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Ginter Hits!

By now, you probably all know about the bad luck I had with my cases in regards to rip cards (i.e. I didn't get a single rip card in two cases).  However, while that was upsetting (and for the record, Topps has STILL not contacted me back), other than losing out on a pair of $100 cards (on average), I did pretty well.  Actually, I take the back...the first case I did quite well with.  The second case sucked worse than sweaty socks in a household where you have to take your shoes off*.

*It's almost 100 freakin' degrees, cut me some slack, my brain's fried (literally*)

**Yes, that's an inside joke with my youngest brother who reads my blog approximately once every year.  It really grinds our gears to hear someone say something like "it's literally raining cats and dogs outside."  No, unless a pet shop nearby just blew up and kittens and puppies were falling from the sky, it is most definitely NOT literally raining cats and dogs.  Ok, enough side rants.

Anyhow, from my Ginter experience, I thought I'd show off a few of the hits I ended up with:

Flora of the World:
FOW-2:  Spurred Snapdragon
FOW-5:  Sweet Alyssum
FOW-5:  Sweet Alyssum

I'm seriously excited by the plant cards - and as those of you who have contacted me know, I've been trying to trade for any of them that I can.  Now that my wife and I have our own house, we can actually plant flowers and stuff - and you better believe I want an Allen & Ginter garden next year.  Even better than that, today at the grocery store my wife and I were looking at Triscuits - and for whatever reason, the regular version of Triscuits come with a little cardboard "card" in the box that you plant in order to grow basil (the reduced fat Triscuits have cards to grow dill if you happen to be interested).  The best part of that?  My wife turned and looked at me and said "hey, these are like those baseball cards you like."  Victory!

Now, in order to have my Ginter garden, I need to acquire at least two of every type of flower card.  The first card goes into my collection, all the others will end up in the soil next spring.

Fortunes for the Taking:
FFT3.  The Beale Ciphers

Each year, Allen & Ginter is known for their crazy inserts - and among those usually are a couple of unannounced (and usually quite rare) inserts.  In previous years, there has been one sorta goofy one (Inventions of the Future for example) and usually one featuring deadly animals (sharks and snakes jump to mind).  This year, Topps strayed a bit from that formula while maintaining the two secret sets - one is a faces of flatulence (or at least that's how I read it every time I see the title) and the other is Fortunes for the Taking. I happened to land a couple of the Fortunes cards (which is great since that's the set I'm much, much more interested in) though I only have one to scan right now.  The other might be hiding in my Gint-a-Cuffs box while I await the official scoring rules.

State Relics:
AGUS-KS.  Kansas

When I first heard about these, I thought it would be a really cool idea to collect the whole country.  However, when I saw how much they were going for on eBay (each card is numbered out of 50), I realized that I am way too poor for such an undertaking (plus, how the heck would you store it without ruining the cards)?  I really hope someone completes the US map though just so I can see how it looks...  Anyhow, the Kansas relic contains a piece of brick from Front Street in Dodge City.  I thought that was pretty cool.

Shameless plug time:  I've got the Kansas relic, plus a couple of other auctions up on eBay right now.  Check 'em out if you so desire...

Printing plate:
5.  Aroldis Chapman  - Yellow

This is my first one-of-one pull ever...and it happened to be of a Red (double bonus)!  I was pretty stoked when I pulled the card, even if I still think printing plates are lame "hits".  I haven't seen many printing plates pulled so far so I'm thinking I definitely got lucky with the pull.
N43 autograph:
Adrian Gonzalez:

Some of you may have seen this one already when I posted a link to my eBay auctions last week - this card went straight to eBay (and fetched a fairly nice sum for me) even though I liked it a lot.  I would have had a lot more difficulty unloading the auto'd N43 if it were a Red instead of a Red Sox.  Even so, this is probably the single best card I've ever pulled from a box of Allen & Ginter.  (I was going to say a pack of Allen & Ginter but since this came in the N43 wrapper that would disqualify it.) 

Autographs:
AGA-BMO.  Brent Morel
AGA-CS.  Chris Sale
AGA-FS.  Freddy Sanchez
AGA-GG.  Gio Gonzalez

The rest of my autographs sucked the big one.  All three of the above cards are available for trade - I'd take almost any other player/person on the autograph list for any of the above bums.  The worst part?  I ended up with two (out of four) autographs belonging to the White Sox - and I don't think I know a White Sox blogger or collector...  As for the four players, they are literally the worst players ever.  Literally.

Comments

  1. Only 4 autos total in 2 cases? say it ain't so.

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  2. I'm surprised at the lack of autographs in this set. It seems this year that Topps has really cut back on ... well, everything - autos (especially good ones), relics (especially good ones), and so on.

    Meanwhile, I am interested in the G-G-G-Gio Pet autograph specifically. I'll find a decent one in return (if there is such a thing).

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  3. This guy is a White Sox man: http://mysportsandsportscards.blogspot.com/

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  4. I'm interested in Gio as well, and have that Larkin relic ready to roll.

    Not trying to step on Ryan's toes though, so he gets first dibs.

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  5. I would be interested in the Freddy Sanchez Auto for my Giants collection. I sent you an email about that silver signature Larkin card and some of your other want list cards. When you get a chance let me know if we can work something out. If you want to look at by autos and gu for trade for the Sanchez, my bucket is www.photobucket.com/arpsmith

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  6. Did you get my trade email about the topps?

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  7. Just picked up this Adrian Gonzalez N43 Auto on Ebay this morning... somebody had it up as a BIN and I got a great deal on it. Thought it might have been the one you sold a few years ago, but it wasn't. The one I just bought is 12/15.

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