2019 Allen & Ginter Blaster Box

I'll come right out and say it, Allen and Ginter isn't exactly my favorite product of the year. However, after seeing the cards around the blogs, I thought it looked like a pretty good set this year. So, I bit. While at Walmart the other day, I grabbed one of the random boxes of Ginter as I figured a blaster would be enough to satisfy my interest.

I'm sure by now everyone has seen the base cards. The one thing I like about this year as opposed to previous years is that there's actually a background. It doesn't feel like the player is just floating in space. And the backgrounds are pretty colorful and unique. That's a win for me.

Toukki Toussaint looks like he's standing in front of the warehouse at Camden Yards. I like the background of the Jose Altuve card as well, looks like he's mingling with some old school players as well.

Four short prints per blaster box and I got these. Not a bad batch.

Some old school players. I really like the fact that Reggie Jackson is shown with the Angels, which is a team he's not really known for. He played for the Angels from 1982-1986, was an All-Star for three of those five seasons and finished 6th in MVP voting in the 1982 season.

More old school, this time with some Expos (Vlad and Gary Carter), then Bob Feller and one of my favorite cards in the whole blaster, a card of the original 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings. I can see why they were included in the set because of the whole 150th Anniversary of MLB thing and all.

Each pack had a mini. I'll be completely honest and say that mini's aren't my thing. These will probably be going to Night Owl at some point for his A&G mini frankenset.

On to the inserts now. Each pack had some sort of insert. I really like these "Ginter Greats" inserts. 

Another cool insert, Baseball Star Signs featuring the zodiac signs of top players. I've never really delved much into astrology or sign of the zodiac but I really dig the designs of these cards. For the record, my zodiac sign is Sagittarius.

Of course, with Ginter, there are non-baseball subjects. I got two of the "Mares and Stallions" inserts. These are pretty neat.

Other inserts in the blaster. One of the "Incredible Equipment" of the Pied Piper's Pipe (kind of made me think of Roddy Piper) and one piece of the history of flight series. I would really like to put together the whole "history of flight" series.

And then there's this ... a framed mini-relic of Vladimir Guerrero. I'll be honest, I'm really thrilled to have found this!

For grabbing a random blaster from the display in Walmart and going into this just for some fun, this is probably the best blaster I could've gotten for the money. It was light on the non-baseball content but still had some, some fun inserts, and a Vlad relic. I may splurge on some more A&G this year just because I really enjoyed this. For now, this will definitely suffice on my A&G curiosity.

Heritage 2019: Blasting Into the Past

Finally, the baseball card gods graced at least one of my local Targets with some Heritage. I told myself I wasn't going to go crazy so I grabbed a blaster and a few loose packs. Also, I didn't want to go crazy because I wasn't sure if I would like the cards as 1970, while not a bad design, isn't exactly an awesome design either. Anyway, I was excited to open this so let's see what the highlights are.

On to the cards ...

As per tradition here, the first card from the first pack, and it's ex-Red Mike Leake. He performed amicably last season, his first full campaign with Seattle going an even 10-10 over 31 starts with a 4.36 ERA in just over 185 innings. He'll be joined in Seattle this year with some other ex-Reds in Jay Bruce and Edwin Encarnacion.

Some more base cards. Not only is the photography good on these but each of these also has a uniform patch of some sort. In regards to the cards themselves, I think Topps did a good job on them. I wasn't expecting much but to say I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. The fronts are nice, the backs (which you'll see shortly) are well done, and the photography, while mostly posed shots, is very clear.

Not all the cards are posed shots. At first, I thought these may have been "action variations" but they weren't. Just in-game photos of these guys in their new(er) threads.

Nice to see the return of the All-Star set actually being called the "Sporting News" all-stars. 

Obligatory Reds cards. Jose Peraza will be the starting second baseman for the next 2-3 months as Scooter Gennett recovers from a groin injury. Tyler Mahle made the team as the fifth starter while Alex Wood works out his back issues. 

These are not just any base cards ... they're the dreaded short prints. Matt Kemp is now a Red (side note: can't wait to get my first Reds cards of the offseason acquisitions). Dee Gordon is not only a short print but a variation.

Here's the back of the card. Notice anything? That's right! It's a French variation. I haven't seen too many of these shared on the blogs so these might be tough to pull. Regardless, I think it's pretty neat and a nice tribute to O-Pee-Chee cards.

Here's something I didn't expect, a Chrome parallel. They're very shiny and the stock feels a touch thicker. On this one, I like how it looks like J.D. Martinez kind of pops out of the background. These are also numbered to /999.

Moving on to inserts, I like the groovy 70s feel of these. 

These too. Not sure why Thurman Munson is called the "un-rookie". 

Sure, "Then and Now", "Flashbacks", and "New Age Performers" are standard when it comes to Heritage, but there were also some unique inserts that came as well. First, there this 1970 candy lid style card of Mike Trout. I'm not sure how to store this, especially with the tab on the bottom. Penny sleeve maybe for now? These are found only at Target.

My favorite insert of the bunch, this Clayton Kershaw Scratch-Off. Inside is a scratch off board where you could play a game of "scratch off baseball" against another person and on the back you keep score. I bet it'd be pretty fun actually.

As for the rest, the packs and blaster netted me a nice fat stack of cards that will be filed away shortly.  I'll be getting more of these, maybe some loose packs at Target or dime singles from the upcoming card show.

Rediscovering My Heritage

I just noticed I haven't posted anything for nearly a week. There's a perfectly reasonable excuse for that however. Last weekend from Saturday through Tuesday, the family and I were on vacation in North Carolina visiting the in-laws (my wife's mom, dad, brothers, and sister). We left our house early on Saturday morning about 2:30 and made it there about noon, only stopping for gas and restroom breaks.

The first night we were there, we headed to Walmart to get some supplies for making a massive bolognese style lasagna the next day and a few other things. While we were there, I had a feeling it would be my only opportunity on the trip to get cards. I took a gander at the card aisle for Heritage and found there was only one hanger box and one jumbo pack left on the shelf. Naturally, I had to get them. 

A few days later, Tuesday to be exact, we left early in the morning again about 4:30 and headed home, just clipping the edge of the winter mega-storm that reeked havoc in the Northeast as we drove through the Virginia foothills and the West Virginia mountains. We got home about 3:00. The next day, I couldn't resist and cracked into them. I started with the hanger box.

First though, I want to talk about the design of each package. The hanger box has some really fun artwork on it with the green and the brown background and the design really grabs you. However, the the jumbo pack seems kind of bland with the generic pitcher and just the word "baseball" really big on it. So, definitely points go to the hanger box with the design element. Anyway, let's crack this open.

The first card of Heritage this year is Anthony Rendon of the Washington Nationals. My first impression is that these are really nice. Yes, as is standard with Heritage, there are lot of posed shots but I'm ok with that. The other thing is that these are based on the 1968 design, which I like a lot.

Look at that! I got a Dansby Swanson rookie card! Mind you, it's just the base card, not the variation but still, it's Dansby Swanson.

A couple other nice horizontal cards. I was really pulling for Cleveland last year but I happy for the Cubs. Maybe this year the Tribe can get back to the Series and win it all. Anyway, the World Series card is really cool because it's black and white and definitely has an old school, 60s feel to it. 

The thing I like about Heritage is that it provides lots of things to look for besides just hits and inserts. Case in point, this Jameson Taillon card. While it may look like just any unassuming card from the front, on the back it's a high numbered short print. It was the only short print or variation type card I received in either the hanger box or jumbo pack.

Here's the lone insert that came in the hanger box, a Kris Bryant New Age Performers insert. I like the orange, kind of funky background on it.

That's the highlights of the hanger box, time to move on to the jumbo pack.

This is a 1968 game style insert with Almedys Diaz. The one issue I have with these is that it's hard to read the players name with just the autograph on it. Other that that, it was nice surprise to pull this out.

I had a bit more luck pulling Reds out of the jumbo pack than I did the hanger box. Even though all the experts are picking the Reds to be dead last this year, I'm trying to stay positive and hope they won't be all that bad, especially with young stars like Jose Peraza ready to play every day and breathe new life to the team. The pitching will still be a bit suspect I think, but the bullpen definitely has improved. 

A few more cards, including another Indians card (if you include the World Series card) and another All-Star card.

Overall, I'm very pleased with Heritage this year and I'm planning on picking up on some more packs at the card shop eventually, perhaps even this weekend as I'll be going there after the big Nutter Center card show. I'm trying to lay off buying retail packs but this was an exception since I couldn't make it to the local shop in North Carolina and was a nice sampling of a fun product.

Blasting Some Heritage High Numbers

I feel like I've been bombarding everyone with trade package catch-up posts as of late, so I'll take some time over the next few posts for some non-trade package posts.

Every time I take a trip to Target, I have to take a gander at the card aisle. Most of the time, I can easily pass on some of the stuff they have there, other times there is stuff that tempts me. Such is the case with this blaster of Heritage High Number. Silly me, I forgot to take a picture of the box but if you've seen a pack, then you've seen the box design. Anyway, I was on a Heritage kick after opening a few packs from the card shop a while back and felt like ripping into some more. This will be a quick break so I'm not going to waste any more time.

My box was a Cubs heavy box with six cards in eight packs. Even though I seemed to be one of the few people on the planet pulling for the Indians in the World Series this year, I'm still happy for the Cubs finally winning it all. 

Cingrani was the lone Red I pulled out of the box. However, I was delighted to get a Trevor Story rookie card. It's too bad that he got hurt and couldn't finish the season as I really would have been curious to see what he could have finished a full year with.

Insert cards! The Rookie Performers and Award Winners cards definitely liven things up a bit.

My "hit" of the box, for lack of a better term, was this Chrome insert of Tanner Roark. I guess I could have done worse with that. I also got two of the dreaded short prints in the "Shark" (no I'm not even going to try to spell his name) and Jose Berrios. Unfortunately, I didn't get any of the variations.

Heritage is pretty straight forward. When you get a box or some packs, you know you're not getting anything fancy but that's sometimes the beauty of it. I know the variations, color swaps, etc. can be annoying to some people, but to me, that's what makes Heritage fun. 

Four Packs of 2016 Topps Heritage High Numbers

I'll admit it, I was a little harsh on Heritage this year. The first four packs I opened back in the spring did absolutely nothing for me and the design was very bland with generic poses. As I mentioned a few posts back, I was at the card shop to get some supplies and wanted some packs to rip as well. There wasn't much that caught my interest, so I decided to give Heritage another try with some High Numbers packs. I wasn't expecting much based on my previous experience. I won't break it down pack by pack but I'll show off some of the better cards I pulled. 

So far, so good. Three decent rookies here and the Stephenson card is a short print landing 1 in every three packs. I'm not too familiar the Goeddel as I don't follow the Phillies that close but judging by his 2016 stats, he seems to be a serviceable outfielder.

Hazelbaker and Story had quite the hot start out of the gate at the beginning of the season (that feels like eons ago) but Hazelbaker fizzled off while Story kept plugging away until an injury ended his season. I like the Rookie Performers insert set as it provides a bit of color to an otherwise bland design.

When I pulled out the Joe Maddon card, I thought for a split second it was a relic card because of the design. Alas, it was not to be but still, another nice insert card. 

Lastly, the Mookie Betts/Xander Bogaerts "Beantown Belters" card is another insert according to the official checklist, although it could be easily be mistaken for a part of the main set. I like the background of the Tim Anderson card and could pass as a true "sunset card" as it appears the photo was taken at dusk.

I'm still not a big fan of the design but these four packs did help change my opinion of Heritage this year. I think the problem with my initial packs was that I didn't do my research and know what to look for. This time I did and was pretty happy with my findings. Happy enough, in fact, to go get a blaster of this at Target. That's another story for another day.

The Mystery Box!

Last weekend, I posted about my visit to Mavericks Cards and Comics. As I mentioned in that post, the shop owner was generous enough to let me have this box of extra cards he was trying to get rid of for his friend for free. Included in the box were a bunch of singles from 2014 Topps football, 2015 Allen & Ginter, and 2015 Topps Series 2.

Random football singles are fine, but considering I didn't know half the players in there it was what it was for a box of free cards. I picked out cards of guys I know and scanned in a few below.

These and the other commons I pulled out are going into my football binder. Not a big fan of these in general since you really have to work to read the name and position on the bottom of the card. I'm working on a trade list for the rest and I'll have them posted up shortly.

Moving on, there was a good batch of stuff from Topps Series 2. Here are a few highlights:

Carlos Martinez and Dellin Betances. Martinez just had a season-ending injury but it looks like he'll be OK for the post-season. Betances has had a good season for the Yankees as well.

A few more "future stars" cards here. To me, Betts is the highlight of this bunch.

Finally, two former Reds that are still kicking around the league.

The rest of the Series 2 batch was mainly commons but with a few stars such as Verlander, Cano, etc. but nothing overly exciting. There were some duplicates as well, so look for those on the trade list that should be up hopefully in the next few days.

Finally, the cards that turned this into a great haul ... 2015 Topps Allen & Ginter! I'll admit, I wasn't a fan of Allen & Ginter when I first saw it this year as I felt it was overhyped from the start. However, the saying "don't knock it 'til you try it" definitely applies in this situation as these cards are great! As with the rest of the box, there were some commons but there were also a bunch of short prints ... as in 18 of them!

I was wanting the Val Kilmer card anyway as he is probably one of the best parts of the movie Tombstone so that's a win for me.

There were also some minis in the box, three different kinds of minis to be exact ...

As you can see, the Tanaka is a no-numbered Ginter back, the Cuddyer seems to be the standard backed mini card, and the Puig is a Ginter back.

I'd say my tune has definitely changed on Allen & Ginter so if I see anymore singles anywhere for cheap or if any of my local shops have some decent prices on packs, then I think I'll definitely pick up some. 

This was a fun box to dig through. For a free box, I wasn't expecting much but with the Allen & Ginter, I feel like I got more than I bargained for. As I mentioned in my Mavericks article, I did offer to purchase these instead of just taking them, but the owner insisted they were free. So, to Jack at Mavericks, thank you for the cards. I appreciate it very much.