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

2012 Topps Update Gold HoF Plaques - Mike Schmidt (Looks like a freaky Anime Alien)

Cardboard Connection recenlty posted the faux-relic series of Hall of Fame plaque cards featured in 2012 Topps U&H.  These I think essentially replaced the All-Star Patch cards from years past.  The sole Phillies player on the checker is Mike Schmidt.

2012 Topps Update Hall of Fame Plaques #HOF-MS Mike Schmidt (image swiped from Cardboard Connection)

I spot checked a few of the cards and the headshot/plaque portion of the cards all have a freaky alien/anime appearance on these preview images.

While Schmidt is the only true Phils player a card was issued for, there is also a Cubs card issued of Ryne Sandberg who spent a September callup with the Phils prior to starting the Chicago portion of his HoF career.  Semi-related Sandberg once again got the call from the Phils today as he was promoted to be the third base coach w/ the big club.

2013 Topps Preview

The upcoming (By upcoming I mean over 4 months from now) release of 2013 Topps has been previewed in several outlets. 

This has been covered by several other bloggers - Chris of Stale Gum has his comments here - he once again campaigns against gimmicks and brings up some other interesting points regarding insert flooding and other issues.  

The 9 page Topps Sell Sheet can be found here.   

My first impression is that the base cards are too bland too white.  They aren't as boring as 2012 Topps but there is not much interesting in the design.  It is a design w/ potential.  The Parallels on the sell sheet do pop a bit.  They stand out after seeing the minimalism of the base cards.  The blank borders on 2013 Topps seem even larger then previously releases.  

Phillies

2013 Topps Preview - Chasing History Relic Mike Schmidt

Recently the teasers have featured a lot of Phillies including Ryan Howard and Roy Halladay.  For 2013 quite appropriately after their tough 2012 season, the current Phils have been banished.  Topps did reach back to Mike Schmidt to show us what one of the relic inserts will look like. 

Are there any Relic Collectors out there?

The first relic I pulled when I retunred to collecting was exciting.  That was the last time I was excited about relics.  The Schmidt card above is fine enough looking but other than noting he is a Phillies player nothing about seeing it on the sell sheet makes me look forwrd to 2013 Topps.

Swag from Sports Locker

James over at Sports Locker was good enough to contribute the above Robin Roberts Patch Card to the Phungo Collection. I am sure that you are all familiar with Sports Locker, but I just want to nudge everyone to check in over there to keep up with goings on and information regarding the National which is being held in Baltimore this year. James has taken the blogosphere lead in publicizing the event to collectors, and I am hoping to make it down to the show this year.

He pulled from a 2010 Topps pack. I believe that these may have come in the Target Blasters this year and represent each All-Star Game. This card commemorates the 1953 All-Star Game which was played a Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

Here is a close up of the patch showing the Old School Cincinnati Redstockings character.



You can sort of make out Cincinnati, 1953, and All-Star Game all on the patch.

Robin Roberts pitched 3 innings of shutout ball during the 1953 All-Star game which was one of 5 All-Star games started by Roberts.

The NL took the game 5-1 with Pee Wee Reese contributing 2 RBIs and while collecting the games only extra-base hits.

Thanks again to the good folks over at Sports Locker for adding this fine patch to the Phungo Collection.

Troll Swag

Interrupting the parade of 2010 Topps articles for this Trade Posting. Collective Troll and I had a relic swap and added some other cards to the mix.

Captain Bacon was good enough to send over a bunch of 2008 Heritage:


2008 Topps Heritage #380 Ryan Howard
2008 Topps Heritage #300 Chase Utley

Thanks to Collective Troll as well as several other contributors I have been able to knock down my 2008 Heritage Want List significantly since delving into this only 3 months ago. I am building the set through #425 and currently only need 29 more cards (93%).

There were also several Phillies star cards in the Troll package including many from different Heritage/Retro sets.

2007 Topps Wal Mart #WM11 Ryan Howard
2008 Topps Heritage t205 mini #HTCP10 Ryan Howard


2002 Topps Heritage #179 Pat Burrell
2003 Topps Heritage #11 Pat Burrell

Now that he is no longer a Phils player, it feels like all of the Burrell cards are Retro Cards in some way.

And finally the Relics.

2009 Topps All Star Event Worn Jersey Relic #AST-17 Shane Victorino (#d 9/50)
2001 UD Decade 1970s #B-GM Garry Maddox Bat Relic

I like the design of the Victorino Relic. I have no idea what the St Louis Skyline looks like but I think this is a decent idea for an all-star card - even if on the flip side it states the card is "Event Worn"

I have started a Garry Maddox player collection, which I have yet to cover on this blog, but will at some point. Finding Autos and Relics of players like Maddox who played pre-1990s and were very good but not Hall of Famers is a task. This is one of the few, possibly only Garry Maddox card that contains a relic.

Is this non-sports swatch worth $1300?

A six volume 3500 page Autobiography of Hugh Hefner has recently been published. This article in the Philadelphia Inquirer has more details on the book(s).

What caught my attention and may be interesting to trading card collectors - aside from the fact that most card collectors are male and have some degree of respect for Mr Hefner - is that each of the 1500 serial numbered copies will contain this bonus:

Special bonus: includes a 7 x 7 cm piece of Hef’s legendary silk pajamas.

First Baseball Cards contained Relics now they are part of $1300 books.

Perhaps if the relics were from one of the Playmates, I could see paying a grand, but Hugh's jammies - that would go back in the buck bin for me.

If your interesting in purchasing the opus click here.

Happy Thanksgiving and Trade Bounty from Play at the Plate

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

One of the things I am thankful for is all the folks I have traded with since going on-line. I try and do a minimum of one trade a month and frankly am amazed by the folks who are doing 3 or 4 trades a week. It takes me a week just to get myself organized enough to thing about a trade.

Brian of Play at the Plate and I were both involved in the same group break held over at Saints of the Cheap Seats. One of the cards that I received was a Carl Yastrzemski Relic that PatP was interested in, I swapped that for a Chase Utley relic and we expanded the trade out. Here are some of the cards that have been added to the Phungo Collection.


2008 UD Sweet Swatch #SS-CU Chase Utley

In additions to the Utley the lot included lots of great Phillies cards.

2002 Donruss Diamond Kings #21 Scott Rolen
2009 Topps Chrome #139 Ryan Howard

I have recently started building player collections. Utley is in my player binder as are some other Phils like Jamie Moyer and Garry Maddox. I am also working on non-Phils collections. These players include Johnny Damon, Bill Lee, and I am thinking about Jeff Conine. Mike Mussina is among this group.

2002 Topps T206 #67 Mike Mussina (Tolstoi Back)

Topps has come out with another T206 series and Cardboard Junkie has a pretty thorough discussion of the back variations from the earlier T206 retro sets. The Tolstoi variation is considered "Uncommon".

I have a pretty varied Want List, and Brian did a great job of scouring it and found all kinds of different goodies - including a Brandon Meriweather Auto!


And this Football Relic:
Is it Brett Favre?!?!?!



2008 Stadium Club Beam Team #BTR-JB John David Booty

No silly - It's John David Booty. I don't think Booty ever took a snap as a Viking and is currently on the Tennessee Titans practice squad.

Once again I would like to thank everyone I have traded with in the past year and look forward to getting more trades out in the future. I don't always give the trade posts as much attention as they deserve, but I dot try and post something on each trade.

I can only hope that everyone is as happy with the cards they receive from Team Phungo as I am on my end.

Thanks Again, Happy Thanksgiving and Go Broncos!

Spot the Sig! Contest - 2nd Inning

This is the 2nd inning of the Fall 09 Spot the Sig! competition. This weeks winner will pick up a Double for correctly guessing the author of this auto:

And Remeber for the auto, only one guess per person.

For the bonus we are marking the final Sunday in October with this fine Relic Card featuring Mr October:

To get the STS! Bonus guess the team of the jersey swatch contained on this relic card. Each person only gets one guess, but a team can be picked multiple times by different contestants. A correct answer is worth a Walk for any and all correct entries.

Here are the Spot the Sig! going into the 2nd inning:
Paul's Random Stuff - Mets: Men on First and Second
The Wax Ripper - Yankees: Man on First
In Search of Pat the Bat - PHILLIES: Man on First
Night Owl - Dodgers: Man on First
Nachos Grande - Reds: Man on First
Autographed Cards - Royals: Man on First
Indians Baseball Cards Always - Indians: On Deck

For more information on Spot the Sig! click Here. The competition is open to anyone, and you can join anytime - and A favorite team stack of junk wax awaits the winner!!!

Sources and Links
Reggie Jackson HoF Index 

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.