Buncha Lotta Ginter Cards

Now that the marketing push has moved to Chromey Chrome Cards I can show off a rack pack of Geentarz I picked up a while back. Wasn't as good as that blaster I ripped last year but it was nice. Short review of 2015 Ginter: Really dig the understated line art border that kinda looks like an ornamental door hinge. No gigantic team name clogging up the card this year and the Allen & Ginter logo looks classy as fuck. The pictures and card backs look exactly the same as they have since 2006 which is as it should be. There is entirely too much crap clogging up the master set, but the base set, base inserts and minis are all pretty great so who cares. I still hate the full sized Gypsy-Queen style relics but no one cares what I think so you'll get those and like them. The set is pretty much the entire reason I haven't abandoned this rat race of a hobby yet so I better fuckin' like it and howaboutthat I do. Yay Ginterz. Here's a pack of the stuff.

#118 Adam Lind

I've stared at this card for two hours and I still have nothing to say about Adam Lind. I didn't know he was even still in the league, let alone with the Brewers. He's probably been DFA'd or traded since this card was printed. I only noticed the ding on the right edge when I saw it in the scan. That's what I get for buying retail wax.

#263 Pedro Alvarez

My Pedro Alvarez card story: In 2008 or so Upper Deck put out a special retail blaster with Team USA relic cards featuring a bunch of prospects or whatnot. Pedro Alvarez was in the set and was kind of a big deal since he was the #2 overall pick that year by the Pirates. I bought a blaster, pulled a Pedro. Supa big sick mojo. Now 8 years later, he's an All-Star first baseman for a playoff contender and not one single person anywhere gives a single shart about a Team USA relic swatch of anybody, let alone Pedro Alvarez. I had a point when I started writing this but I can't remember what it is anymore so you figure one out and let me know.

#FSRA-VK MOTHERFUCKING BATMAN

Dammit, I got nice and cynical and then a cool card came along to help me remember why I like this hobby in the first place. When the Ginter checklist came out I did what everyone does and opened it up like an old Sears Christmas Catalog and went through and checked off all the cool things I wanted. Val was on my list! Ginter Claus brought me goodies this year! My first Real Genuis relic card!

Also - Obligatory:

#335 Collin Cowgill

I see this dude's name and I think of Colin Cowherd singing Love American Style and I don't want to look at this card anymore

#311 Michael Brantley

Michael's been in the league since 2009 and I didn't know who the heck he was which shows you how much I know. His nickname is Dr. Smooth which is awesome and should be his legal name and he should be allowed to operate on people if he wishes. Also, apparently short prints are no longer A Thing in Ginter, either by design or due to a printing mishap. Either way I'm OK with this.

#225 Thunderlips

Hoo boy. There's too many jokes and none of them are really all that funny so forget it. RIP Rowdy Roddy.

This was a Wal-Mart rack pack so this is the end of pack one. Target's racks squeeze all 14 cards into one brick which is a far better design in my opinion. The dings and dents on the top and bottom cards in the pack prove my correctness.

#141 Justin Upton

First Barve (kinda) of the pack! Justin joins Marquis Grissom, Kenny Lofton and Gary Sheffield in my 'great Braves outfielders who didn't stay here long but I really appreciated them while they were here' list.  

#116 Freddie Freeman

First Barve (actually) of the pack! Kinda rare to see a Braves card of someone who is still on the team these days. Worth mentioning is that the pictures in Ginter this year seem to be a lot more tightly cropped than in years past. Or maybe Freddie just has a big ol' noggin.

#SP-2 Albert Pujols Starting Points

Starting Points is the one-every-other-pack-100-card-insert-set Topps threw into Ginter this year in an attempt to make you rip MOARER PAX because you have to Collect All The Things. Jason Heyward has a Braves card in the set so it is my Insert Set of The Year 2015 winner. Also: Albert Pujols has been around freakin' FOREVER.

#WAS-10 Geocentric Solar System - What Was Once Believed

There are too many inserts in this bloody overstuffed mess of a product but dangit, I like all of the inserts this year. The quirky science sets are interesting even though 2/3rds of them feature bad science. The magical monsters and ancient weaponry inserts feel like a Topps version of Magic:The Gathering. There's also the obligatory cites and landmarks set but that's ok. The non-sports stuff is charming to me. This trading card is referencing Copernicus! How cool is that?

#292 Grant Balfour mini

Has anyone made the Balfour is a terrible name for a pitcher joke? Well I just did. I purposefully avoided the obvious political joke in the previous card's writeup so I deserve one groaner today. I haven't pulled out the binder to check but I'd give this card about a 15% chance of landing in the FrankenSet.

#35 John Singleton mini black border

The purist in me hates to say it, but I actually like the newfangled black border minis with the crazy designs better than the old-school solid black. Having the border design go berserk and overrun the card looks really nifty. This card definitely makes the black border mini FrankenSet because black border parallels are hard.

#43 Adam Jones

I still prefer this Oriole outfielder over the one the Braves poached this offseason. If I ever get back into baseball sims like OOTP I'll probably put Heyward, Adam and J-Up in the Braves outfield just because I can. Nice end to the pack. I didn't mention it before but I am really liking the multi-colored borders in Ginter this year and am looking forward to seeing how it all looks in a binder.

So in conclusion, Ginter is a land of contrasts. Hope you liked my bi-monthly blog post! See you this Halloween!