When I returned to the hobby back in 2008, it seemed like all of the cool kids collected Allen & Ginter... and it didn't take me long to get sucked into the hype. I immediately fell in love with the old school feel the design had and the fact that the checklist had more than baseball players. The insert sets were interesting and the minis were little treasures I hoarded whenever I found one in a quarter bin or dime box.
Twelve years later... the product has lost its luster... or maybe I've just lost that loving feeling. Personally... if I were Topps, I'd shelve it for a few years. Time has a way of rekindling interest. But that's not going to happen anytime soon since Ginter still has a strong following in the hobby.
One of my friends opened up a bunch of this year's product and generously passed along his dupes. Combined with the blaster box I opened last month, I was able to put together 60% of the base set... including the short prints.
I'm not sure how many of you were able to get your hands on any of this year's Ginter, but if you did and are attempting to build this set... maybe we can help each other out.
Here's a look at my set needs:
I have probably 150 extras available and some inserts. Speaking of inserts, I'm also building these non-baseball insert sets:
I realize that I'm a little late to the party. I'm sure if people did open this stuff... a lot of singles have been included in blogger care packages... which is where my extras will eventually end up too.
Today's question of the day...
What are your thoughts on A&G? Love it? Leave it?
Well that's it for today. I hope all of you have a wonderful week. Only five more days until Thanksgiving Break. Happy Monday and sayonara!
17 comments:
I don't like it and I leave it. I do snag the cards I need, like Tino. I haven't seen those Reach for the Sky cards. While I don't care for a card of a building, I do like that they are full bleed.
When I got back into the hobby a few years ago, I thought A&G was a novel product and I enjoyed looking through their various sets and themes. They've had their hits and misses, but their hits have been pretty cool (e.g., World's Dudes, Magnificent Moons, What Once Would Be, Ancient Rome Relics).
Leave em. Except now, it’s a little tricky with no cards being on the shelves. If it were the only thing there and I hadn’t opened packs in a while, I might get a pack just to see something new.
A&G between 2006-11 was the most interesting, creative set on store shelves. I don't get people who don't get A&G. ... That said, it's not the same product it was 10 years ago and for the last three or four years it's really fallen off. If that's the way A&G is going to be, they could drop it and I wouldn't miss it.
Again, I must be the anti-collector. I got a huge bargain on a monster box with several years of A&G in it in about 2015 or so. That, combined with the 2009 set I built when new, and the 2014 set I did, sparked my interest fully. Now I've got most of the base sets done or in progress, and have actually liked the product designs more in the last several years. 2014, 2016, 2018 thru 2020 have put A&G in my top spot and as of 2021, I'm foregoing the automatic build of flagship and probably doing A&G instead or nothing.
I've harped on the fact that the inserts are so far above flagship in originality and diversity that it's no contest. And most either love the minis or use them as trade bait for the other stuff (like me). Plus it's never bloated - only one large insert set, and the short prints are manageable (though sometimes inexplicably misnumbered). And the designs haven't radically morphed into hideousness (like GQ). The non-sport subjects are getting more vanilla, so I guess that's the letdown recently. But overall, I couldn't be happier.
I have your Tractor and Taipei 101 inserts along with base 10 42 43 55 112 Bichette 151 156 159 176 210 222 230 256 Robert 267 270 277 and 286. Plus the RL Stine relic and a Machado A&G back mini for your Padres.
Not the remotest fan of it. But, I need them for my PC. So, I'm hamstrung.
I have traditionally really liked Allen & Ginter. The last few years have a little weak, but still a pretty good product. I like some of the quirks and non-baseball stuff that Topps throws in there.
I never got to a stage of really liking it. It’s better than the 150,000th baseball card that looks like all the others, but I’m picky. The exception that I really like are some A&G subsets like Space Needle or stadiums.
I hate Ginter as a baseball card set. The only thing that's interesting to me are the non-baseball cards and those have gotten increasingly boring over the years. At it's best Ginter hearkens back to the age of sets which were educational back when the world was bigger and cards weren't restricted to being about sports. Give me science, social studies, random sports that don't usually end up on cards. I'm tired of youtube and digital celebrities.
36, 147, 164, 165, 172, 183, 191, 203, 213, 214, 220, 228, 232, 238, 244, 254, 271, 275, 291, 292, 307, 310, heading your way.
I have about a dozen of those. I'd be interested in retired stars (I have a few), the Reach for the Sky insert set (only have the Chrysler Building), and the Field Generals insert set (only have Munson and Sanchez). But I might just send them along without bothering to work out a trade.
I bought the base set a couple of times ,but its not on my yearly must collect sets list.
I'm sort of indifferent on A&G on the whole, but I would have grabbed a blaster of it this year had I seen any at any point in time whatsoever. Flippers have made it almost impossible to buy cards where I live here. I have not seen a single pack or blaster of baseball cards in the wild in over 7 months. Sigh...
I've accumulated a few cards. I wouldn't buy packs of it, but I've got some Tony Gwynn cards in thd collection. The Star Signs inserts a couple of years ago were gorgeous cards
I am not a huge A&G guy, but I think their non-sport insert sets are pretty unique. Don't necessarily go out of my way to collect them though.
the lost collector - full bleed and a&g seem like a weird combination. at this point i'm just building the set because i'm so close to having it complete
gregory - yeah... i usually find at least one insert set i really, really like each year. this year was the glow in the dark mini set.
jeremya1um - yeah... can't remember the last time i saw retail baseball sitting on my target shelves
night owl - a&g has their moments. i just feel like too much is never a good thing. shelve it for a few years... let it marinate and bring it back every few years with the best of the best ideas.
gca - i wish topps would rethink their stance on cheap inserts for their flagship line. i totally agree that a&g inserts trump flagship's. thanks for setting aside those singles for me. i'll go through your wantlist and see if i have any of those inserts. i know i have one of the booming cities minis, but not sure if it's one you need.
peter k steinberg - if there's a straberry or kruk and i have an extra... they're yours
the snorting bull - i think the non-baseball stuff is the most interesting.
steve at 1975baseballcards.com - i feel like the a&g designs all blend together. but i get it, since it's a play off of the originals. and the non-baseball cards are easily my favorite part of the base set.
nick vossbrink - i'd love to see more science, social studies, and random sports too.
johnnys trading spot - sweet. thanks johnny. are you building this set or any of the insert sets?
elliptical man - i'll put together a list of what i have and you can just tell me what you need.
sg488 - normally i just buy the set if i really like it. only reason i'm building this one is because i was gifted the starter set.
shoeboxlegends - i'm in the same boat. i think i saw a hockey blaster last month.
jongudmund - i need to track down the gwynns. yeah, i liked that insert set too
sumomenkoman - the non-sport insert sets and the non-baseball base cards are my favorite thing about this product.
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