2008 Topps Allen & Ginter: World's Greatest Victories Review

My 2008 Topps Allen & Ginter set is nearing completion. I've now managed to acquire the complete set of the base cards, the US State insert set, the Pioneers of Aviation insert set, the World's Greatest Victories insert set, the Baseball Icons insert set, and the World Leaders set. I still am missing 2 World's Deadliest shark cards and all 10 Team Orange insert cards. If you have any of those, or any other cards on my want list, please contact me to set up a trade!



The World's Greatest Victories insert set consists of 20 cards:
1. Kerri Strug
2. Mark Spitz
3. Jonas Salk
4. Man Walks on the Moon
5. Jon Lester
6. The Fall of the Berlin Wall
7. David and Goliath
8. Gary Carter and the '86 Mets
9. The Battle of Gettysburg
10. Deep Blue
11. The Allied Forces
12. Don Larsen
13. Truman Defeats Dewey
14. The American Revolution
15. 2004 ALCS
16. The Battle of Thermopylae
17. Brown v. Board of Education
18. Team Orange
19. Bill Mazeroski
20. Cinderella



Now, I really like the 2008 Topps Allen & Ginter set, but this insert set simply doesn't interest me. The cards are full-sized (unlike all the other inserts which are minis) - but that's ok. The real problem is the cards themselves. Observe:

The cards are flatout ugly. Compounding that, the subject matter of a "World's Greatest Victories" is suspicious at best.

I understand Gettysburg, David and Goliath, Brown v. Board of Education, and the American Revolution. It's a baseball card set, so I'll give it the 2004 ALCS (which apparently is trademarked, who knew?) and Don Larsen. The Fall of the Berlin wall is understandable, but how is "walking on the moon" a WORLD's greatest victory? What about Jon Lester, sure his story is inspiring - however he's but a small pawn in the history of the world...surely his baseball game exploits aren't on par to the greatest world leaders...not to mention that the Yankees have won the most World Series but the Red Sox are featured twice to the Yankees zero appearances (unless you count their loss to the Red Sox).

Even if you don't mind the subject matter of the set, the cards themselves are hideous. The fronts feature an oversized Allen & Ginter logo and a picture that is vaguely representative of the subject of the card. Topping it off, the cards have a cryptic code (part of their contest to see who gets in the 2009 set) on the top and bottom of the card - and ugly "shield" type icons on both sides. At least the backs of the cards feature some true information about the subject, but it's not enough to save this set.

The Bottom Line:
Overall, I give the 2008 Topps Allen & Ginter World's Greatest Victories insert set a 20/100.

Pros: Full-size cards a nice change of pace from the mini cards. The backs of the cards feature some historical information.

Cons: Subject matter not indicative of the 20 biggest victories of all time in the world. Card fronts couldn't be much uglier if a chimpanzee with a sharpie designed them.

Are you interested in this set? As I mentioned, I've completed my set - and I have the following extras available for trade:
#4: Man Walks on the Moon
#7: David and Goliath
#13: Truman Defeats Dewey
#14: The American Revolution
#17: Brown v. Board of Education
#18: Team Orange
#20: Cinderella