Yesterday, I showed off the contents from the first few packs out of my first box of 2022 Topps Allen & Ginter. It's been ages since I've actually had new cards to show off on the blog so you better believe that it's about to be Ginter-central up in here!
Box 1:
Pack 5:
137. Paul Molitor
166. J.D. Martinez
225. Joe West
230. Max Fried
256. Josh Winder
337. Juan Gonzalez
Mini: 247. Martin Sheen
Banner Season: BS-37. Derek Jeter
Topps loves throwing in as many Derek Jeter cards as possible into sets so its no surprise to me that Jeter shows up here in the Banner Season insert set. My mini was Martin Sheen, perhaps best known for his acting in The West Wing. Fun trivia about myself: I've never seen a single episode of The West Wing though I constantly hear good things about the show!
Pack 6:
19. Ivan Rodriguez
35. Mike Trout
61. Adrian Beltre
75. Eloy Jimenez
135. Austin Riley
174. Aaron Ashby
Mini: Ducks: MD-5. Goldeneye
It's Your Special Day: IYSD-1. International Trading Card Day
Pulling a mini set dedicated entirely to ducks was unexpected! The International Trading Card Day celebration card feels moderately incestuous (especially when you read the back of the card) but I guess I can't blame Topps for tooting their own horn when possible.
Pack 7:
72. Mitch Haniger
142. Frank Robinson
248. Brendan Donovan
265. John Osborne
286. Jose Berrios
341. Joe Carter
Mini: 208. Spencer Torkelson
Pitching a Gem: PAG-25. Gerrit Cole
I'm still digging the design of the Pitching a Gem cards. I'm a big fan of the board game Splendor and the Pitching a Gem cards remind me a lot of that game! I'm less of a fan of pulling two Yankee inserts in three packs, but hey, what can you do sometimes?!
Pack 8:
33. Thurman Munson
57. Matt Olson
127. Edgar Martinez
148. Matt Chapman
254. Kate Brownell
287. Honus Wagner
Mini A&G back: 265. John Osborne
Banner Season: BS-45. Jorge Soler
Back-to-back packs with a John Osborne card. According to his card back, he's a big shot country musician. Unfortunately for me, I don't listen to much country so he's completely unknown in my personal circle!
That's the first third of the box (the leftmost column of eight packs if you like to track that sort of thing).
Initial impression of this year's A&G set:
- Base design is solid, oddly festive even with what appears to be a pine branch (?) behind the logo
- Food based inserts are fun!
- I'm actually enjoying most of the full-sized inserts thus far.
- Only bummer? No hit in the first 8 packs, usually you get one hit in each stack of packs. Maybe Topps packaged the cards differently this year to avoid the obvious placement of hits within a box?
More Ginter to come!
The West Wing is fantastic, you should definitely check it out. I binge-watched the whole series a couple summers ago.
ReplyDeleteThis post got me curious about the non-baseball subjects in this year's A & G, so I read through the checklist. Not a single subject that interests me. Oh well. I'm excited to see what hit(s) awaits you in this box.
I still need to go through the non-baseball subjects for my blog. I know the Brownell card is my favorite, I've already bought one and it's the subject of a future post.
ReplyDeleteThe amount of Yankees is one of the side-effects of buying A&G.
Cool Sheen. Never watched The West Wing either... but I liked him in The Way. The Brownell is cool too. Wasn't familiar with her, but this post and Night Owl's comment motivated me to look her up.
ReplyDeleteContrasting the Blue Jay Jerseys 30 years apart - I like the colorful logo
ReplyDeleteOkay I might like the ducks inserts…
ReplyDelete