2012 Topps Allen & Ginter #209 Coco Crisp

The deciding game of the final LDS features the Athletics hosting the Tigers.

2012 Topps Allen & Ginter #209 Coco Crisp

In a series that hasn't had much offesne Coco Crisp is getting a lot of hits batting leadoff and playing CenterField for the A's. At age 33 Crisp is having perhaps the best season of his career. His 22 HR 119 OPS+ and 61 walks are all career bests. Crisp may not have arrived in Oakland as the prototype of the player the A's were looking for but he has become that player - improved OBP with a bit more Pop.

2013 PostSeason A's
Josh Donaldson
Yoenis Cespedes
Josh Reddick

2013 PostSeason Tigers
Max Scherzer
Miguel Cabrera

Sources
BaseballCardpedia.com
baseball-ref.com
ebay.com

Bucket or Chuck-It: 2011 Topps Allen & GInter Bargain Blaster

Your results may vary but a recent Bargain Blaster was definitely a Winner for team Phungo.

So yes if you get the chance to pick up a Bargain Blaster of 2011 A&G Bucket List it:

The box went for $11.99 + Tax at a local big box store. 

Phillies

2011 Topps Allen & Ginter
#31 Jimmy Rollins
mini #249 Carlos Ruiz
#179 Shane Victorino

3 Phillies cards one of which is a Chooch Mini.  The Box is a #Winner right there.

Minis

2011 Allen & Ginter Minis
Ginter Back #113 Miguel Montero
#171 John Lackey 
#137 Black Border Carlos Beltran
Pemultimacy #PP7 Antonio Salieri
Uninvited Guests #UG8 Winchester Mystery House
Worlds Most Mysterious Figures #WMF5 DB Cooper

I think 2011 is the last year for 1/pack minis in AnG. Starting last year I think the popular minis dropped to 1:2 packs with several insert sets moving to the conventional card size.

Nice set of non-baseball minis in ths box. I think I was actually at the Winchester Mystery House when I was a younger. It is kind of creepy cool if your a kid. That was during my first visit to California, and is likely the first time I had Tacos. Salieri is the Character played by F Murray Abraham in Amadeus - 2014 will mark the 30th anniversary of the films release. Abraham is still active at age 73.   


Box Hit??

2011 Allen & Ginter Mini NNO James Shields

This card is listed as #222 for the base version.  Not sure if this is a box hit or not. According to Baseball-CardPedia there are No Numbered Minis seeded 1:190 packs, but those are supposed to be serialed to /50. This card of course as no serial so I am confused.  Any Help Gintermaniacs?


Non-Baseball Relic

2011 Allen & Ginter #AGR-JNA Jim Nantz Jacket Relic

Kind of cool picking up this relic card coinciding with the US Open coming to Merion in nearby Ardmore PA. Also Nantz put together a Father's day related book and that sort of fits the present calendar.

2011 Topps Allen & Ginter Crack the Code #104 Huston Street

Special Crack/Code card with funkcy corners that make it look like somebody wrote on them.

2011 AnG Various Inserts/Notables

I think 2011 might be the first year that AnG had the full size inserts including the Floating Fortress (Le Napoleon) , Minds that Made (Dmitri Mendeleev - Periodic Table), and Ascent of Man.

#Winner
As I noted above 3 Phils including a mini out of a blaster makes the box a W for Team Phungo.

Unlike most other folks, I am not a huge fan of AnG. I find the design theme bland, but do enjoy seeing it each year. That being said, I find 2011 Ginter a bit busy designwise.

Another oddity is I find that Ginter is insert heavy, which I do find fun, but for whatever reason that doesn't seem to annoy collectors as much as it does for other Topps releases.

OtherWords - Other reviews of 2011 Allen & Ginter
Daily Dimwit - Hobby Box
Stale Gum - Video
References
Baseball CardPedia - 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter

Topps Allen & Ginter's 7 Year Club

2006 Allen & Ginter Chase Utley

A few weeks ago Topps Released the 7th edition of the Allen & Ginter product.  This coupled with the upcoming retirement of Chipper Jones and the recent move of Ichiro Suzuki got me thinking about the players that have been featured in Allen & Ginter.

The set is good size but at 350 cards it is not nearly as big as Flagship or Heritage.  Therefore most stars get included, but not all of them.  350 cards would average out to less than 12 players per team.  In addition slots are lost to non-baseball celebs, subjects, and retired players so the number of cards per team averages closer to 10.

Ichiro and Chipper are among the players that have appeared in all seven Allen & Ginter releases.  And up unitl this point they have always appeared for the same team.  If Ichiro sticks around to play in 2013, he very possibly could appear in that set as a Yankee or with another organization. 

I did a little resarch and found that there were 48 players that appared in every set from 2006-2012.  Of those 26 made all 7 appearances representing a single team.  The Cover Card for this post features Chase Utley who is among those 26 players to make 7 A&G appearances all for one club.   

48 Players to appear in every year of Topps Allen & Ginter's 2006-2012: 

	Player	Team			Player	Team
1	Adam Dunn			25	Johan Santana
2	Adrian Beltre			26	Jonthan Papelbon
3	Albert Pujols			27	Jose Reyes
4	Alex Rodriguez	Yankees		28	Josh Beckett	Red Sox
5	Alfonso Soriano			29	Justin Morneau	Twins
6	Aramis Ramirez			30	Justin Verlander	Tigers
7	Brian McCann	Braves		31	Lance Berkman
8	CC Sabathia			32	Mariano Rivera	Yankees
9	Carl Crawford			33	Mark Teixeira
10	Carlos Beltran			34	Matt Cain	Giants
11	Carlos Lee			35	Michael Young	Rangers
12	Carlos Zambrano			36	Miguel Cabrera
13	Chase Utley	Phillies		37	Nick Markakis	Orioles
14	Chipper Jones	Braves		38	Nick Swisher
15	David Wright	Mets		39	Paul Konerko	White Sox
16	Ervin Santana	Angels		40	Prince Fielder
17	Felix Hernandez	Mariners		41	Rickie Weeks	Brewers
18	Grady Sizemore	Indians		42	Robinson Cano	Yankees
19	Hanley Ramirez	Marlins		43	Roy Halladay
20	Ian Kinsler	Rangers		44	Ryan Howard	Phillies
21	Ichiro	Mariners		45	Ryan Zimmerman	Nationals
22	Jason Bay			46	Todd Helton	Rockies
23	Jimmy Rollins	Phillies		47	Torii Hunter
24	Joe Mauer	Twins		48	Victor Martinez

Some of the 7 timers on 1 team 2006 style:  

2006 Allen & Ginter's Joe Mauer
2006 Allen & Ginter's Brian McCann


A couple of catchers.  Both of which should stick in A&G for a while.     

2006 Allen & Ginter Justin Verlander
2006 Allen & Ginter Paul Konerko


AL Central featured here.  Konerko had a couple of seasons outside Chicago, but they were all pre-A&G.  A-Rod and Josh Beckett both fell into the same category - multiple clubs, but were with teams other than their current one prior to the initial A&G release.


Several players missed the 7 by one year.  For whatever Reason Derek Jeter and David Ortiz were not included in 2010 A&G.  I don't recall all of the 6 timers, but Jim Thome was one of them.  I think Huston Street was also in there.   



Sources:    Baseball-Card-Pedia
AllenAndGinter.net

Allen & Ginter Blaster Break!

2010 Allen & Ginter, that is.  Sorry if I got you withthe tease, but I found this A&G blaster at the Big K discounted $12.71 including PA Sales Tax.  Here are the highlights:



Some favorite cards and Stars (click any pix to enlarge):

2010 Allen & Ginter King Tut
2010 Allen & Ginter Buster Posey
2010 Allen & Ginter Raul Ibanez
2010 Allen & Ginter Matt Kemp

The Ibanez card was the sole Phillies card in the pack.  Kind of like there season - 1 Phils Card per Blaster, 1 Phils Win per week.

Short Prints

2010 Allen & Ginter Alex Rios
2010 Allen & Ginter Scott Sizemorer
2010 Allen & Ginter Jonathan Broxton
2010 Allen & Ginter Ben Sheets


Sheets is going to be back in baseball w/ the Braves I think.  Sort of a Phungo favorite. 

Minis

2010 Allen & Ginter Mins
Rafael Furcal
Regis
Jose Lopez
Trevor Hoffman
Olympus - Hades
Biggest - Mountain, Everest
Seven Seas - Francisco Vasquez De Coronado
Animals o the World - Bull Spain



Inserts

I got one of the two "This Day in History"/Birthday Cards I needed.  The Matsui Card celebrates one of the crummier days in recent Phils history - and it is a Dupe in the Phungo Collection - Fail.

Pull of the Month - July 2010 - All Ginter Edition

2010 Allen & Ginter #73 Avery Jenkins

As I mentioned before, one of my other hobbies is Frisbee and Disc Sports. For more on this check out my Allen & Ginter blaster break back from earlier in the month.

Therefore any Frisbee Card is card of the month for me. I mean I am sure that there will be Inserts, Short Prints, Relics, Autos, and Serial Numbered Cards in my future. But any card celebrating the Frisbee and the Great God Wham-O is a true Rarity.

I must mention if anybody has any of the other variations on this card, lets talk trade!




2010 Allen & Ginter World's Wordsmiths mini # WGWS8 John Milton

I am thinking about putting together the World's Wordsmiths Subset. This is the one WWS that I got out of several sets of A&G. John Milton was responsible for penning the epic poem "Paradise Lost". Within the early part of the Poem Satan utters the phrase "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven." This is the only thing I can remember from my HS English Lit class. The phrase became a bit of a mantra amongst my -mates during the years of my misspent youth.


Junk of the Month


2010 Allen & Ginter #54 Tony Hawk
2010 Allen & Ginter Monsters of the Mesozoic #MM10 Brachiosaurus

I actually like the Tony Hawk card. I lived in the town that Bam Margera (from Jack-Ass) hails from for about a decade. Regardless if you liked him or hated him, if you lived in that town during the Oughts you were going learn something about skateboarding.

Unfortunately this card came out of a retail pack bent. It was the top card of a pack from Target.

As I have stated before, I don't get putting big things on mini cards. The Dinosaur Cards perplex me. This one in particular bothers me because the Brachiosaurus has a waddle and looks like a chicken.

Past Pulls of the Month

2010 June
2010 May
2010 April
2010 March

2010 February

2010 January

2010 Allen Ginter Blaster Break and Review

2010 Topps Allen & Ginter This Day in History
#TDH1 Chase Utley/Wright Brothers

Time to open and review a Blaster of 2010 Allen & Ginter. First off I would like to state that this was a fun product to open. I sort of soured on Ginter in 2008. I was already building a variety of current sets at the time, and I felt that 08 Ginter was pretty bland. In general the A&G cards have a fairly plain appearance. For me the spice is in the oddball cards and the non-baseball insert sets - which in A&G do not feel out of place.

Opening a Blaster full of 2010 Allen & Ginter was just a box of good old fun - there is a History and or pop culture lesson in just about every pack. These packs actually even drew some interest from the future Mrs Phungo. Thats right I said the future Mrs Phungo. I don't really get into many personal messages here, but yes I am very happy to let everyone know that I have been given the promotion from Boyfriend to Fiance. Jo is on my mind a lot currently as she is traveling abroad for a long term work assignment and we will be apart for the next several months.

The Review
Product
1 blaster of 2010 Tops Allen & Ginter ($21.59 incl PA Sales Tax).

Specs
8 Packs @ 6 Cards/Pack = 48 cards.

Phillies Cards - Strike Out
ugh - 8 packs, 4 base cards a pack - 30 teams in the league. You do the math - one should get at least a single base card from their favorite team. I haven't really analyzed the checklist but my guess is that the Phils likely have more than their share of 2010 Topps A&G base cards. Well none of those have found their way into the Phungo collection yet. I did manage a Phils insert - see above - which sort of makes up for not getting any of the base cards.
2010 Topps Allen & Ginter (click to enlarge)
#73 Avery Jenkins
#145 Jim Thome
#264 Nemo
#277 Regis Philbin

Base Cards - Line Drive Single
The rest of base cards were solid enough. I picked up a good mix of Favorite Players, Former Phils, Hated Villains and Oddball guests. I think I would have handed out a Double here had I received any Phils in the Box.

I love the Avery Jenkins card. Until my late 30s I was involved in the Philadelphia's areas Ultimate Frisbee league. My legs, knees, ankles and resistance to staying in good shape eventually conspired to force my retirement. About a year ago on the suggestion of card blogger Lake Effect Baseball Cards, I took up a little Disc Golf. It's a fun hobby, we have a very short course near our home and get out to it a few times a month when the weather if favourable. If anybody comes up with the relic or auto of this one, let me know - perhaps we can work a deal.

Regis Philbin and I are within a degree of separation. A co-worker of mine appeared on "Millionaire" about a decade ago. I think She won $125,000. I can' t remember what question she went out on, but I remember there was a Question regarding Magnum's baseball cap.



2010 Topps Allen & Ginter (click to enlarge)
#334 Brett Myers(sp)
#302 Daric Barton(sp)
#311 Chone Figgins(sp)
#304 Carlos Pena(sp)

Short Prints - Ground Rule Double
A former Phil, plus Phungo favorite Chone Figgins. Is it me or are the Figgins and Pena cards recycled images?


Inserts
This Day in History - Home Run

Love this set!!!

2010 Topps Allen & Ginter This Day in History (click to enlarge)
#TDH48 Matt Holliday/Queen Elizabeth I
#TDH67 Josh Beckett/Women Suffragettes: Susan B Anthony & Elizabeth Cady Stanton
#TDH20 CC Sabathia/Andy Kaufmann
#TDH34 Troy Tulowitcki/USNA opens


2010 Topps Allen & Ginter This Day in History (click to enlarge)
#TDH8 Yunel Escobar/KDKA initial commercial radio broadcast
#TDH53 Nick Markakis/First Session of Congress
#TDH61 James Shields/Louisiana Purchase

Yes, I like this set, Plus my one Phils card was the December 17th Chase Utley/Wright Brothers Aviation card above. Not sure at 1 per pack I will feel this way down the road, as I will likely open at least one more blaster of A&G this year.

Sketch Card
2010 Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball Sketches #AGHS4 Mariano Rivera
I suppose according to the Odds, This is the hardest card in the box to pull. The Card is nice enough, Not sure who the Phillies rep is in this set.

2010 Allen & Ginter Mini
#243 Jim Zapp (negro leaguer)
#177 Pedro Feliz
#315 Bobby Abreu (sp)
#201 KF Panda (AnG back)

Minis - Ground Rule Double

Former Phils Pedro Feliz in the black border format, A Negro Leaguer. John Milton is a great Wordsmith - If I decide to build a mini insert set the Wordsmiths would likely be the one.

2010 Allen & Ginter Lords of Olympus #LO20 Thanatos (Personification of Death)
2010 Allen & Ginter Monsters of the Mesozoic #MM7 Spinosarus
2010 Allen & Ginter World's Wordsmiths #WGWS8 John Milton
2010 Allen & Ginter National Animals #NA3 Falcon of Iceland
2010 Allen & Ginter National Animals #NA34 Condor of Colombia



Not sure if the Dinosaurs work in a mini format - Oxymoron violation.

Overall - Double
Nice cards, Cool Subsets, Fun to bust - Only drawback was a low Phils count.

Philly Card Show Report - 2009 12 05 - Dime Box A&G

click to enlarge
2006 Allen & Ginter #270 Napolean Lajoie (mini)
2006 Allen &Ginter #271 Lloyd Waner (mini)
2006 Allen &Ginters #280 Bill Mazeroski

Just a quick note that I was surprised to see 2006 Allen & Ginter cards in the dime box. Not so much on the Mazeroski card but I never expected to see the Minis for under a quarter.

Tribe Cards Allen Ginter Group Break - The Phils and other Phun Stuff

Dave over at Tribe Cards hosted a great box break that was right in my wheelhouse. For a mere $5 one could get all the cards of a certain team out of a Hobby Box of Allen & Ginter. I obviously picked the Phils and was very happy with the results.

2009 Allen & Ginter #162 Shane Victorino
2009 Allen & Ginter Black Border Mini #151 Cole Hamels
2009 Allen & Ginter A&G Back Mini #68 Jamie Moyer


Love the Cole Mini and nice to get the A&G back Moyer mini also. The remainder of the PHils included Chase Utley, Jayson Werth, Jamie Moyer Base Card and Brett Myers.

There are obviously cards in Allen Ginter that are not associated with any team. These were divided randomly amongst the break participants.

2009 Allen & Ginter #297 Bowling Champion Kolan McConiughey
2009 Allen & Ginter #2 Zack Greinke

And some teams were unclaimed - that is how KC Royal Greinke ended up in the Phungo Collection. Bringham Young and Justin Moreneau were some of the other bonus cards that were sent my way.

Dave did a tremendous job as usual with the break. He went the extra mile by reinserting the cards in an Allen Ginter wrapper (pictured above) which gave me the excitement of opening a pack. He also designed a Special Tribe Cards Allen Ginter Return Addy sticker:


Thanks again, and good luck to the Indians - 2009 looks shot, but hopefully some of the former Phils prospects will be able to contribute to Clevelands Future.

2008 Allen Ginter Blaster

The crack research staff at Dinged Corners had theorized that the blasters for A+G may be frontloaded with hits and good pulls. I was interested in testing this Hypothesis and in the name of research, I picked up a blaster of 2008 Allen & Ginter at Walmart. This, as I said, is strictly research and definitely not due to a card collecting addiction. Yes strictly research - first some pretty pictures:

#212 Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Composer
#AGR-MYMichael Young Game Used Relic
#242 Ngwenya Takudzwa
TWGV17 - Worlds Greatest Victories Brown vs Board of Education

Obviously, the Michael Young Relic is notable and pushes the blaster into the Win Category - or at least it would if the card was not damaged - It is difficult to see in the scan but the protective plastic covering is bent forward in the bottom center of the card.

The first of the other notables is Tchaikovsky, My girlfriend is pursuing a degree related to Russian Language so whenever we run into anything in this realm it's a bonus - nice historical and cultural card. I found it a little disconcerting that Topps used an important historical moment like Brown v Board of education to hock their crack the code game, regardless I am glad to have drawn this card. Finally, the most Rugby player Ngwenya Takudzwa just to show you the toughness of this Allen & Ginter product.

Here are the details on the rest of the box:

Hit - Michael Young Damaged
Base 39/350
SP 4/50 (#324 Kotchman, #335 Phillip Hughes, #336 Allen Fischer - arm wrestling champ, #343 Bengie Molina)
mini base 3 (Jose Reyes, Lincecum, Teixeira)
mini A&G back 3 (1:5) (Miguel Tejada, Adam Laroche, Josh Willingham)
Checklists 2

Other Inserts
TWGV17 - Greatest Victories Brown vs Board of Education
US 18 - Louisiana - Papelbon
US 39 - Rhode Island - Konerko
US 46 - Virginia - David Wright
WDS5 - Mako Shark
WL12 - (1:12) Finland - Tarja Halojen (Conan O'Brien)

Base Highlights - A-Rod, Vlad, Former Phil Aaron Rowand, Maddux, Wild Bill Hickock, Grand Canyon, Chpper, Iditarod champ and former Pirates Shortstop Jeff King, Dickens, and Olympian Mark Spitz.

The Damage - $21.19

The inserts were pretty good. Looks like I may have gotten the GU Michael Young instead of a state card. The three state cards I received in this blaster were also present within a blaster break by Cardboard Junkie. There was a world leader rather than a base mini and I also came out slightly ahead on the mini A&G backs. Also one of the mini's was the Mako Shark for which I have not seen pack ratios. The A&G LaRoche mini overlapped a base card in the blaster. As far as raw numbers I came out with 52 cards (+2 checklists) which is 4 more than the 48 expected.

I had only picked up a single hobby pack of Allen Ginter prior to the blaster, this did result in a single duplicate of the Serena Williams base card. The mini from that pack was Lance Berkman - His base card was present in the blaster.

The big minus was that I didn't get one Phillies card. 39 base cards 6 minis 4 states and no Phils.

Despite this omission I am happy with the box - and based on the results I would have to agree with Dinged Corners. The relic puts the blaster above average - also the other inserts tended to run slightly better than expected.

2008 Allen Ginter First Pack

Made a Hobby shop visit recently to pick up supplies and random singles. Also picked up a couple of packs of the newer releases - one Allen & Ginter, one Goudey, and one Jumbo pack of Topps 08 Football. First off we will take a look at this years Allen & Ginter:


Not a bad pack, I like Halladay Liriano and Young. Getting Berkman as the mini works and I am happy getting my first non-baseball card (Serena Williams) in this pack. but wait that's only 7 cards - the packs says 8?!?!

Sure enough there is an 8th card!


Alex Rios Autograph. Sweet!

And that will also keep me from whining about the absence of Phillies in the pack.

Rios' numbers are down a little this year but he is still a fine young player. Most likely he would be a lot more well known if he played in a different market.

This Pack would probably get a solid B grade but the Auto boosts it up to an A easily.
Plus Auto
Minus no Phils
Grade A
Cost $5.30 (incl tax)