On the Second Day of Cardmas...

I got more cards for me...

TWO RUINED CARDS

And THE GREATEST STICKER SET IN HISTORY

 

Who puts rip cards in the dolla box anyway??

The best card I pulled in 2013

This isn't quite as awesome as SUPER CAT from 2012 but it's pretty nice. On October 28th, I went to Wal-Mart to buy something or other and ended up snagging a couple of packs of 2013 Topps Update. Inside was this:

Very nice! But redemption. Who knew when it would arrive? Who know if I would get that card at all? All redemption card stories online are nothing but tales of sorrow and woe, how could I avoid this miserable fate? I entered the code in the Topps redemption thingy and hoped for the best. Last Saturday this arrived:

Tom Glavine mini autograph card numbered 3/10. I never seem to have problems with redemptions. The only time in the past 10 years I didn't get what I was supposed to get (a Jesse Ventura relic) I got something equally cool (an Erik Estrada relic). I guess if I have to complain then, um... the edges are a little chippy? I guess? Like every other card with black borders? But honestly, who cares. It's an on-card autograph of a Hall of Famer that I'm never going to sell and will rot in my collection until my heirs dump all my cards on Craigslist when I croak. 

This is a hella nice looking card, too bad there's only 10 of them. Tom's not in the mini base set, so take a good long look, this is the only one you're likely to see. I like that career stat line on the back, and also the authenticity legalese that is cleverly integrated in the '71 design. Can you find it kids? The only thing that could make this card better is one of those old hologram stickers that Topps used to plaster on their autograph and relic cards 10 years ago.

So a pretty good pull for 2013 considering my pack buying habits dropped drastically last year. Will I find anything this good in a pack in 2014? Will I even buy any packs in 2014? We got 11 and a half months to find out.

Joy of a Completed Page - A&G FrankenSet

@Project1962 also knocked out two more pages on my Ginter mini set with Brett Myers and Andy Pettitte. I have a small but legitimate concern that the moment this set is finished I will abandon Allen & Ginter forever.

Down to needing 18 for the set after discovering the local LCS has a stach of minis hidden away...

2013 Topps 1972 Minis & Cut to the Chase Wantlist

Too damn tired to write a Heritage post tonight so I'm gonna hit ya with another want list. Romney has binders full of women, I have binders full of half-finished Topps insert sets. As part of my mad rush to organize I'm going to pick out a select few I really would like to finish and probably start trading off all the rest. May as well start with the one insert set I really really really want to finish this year. I love the '72 design, and this mini set may have drug me kicking and screaming back into buying packs of Topps. May as well strike while the iron is hot and see if I can trade for some of these suckers and finish this one up before Series 2 comes out. So far I've got 19/50.

TM-2 Dan Haren
TM-10 Adrian Gonzalez
TM-12 Anthony Rizzo
TM-16 Joey Votto
TM-26 Ryan Braun
TM-28 Alex Rodriguez
TM-30 Curtis Granderson
TM-36
TM-37 Evan Longoria
TM-38 Adrian Beltre
TM-39 Yu Darvish
TM-41 Bryce Harper
TM-45 Cal Ripken Jr.
TM-46 Jim Rice
TM-47 Roberto Clemente
TM-48 Lou Gehrig
TM-51 Ken Griffey, Jr.
TM-57 Albert Pujols
TM-61 Brooks Robinson
TM-99 Ozzie Smith
TM-100 Eddie Mathews

1971 Minis
1 2 3 5 7 10 11 14 16 17 22 24 25 26 27 30 31 33 34 35 39 42 43 50

I've also decided I would also like to collect the Cut to the Chase cards simply because they is so purdy. But since Topps got silly and skip-numbered the set I'm going to skip out on collecting all of 'em and just do  enough to fill a binder page. I've got five so far, I'll take any of these to fill out the last four slots. If you're a huge Padres fan and would like to trade for the Gwynn, I'll be happy to listen.

CTC-2 Ken Griffey, Jr.
CTC-3 Derek Jeter
CTC-5 Paul Molitor
CTC-14 David Price
CTC-20 Roberto Clemente
CTC-22 Ryne Sandberg
CTC-23 Willie Mays

I Love 2013 Topps

I don't love it enough to actually write a post about it, even though I have had card scans ready for weeks now. I don't love it enough to spring for a box of it, even though prices are starting to fall precipitously. I don't even love it enough to build the set. I have a pile of base cards that I'm trading/giving away if you need 'em for a set. I don't love the parallels. The Emerald is not as nice as the sparkly twinkly ones from a couple years ago. I would like to get a pink one just for giggles, but those are numbered to 50 or something so I'm not going out of my way. I'm not crazy about the inserts either. They are a hell of a lot better than the ones from last year but other than the fantastic Die-Cut set I'm not overly impressed with any of them. Except one. One I love. Love love. Deep and spiritual love, not anything paltry or cheap or disgusting.

I friggin love the 1972 Topps minis.

I wants them all.

Here's one-fifth of the set just because I has them and I want to show them off.

 i loves them all my pressssioussss

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.

Obak Minis - Hobby Hot box vs. Retail random packs

No real point to this exercise,  other than showing off that I've bought a crapload of Obak this year. I wiped out the box at the local Target and they put out another one. I haven't bought that one out... yet. Here's my 40 minis. Your mileage may vary.

Oh heck... now I feel compelled to buy a normal hobby box for comparison...

Obak Hobby Hot Box

Base
3 Starlin Castro
5 Desmond Jennings
15 Smead Jolley
16 Johnny Bench
18 Jason Heyward
23 Jefferson Burdick
25 Eddie Cicotte
28 Rube Foster
29 Bernice Gera
36 Tinker to Evers to Chance
38 Eddie Plank
39 Todd Mcfarlane

Variations
3 Starlin Castro (slogan)
18 Jason Heyward (photo)
37 Sherry Magee (Magie)

Numbered
1 Dustin Ackley /25
9 Roger Clemens /25
12 Cal Ripken Jr. /50
23 Jefferson Burdick /50
37 Sherry Magee (Magie var) /25

Obak Retail Twenty Random Packs

Base
3 Starlin Castro
6 Carlos Santana
13 Crash Davis
18 Jason Heyward
20 Jim Abbott
21 Moe Berg
22 Wally Pipp
23 Jefferson Burdick
29 Bernice Gera
30 Connie Mack
33 Jim Bouton & Robert C Nelson
37 Sherry Magee
43 Claude Berry
44 Buck Weaver
45 Hulk Hogan

Variations
9 Roger Clemens (slogan)
18 Jason Heyward (photo) (2)
18 Jason Heyward (slogan)
18 Jason Heyward (photo & slogan)

Totals out if the two boxes:

Base set: 26/45
Variation set: 6/10
Dupes: 8

I did the math

And it was hard.

I am not good at math. I have never been good at math. In school, by the time I actually grokked whatever math concept we were learning, the class was already three chapters ahead of me. However, I am smart enough to know I don't know math, and am stubborn enough to think that I can force my way through it if I use enough formulas and such if I really, really have to know the answer to a math-related question.

This is one of those times when my curiosity, stubbornness and ineptitude join forces and combine to brute force a simple task.

I have to know the exact odds of pulling a non-short-printed 2010 Allen & Ginter base mini card OR I WILL GO COMPLETELY INSANE.

After a hobby box and several blasters I have noticed that base minis are few and far between. This is not quite enough to get me obsessed with finding out the ratio. What has pushed me over the edge is that damn Strasburg mini. You know, the one that drops at the same ratio as normal garden variety minis? Yeah, that one.

BUT WHAT WAS ODDS?

That's actually a good question, what the hell are the odds of pulling a base mini from a pack of A&G? There are plenty of odds listed for all the other flavors of mini cards, but none for the base minis. You shouldn't have to post odds for the base minis, should you? Those are the most common ones, right? Base minis are the water that the parallel sugar and the insert Kool-Aid packet goes into right? Well they don't seem so common this year to me, so I gotta find the odds. Here are the odds for all the other minis as listed on a retail pack:

Parallels:
Base SP - 1:13
A&G back - 1:5
A&G back SP - 1:65
Black border - 1:10
Black border SP - 1:130
No Number - 1:188
Bazooka - 1:376

Inserts:
National Animals - 1:8
Lords of Olympus - 1:12
Monsters of the Mesozoic - 1:12
World's Biggest - 1:12
Wordsmiths - 1:24
Sailors of the Seven Seas - 1:24
Creatures of Legend, Myth and Joy - 1:128

Did I miss any? Those are just the ones we have odds for, I don't even know about the Salty Sailors and Zodiac stealth inserts. Seems like an awful lot of inserts to me, in your average 24 pack box you're looking at pulling 10 of the common inserts. This is not counting the tough inserts or ANY parallels. So have base minis been squeezed out of the set altogether? 

I slept though the lecture on probability (and didn't understand a damn thing in the book anyway) so I'm going to break this down the best I can. I know that if I have 10 marbles, and the odds of a red marble is 1:5, then I can determine the number of marbles that aren't red, but figuring out the number of red marbles and subtracting form 10. 

10/5=2 

10-2=8 

So there are 8 marbles that are not red. Easy peasy. Now I'm going to do this with these damned A&G inserts. 

So I can do this without having to deal with messy fractions, I need to find the least common multiple of all these odds. That seems like a lot of odds, but there are only four numbers I really have to deal with to make this all even.
24 - is divisible by 8, 12 and 24
130 - is divisible by 5, 10, 13 and 65
376 - is divisible by 188
128 - is divisible by none of these other numbers
Finding the least common multiple of those three numbers will allow me to divide that number by all those odds without getting a fraction. Then I can add all those numbers up, subtract that total from the least common multiple, and then divide the least common multiple by that number to get the odds of pulling a base card from a pack of A&G. I know, you're confused. So am I. The only thing I do worse than math is explain how to do math. It should work out fine assuming I don't make a simple calculating error. Odds of that are about 1:3, but we don't need those odds.

I can't manage to do the simplest math, but I'm going to find the least common multiple of four large numbers? No! I'm not! The internet to the rescue! I just need to go to this site and plug in all the numbers. The least common multiple is:

1173120

Ok, that's a lot of cards. That's almost forty-nine thousand boxes. I don't think that many A&G minis were printed. It will work with the math at any rate, so let's go for it.

Base SP - 1:13 - 1173120/13 =  90240 cards
A&G back - 1:5 - 1173120/5 = 234624 cards
A&G back SP - 1:65 - 1173120/65 = 18048 cards
Black border - 1:10 - 1173120/10 = 117312 cards
Black border SP - 1:130 - 1173120/130 = 9024 cards
No Number - 1:188 - 1173120/188 = 6240 cards
Bazooka - 1:376 - 1173120/376 = 3120 cards

National Animals - 1:8 - 1173120/8 = 146640 cards
Lords of Olympus - 1:12 - 1173120/12 = 97760 cards
Monsters of the Mesozoic - 1:12 - 1173120/12 = 97760 cards
World's Biggest - 1:12 - 1173120/12 = 97760 cards
Wordsmiths - 1:24 - 1173120/24 = 48880 cards
Sailors of the Seven Seas - 1:24 - 1173120/24 = 48880 cards
Creatures of Legend, Myth and Joy - 1:128 - 1173120/128 = 9165 cards

These are not the total number of cards out there (although you could calculate that using the Bazooka minis - but that's another post) but it will give us an idea of how many minis are not parallels or inserts. First, we add the totals together:

90240 cards
+ 234624 cards
+ 18048 cards
+ 117312 cards
+ 9024 cards
+ 6240 cards
+ 3120 cards
+ 146640 cards
+ 97760 cards
+ 97760 cards
+ 97760 cards
+ 48880 cards
+ 48880 cards
+ 9165 cards
Equals
1025453 non-base mini cards

To find the total number of base minis, subtract:

1173120
-1025453
Equals
147667 base mini cards

Ok! We've got the total number of cards and the total number of base minis. Divide these two numbers and we have the odds for a base mini.

1173120/147667=
7.94

Let's just round this off to account for any stalth Zodiac Sailor inserts that may be floating around out there and the odds for a base mini in 2010 Allen & Ginter is....

1:8 packs

Now about that Strasburg...
If a base mini falls at one per eight packs... and there are 301 base minis available... the odds of pulling the Strasburg out of a retail pack of 2010 Allen & Ginter is.............

1:301 blasters

or

just over 1:100 24 pack retail boxes.

To put this in perspective, assuming my math is correct, it is easier to pull a Rip card out of a hobby pack than to pull a Strasburg out of a blaster. Of course the odds are the same for pulling an Eric Byrnes base mini out of a blaster so there's some small consolation if you actually do so. These numbers are for retail only, Hobby odds are slightly different and I don't have time to calculate them right now. If anyone feels ambitious, knock yourself out and let me know what you find.

Well, Topps didn't completely squeeze base minis out of the set, but just add one more insert set and they can still pull it off in 2011. So when you're out there in that shop or on eBay looking for Allen & Ginter minis, remember that A&G minis are the 'commons' in 2010 and that if you really want a Strasburg, you're probably better off just buying it at whatever inflated price it's going for instead of trying to rip packs until you find one.

Early A&G Blasters are loaded

I've gone a tad goofy over A&G. As usual. I ripped my fourth blaster last night  thanks to an old gift card left over from Christmas I never used. I have had pretty good luck so far to say the least. Out of four blasters I've gotten three relics:

The Jersey i already showed off...

A bat from a Braves killer...

And this nifty card of a dog and its favorite toy.

I think there's game used tooth marks on the disc too which is nifty. Three relics in four boxes is pretty good. If I remember correctly this happened last year or the year before as well. I could just be a lucky bastige, but I'm getting a lot of decent stuff so far in retail.

One thing I'm not getting a lot of is base minis. You remember, this is the mini series that contains the mini Strasburg Holy Grail. Well, out of 32 retail packs, here are all the base non-SP mini's I've pulled:

That's right, two. Two in four blasters. This is a pretty small sample size, but if the odds hold a normal, ordinary, garden variety base mini card falls one per sixteen packs. That can't possibly be right, can it? I've been collecting A&G minis and there ain't no way that the base minis (1:16) are really more scarce than the SP minis (1:13), can they? I'm starting to get obsessed over these minis now. Someone who has broken several cases or who has superior math skills please tell me I'm just on a ridiculous hot streak and that Topps didn't short print the base mini cards. Please? Anyone?

The FrankenSet awakens from its slumber

Now that 2010 Allen & Ginter is live and in my greedy little hands, I can start adding once again to my Allen & Ginter mini card FrankenSet. If you're not familiar with the concept of the FrankenSet, it's when a collector takes a bunch of similar sets that he has no hope of completing and merges them all into a giant unholy mess of a set where the only thing tying the cards together is the fact that they are somewhat similar in design and all have sequential card numbers. I have created three FrankenSets so far, but this was my first and favorite monstrosity.

I think I was inspired my Ben Henry's best of 1980's Topps concoction The 792, but while his was an exercise in checklisting, necessity was the mother of my invention. I had a massive pile of A&G minis and no shot of completing any one years' set. But by combining them all together... why, then I had a chance! I sorted them all 1-350, picked my favorite from each number and put 'em all in pages. I only need 74 more minis, but I could do with upgrades in many of the subjects. No, I'm not posting a list. I want this set to grow organically. I now have twenty-five more minis that might be able to fill a hole or bump another card. I shall spend much of the weekend getting my box break in order so I can finally add some new cards to the FrankenBinder.

2003 Topps205 backs

Ike's Cards enjoyed the 2002 Topps206 mini back post, and asked if I have a Topps205 version. Lucky for Ike, I did - it was just sitting in my draft folder. Here's how to decipher the ad backs on Topps205 minis.

Common back:

Polar Bear

Like in Topps206, the common default back is Polar Bear. In my experience, if you bought a box of Topps205 you could expect about 25 out of 40 minis to have the Polar Bear back. While mini cards were only one per pack, each box had a bonus 20 card box of minis as a box topper. Someone at Topps really liked Polar Bear. This is the end of the easy portion of this post. The rest will require  a Doctorate in Cardology to understand.  I'm collecting this mini set and I still barely grasp it.

Uncommon backs:

Sovereign

This is the default uncommon back. Unline the 2009 Topps206 set, there are no stated odds for any of these things. Out of 40 minis in a box you will probably get 4-6 Sovereigns in series one, 8-10 in series two. (I opened a few boxes of this stuff) Like the Polar Bears the ink on the back was black. However, that is not the only Sovereign you could pull.

Sovereign Green

It's a little tough to tell from the scan, but the ink on the back of this card is a dark green. 20% of the Sovereign print run was printed with green ink. That makes this an uncommon uncommon. Just wait, it gets worse.

Rare back:

Drum

Drum was the default rare card in the set. By default, I mean that it carried through to series two. Not all backs are found in both series, but Polar Bear, Sovereign and Drum are constants. These were found about 1 per box plus another one in the mini bonus box. These also have black ink.

Multi-Brand Combo

Also labeled as uncommon were a set of minis that had a combination of five different ad backs. While you could build a complete set of Polar Bears or Sovereigns, you con't build a complete set of any one of these ad backs. You could however build a complete set using all five of these backs. These were only found in series one boxes, Topps gave up on this for series two. These cards were slightly tougher to get than Sovereigns, but not quite as tough as the Drums. Here they are:

American Beauty

Cycle

Honest

Piedmont

Sweet Caporal

These five all have brown ink on the back, making it easy to tell these from the others. Like I said, you can complete a 150 card brown back set using all five backs, but not a 150 card Piedmont or Sweet Caporal set. I've never found a listing of which cards can be found with which backs but that might be an interesting research project. I'm not quite done with these though, there were also...

Multi-Brand Purple Backs

These here look slick. 10% of the total multi-brand set is printed in Purple ink. These are rare uncommons, and are actually tougher to find than the Drums. If all that is confusing, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Brooklyn backs

Brooklyn backs are common, uncommon rare and impossible. How can this be? Well, basically, Topps split up the Brooklyn set and made 25 of them common, 85 of them uncommon, 30 of them rare and 30 of them numbered to five copies. That's right, five. That's right, forget about ever collecting a set of Brooklyn backs. While the Brooklyn concept was kind of cool at first, after you pull four of the same dirt-common Brooklyn back, it grew tiresome quickly. You'll probably get about 8 in a series 1 box. I actually have a list of which cards are which rarity, so if you have a few Brooklyns around you can check the list and be disappointed that Manny Ramirez isn't a super rare one.

The last type of Topps205 back is the Bazooka back. These were 1:1573 packs and were also numbered to five each. I have never ever seen even one of these backs. Just for reference, the odds to pull an original T205 card was 1:336 packs. Isn't artificial scarcity fun?

2003 Topps205 Brooklyn Back Scarcity List

1 Barry Bonds uncommon
2 Bret Boone uncommon
3 Albert Pujols uncommon
4 Carl Crawford uncommon
5 Bartolo Colon rare
6 Cliff Floyd rare
7 John Olerud rare
8 Jason Giambi uncommon
9 Edgardo Alfonzo numbered to 5
10 Ivan Rodriguez numbered to 5
11 Jim Edmonds uncommon
12 Mike Piazza common
13 Greg Maddux uncommon
14 Jose Vidro uncommon
15 Vlad Guerrero rare
16 Bernie Williams rare
17 Roger Clemens common
18 Miguel Tejada uncommon
19 Carlos Delgado uncommon
20 Alfonso Soriano common
21 Bobby Cox MG uncommon
22 Mike Scioscia rare
23 John Smoltz uncommon
24 Luis Gonzalez common
25 Shawn Green common
26 Raul Ibanez common
27 Andruw Jones uncommon
28 Josh Beckett common
29 Derek Lowe uncommon
30 Todd Helton common
31 Barry Larkin uncommon
32 Jason Jennings uncommon
33 Darin Erstad uncommon
34 Magglio Ordonez common
35 Mike Sweeney uncommon
36 Kazuhisa Ishii uncommon
37 Ron Gardenhire MG common
38 Tim Hudson uncommon
39 Tim Salmon common
40 Pat Burrell rare
41 Manny Ramirez common
42 Nick Johnson uncommon
43 Tom Glavine uncommon
44 Mark Mulder rare
45 Brian Jordan uncommon
46 Rafael Palmeiro rare
47 Vernon Wells uncommon
48 Bob Brenly MG uncommon
49 C.C. Sabathia uncommon
50 Alex Rodriguez common
51 Sammy Sosa rare
52 Paul Konerko rare
53 Craig Biggio uncommon
54 Moises Alou rare
55 Johnny Damon uncommon
56 Torii Hunter common
57 Omar Vizquel common
58 Orlando Hernandez numbered to 5
59 Barry Zito uncommon
60 Lance Berkman common
61 Carlos Beltran uncommon
62 Edgar Renteria uncommon
63 Ben Sheets uncommon
64 Doug Mientkiewicz uncommon
65 Troy Glaus rare
66 Preston Wilson uncommon
67 Kerry Wood common
68 Frank Thomas uncommon
69 Jimmy Rollins uncommon
70 Brian Giles uncommon
71 Bobby Higginson uncommon
72 Larry Walker common
73 Randy Johnson common
74 Tony LaRussa MG rare
75 Derek Jeter uncommon
76 Bobby Abreu uncommon
77 Adam Dunn uncommon
78 Ryan Klesko rare
79 Francisco Rodriguez uncommon
80 Scott Rolen rare
81 Roberto Alomar common
82 Joe Torre MG rare
83 Jim Thome numbered to 5
84 Kevin Millwood numbered to 5
85 J.T. Snow uncommon
86 Trevor Hoffman rare
87 Jay Gibbons uncommon
88 Mark Prior common
89 Rich Aurilia rare
90 Chipper Jones uncommon
91 Richie Sexson rare
92 Gary Sheffield uncommon
93 Pedro Martinez rare
94 Rodrigo Lopez uncommon
95 Al Leiter uncommon
96 Jorge Posada common
97 Luis Castillo rare
98 Aubrey Huff common
99 A.J. Pierzynski uncommon
100 Ichiro Suzuki uncommon
101 Eric Chavez uncommon
102 Brett Myers uncommon
103 Jason Kendall uncommon
104 Jeff Kent numbered to 5
105 Eric Hinske uncommon
106 Jacque Jones uncommon
107 Phil Nevin rare
108 Roy Oswalt rare
109 Curt Schilling uncommon
110 Nomar Garciaparra rare
111 Garret Anderson uncommon
112 Eric Gagne uncommon
113 Javier Vazquez uncommon
114 Jeff Bagwell uncommon
115 Mike Lowell common
116 Carlos Pena uncommon
117 Ken Griffey Jr. rare
118 Tony Batista rare
119 Edgar Martinez uncommon
120 Austin Kearns common
121 Jason Stokes numbered to 5
122 Jose Reyes numbered to 5
123 Rocco Baldelli numbered to 5
124 Joe Borchard numbered to 5
125 Joe Mauer numbered to 5
126 Gavin Floyd numbered to 5
127 Mark Teixeira numbered to 5
128 Jeremy Guthrie numbered to 5
129 B.J. Upton uncommon
130 Khalil Greene numbered to 5
131 Hanley Ramirez RC rare
132 Andy Marte RC uncommon
133 J.D. Durbin RC numbered to 5
134 Jason Kubel RC numbered to 5
135 Craig Brazell RC numbered to 5
136 Bryan Bullington RC rare
137 Jose Contreras RC numbered to 5
138 Brian Burgamy RC rare
139 Evel Bastida-Martinez RC numbered to 5
140 Joey Gomes RC numbered to 5
141 Ismael Castro RC numbered to 5
142 Travis Wong RC numbered to 5
143 Michael Garciaparra RC numbered to 5
144 Arnaldo Munoz RC uncommon
145 Louis Sockalexis XRC numbered to 5
146 Richard Hoblitzell numbered to 5
147 George Graham numbered to 5
148 Hal Chase numbered to 5
149 John McGraw numbered to 5
150 Bobby Wallace numbered to 5

Quarter Box Bounty - Part 5 A&G Minis

There were a whole bunch of Allen & Ginter Minis in that quarter box, after announcing to the world where the place is I fully expect them to be gone the next time I go there. I picked up 12 of them, 7 of which were base minis. I only picked cards I thought had an excellent chance of making my mini binder. No sense in buying a crummy mini just to throw it into the reject box. Here are my 7 and if they made it in or not.

Red Moore

Did it make it? Yes

Did it bump someone out? Yes

Who was it? 2006 Todd Helton

This card was in the binder no matter what. My favorite card of 2009. The only card that could have possibly kept it out would be the '07 Torii Hunter.

Herb Simpson

Did it make it? No

Who kept him out? 2006 Black Border Johnny Pesky

I was very disappointed that Herb didn't make the set. Black bordered cards are really hard to bump out of the binder though. I need to find one of the many Red Sox Fans out there to trade me something cool for that Pesky. Either that or add one more page to the binder for "close but no cigar" cards. An utterly fantastic 2008 Bob Motley card is not in the binder either and that might be the best of that set. The guy keeping him out? Torii, of course.

Adam LaRoche Black Border

Did it make it? Yes

Did it bump someone out? No - Open Space

How do you get a black border Roachy in Atlanta for a quarter?? Man people here are fickle. No hard decisions here, that space in the binder was wide open.

Andy LaRoche

Did it make it? Yes

Did it bump someone out? No - Open Space

The LaRoche bros. both filled up an open spot in the binder. I would have gotten Andy even without the nepotism as he is a short print mini. Minis #301-350 are not easy to track down.

Cliff Lee

Did it make it? Yes

Did it bump someone out? Yes

Who was it? 2008 Carlos Gomez

See what I mean about Carlos Gomez? He's everywhere. No way he's keeping out a pitcher like Lee. I've got 2008 minis coming out of my ears too, so they are easy to bump.

Tim Lincecum

Did it make it? Yes

Did it bump someone out? No - Open Space

The only mini card I got that wasn't a Negro Leaguer, Short Print or Black Border. I figured 420 Lincy could hold his own with any mini card. Tim got all ready to fight it out for nothing as he filled an open slot in the binder. Amazingly, I still do not have a single completed page, even though most of the pages have at least 12 cards out of 15.

Chris Young

Did it make it? No

Who kept him out? 2008 Matt Diaz

It's a short print, but I just don't like this card. Chris looks like he's up to no good and this was the first double SP for me from 2009. He ain't knocking out no Brave, that's for sure. Matt Diaz is quickly becoming the 21st century outfield version of Bruce Benedict. The Braves keep bringing in outfielders and Matt just keeps on producing.

I'll finish this up tomorrow if I can wake up early enough. I've got other stuff I want to post.