2009 Topps Allen & Ginter Two Box Break

Although this year's Allen & Ginter has been out for about a month, I wanted to post my own review and add to the plethora of opinions about one of Topps' most popular sets each year.

Product: 2008 Bowman Chrome - Hobby Box
Packs/Cards: 24 packs/8 cards a pack
Price: $95 per box

Overview: I already know what I was getting when I bought these two boxes... and if you have bought any Allen & Ginter from past years... you probably know what you are getting when in this product. The Allen & Ginter set is a tribute to the original tobacco cards from the late 19th century. Although the majority of subjects are all baseball related, the set also features cards of champions from other sports and historic figures, places and events.

Allen & Ginter is not a set I am looking to complete. While many people love building the A & G set, I decline mostly because, as a baseball card collector, I want to build a set about baseball. Currently, the set is about 80% baseball and 20% everything else. Despite this view, I would like to see an A & G set that is a greater mix of atheletes across all sports, as well as historical figures and events. Topps was pretty successful with the American Heritage and I don't see why they wouldn't be successful with a real tribute to the Allen & Ginter legacy.

With that being written, it was the hits that drew me in to this product. Three guaranteed hits per box and with the wide variety of hits... not just baseball, but other venues... I just had to give it a try.

Results: Box #1
- 131 Base Cards (out of 350)
--- 11 Short Prints (out of 50)

- 3 Code Variations

- 23 National Pride (out of 75) - plus 1 double
- 4 Allen & Ginter Highlight Sketches (out of 25)

- 24 Minis

--- 12 Base

--- 2 Black Border
--- Heinrich Hertz (Scientist)
--- Cat Osterman (Softball)

--- 5 Allen & Ginter Back
--- Diasuke Matsuzaka
--- Loren Opstedahl (Sculpting)
--- Kazuo Matsui
--- Brett Myers
--- Kenshin Kawakami

--- 2 Hoaxes, Hoodwinks & Bamboozles
--- The Bathtub Hoax
--- The Cottingley Fairies

--- 2 National Heroes
--- Switzerland - William Tell
--- Albania - Skanderbeg

--- 1 Inventions of the Future
--- Mental Movies

- 3 Relics
--- Ryan Doumit - Jersey
--- Mark Mulder - Pants
--- Jered Weaver - Jersey

- Box Topper
--- N43 Josh Hamilton

- TWINS
--- Delmon Young
--- Francisco Liriano - National Pride



I will admit that the first box left a very bad taste in my mouth. Still, was I a glutton for punishment or did I figure I couldn't do any worse that this first box? Here's the second one.

Results: Box #1
- 130 Base Cards (out of 350)
--- 12 Short Prints (out of 50)

- 2 Code Variations

- 24 National Pride (out of 75)
- 4 Allen & Ginter Highlight Sketches (out of 25)

- 24 Minis

--- 12 Base

--- 2 Black Border
--- Dexter Fowler
--- Evereth Cabrera

--- 4 Allen & Ginter Back
--- Jason Jaramillo
--- Johnny Damon
--- Todd Wellemeyer
--- Vincent Van Gogh (Artist)

--- 1 Bazooka Back
--- John Danks #02/25

--- 2 Hoaxes, Hoodwinks & Bamboozles
--- The Turk
--- Victor Lustig

--- 2 National Heroes
--- Iceland - Jon Sigurosson
--- Jamaica - Marcus Garvey

--- 1 Legend, Myth & Terror
--- Kraken

- 2 Relics
--- Mike Cameron - Bat
--- Ryan Doumit - Jersey

- 1 Autograph
--- Joba Chamberlain (Short printed to 49 copies according to Topps)

- 1 Printing Plate
--- Simpson/Bunker Magenta Plate

- Box Topper
--- N43 Albert Pujols

- TWINS
--- Francisco Liriano - Mini
--- Francisco Liriano - National Pride



This second box total redeemed any sour feelings I had about the first box.

Joba Chamberlain is probably the most overrated player in the Major Leagues today, but I know this auto will pay for the box. This card is now sold on eBay. I will put it this way: if Nick Blackburn played for the Yankees, he would have an autographed card short printed to 49 copies.

I also pulled my first printing plate ever from a box. Perhaps there is an equestrian fan would will want this. This card is also now sold on eBay.

The Bazooka Back is also a bonus. Too bad it's a White Sox pitcher.

(Honestly, I was hoping for either an autograph, printing plate or Bazooka back and I got all three! (Honestly, I wanted a rip card, but I can't always get what I want.)

Set Builders Perspective:
Out of an average 8-card pack, there will be 6 base cards, 1 National Pride card and 1 mini. If a pack contains an Allen & Ginter highlight sketch, you have five base cards. If a pack contains an framed relic or autograph, there will be four base cards. The short prints are packaged one out of every two pack. Assuming you get minimal doubles, you could possibly complete the base set (with short prints) in three boxes.

Of course, the added inserts: National Pride and Allen & Ginter Highlight Sketches, as well as the mini inserts, also adds lots of appeal for a set completist.

Although, from the two boxes I opened, the regular base and the National Pride were almost duplicates. If I were building the set, my progress would look like this.

Set Total:

- Total: 161/350 - 46% complete
--- Base: 138/300
--- Short Prints: 23/50

- National Pride: 26/75
- Allen & Ginter Highlight Sketches: 5/25

Twins Perspective:
I have not had a lot of luck with Twins cards in any of this year's products. Out of these two cards, I only pulled three unique Twins cards, and none of them feature a player named Mauer or Morneau.

Grade: Major League Minnesota Twins

A Disappointing Loss

It's been a long while since I've posted, but for some reason it takes blowing a 10-run lead to bring me back.

I do not have Fox Sports at home, so I did not see any of the game, but I did catch the end of the game with GameDay at MLB.com. It was very disappointing to see the score at 13-14 in the top of the ninth. At least with Cuddyer on second, Gomez on first and Delmon at the plate with two out, there was a glimmer of hope. Next thing I see it the 'WILD PITCH' sign on GameDay followed immediately with '3 outs.' After the wild pitch, Cuddyer tried to score from second and was out at the plate. Given that I did not see the play on TV, I imagine it looked something like this:



That's right! Game 163. And after getting tagged out, A.J. taunts him with the ball in his face.

Of course, my questions and thoughts:
* Originally Jason Kubel had been on first, but was substituted with Gomez. If you are trying to get the tying run, wouldn't have made more sense to sub for Cuddy? I know that Kubel is slow, but he's not that much slower than Cuddyer. If Go-Go were the lead run, considering his speed, he probably would have scored.
* Why are you trying to score from second on a wild pitch? For sure, you could get to third with no problems. I don't know if third base coach, Scott Ullger, told Cuddy to run home right away or if Cuddy had to slow down third before going home.
* Why is it that every time Cuddyer trying to run home always ends in a whimpy slide? You would think that after getting schooled by A.J. in Game 163, he would be more aggresive and bowl over anyone cover home... including a pitcher.
* If Cuddyer stops at third, you leave Delmon Young with a very favorable 2-0 count. Delmon is not exactly the player I would count on when the game is on the line, but at least you give him a better chance of scoring the tying... and possibly... winning run. Either the pitcher throws ends up throwing a strike down the plate or another wild pitch and allow Cuddyer to score.
* There are some rumblings that the ump screwed up the call in the final out and that Cuddyer should have been safe. All of that becomes a non-issue if the Twins do not give up a 10-run lead.

2009 Topps Finest Team Collectors Break

It's been a while since I've posted and I've been wanting to post this for a long time. Though now that I'm posting again, I have a lot of things on my mind I'd like to write. I'll take it as I can.

Last week, I received the cards from the Team Collectors May Case Break - 2009 Topps Finest. I will the Twins share with my Tier 2, Aaron. Here is what I have from my half of the break.

Standard Base:





Refractors:



Blue Refractor #/399:


Green Refractor #/99:


In general, I have never been a big fan of Finest. I don't dislike Finest, but I won't exactly go out of my way to get Finest. Some people absolutely love Finest and more power to you.

As a Twins collector, I will certainly go after any Twins cards in the set.

That being said, Topps must hate the Twins. Out of a base set of 200 cards, there are only 4 Twins. They didn't even include the best closer in the game today, Joe Nathan. Compare that to the 8 Red Sox or the 11 Yankees, who placed third in their division last season. Are Yankees fans even clammoring over Xavier Nady? At least we were given more than the poor Pirates who only got Nate McLouth. In addition, there were no Twins featured as Rookie Cards or Finest Moments cards.

Normally, in our Team Collectors case breaks, we split the costs evenly between all teams. However, the collation of cards among teams was so lopsided that, for the first time, we priced the shares on a sliding scale. The Twins share was $14, thus, my half was $7. Still, not bad for $7 spent.

Four in the Outfield

With my blog, I also wanted to write, not just about baseball cards, but about the team. This post will be a first in a number of season previews. Though, the preview will not be about where I think the Twins will stand in the Central Division after Game 162 (because we all know I'm going to say they will be first), but just some of the aspects about the team.

First, we have four starting outfielders where there is room only for three: Michael Cuddyer, Carlos Gomez, Denard Span and Delmon Young. Cuddyer is coming back from injuries that caused him to miss most of last season. Gomez at first surprised opposing teams with his quickness off of bunt hits and his range in the outfield, but was figured out when teams figured out he would swing at every bad pitch. Span, who started last year in Rochester, but was called up after Cuddyer's injury and secured a spot on the Twins roster. Young, the former #1 pick traded from Tampa Bay, disappointed in the field and at the plate early in the season, but established himself later on. There has been talk of simply rotating all four equally throughout the season, but I'm not sure any player, or fan, wants to see a rotating outfield.

I am most anxious to see how Delmon Young will bounce back from his first season in a Twins uniform. Part of the reason was because I was at one of the games in 2007 when the Twins played the Devil Rays. The Twins won that game 12-5, but Young was a beast in that game. He hit 2 for 4 with a double. But, from right field, he has a cannon for an arm making triples into doubles and doubles into singles. During this series, Young his .294 with a HR and 2 RBI. Young was third in the American League in outfield assists in 2006; Michael Cuddyer was first.

After, Young was traded to the Twins, he became the starting left fielder. Despite the slow start at the plate and a number of blunders in left, Young ended the season with a .290 average and lead the Twins outfield with 11 assists.

However, I'm hoping comments made by manager, Ron Gardenhire, in the offseason has lit a fire under him. Young is having a hot spring and it's looking like he is ready to earn a starting outfield spot.

Michael Cuddyer, of course, is coming back from injuries and is looking to get back into form. Some fans and sports writers have suggested moving him back to third to clear up the outfield, but I don't know how you can see how well he plays in right and how horrible he was at third in 2005 and say that with a straight face. However, since his breakout 2006 season in which he drove in for than 100 runs, we haven't seen that production in 2007 or 2008. I really like Cuddyer, I even had an autographed Michael Cuddyer baseball, and I would like to see him get back to his form.

Carlos Gomez was exciting to watch at the start of last year with the Torii-esque plays in the outfield and those bunt hits that would catch pitchers by surprised. However, teams started to figure him out and found out he chased about every bad pitch. Still, he has a lot of upside. If he can get past the mental lapses in center, Gomez can become a Gold Glove outfielder. If he can start watching his pitches, he can become one the leagues best lead-off hitters. There's also talk that he has home run power to harness. Gomez is also off to a hot spring hitting .313.

Denard Span, the Twins #1 pick in 2002, was called up to the big leagues in 2008 after the injury to Cuddyer and showed that he deserved a starting spot in the outfield. While he played right field and center field last year, he has been playing some in the left field this spring. However, Span has been pretty cold at the bat hitting only .111. Did we see the best of Span last year or is this only a minor slump?

However, the outfield turns out, I'm hoping all four can improve from last year.