Cracking Some Allen and Ginter's

To be honest, I wasn't planning on buying any A&G this year. Don't get me wrong, I love A&G, but I ran into some car problems this past weekend and I am still waiting on a verdict on the damages. As of now, it looks like I may be getting a new car, but I am hoping I won't have to go that route. My dad's mechanic friend and I are going to check the bendix in the ring gear of the starter sometime in the next few days. If that is the problem it only sets me back 120 bucks. If not, I am going new car shopping! This means that most all of my money over the next few months will be going toward the purchase of a new car, so yea, please be the starter. Damn Fresno and it's lack of public transportation! Oh yea, damn that empty saving account of mine!

That in mind, I made a few extra bucks on eBay yesterday, so I figured I would enjoy what might be my final major card purchase of the year. My buddy Dikran and I ran into a couple of blaster boxes at Target and that money was spent. Let's get to cracking.

*Spoilers* I pulled two hits from my blaster (Dikran didn't pull any), yet this was my favorite card. Apparently this is one of the insert sets, but I would eat it up if it was sold by itself. I am a huge fan of black bordered/primarily black cards, though they are a little harder to keep in mint condition with chipping and whatnot. I love the decision to use the Rangers red jerseys on this card, rather than the white or grey. It really makes it pop.

Together, we pulled eight of these beauties. I'm headed off to a Dodger game tomorrow (courtesy of Dodger Penguin), but you can read up on that tomorrow. This beauty will probably be accompanying me on my trek to track down some IP autos. A silver or gold signature on this would look pretty damn good.

Before we get into the base cards, let me show off the two hits I pulled. The first being a nice bat slice from Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies. The card is up for trade, but I'll probably be looking to get another Dodger relic from 2014 for it. With the uncertainty of my card budget, I want to make the most of what I have now.

I'm glad I look at the backs! This was in the SAME PACK as the CarGo above. Probably the best pack I'll ever pull. I'm not sure what these will sell for, but I have high hopes. It is now listed on eBay for those that are interested. 

We only pulled two regular sized Dodgers, but quality Dodgers they are. Ryu seems to be pretty photogenic, as I can't recall a bad card of him. Shots like these are the reason why I love Allen and Ginter's by the way. Sometimes you can only deal with so many faces in Flagship.  You can't go wrong with a new Jackie either. Topps appears to be using a new image for number 42. That, or, they cropped it to the point that I cannot recognize it coming from another card.

We also pulled a mini Duke, who I am glad to see return to the Topps lineup this year. Bo Jackson, the original Yasiel Puig, also made an appearance in one of those weird black border variation things. Seriously, I have no idea what the border variation is. Feel free to fill me in.

JEETS! Pretty cool shot of the captain, but I'm sure other blogs will give you a better analysis of that card, so I'll shut up now. I also managed to recognize (!) one of the non-baseball playing persons on featured on A&G. Gar Ryness (an 80 name by the way) is better known as the Batting Stance Guy. If you are unfamiliar with his work, just check out this video. 

I could probably go on and on about these awesome cards, but I'll finish off the post with another cool insert. Fields of Yore is a 10-card set with the Dodgers old stomping grounds, Ebbets Field, in the checklist. There are some awesome stadiums on the checklist, but Wrigley is one that I would really like to go see. Like a ton of baseball fans, visiting every major league stadium is on my bucket list. Wrigley is probably #1 on that list. 

Depending on what happens with my car, I may or may not be purchasing more of this soon. I will be throwing up what I need to finish the base set on my Set Needs page sometime next week, but that may expand into the master set depending on the car (again). We pulled eight short prints (out of 50), so that is a good sign to go for the set.