A HUGE Ginter Trade w/ Matt: Part I: Two Indians, a Curious Case, and Three Extra Large Cards

Over the past several months, I've mentioned that I'm in the process of reorganizing my collection.  One of my overarching goals is to figure out which sets I actually hope to complete someday and which sets I'm going to give up on.  I need to keep my total collection a reasonable level (with plenty of room to grow with future sets of course).  While many of the choices on sets to keep/not keep are difficult, there is one brand that is a "for sure keeper" for me.

That brand?  Topps Allen & Ginter's.

In fact, my reorganization has convinced me even more to actually make a more conscientious effort to actually finish some of my Allen & Ginter's sets...and from that desire a gigantic trade with blog reader Matt was born!

I have a ton of cards to show off from the trade, but I'm going to take it in smaller chunks so that I can keep my want list up-to-date as we go along.  For today, let's take a look first at the two regular sized insert sets.  The Pastime's Pastimes from 2014 and Curious Cases from 2013.

First up, the lone Curious Cases card in the trade - and the final card that I needed from that insert set!!

The UVB-76 card describes a shortwave radio station that has been "continuously broadcasting brief, monotonous tones, interrupted very occasionally by apparently random statements spoken in Russian."  The card states that the transmission is of unknown origin.

I had never heard of UVB-76 but I have to admit it seems like it's ripped right out of a LOST script (or rather, the LOST script may have been based on the legend of UVB-76)!  For more information, you can read about the signal on wikipedia.

Here are a mere one card into a huge trade package and I've already learned something new!  This is a big reason why I love the Allen & Ginter's brand so much!

Moving on to 2014, Matt sent me the final two cards that I needed to complete the large Pastime's Pastimes insert set.

It was pure chance that the final two cards that I needed were both Cleveland Indians.  Both Kipnis and Masterson are described as "philanthropists" on the back of the card - which while certainly nice is a bit boring to read about.  I much more enjoyed the pastimes that were a bit less vanilla though I can't fault a ballplayer for saying charity work is his pastime I guess!

The final three cards for today's post are all extra big.  In fact, they are commonly referred to as oversized box loaders - and they happen to be the final three that I needed from the 2013 Allen & Ginter's set.

The star power is off the charts here:

Mike Trout.

Miguel Cabrera.

and Stephen Strasburg.

Hard to pick a much bigger threesome than those three.  Now, thanks to Matt, I can happily report that I have three more insert sets completed - and safely tucked away in my binders!

I can also report that Matt sent me a ton of other great Allen & Ginter's goodies including some relics, minis, and yes, more box toppers!  You'll have to come visit the blog another time though to see those...for now, why don't you check out my want list and see if you have anything that I might be interested in?