2007 MLB Topps Allen & Ginter Review

Review: 2007 Topps Allen & Ginter Review

The Basics:

What I opened: Hobby box (24 packs – 8 cards per pack)
What I paid: Approximately $105.00, after shipping, on EBay.
Box Breakdown: 143 (out of 350) base cards (no duplicates) (12 of the base cards were short prints), 22 (out of 30) Dick Perez Sketch Cards (no duplicates), 1 paper checklist
1 Hobby Exclusive box loader –Allen & Ginter N43 Box Loader of Barry Bonds
Inserts: 27 different (see below)


Unlike many reviewers, I believe the average collector cares more about the base cards (cards anyone will get when they buy a pack) than about the highest valued, nearly impossible pulls. The 2007 Topps Allen & Ginter base card features a person (not necessarily a baseball player) or landmark on a pleasingly thick stock card. Each base card is rather minimalistic, with a centered drawingesque-photo of the subject and a lot of surrounding white space. The fronts of each card are slightly glossy while the backs are not. I noticed in my box that the backs of some of the cards appeared to be pristine white while others looked yellow and aged (which certainly added to the “retro” feel).

Each pack (except those containing relic cards) also featured one of the Dick Perez Sketch Cards. For some reason, each card has a 1/1 printed on it, which is clearly a mistake because these are NOT rare cards. I found the Sketch Card set to be a major disappointment. Each of the 30 teams is represented by one player, which is nice, but the majority of the players aren’t even the best (or, in some cases, not even the top-5 or 10) players on their respective team. Furthermore, most of the sketches are terrible…many don’t even resemble people, let alone the specific featured player.

In addition, each pack contained one mini insert card. These inserts seem to be hit or miss with most collectors, perhaps mostly because there are not readily available plastic sheets to hold such a small card? The minis consist of three different versions, a regular shrunken version of the card (which I got 15, including 2 short prints), a shrunken version with a big (ugly) Allen & Ginter back (which I got 4 of), and a similar card with a serially numbered, Bazooka logo back (my box didn’t yield any of these). If that weren’t enough, there are also unnumbered versions of regular shrunken and the Allen & Ginter backs. I like the regular minis, but the ones without numbers seem rather useless to me (but they fetch decent money on Ebay). Finally, there are also black-bordered minis of the previous sets. My box had 3 black-bordered cards, none of which were shortprints.

Although each pack contains a mini card, they are not all variations of the base set. There are also mini insert sets of Roman Rulers (why?), country flags, and snakes (rare pulls). I have no idea why there are Roman Rulers and Snakes, but my box didn’t contain either so I cannot comment on them. My box did contain to country flags, Belgium and Peru. I have to admit, the country flag set would be a rather neat set to collect (assuming I could find plastic pocket pages that are built for the mini cards).

As for regular sized insert cards, since it is a 2007 Topps product, you know there will be the hideous A-Rod road to 500 insert card (which my box had 1). These cards are an eyesore in any set, and even more out of place in a retro set like Allen & Ginter or Topps Heritage (which I reviewed here).

All the hobby boxes claim to have two hits, and mine didn’t disappoint in that sense. I received a Miguel Tejada game-worn jersey card and a Robinson Cano game-used bat card. The relic cards were interesting to pull, but I found them to be rather blasé compared to other relic cards from other sets.

The Bottom Line:
I give the 2007 MLB Topps Allen & Ginter an 88/100.

Pros: I liked the base cards (though plenty of people probably won’t). The set is relatively small, so it’s not too difficult to complete. The short prints add a bit of a challenge (just enough). Mini flags are an interesting diversion, as are the base cards of presidents and other figures/structures.

Cons: A-rod insert is ugly and a waste of cardboard. The mini-parallels are a bit excessive, collecting all of them would be nearly impossible. Dick Perez Sketch Cards were disappointing, and compounded by being one per pack. Hobby boxes expensive, driven high in price by the hunt for rip-cards.