2010 Allen & Ginter Box Break Part 1: Packaging, Box Topper and the Very First Pack

Ok, I have my box, it is all ripped up, I know exactly what is and is not in the box and it's time to show it off to the world. The first thing I have to show is all the various ephemera and assorted detritus contained there in, AKA the packaging. Don't give me that look, I always do this. The box top is nice. Old Timey player (Night Owl calls him Minty Beans and I believe I shall as well) pivots for the double play while surrounded by two cards you likely won't get and one you sure as hell won't get.

The inner flap is a tad disappointing as it is merely a reordering of the box top. The inside flap has slowly devolved in originality since I broke my first box in 2007 and next year it will likely be the exact same as the front image. 2012 will have a plain blank cardboard inside flap and in 2013, There will be no packaging at all, Topps will just throw a handful of packs into a used Wal-Mart shopping bag and twist tie the top.

Here are the interesting bits from the side panels. They are mostly the typical ad stuff, but there's a different image on each side for once. Might they be a part of the Code?

Grand Sailing Ship

Flaming Vuvuzela/World's Largest Spliff

Wild Turkey

Old Timey Astronomer/Prevert looking in the Girl's Dorm Window

These might actually be representations of some of the cards in the set. There's a Ship insert set... and I think something about astrology... and turkeys? Oh heck with it. Vuvuzela activate! BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

The box bottom has typical legalese. the left side is boring so no scan. Here's the box odds:

I have no idea how an N43 can be 1:3 boxes, a cabinet can be 1:2 boxes and you still get something in every box. All that autorelic crap does not land 1:6 boxes which is what you would need to make the math add up. Topps couldn't even answer their own Canadian skill test question with that mathematical shoddiness.

Now this is interesting. No more group A and B and C D E F G relic and autos. All of 'em are mushed up in a big lump o' autorelics. You can read all that mess yourself, here are only ones I care about:

Autos:
Tommy Hanson
Yunel Escobar
Jason Heyward

Relics:
Brian McCann
Yunel Escobar
Melky Cabrera

This list subject to change.

Oh, look. A serial number underneath the packs. I shall scan it and post it, for I am insane. These numbers are getting complicated. A&G never had letters in their serial number before unless they have always used Base 24 and just not told anyone.


Ok, just because I love you all and I have no idea how close I am to filling up my free Picasa photo storage here's the checklist in 400DPI.

Enjoy quickly, the nanosecond Google wants me to pay I'm deleting the suckers.

Ok! Actual cardage! I GOTS A CABINET CARD!

Topps does not in any Manner, make any representations as to whether its cards will attain any future value.

AIN'T IT DA TRUTH.

Did all you Strasburg Psychotics read that? Do you need CPR now? Ok, here's the card:

A MAN, A PLAN, A CANAL, PANAMA

Looking over the checklist, this is the absolute best I could have possibly done for a Cabinet card. Teddy Roosevelt is my favorite president so I can dig this one. Better than a cabinet card of Andrew McCutcheon and only Andrew McCutcheon.

All right. this is what you've all been waiting for. THE FIRST PACK:

But first, the odds:

Here are the odds and the number of said inserts you can reasonable expect in any given box:

Short Print - 1:2 (12 per box)
Mini Short print - 1:13 (2 per box, 1 if you're unlucky)
Mini A&G Ad back - 1:5 (6 per box)
Mini A&G Ad back SP - 1:65 (I suppose you could get one)
Mini Black border - 1:10 (2 per box, three if you're lucky)
Mini Black border SP - 1:130 (not likely)
Mini No number - 1:140 (still not likely)
Mini Bazooka back (not bloody likely)
Mini Wood - (fughettaboudit)
National Animals - 1:8 (3 per box)
Lords Of Olympus - 1:12 (2 per box)
Monsters of the Mesozoic - 1:12 (2 per box)
Worlds Greatest Wordsmiths - 1:24 (1 per box)
Sailors of the Seven Seas - 1:24 (1 per box)
Creatures of Legend, Myth and Joy 1:288 (The hell? These aren't on the checklist! Dammit Topps)
Baseball Highlight Sketch insert - 1:10 (2 per box, three if you're lucky)
Rip card 1:285 (5 other bloggers you know will pull one, but you won't)
Framed Printing plates - 1:799
Framed Cloth cards - 1:365 (Printing plates and Silks only come when you aren't expecting them. Are you expecting one? Then forget it.)
Framed Mini Autographs - 1:40 (Oh you're really hoping to pull one of these...)
Framed Relics - 1:11 (But you'll get three of these instead.)
Cut Signatures - 1:110,000 (Only if you buy one of those awful TriStar packs along with your box of A&G)
Monsters of the Mesozoic redemption card - 1:174,000 (It's a redemption, don't sweat it)
Book Cards - 1:127,875 (Why would you want this anyway?)
Frames  DNA relic - 1:200,000 (Is your name Beckett? then no)

Ok cards now for reals. TEH FURST CARDE INN THEE PAKC:

(note to Gint-A-Cuff Nazis - it is 12:15 right now and I need to post this quickly so I can go to sleep. I'll add up points tomorrow sometime)

73 - Avery Jenkins

Champion Disc Golfer. That's the way to set the tone for the entire break. Any sport that requires the competitors to grab a large phallus in order to play the sport is all right with me.

63 Matt Carson

After being mostly unobtrusive in their other releases, Topps now throws that Rookie Card logo RIGHT IN YOUR FACE for their most design sensitive set of the year. Graphic design genius, I say.

267 Martin Prado

MARTEEEEEEEEEN! Your Starting National League All Star second baseman. If you don't know who Martin is by now, you just don't know baseball.

64 Josh Beckett

I can't remember - is Beckett incredible or a bum this year? It's so hard to keep track of these things.

91 Carlos Zambrano -1

BOOOOOOOOOOOO! I'm playing hearts and I just took the queen of spades. Stupid Cubbie hothead.

AGHS5 Ichiro Sketch card

Screw you haters, I like the sketch cards. Not enough to rescan it when it got cut off at the bottom, but I like them. Ichiro's probably the best of a sparse checklist this year.

206 JD Drew A&G mini +2

Bluh. My first two minis of the year are Teixeira and Drew. Oh well, does this card make the FrankenSet? the answer is....

YES

A&G Drew bumps a 2007 Mike Napoli out of the binder.

TDH51 Gordon Beckham +1

Cool, a Bulldog for my first This Date in history. I think this will be my favorite of all the one-per-pack insert sets from A&G (No offense Dick Perez - your sketches are cool too)

Packs 2-4 will be up tomorrow. I hope.

Card of the Week/One Card Review/Wrapper Obsession/Chippah Worship 4-in-1 Post

TOPPS206

CHIPPAH

HERE'S DA BACK

Ok, Topps206 is out in hobby shops at least. I'm sure you can find a whole crapload of lots on eBay too. I picked up two packs today and was fortunate enough to pull a Chipper in the second pack, so he's card of the week. I'm still peeved at Topps for their black border bait & switch, so normally I wouldn't be giving them free advertising, but for this set I'll make an exception. Topps206 is Topps' tribute to the T206 set which came out 100 years ago. They also did a tribute in 2002-2003, but that was a warm-up. A warm up that looks a little better than this set, but I digress. The set constuction appears to copy the A&G formula with 350 cards, 50 of which are short printed. Nobody knows which cards are short printed because Topps is a real pain in the ass when it comes to releasing that sort of information. Far as I can tell from a five minute search on eBay, the base set is 1-300 and the short prints are no numbered variations with the player name on back and nothing else. Please let me know if this is not the case.

The design is basically a rip-off (the classy dames call it an 'homage') of the 1909 T206 set from the American Tobacco Company. A photo of the player is retroized and surrounded by a bronze line with the player name and team in the same color at the bottom. Very elegant and very classy, except when the retrofication went horribly awry which it did on several cards I've seen. The Chipper looks great, which is all I care about. The patch on his uniform shows the photo was from 2006, but I'll let that slide. A nice close up with magic hour sunset colors in the background makes up for it. I'm too lazy to go check my 2002 Topps206 cards, but the back design is extremely similar if not exactly the same. The card stock is a sturdier white stock instead of the clay stock used in the 2002-3 set. The stock matches more closely the original T206 cards and is pretty robust so I approve. Note the little smudgy bit in the middle on the card right on top of the "of the" in the text on the back. That little smudge is printed onto every single card back in the set from what I can tell. After sorting a couple of boxes, that smudgy bit can drive a sensible person stark raving MAD.

This is my favorite thing of the whole day other than pulling a Chippah.

I scanned that at 300 dpi, click on it and enjoy the back variation goodness. Look at it closely. Savor it. That's the only Carolina Brights back you're ever going to see from this set so take it in while you can. I absolutely adore that they made the backs a design element on the wrapper. TOTAL CLASS. This also made me happy:

Ya see that? That says Hobby EDITION. Not Hobby Exclusive. That leads me to believe that there shall be a RETAIL Edition. And my broke ass needs a retail edition of this stuff like you wouldn't believe.

This was another pleasant surprise. After reading everywhere that there would be 7 cards per pack here we have 9 cards per pack. That makes me very happy. Especially since one of the cards is wasted by a thick bronze border parallel. And a mini, I suppose, but minis are never a waste. So there are 7 base cards per pack after all!

Here are the odds. Everything spelled right out in black and white. Piedmont is confirmed as the common ad back, Polar Bear is now found 1:10 packs, Old Mills are 1:20, Cycles are disturbingly not much harder to find at 1:22 and the 1:1 Carolina Brights are one in every 56 boxes or so. That seems a rather low number to me, I hope Topps didn't short print this stuff, causing me untold anguish as I try to complete a set after packs get jacked up to 10 bucks a throw. This disturbs me more though:

Blugh. so much for completing the 350 card set. I'll shoot for the 300 base cards, thankyouverymuch.

IN REVIEW: Best set ever, no discussion. If you don't agree, buy a few boxes and send 'em to me, I'll take good care of them.

BaseballWrappers.com

I just found something insanely useful while researching a post and I thought I'd share.

BaseballWrappers.com has galleries of tons of baseball card wrappers. If I wasn't so busy I'd end up spending half a day in there checking out the old stuff.