Allen & Ginter Insert Overview Series #83

Set: 2015 Allen & Ginter Menagerie of the Mind

            Total Cards: 20

            Stated Odds: 1:2 (along with other full-sized inserts)

Bubba’s Derived Odds: 1:7

           # of Hobby Boxes Needed to Obtain Set: 5.83

We're down to our last 2015 Allen & Ginter full-sized insert, and I just now realized that I haven't mentioned pack odds for these sets yet.  Shame on me.  This is one of the main reasons I started this series!  But I'm not out of time yet!

Topps did something in 2015 Allen & Ginter that kinda makes sense and that I discovered when I opened my case this year.  After sorting out all the cards I had opened, I looked at my full-sized inserts piles and found that some piles were VERY much taller than others.  When I dove deeper in, I found that I had acquired two complete sets of almost every full-sized insert.  This was not something I was used to.  I remember in 2013 when I broke a case and came away with 6 identical Martial Masteries cards, but failed to complete even a single set of Civilizations of Ages Past.

This year (or should I say last year because its 2016 now and I'm slow at posting), Topps made it so that insert set size adjusted the odds of pulling that particular insert.  Pulling one of these Menagerie of the Mind cards twice as common as pulling a What Once Was Believed card.  Topps didn't explicitly state this anywhere (as all full-sized inserts were still listed at 1:2 odds), but trust me, my odds are right.  We've got 2 sets with 20 cards at 1:7 odds and 3 with 10 cards at 1:14 odds.  If we add those odds together we get 7:14 which perfectly aligns with Topps' claim.

Aside from the numbers giving me something interesting to think about, I don't really know how much I like this new approach.  I enjoy a sense of rarity and the difficulties associated with chasing after sets.  Although, I suppose the mini sets in Allen & Ginter are difficult enough to complete, so I'm going to say that I think I appreciate this change.

On with the countdown!

Favorite (Owned) Card:

There is only one reason that this is my favorite card in this set:

Throughout my college experience, I have been called many things.  My nicknames vary from puns based on my last name, different ways to say Matt, and names I've received while playing sports (namely Bubba).  I've also acquired another "name"... though it's not so much a name as it is a testimate to my personality, height, and hair-color.  Many people relate me to these wonderful Irish creatures (though I have almost zero Irish blood in my body).  I choose to view the name as a compliment for my ability to always see the bright side of life.

In any case, whenever I see a leprechaun, I am always reminded of college and the great experiences associated with it.  This card also features one of the best pieces of art in the set and pretty accurately depicts what I would think a leprechaun would look like... and no, it is not a photo of me.

Notes and Comments:

This giant set of 30 cards all feature imaginary creatures of mythology, or else of someone's crazy imagination (zombies... where the heck are they originated from???  The only thing I could come up with would be some kind of offshoot of the Egyptian mummy... but then, why isn't that in this set).

As good as the leprechaun picture is, many of the rest don't hold a candle to it.  I would venture to guess that only about a third of the art from this set is worthy of a collectible card.  I suppose that's better than most of the other 2015 full-sized inserts though.

The card backs from this set happen to be one of the better card backs of the year.  I think they are masterfully designed with a nice big emphasis on the title that happens to have some clever alliteration.  Speaking of the title, I could've sworn menagerie meant something along the lines of a large group of animals.  Similar to a zoo... but more like a giant pet store.  You know, those pet stores you walk into and it stinks like wet dog and hamster feces... and the walls are lined with animal cages containing specimens begging to be released.  Menagerie.  I don't want any of those Menageries of the Mind thank you very much.

Similar to the Ancient Armories set that I reviewed back in January (ugg... I really need to start getting in gear here), I think I'm probably significantly under-rating this set.  Perhaps not to the extent of the Ancient Armories set, but I still think it's probably going to end up being one of the sets I look back at and say... "eh, that wasn't all that bad."

Arbitrary Rating (out of 100): 52

Click link above for complete up-to-date ratings

% of Set Completed: 100%

Missing Cards: NONE!!!

Extra Cards: All!  Anyone need/want a set?

My Thoughts on Topps Flagship

These last few days my Blogger dashboard has been inundated with posts regarding Series 1 of the new Topps Flagship set.  For good reason too.  Not only is this the first major set of cards we've seen in months, but its the signal of the start of a new year in baseball!  Pitchers and catchers week is right around the corner, college baseball is starting to play some scrimmages down in the warmer part of the world, and heck, we've even got some minor leaguers hittin' home runs in the Caribbean World Series (or Serie del Caribe if you prefer). 

Well, I'm not joining the flagship hype train.  It's not because I don't like the set... actually, I really have no idea what I think about this set as of yet.  Obviously I've seen all the cards that people have posted pictures and scans of, but I haven't gone out and grabbed any off the shelf yet.  No, the real reason I haven't gotten overly excited about this release is that I simply prefer not to collect Topps flagship sets.  

I'm a set collector above all things.  Nothing annoys me more than spending time and money on collecting a set and then later seeing the set released as a factory set sealed and pristine.  For me to want and collect something, not only does it have to catch my eye, but it has to be "worth it."  I want to end up with a finished product that looks good while also being something that not every collector can say they have (or can go to their LCS and pick it up for 50-60 bucks).  

Two years ago a card collecting friend of mine started opening 2014 Panini Donruss.  He loved the Diamond Kings inserts of the past and the ones they put out in that set as well.  I don't remember how many boxes he opened of the product, but he ended up chasing the set (which had some obnoxious SP's in it as well) only to find out that Panini ended up releasing a factory set for the product.  He was extremely upset because he felt he wasted a whole lot of time and money on a set that is now available for $29.99.

In a way, I feel the same about Topps Flagship.  The set's existence doesn't bother me, I just have little desire to collect it.  It also helps that very few of the insert sets they produce for these sets tend to strike my fancy.

In recent years, I've actually tried to collect the Topps Chrome set instead.  Yes, I know it doesn't include all the cards, and yes, it usually leaves out a few that I would REALLY enjoy having, but I think this is a good compromise.  I get to chase a set that's harder to complete than flagship, while still (basically) getting to collect the set design!

All of this leads me to a recent, relatively smaller, trade I made with Jimmy of Talking [S]Mack Cards.  He sent me a conglomeration of cards off my wantlist from 2014 and 2015.  There was a lot of Chrome-y shinny stuff included which made me happy.  Here's a couple of the better ones.

2014 Chrome.  I'd be surprised if I owned more than 30 of the non-Chrome version of this product.  I wasn't overly impressed with it, and I was completely burned out from chasing 2013 flagship (along with the vast majority of its inserts).  I think I bought a couple Wal-Mart packs of 2014 Series 1 and then called it quits.  Chrome I did collect though, and I'm getting there!  The wantlist has gotten pretty short!

I did end up breaking down and buying a bit more 2015 flagship this past year simply because the set was so much fun.  I still don't plan on collecting the whole thing, but I have a healthy stack of those sitting around in boxes.  Ironically, I think that making this set shinny didn't actually do anything good for it.  In fact, it might have made it worse in a way with the glare the Chrome provides.  Doesn't matter.  Still collecting this.  Reason: no factory set.

Lastly, Jimmy sent me a bunch of this past year's Bowman set... a set that I think is vastly underrated.  I don't do Bowman every year, but I usually get a hobby box of it for prospects and then decide if I want to spend more money on it.  This past year, the answer was a resounding "yes."  Bowman's presentation is usually quite awful, but I happened to really like this idea of having a pseudo-full bleed look with creative borders.

It's usually Bowman that fills the void for me between Opening Day and Allen & Ginter.  Every now and then something else cool catches my eye and I end up chasing that instead (last year Stadium Club was too close to Ginter for me to spend money on both...).  We shall see what that set will be this year.  I'm already committing myself to Ginter and Topps Chrome again.  One more will probably sneak in!

This Post Has Been On Hiatus...

If I thought I was behind on my last trade post... well, this one takes the cake.  I reached out to Tony of Off Hiatus Baseball Cards in September (or so my Gmail account tells me) to send him some cards.  Those cards got to him sometime in mid-October because he has a post on his blog that says so.  I have no such post.

I also happened to recently win one of Tony's contests regarding card shows.  Since I'm apparently the only collector in the universe that has never been to a card show, I won by default.  I guess I should attempt to get to one of those...

In any case, all the cards you see below are from Tony.  I know this only because up until I scanned them yesterday evening, they have been sitting in a stack on my desk with a sticky note on top of them; "TONY".  Therefore, I have no clue how many packages these came in, or if Tony did anything creative with the packaging and/or card ordering.  Regardless, there are quite a few awesome cards in this post, so I think many will speak for themselves.

First things first.  The tried and true.  If you've ever traded with me (or even read much of this blog), then you'll know that my heart is instantly won over if a package contains any sort of Allen & Ginter items that I need.  These three minis from 2008 were certainly needed.  

The Thurgood Cartwright IV is actually part of a subset called Team Orange which is a set that I don't have much of.  This particular card is quite entertaining, as apparently, the fictional Cartwright family earned a fortune via kumquat farming.

More Ginter that I didn't have.  This time in the form of animals.  Yes, I consider JMW Turner an animal... most crazy artists are.

I thought these were pretty neat.  Tony sent me the Braves versions of Gary Matthews across multiple years of Topps.  I scanned them in the wrong order of course... we've got 1979, 1977, and 1980.  Matthews played for the Braves from 1977-1980 and had his only career all-star year with them in '79.  I'm not exactly sure how Matthews ended up with a Braves card in '77 as opposed to a Giants card, especially because I don't even think the picture is edited, but I'm not complaining.

(yeah, these... not mine yet.)

Now I'm only missing the above two cards to complete the Topps Braves Matthews collection...

...because I have this one already!

Next up, Tony sent me Braves team cards from '78 and '80.  I don't really know how you're expected to make out someone's face from these photos, but I like them for what they represent.

One of the coolest parts of this package was simply the vast assortment of cards I got across sets that I had seen before, but never actually owned.  I don't think I would ever go out and buy these for myself simply because I didn't grow up with these players.  I absolutely love receiving these kinds of things in trade packages, simply because it reflects a different era of baseball.  Sure, I recognize some of these players' names... I'll even go back and look at their stats, but I'll never have the connection to them that I do the Braves (or any player for that matter) of the 90's... the ones I grew up impersonating in my back yard.

This was a bit of an oddball that Tony threw in.  A Fleer sticker card from 1987 featuring the old Braves logo.  I'm not a huge fan of strange/oddball type cards but this one intrigued me, mostly because when you flip the sticker to its backside... you see a Royals logo.  I don't get it.  How are these two things related?  I suppose they're both baseball teams... Anyone have any insight here or is Fleer just being stupid?

By far, the highlight of the package were these two beauties.  This is actually a set that I have never even seen before (other than through some online pictures).  Owning not just one, but two of these beautiful picture cards makes me excited.  

Night Owl Cards recently finished his Topps set countdown or whatever he called it... I don't remember.  I read through it, but I can't say I was overly interested.  I don't own many old cards, and I don't feel justified creating opinions about card sets via pictures and scans of cards.  Throughout the whole thing I felt vastly underwhelmed by much of what Topps has produced over the years.  Perhaps much of that had to do with the fact that the countdown displayed all of the "bad sets" first.  In any case, throughout his entire countdown, this was the only set that enthralled me and made me pause and investigate.

The more I read about 1953 Topps, the more I love it.  I love that all the cards are hand-painted images, I love the sometimes random backgrounds, and I love the close-up, portrait style card (at least in this case).  If I ever decided to complete a vintage set, I would have to go all-out because that's my personality.  I would have to complete this one.

Thanks so much Tony for the glorious package (or packages... I don't remember) that you sent me.  You hit the nail square on the head with this one.  I don't think I could have asked for anything more/better.

Top of the Stack: An Argyle Envelope

As many of us seem to be this time of year, I too have fallen vastly behind on trade posts.  My desk is covered with envelopes that I've tried to keep cards in so I can remember who sent me what.  This post actually is going to highlight one of my more recent trades, not because I like it any more than the others, but simply because I remember it with 100% certainty and won't mess it up.  I'll get around to the other trade posts soon... I just can't guarantee I'll have complete recollection.  

Today's cards come to you courtesy Greg over at Plaschke, Thy Sweater Is Argyle.  He was one of the very first bloggers I ever encountered and traded with back when I started writing last year.  He sent me some truly awesome cards back then and didn't disappoint this time around either.

Greg sent me a good number of cards featuring Braves pitching and seemed to have a particular interest in Tom Glavine.  Both of these cards are beautiful specimens.  I especially enjoy the second card featuring Glavine getting ready to take some BP.  This has always been one of my pet-peeves about modern baseball.  Over the years, pitchers have gotten worse and worse at hitting the baseball.  I think a lot of it has to do with the way pitchers are pampered today (especially in the college system).  Coaches are so afraid something is going to happen to their arms that they won't even let them swing the bat in practice.

I've heard of college coaches forcing pitchers to change batting sides because they don't want the pitcher's throwing arm exposed.  I myself throw right-handed and bat lefty.  I couldn't ever imagine doing it differently.  Everything else seems unnatural.

I guess that is part of the reason I love this kind of card so much.  It shows pitchers who are actually playing the game of baseball as opposed to only being used to throw 90mph (which Glavine can't do anyways).  I will forever be a National League fan because of this.  I love seeing pitchers swing the bat.

I was also sent a pretty cool 88 Topps of Ken Griffey Sr.  I'm sure I have this card floating around in the unsorted monstrous part of my collection, but I like this junk wax era card.  For an 80's era card, I think that overlay work with the Braves titling and Griffey's head is actually very well done.  Too bad if you disagree.

Greg also sent me a bunch of these.  These being 2011 Topps.  Now, I have 2011 Topps, but these are different.  I'm not sure if these are from some kind of "special" factory set or what.  I know that there are different types of factory sets out there (holiday, hobby, there's usually some featuring certain teams...), but I don't know if EVERY factory set is printed in this fashion because I've never actually busted one.

These cards all had "factory set limited edition" printed on them.  At least Greg was kind enough to send me quite a few of them, so I don't feel like this card is a complete oddball.

The real draw of the trade with these two beauties.  Greg actually initially reached out to me just with pictures of these two cards.  The rest of what he sent me was simply the kindness of his heart.

Aaron Northcraft has been floating around in the minors for a while now and I guarantee that sticker auto is from years ago.  He was part of the somewhat recent Justin Upton trade sending him to the Padres farm system.  He's not an especially touted prospect, so I don't expect overly much from him.

Lucas Sims is a much younger pitcher drafted in the first round of the 2012 draft.  He's currently in the top 10 of Braves prospect rankings within a completely loaded farm system.  Although he probably won't find his way up this year, he certainly appears to have a plus fastball with the "ability to hit 96 with athletic ease."

Thanks for the trade Greg!

Allen & Ginter Insert Overview Series #84

Set: 2015 Allen & Ginter Ancient Armory

            Total Cards: 20

            Stated Odds: 1:2 (along with other full-sized inserts)

Bubba’s Derived Odds: 1:7

           # of Hobby Boxes Needed to Obtain Set: 5.83

Favorite (Owned) Card:

I've been a Connecticut resident since I was 1.  Throughout my elementary school years I had Native American culture jammed down my throat and I hated it.  I'm not sure if this phenomenon was unique to Connecticut, or even my specific school district, but almost all the history lessons and field trips had something to do with either dinosaurs or Native Americans.

Connecticut is certainly a state steeped in Native American history and lore.  We were the former home of the Pequot tribe and have a museum dedicated to them.  We also house two major casinos that are strictly run and owned by people with Native American lineage (which, at this point, is probably quite a few).

My parent's have always hated casinos, so naturally, I grew up hating them as well and, as only a kid would do, connected casinos to Native Americans to "bad".  ...It's funny how a young mind works.  Our countless field trips to the Pequot Museum only served to fuel my hatred even more.  Museums are quite boring as a kid.  I'm not sure why they force children to try and appreciate them.

Since then, I have grown to be astounded by Native Americans, their culture, and their art.  They were a people group that were 100% isolated from all other cultures until the 1700's.  They had to develop their own survival mechanisms and technology and came up with some pretty cool ideas in the process.

Notes and Comments:

This card features one of those technologies.  While obviously behind the curve of the day's European technology, the tomahawk demonstrates how versatile the Native Americans needed to be.  This instrument doubled as both a useful tool, a means of self-defense, and a weapon of war geared towards a hit and run style of warfare.

The rest of this 20-card set features a variety of different weapons used before the age of gunpowder.  I enjoy the set quite a lot and the back-of-the-card write-ups were often quite good.  In fact, I think I'm probably rating this set quite a bit lower than it should be.  Part of the problem is that I felt like I saw these cards in every other pack.  They felt way too common for my preferences and simply didn't seem unique or special.  I did like the pictures for a change, which is very different from the rest of the 2015 full-sized inserts.

While I like the set, I do think there could have been some room for improvement.  The set doesn't create the impression that it comes from the age it is trying to represent, and I think it could have easily accomplished this via less modern borders/fonts.  Allen & Ginter is, after all, a throwback set and this card doesn't feel like a throwback whatsoever.

As I mentioned before, it's probably a bit under-rated at 71, but that also means there are only 29 sets that better it, and I can tell you that most of them are minis.  

Arbitrary Rating (out of 100): 71

Click link above for complete up-to-date ratings

% of Set Completed: 100%

Missing Cards: NONE!!!

Extra Cards: AA-1, AA-2, AA-3, AA-5, AA-6, AA-7, AA-8, AA-9, AA-10, AA-12, AA-13, AA-15, AA-16, AA-17, AA-18, AA-19, AA-20

The Conservative Mistress Part II: The Main Card

Continuing this trade review of cards sent to me by Adam of My Cardboard Mistress.  See Part I here.

John Kasich

I really wanted spend this time saying how much Kasich annoys the heck out of me... and it's pretty hard to do that, but I couldn't find a card that I could relate to Ohio (the only subject he ever talks about).  Instead, Kasich gets a really neat picture of a couple narwhals...undeserving.

Everywhere I've looked on the trusty internet, no one really seems to have a definitive answer as to why Narwhals have these tusks.  They are actually extremely elongated left incisors and some of them even grow two such long teeth on occasions... yes, very much like a vampire.  These "teeth" are also hollow which is even more perfect for blood sucking!  Some experts say these teeth are for communication, while others say they are used during mating rituals.  I personally like my vampire theory, but I don't plan on publishing it.

This is essentially what I'm getting at with Kasich as well.  No one really knows why he's running.  He's very much a wildcard and doesn't really have much of a chance at the nomination.  I don't think he was going for the public acclaim either (similar to Fiorina or even Trump), because if that's what he was planning on, he's not really making a good impression on the American public.

Rand Paul

Rand Paul gets the Stephen Harper card.  I had to give this card to somebody, and Senator Paul is the person I can most easily relate Mr. Harper to.  Stephen Harper, former Prime Minister of Canada, was a famed economist whose ideals catapulted him into a leadership role in the Canadian Parliament.

Rand Paul is a very polarizing figure and turns many heads when he speaks (in both a good and bad way).  He is extreme and very adamant about his ideas regarding budgeting a foreign policy.  I wouldn't say that these two persons have similar ideology (I don't have the knowledge or background to say such things), but I do think both of them have gotten to their current position through a focus on the economy.

Carly Fiorina

Carly Fiorina constantly talks about her time as CEO of HP.  She's also been fairly high up on the totem poll in some other companies.  In any case, she gets the "working man" set.  This set was one of the two case hits in 2013 Allen & Ginter and featured 10 different subjects performing everyday jobs.  It was a bit of a bore of a set in my opinion, but I appreciate getting this rare card nontheless!

Chris Christie

I'm going to preface this paragraph by first stating that I enjoy Chris Christie.  Quite a lot.  He makes me laugh and he seems like a down to Earth guy.

Okay, now story time.

When Chris Christie took office in New Jersey, it was first of all, a surprise to many.  New Jersey has been a historically blue state and Christie represented the Republican Party.  Christie has since been making drastic changes to many of the ways in which New Jersey operates.  One of the more famous ones is his significant cut to pensions across the state.  New Jersey had no money to pay their retired people, so Christie chose to not pay them instead of raising taxes.  This policy decision got him tabbed as a pirate for essentially "stealing" money.

Just like our friend Hornigold.  I love this mini set from this year's Allen & Ginter and I'm greatly looking forward to reviewing it.  I know a lot of people that think the same because getting my hands on the individual cards I'm missing has been quite difficult!

Marco Rubio

I first must explain these two cards.  These cards are Ginter Code parallels from 2009 and 2011.  They are identical to their base card counterpart except for their border.  Pedroia's card features an actual code along the outside of the card that had to be cracked to win the Ginter Code prize.  On the other hand, Chipper's card contains black print "flowers" in the corners.  It was discovered that if you obtained all of these parallels from 2011 and laid them out just so, the shapes would match up and form a coded message.  That message ended up being a complete red herring, but I suppose its interesting nonetheless.  I recently decided that I'd try my hand at trying to put together these parallel sets simply because I thought it'd be a difficult challenge, so I greatly appreciate Adam's generous start (I got far more than just these two).

As far as Marco Rubio is concerned, it always seems like he's wearing a mask.  He always seems to be hiding his true self behind pretty words.  Granted, that's part of politics, and this year is the first in a very long time where candidates actually seem to be striving for truth and blunt honesty.  While I don't believe Rubio is a crook or a complete weasel, he certainly isn't Trump, Cruz, or Christie, who seem to revel in jamming truth down our throats.

Rubio masks the real thing with pretty borders.  He prefers that his poop doesn't stink.

Jeb Bush

Jeb Bush reminds me very little of his presidential family members.  Granted, I wasn't really old enough to know what the senior George Bush was like, but I certainly remember the younger of the two.  Jeb seems only to want to springboard off their past "success" and family money.  When he speaks during a debate, he is clearly passionate about certain issues, but I don't see or hear any drive in his words.  It's almost as if he has no desire to lead this nation.  Either that, or Jeb Bush is too proper and formal in his debate style.

Hence the absolutely beautiful cabinet card from the Pride of the People set featuring one of the prime tourist destinations of one of the world's most stereo-typically "proper" nations.  Every single card (if you still consider 4 X 6 pieces of cardboard cards) that I've seen so far in this set is stunning.  They remind me of postcards that you might find in a souvenir shop, which I think is brilliant.  I don't usually actively chase these oversized boxloaders down, but this is definitely a set I plan to complete sooner rather than later.

Ben Carson

Ben Carson has gotten a lot of heat for a commencement speech that he during which he claimed that he believed that the Egyptian pyramids were not built as tombs and shrines for ancient pharaohs and queens.  Instead, he claimed that they were instead possible built to store food (especially grain) in accordance with the story of Joseph and the Egyptian famine from the Bible.

This claim was quickly scoffed at for a number of reasons including ancients documents, complexity of the pyramids, and items found within the pyramids themselves.

Carson gets assigned the Easter Bunny... another very strange conjuration of the mind that apparently is derived from 13th century pagan Germanic beliefs.  This doesn't make me like the card less.  I won't get around to talking about this particular set, because it is quite rare and EXTREMELY hard to complete.

Ted Cruz

I don't really have much to say about Ted Cruz.  He seems extremely straightforward and to-the-point which has apparently rubbed most of his party-mates the wrong way.

He gets the world's biggest mammal simply because if you forced me right now to try and attempt to predict who would win the GOP nomination, Ted Cruz would probably be my pick.  I just see him as having the least baggage (at least at the moment) and probably has the highest floor of all the candidates.

Donald Trump

This is the card that gave me the initial idea to write this trade post in the this fashion.  If Topps had the chance to reprint this set in 2016, Donald Trump's roller coaster ride this year would simply HAVE to be one of the card subjects.  Every week that we get deeper into the primaries and debates, I have to marvel at the show that Donald Trump is putting on for us.  At this point, his name has been so ingrained into the news and media that I wouldn't be surprised if more people in America knew his name over President Barack Obama's.

I also keep telling myself that this campaign has to be one giant hoax, but at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if his name wound up on the final ticket (not as the presidential candidate mind you).  I could see these other GOP hopefuls trying to leverage his popularity and business acumen by choosing him as running mate... I don't know, maybe I'm going too far.

Those are your possible 2016 Republican candidates, one of which will almost certainly be running against Hillary Clinton in November.

Those also weren't the only cards that Adam sent me.  I only picked one mini from each set as he sent me quite a few from a handful of those mini inserts sets.  Adam also sent over some regular back base set minis.  Here's some highlights!

Thanks for the great trade Adam, and I apologize again for the vast amount of time it took me to get this particular post live.  Hope you enjoyed it!