That half-case that was just sitting on my floor...

Yesterday I was prepping to write my Ginter insert set review post and had to confirm my previous research I had done on odds.  Yesterday was my first post on any 2011 insert set and I wanted to make sure I was correct about everything I was writing.  The internet is usually your best friend for this sort of research, but surprisingly, individual set odds are quite hard to find efficiently and accurately in the cyber world.  I have a spreadsheet created that has general reference information about each set that I specifically created for these blog posts.  It has set info, my first impression of the set, and preliminary odds information.  I typically try to double-check the odds every time I post.

In any case, yesterday was taking far too long to check said odds… plus, I was getting some conflicting information.  I had this half-case of 2011 Ginter sitting unopened on the floor next to me… why else should it be there?

Let me tell you the REAL reason it’s there first… I feel I’m close enough to completing 2011 Ginter that breaking additional boxes really won’t help my quest.  I broke a bunch of 2011 retail.  I broke half the case 2 or so years ago and wasn’t impressed, so I stopped with the intentions of sitting on it and eventually selling it off if the price ever recovered.  I’m actually still convinced that the price will slowly start to rise over the next 5 years.

That’s not what my brain thought it was for yesterday… my brain told me that the best way to confirm my odds was to bust open a box and actually look at a pack.  I felt like I was living that new movie that Pixar just came out with, Inside Out.  I should go see it.  Maybe it would solve my problems.

I busted the box.  I confirmed the odds… I did actually make one change in my spreadsheet, but it wasn’t relevant to yesterday’s post.  I claim victory.

I now have an open box of 2011 Allen & Ginter in front of me.  It’s ugly… in so many different ways.  Gotta open a pack… right???

I did.  One pack.  Top pack… no digging or anything.  This is what I saw.

Okay, cool.  I’m no big fan, but I also know I didn’t have that relic yet.  One more pack. Yeah?

Uh…

It’s kinda thick…

Couldn’t be…

I was so confused… if you can believe it, I wasn’t even really thinking about the duplicate relic.  I was actually trying to rack my brain for memories of breaking the first half of this case.  I don’t have any recollection of seeing two hits right on top of the box.  Actually, my first thought was more along the lines of, “did I just break into some ridiculously silly hot box that would only make Nationals fans happy?”  My second thought was more along the lines of, “Oh Topps… need we say more about your collation issues?”

Well, I had to open another pack… and surprise surprise!  Another hit.  And no, not a third Zimmerman.  I was actually quite pleased with this hit.

We got an autograph!  If you’ve opened any 2011 Ginter in the past, then you know how big of a deal that is.  As I said above, I’ve opened a bunch of retail and a half case of this product.  I have 3 autos from all of that and I know one was out of retail… so you’re looking at a pull rate of one in 3 hobby boxes before this… yuck.

Obviously, I proceeded to open the rest of the box.  No more hits.  Oh well.  I did get a different type of hit later on though.

This was one of the few insert sets that I didn’t have a single card of.  Now I’ve got one!  Nine more to go!

The box didn’t provide anything particularly special after that.  We got a good assortment of minis and our 3 code cards… some of which I needed.

Overall, I think I actually did fairly well considering we’re looking at the worst of Ginter.  I’m still not going to open another box… well, at least that’s what I’m saying.  I really do think that Inside Out is a must happen ASAP.

On a different note... anybody want a Zimmerman relic??? Hahahaha.