able to see Huston Street in any uniform other than a green and yellow one. At least he's in the right state now playing for San Diego. What can I say about minis. Minis are minis, they look good. Here's the back.

Aah, the hated A&G shield. It's sad, the thing looks really good, but since it displaced my beloved Old Planter I loathe it like death itself. In an alternate universe where Topps doesn't screw up everything they touch I have this shield tattooed on my ass. Wait, what's this? Where's the card number?

Topps and their poor quality control. Um, I mean Topps and their eight billion parallels. I know there are no number parallels in the set, according to the wrapper they are 1:148 packs. No number A&G backs? Who the hell knows. I don't have time to look it up either as I need to get going to work. I need to grab breakfast and run.

Leftovers? Again? Aw, balls.

Sketchy Smoltzie

Bad news: I didn't get around to writing up my A&G post.

Good news: I scanned enough cards for a second A&G post!

Bad news: I haven't written that one either.

Better news!: I gots Smoltzie!

The sketch cards look much better this year. Less border, more card area for the sketch. I like the scruffy looking gray borders too. I haven't seen a horizontal one yet, hopefully they aren't as awkward as last year's sketch cards. Hopefully there aren't any horizontal sketches at all actually. Allen & Ginter does not do Horizontal well. Now that I've done some sketch cards myself, I really appreciate how good these look. It's hard to do something like this on a little tiny bit of cardboard.

Only pitcher with 200 wins and 150 saves. Another improvement on this year's Sketch set is the name of the artist on the back. I'm not sure about previous years, but there was no artist mention in the 2011 set as far as I could see. This one is by Chris Henderson, who has done artwork in many other sets, including Star Wars Galaxy, 2011 Topps and 2010 National Chicle.

There's nothing at all interesting going on tomorrow at all so maybe I'll get some writing done. On the other hand I still have beer left over from my All Star Game festivities (When Melky Cabrera wins MVP all the booze in the world can't help) so then again maybe not.

BRACE YOURSELVES

Ginter is coming...

Retail wax hit Wal-Marts and Target this weekend like the blitzkrieg hit Poland (Godwin'd!) and entire STORES worth of blasters have already been swooped up by bloggers. You're about to see a LOT of Ginter. I may or may not have acquired a few packs myself.

I don't have time for a full blown post, but I can give you a small taste of what is to come.

Melky Cabrera. How lovely. Dare I say Melky-jo? Nah, I'm not saying that. That's just dumb. So, uh, brace yourselves for more of this. A LOT MORE. Hmmmm... am I forgetting anything?

somebody else drew this I can't remember who. reverse image search it

Oh yah. Duh!

RIP Old Planter and Hobby Release Dates

To the surprise of absolutely no one 2012 Allen & Ginter retail popped up a few days before it's supposed to hit Hobby stores. Don't believe me? Check eBay. There's even a Heyward mini up right now.

I will preface this by stating that I very much like the fact that the structure of the A&G set has remained the same after all these years and that this year's design is a very attractive Art Deco-ish thing that looks fantastic. However, there are three things I don't like about this card and I like everything about every Jason Heyward card. First of all it's a horizontal card. Horizontal cards work in Allen & Ginter if and ONLY IF the photo of the player is such that it has to be horizontal in order to work. A batter stretched out in full swing. A fielder laying out for a diving catch. Hustling back to first on a pickoff is not such a picture. The card of my favorite player not named Chipper looks like ass because the put a vertical picture (and a really boring one at that) on a horizontal card.

The second thing I don't like about this card is that Heyward is a short print. Again. Fine it was cool last year, and I enjoy snapping up a bunch of Heyward short prints for 50 cents a pop because collectors got bored with him, but I don't want to be chasing short prints of J-Hey my entire life. While Allen & Ginter short prints are honestly not that much harder to find than base cards (Do the math, they are about twice as scarce in hobby packs and even less than that in retail) it does mean that I'm only half as likely to pull a Heyward card out of a box. Considering I was already seriously on the fence about buying a box due to apathy and financial concerns already, that was a pretty big blow. I think the final nail in the coffin was struck when I checked out the back:

Apparently Old Planter has been downsized. The Allen & Ginter backs no longer have Old Planter on the back. Now they have this A&G shield. I did a little late night research and the closest thing I found to this design was a shield on the back of the N44 World's Decorations set. The wacky front design may have inspired the from of the '12 set too for all I know. As you can see from my header. I freakin' LOVE Old Planter. And in a year where I'm desperately looking for excuses not to buy a set sending Planter off to pasture might be a deal breaker. Besides, have you seen the inserts in this year's set? Tall buildings? Military leaders? People of the Bible? You've got to be kidding me.

Ok, so the Sea Monkeys card looks pretty cool. I'm not buying a box just for a 1:12 chance at a case hit.