2010 Topps Allen & Ginter - Hits & Ramblings

I spent the majority of this week with my family down at Myrtle Beach, SC and we had a blast. It was the first time we've taken our 9 month old daughter to the beach so it was a fantastic experience. While I got to enjoy the actual beach this trip from a different angle my favorite part of going to the beach is shopping. Yeah, I'm a guy so I'm not supposed to like shopping...but as a collector I can't but help to hit up the local Walmarts, Targets and hobby shops when I'm away from home. This year was a little different having a baby in tow as everything still revolves around her eating and napping schedule. Thus I wasn't able to make it to every store I wanted. The comic shop that I visited last summer (Apocalypse Comics) fell to the wayside as did the card shops I found on Google. The various Walmarts I went to didn't have any of the new Transformers I was looking for either. I thought I was going to strike out on the hobby front until I saw the card section at Walmart on the way out the door. I almost missed the section all together since it was in an entirely different location from the stores @ home.

What caught my eye was the large gravity feeder and the powder blue Allen & Ginter packs. Then I noticed the rack packs and blasters on the shelf below. Finally, some new retail product to buy. I grabbed 1 blaster and 2 rack packs and proceeded to checkout happy that I finally found something to buy of one of my many hobbies.

After getting home late Thursday this week I had to make an emergency run to Target to get some carpet cleaner (thanks to my kitty Lion-O) so I stopped by the cards and low and behold they had A&G too. So I grabbed 1 more blaster and 2 more rack packs.

Before I show off the hits and such that I got from the blasters and racks let me say that my luck of pulling anything half way decent has been horrible. The best pull I've had in recent years came from a pack of 2010 National Chicle that yielded a Yastrzemski auto (that by the way is up for grabs if anyone wants to trade me a Jason Heyward auto!). I didn't hit the jackpot with these packs by any means, but for retail product I feel I did OK...plus it was fun opening new product that I haven't had much exposure to in the past. I also have to comment on the rack pack's thin blue plastic and how spotting inserts and such added to my fun. I was easily able to spot one framed card as the orange/red border stuck out like a sore thumb. I noticed the inserts would usually be in the bottom section of the rack pack and if you moved the cards around just right the mini card would help separate the stack so you could see the edges of the other cards. I found several black bordered minis along w/ one of my framed cards this way. Combine that with a better deal @ $4.99 than buying 2 lone packs and better/lower odds at landing a hit makes the rack packs my new favorite way to buy A&G.

Now onto the good stuff. Just about everything below will be available for trade as I'm only building the base set, Monsters of the Mesozoic & the Lords of Olympus sets.

I love this set, but then again who doesn't? I feel I made out really well as the dino cards just kept coming and coming with each pack I opened. Some of the packs contained multiple mini cards too which surprised me. I'll create and update my 2010 A&G want list for the blog very soon.

Daniel McCutchen autograph #AGA-DM

I pulled this from the 3rd or 4th pack in the very first blaster I bought from Walmart. I would've rather had another player, but I can't complain. Who knows, McCutchen here may turn out to be a stud for the Pirates one day. Either way the card is up for grabs.

Glenn Singleman, base-jumper autograph #AGA-GSI

This auto came from one of the rack packs I mentioned above. It was really easy to see through the light blue wrapper. Too bad it wasn't a Heyward auto! Odd auto is up for grabs too.

Carl Crawford Baseball Sketches #AGHS7

These look creepy to me and I just can't get into this set. I'm sure someone out there in blogger land will want this Crawford card.

Daniel Murphy Baseball Sketches #AGHS15

Not too sure though anyone will want this card though. Perhaps I'll nudge Joe @ the Sandlot or Benny @ BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet

These are the regular back minis. All are available with the exception of Troy Glaus.

A&G back minis. All are available for trade. From top L to R - Manny Ramirez, Francisco Liriano, Magglio Ordonez, Alexei Ramirez, Andy Pettitte & Roy Oswalt

Black bordered minis. Kelly Lulick, John Lackey, Roy Oswalt - all available for trade.

National Animals

I like the idea of the set, but not enough to build - thus all are available for you set builders.

Lords of Olympus Eros #LO18 & Helios #LO19

I loved history and mythology growing up in school so this is a set I think will be fun to build.

World's Biggest Whale #WB1
Monsters of the Mesozoic Oviraptor #MM20 & Pachycephalosaurus #MM13

The World's Biggest could be a fun set, but I think I'll pass. The dinos are extras too so all 3 cards are available for trade.

This Day in History - man I love these cards. I love it when 2 things I like come together...like peanut butter and banana. This is a set I will most definitely build and of course I picked out one of the better cards I pulled to scan.

I've read on other blogs about the quality control on A&G this year being a little lack luster. After pulling this Tony Hawk card (3rd in the pack) I can see first hand what the others are talking about. Thankfully Tony here was the only casualty from the pack.

All in all I love this product. I only bought a few lone retail packs of last year so I'm still relatively new to the Allen & Ginter concept of trading cards. I could have just waited and bought a complete set for cheap off of eBay, but then I would've missed out on all the fun I had busting these packs. My chances are pulling a Heyward of any type would have also been diminished so I'll keep buying in the hopes of landing the gem I want.