Theme Week: The 2006 Topps Allen & Ginter Base Set (the Non-Baseball Subjects)!

Welcome to this week's theme week:  2006 Topps Allen & Ginter!  

Yesterday, I took a look at the baseball subject portion of the 2006 Allen & Ginter base set.  Today, it's time for what makes Ginter so famous:  the non-baseball subjects!

The '06 Ginter set laid the foundation for what would become Ginter's trademark throughout the years, plenty of non-baseball subjects including celebrities, other athletes, historical figures, and even inanimate objects.  Your love (or hate) of Ginter will probably correspond to how you feel about such subjects but for me, I love it.  Ginter is the one set each year that teaches me something, even if it's about a Tik-Tok star or a random National Park that I may never have heard of.  

In the inaugural edition of Ginter, Topps went quite heavy on "star quality" though there are a few lesser known "celebrities" in the mix.  The non-baseball portion of the base set begins with card #301 (Mike Tyson) and continues through the end of the set (card #350) though there are a few random current baseball players mixed for reasons that I cannot explain!

The first six non-baseball subjects include:

301.  Mike Tyson (boxer)

302.  Duke Paoa Kahanamoku (swimmer/surfer)

303.  Jennie Finch (softball player)

304.  Brandi Chastain (soccer player)

305.  Danica Patrick (Indy car racer)  SP

306.  Wendy Guey (Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee champ)

Cards 298 - 306

One thing you'll probably notice right away is that Topps didn't shy away from including female subjects.  I think that's wonderful as women deserve more representation - and having famous women from various walks of life in what is ostensibly a mainstream baseball card set (mostly collected by men) is a good thing for all involved.  In later years of Ginter, there can be some arguments made that Topps veered into putting "pretty women" in the set for reasons of voyeurism but that wasn't the case in 2006 (especially considering the fact that Chastain is probably best known for ripping off her jersey at the end of the World Cup and yet Topps chose to use a much more "proper" image of her for her Ginter card).

The next page features nine non-baseball subjects:

307.  Hulk Hogan (WWE)

308.  Carl Lewis (track & field)

309.  John Wooden (NCAA coach)

310.  Roundy Couture (UFC)

311.  Andy Irons (surfer)
312.  Takeru Kobayashi (Nathan's Hot Dog eater)

313.  Leon Spinks (boxer)

314.  Jim Thorpe (track & field)

315.  Jerry Bailey (jockey) SP

Cards 307 - 315

On this page, things get a little bit more puzzling because here Topps decided that certain subjects will get a themed image to go with their card while others won't.  Hulk Hogan got weights, Randy Couture got some old-timey kickboxers, and Jerry Bailey got a prancing horse but others like Carl Lewis and Jim Thorpe didn't get any special images.  I have no idea why Topps did that - I actually like the small images quite a bit as they add some retro-character to the non-baseball subjects and I do wish that Topps had included an image for each of the non-baseball subjects in the set!

Things continue to be varied as we move on to the next page...

316.  Adrian Anson

317.  John Ward

318.  Mike Kelly

319.  Capt. Jack Glasscock

320.  Aaron Hill

321.  Derrick Turnbow

322.  Nick Markakis

323.  Brad Hawpe

324.  Kevin Mench

Cards 316 - 324

Once again, Topps keeps us on our toes by suddenly inserting some old timer ballplayers to go along with current players.  Again, I have no idea whatsoever what Topps was thinking here - and while I do like the idea of the final 50 cards being non-baseball subjects, Topps ruined that by including the likes of Hawpe, Markakis, and Mench among others.

The next page has one more current baseball player (as a short print) and then we move into historical political figures.

325.  John Lackey SP

326.  Chester A. Arthur

327.  Ulysses S. Grant

328.  Abraham Lincoln

329.  Grover Cleveland

330.  Benjamin Harrison

331.  Theodore Roosevelt

332.  Rutherford B. Hayes

333.  Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck

Cards 325 - 333

Besides the aforementioned Lackey, we have a bunch of historical people including US presidents #16 (Lincoln), #18 (Grant), #19 (Hayes), #21 (Arthur), #22 and #24 (Cleveland), #23 (Harrison), and #26 (Roosevelt).  Why did Topps skip over #17 (Johnson), #20 (Garfield), and #25 (McKinley), I have no idea.  Kind of a common refrain from me I guess.  Also, why only presidents from one particular era?  

The puzzling moves by Topps continue with our next page.

334.  Kaiser Wilhelm II

335.  Queen Victoria SP

336.  Pope Leo XIII

337.  Thomas Edison (inventor)

338.  Orville Wright (inventor)

339.  Wilbur Wright (inventor)

340.  Nathaniel Hawthorne (author)

341.  Herman Melville (author)

342.  Stonewall Jackson (Civil War general)

Cards 334 - 342

This page picks up where the previous one left off with historical figures from around the world.  From there, we get a trio of inventors (all of which get a small picture indicating what they are most famous for) and then we end with two authors and a Confederate general from the Civil War.  It's a strange assortment to say the least!

Our final page only has eight cards in it but happens to contain one of my favorite cards of the entire set!

343.  Robert E. Lee (Civil War general)

344.  Andrew Carnegie (businessman)

345.  John Rockefeller (businessman)  SP

346.  Bob Fitzsimmons (pugilist)

347.  Billy the Kid (cowboy)

348.  Buffalo Bill (cowboy)

349.  Jesse James (cowboy)

350.  Statue of Liberty (National Monument)

Cards 343 - 350

Another strange assortment of characters finished off with our lone inanimate object in the base set (and one of my favorite cards in the entire 2006 set):  the Statue of Liberty!  Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the sweet fighting image used on Fitzsimmons' card - it's like an old timey cartoon image and I'm all about it.

And that does it for the 2006 Allen & Ginter base set.

As someone who has (mostly) enjoyed the Allen & Ginter brand, it's fun to look back at how it all started.  It's kind of neat to see how much of the set design has basically stayed the same throughout all the years, but also how some things have changed quite a bit (especially the inserts and parallels which we'll get to in the next post this week)!