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2014 Topps Allen & Ginter's: Wal-Mart Blaster #1

The time is here - it's officially Ginter season!  It's without a doubt my most favorite time of the baseball card hobby year - even more so than the release of Series 1 Topps flagship (though that release does signal that the end of winter isn't too terribly far away which I also appreciate).

As I said in my previous post, I splurged and bought two blasters plus five rack packs.  Hopefully I will be able to avoid buying any more cards until my hobby boxes arrive later this week.  I make no promises though!

For today's post, I wanted to highlight the contents of the first Wal-Mart blaster.  Since everyone will be posting Ginter cards (probably) in the near future, I won't scan every single card nor will I type out every single card, but I will show some of the highlights of each pack (plus my favorite cards and/or any rare-ish cards).

Pack 1:

The first pack included a guy I've never heard of (Bill Rancic - winner of Donald Trump's show The Apprentice according to the card back) and a Robinson Cano A&G back mini card (seeded 1:5 packs).  However, my favorite card in the first pack was the Justin Verlander Pastime's Pastimes.  I think the design is solid - and for a set that you'll end up with a lot of cards from (seeded 1:2 packs), that's important!

Pack 2:

My first short print of the blaster was Mike Olt but the highlight was the Fields of Yore insert card of the old Metropolitan Stadium in Minnesota.  I know for sure that the Fields of Yore set is a MUST HAVE set for me...but who am I kidding, I think almost all Ginter insert sets are must haves for me!!  The pack also had a Jean Segura regular back mini which is nice since it's a horizontal card (horizontal minis look pretty cool I think).

Pack 3:

My second Pastime's Pastimes card was of Prince Fielder.  If you get ESPN the Magazine, you've already seen more of Fielder than you probably ever wanted to (don't Google search that, I warned you).  On the other hand, the American Shorthair kitty from the Little Lions set is adorable and much more scan worthy (and this is all coming from a dog person)!

Pack 4:

Pack 4 had an Eric Johnson from the Chicago White Sox short print.  I've never heard of Johnson so he doesn't get scanned.  Instead, I went with the gorgeous Cal Ripken Jr. base card.  The pack also had an Air Supremacy card and a Ralph Kiner mini.  Both were nice but Ripken wins.  I do think we've seen this particular shot of Ripken a number of times before but I didn't feel like trying to research that particular hypothesis.

Pack 5:

The third Pastime's Pastimes card in the blaster belongs to Miguel Cabrera.  However, the real hit of the pack is the Craig Kimbrel black bordered mini (seeded 1:10 packs).

Pack 6:

This pack had two Brewers (Molitor and Segura), an Astro (Martinez), and an Athletic (Eckersley short print).  To balance out the small-marketness of the pack, there was also an A&G back mini of Teixeira from the Yankees...and a B-52 Stratofortress which had the coolest name of any card in the pack.

Pack 7:

The first Ginter Code card of 2014 made an appearance (though according to the Twitter feed nothing happens with the code until August).  There was also a Anthony Robles (wrestler) mini, a Tulo Pastime's Pastimes card, and a Coincidence card featuring the Titanic.  I went with the sinking boat for this pack.

Pack 8:

The final pack of the blaster might very well have been the best pack of the blaster.  I ended up with a Phil Kiekro short print, a Where Nature Ends mini card (which I like a lot), and a World's Capitals card of Johannesburg - another insert set which I love!  This pack was the hardest to choose which card to scan so you get a bonus scan.

That's it for the first blaster of 2014.  I know I'll have at least one more to show off since it's already purchased and sitting on my desk.  I also have five Jumbo Packs to rip and show off as well...all in due time I suppose!

I also can say right now:

I WANT YOUR MINI INSERTS and YOUR REGULAR SIZED INSERTS from 2014 Topps Allen & Ginter's!  I'll have a full want list posted soon - but for now I'll trade for any and ALL of 'em!

Comments

  1. I have a bunch of Red's trade bait. Shoot me an email when you get a chance. Mattscott82@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have a ton of cards for you. Shoot me an email: chavezravining@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete

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