Too Sleepy to Come Up With a Creative Title... But Someone Sent Me Minis!

Red Sox fan and Mookie Betts collector, Greg of My Baseball Card Comeback sent me team bags full of cards.  Lots of them.  Posting about them individually would both take far too long and really not do any justice to the sheer number of needs that Greg was able to cross off my want list.  So, instead of scanning every mini he sent and giving you a visual overload, I decided to place all the minis he sent on top of my scanner and pretend to scan them.

Like so.

That's a lot of minis... and after taking two weeks to go through them all, there was only one duplicate added to my collection.  Greg did good.

Don't worry.  I did scan a few of my favorites.  I decided to keep my favorites to a bunch of non-baseball minis like the above beautiful picture of the Golden Gate Bridge.  The card is so simple, but it still makes me continually stare at it.

A couple non-baseball inserts from 2009, of which I'm severely lacking in quantity.  I had never heard of the Wisconsin State Capitol hoax until reading this card, so Ginter succeeds in continuing to teach me random facts.

An ELECTRON from the same year's base set.  A bit of a silly card I suppose, but I kinda appreciate the seeming randomness of it.

...similar to how I appreciate the randomness of x-rays showing up in 2010, albeit on a much more ugly design.

This Shen Kuo is similar to that of Kate Upton's reaction after Rick Porcello won the AL Cy Young award yesterday.

Greg took to my want list mostly from 2008-2010 (must have been his prime collecting years).  These were years in which I had very little collecting experience and my want lists are extensive.

However, he was able to find a handful of minis I still needed from 2014, one of which completed an insert set for me!  Looking back on the 2014 mini inserts makes me miss the product.  The vast majority of the inserts from that year were above average, while I feel the last two years there have only been one or two inserts that I've really enjoyed.

Greg also knew I was a Braves fan and didn't hold back on sending me non-Ginter stuff either!  An 08 Smoltzy mini came with the package (yes... I know, still Ginter), as well as a bunch of new Julio Teheran's to add to the collection!

The highlight of the Teheran's was definitely this green Bowman numbered out of 99.  Thanks so much for the awesome trade Greg!  I definitely owe you one!

That Feeling of Instant Splurge

I'm not usually one to post cards I've recently acquired just for the sake of posting them and showing them off.  I usually like to have a reason to do.  Sometimes that reason is highlighting a trade package, having a theme to write about, or simply posting a good story.

Today is a bit different.  Here are some cards.  I bought them.  I didn't have them before and now I do, and I'm excited about that.

I suppose there is a bit of "theming" to all this as the vast majority of the cards have been on my want list for quite some time.  These cards are just rare enough and just old enough that most people don't have them lying around anymore.

I bought a bunch of these 2008 mini inserts off COMC, pretty much grabbing everything I didn't have that came in under $1.50.  Heck, even if I wasn't trying to collect these sets, I still might have spent the $1.50 on a few of these cards.  2008 Allen & Ginter is simply that beautiful to me.

These Team Orange inserts were a bit more than than the $1.50 price-point, but they're also a bit more rare.  Happy to cross them off my want list!

The last of the 2008 minis was also one of my favorites.  It not only finished up my set of Pioneers of Aviation, but I got this card for $0.99!!!  A great deal!

Picked up two of the three flags I need to complete this mini set from 2007.  The last card I need is that of Iceland, a wonderful country that just exceeded all sorts of expectations at EURO 2016.

I also inched closer to this Roman Emperors set.  Hadrian was 1 of 3 remaining for me.

I didn't just limit it to rare and older Ginter.  I picked up some fairly new stuff as well.  I'm still trying to complete the 2015 purple framed relic set because... well, purple!

These six were all on the cheaper end (really, Beltre cheap???) and I needed them, so into the cart they went.

This particular purchase was more of a last-second splurge.  I really enjoy the cloth minis, and I don't have too many of them, so being able to pick up a notable Brave at a decent price seemed like a good idea.

Lastly, I started my Teheran PC out with a BANG!  While I like the way this kid pitches, one of the other reasons I chose him was because of his absolutely beautiful signature.  His autos are actually surprisingly cheap (borderline bargain bin prices), which kinda astounds me.  While he's no Clayton Kershaw, he certainly is still a great pitcher with tons of possible upside.

I ended up with a whole mix of autographs when all was said and done.  Some RC autos, a few on-card, some sticker-graphs, a few numbered ones.

I even obtained the lovely "floating ball" Stadium Club shot.  While this one isn't the best, I've always loved a good floating ball picture.  They do tend to work better when zoomed out a bit more so the camera doesn't have to choose what it wants to focus on.

This one is probably my favorite?  Heck, they're all my favorite.  I like this one mostly because of the card design.  Someone went to town and put a whole lot of pieces together to make this card look nice, and I think they did a fabulous job.  It helps that the clouds background goes rather nicely with the blue parallel.

Story Time: Why Mini Haters are Awesome, Part II

Part I of this story can be found here.

I last left you with this image.  This is the image I saw one fateful day on eBay while perusing through random mini listings.

This seller was advertising a case lot of 2016 Allen & Ginter X.  He claimed that he was only interested in the autographs, ripped into each box until he pulled the auto in question and moved on.  He proceeded to do this for an entire case of the product (18 boxes).  He was selling what was left behind... his leavings, if you will.

Well, I happen to enjoy people's leavings, so I snatched this listing up at a ridiculous discount.  I paid less than 25% of retail value (less than $1 a pack!) for this listing.  To be fair, it was for good reason... the autos were pulled, and other than short prints (mini and base), there really isn't any opportunity to "chase" anything else in these boxes.  Either way, I knew I was guaranteed to come away with at least two base sets (including SP's), plus 324 minis which is pretty darn close to that 350 set build mark.

I pulled the trigger.  This is what my dining room table looked like after I unpacked the contents.

We have all the boxes I emptied on the left, the loose base from the packs this guy had already opened in the middle, and the huge piles of packs I had to now rip through on the right.

A few things I want to mention...

First, as was expected, the base came to me completely unsorted.  That was zero fun.  Second, as you can see from above, I cheated and opened 7 or 8 packs myself before realizing that this was probably a story worth telling.  I stopped opening packs to snap a few pictures to document this insanity.

Don't worry!  I didn't forget those precious minis!  They were just hiding behind the unopened packs in the first two pictures.  These were the minis included in the package that the seller had opened.  Fortunately, they weren't damaged or picked through at all.  I received the expected number of short prints and Kyle Schwarber rookies. :p

Here's a closer look at the unopened packs I had to go through.  Those are stacks of 18-20, so I had to open up just over half of the case myself.  There really wasn't any joy in it as I wasn't chasing anything.  Really more tedious than anything else.

Something else in that above picture... zooming in on the top right shows what was previously occupying my dining room table.  An excellent board game, a racquetball racket, my Magic the Gathering standard deck, and a 100 ct. box filled with minis from a past trade.  A pretty good sample of my hobbies.

Anyways... back to story time. I spent a good deal of time going through and sorting the already opened cards into piles by 100's.  The packs got opened next and went alongside those 100's piles.  The next week was spent slowly knocking those piles down into sortable piles of 10's (so 230-239 would all be in one pile).  I could then finally start building sets of what I had. 

When all was said and done, I ended up with two complete sets (1-350), plus two more complete sets (1-300).  I probably could've built a fifth 1-300 set, but decided that I was just going to use those all for trade packages anyways.  

I also did as well as one could expect on minis.  I'm missing 44 of them to complete the set (with about half of them being SP's).  That means I ended up with only 18 doubles in the entire case.  I was pretty pleased with that.

There was one more thing though.  With about six packs remaining to open, this "card" fell into my hands.

Holy wow.

I can only assume that the box this pack came from was a hot box, or maybe the seller made an error.  I'm not sure.  Whatever the case, this was an awesome bonus towards the end of all that sorting.  As I'm writing this, I still haven't redeemed it yet, and I'm not really sure why.  Perhaps I still can't believe it.

In any case, I made out like a bandit on this transaction. 90% of a mini set plus a sweet silver ink rookie auto, not to mention all that trade bait I have lying around now.

Oh yeah, anybody want some Ginter X??? :D  I've already hooked a couple people up with teams sets, ect.  I know I'm probably one of the only bloggers that gets this product, and I certainly have more than enough to go around this year.  Feel free to yell at me, and I'll shoot some of this your way!

I just now realized that I haven't actually shown a single card of this product off between these two posts (unless you count the backs).  So for those of you who would like to know what this product is, here you go.  

May your breaks be as lucky as mine!

Story Time: Why Mini Haters are Awesome, Part I

You all know I'm an Allen & Ginter collector.  That much has always been clear.  I enjoy the old-fashion take on the hobby, the usually crazy or wonky non-sport inserts, and the MINIS.  Oh, do I love me some minis.  Along with the rare inserts, minis are what keeps Ginter fresh to me.  

If I went to the store right now, and found some discounted Ginter, I would most likely pick it up even though I've already completed the base set and the full-sized inserts (well... almost).  It's because of that one single mini card that is always guaranteed to fall out of every Ginter pack that I keep coming back.  Each one is unique and different to me and offers something special, more so than your normal base card.  Some people understand this and are right there with me.  I know many others that could care less and simply think the mini is "just another parallel."  Nay, nay I say.

Over the years of being a mini collector, there are some things I've learned about the hobby specifically related to minis:

1. Minis are SO much easier to ship.
• Not only does this make trading far more cost effective; it also allows trades to get much bigger without having to resort to expensive priority mail boxes.
2. Minis take up far less space.
• Once one commits to collecting a substantial number of minis, there are solutions available to both store and display minis that aren't available for regular sized cards.  Here's a couple examples:
• 15 pocket page vs. 9 pocket page?  Yes please!  67% increased display efficiency!
  These felines are very unhappy that they are not yet complete...
• "Double storing" minis?!?! Even better!  100% increased storage efficiency!  Note: I've found that this storage tactic really only works well (read: doesn't damage the minis) in monster boxes or the small, odd-shaped 100ct. or 150ct. boxes.
  
3. Some people can't stand minis.
• I suppose I understand this.  People don't want to have to find new ways to store cards, or they simple can't be bothered by different.  That's fine.  I have no gripes with you.  It means more minis for me.

Today's story is about that last point, point number three.  I first must give you one more piece of background information for those of you out of the "mini loop".  I'm also feeling this list thing today, so we're going to give you the four main ways that I obtain my minis... in numbers.

1. Opening product
• Obvious, you might think, but in this day and age there are many individuals that simply skip this step completely.  I prefer to keep it the foundation of my collecting habits, simply because I enjoy the thrill, it gives me trade bait, and it keeps the hobby going.
2. Buying singles that are needed
• The necessary evil... I try to avoid this as much as humanly possible (**cough** says Bubba, the one with multiple scans waiting in the 'to blog' folder that came from COMC and EBay).  There are simply better options available like:
3. TRADING!
• You guys are awesome.  So many of my minis have come fellow bloggers, mini collectors, forum users, Zistle... the list goes on.  I always enjoy seeking out new trading partners and trying to make their day.  Everyone has a niche, and I do my best to find it and fill it with whatever I have available.
4. "Lots"
• Most mini collectors I know use this option the most.  This option entails going to your favorite site and asking fellow collectors for their unwanted minis because... some people can't stand minis.
• This can be accomplished via buying or trading, but it almost always involves the other collector dumping almost every unwanted mini on me, usually at a discount.

One of my most common eBay searches is "[Insert Year] Ginter mini lot".  This is my bargain bin search; you know, that dime box you find that doesn't really look that promising, but you flip through cards 100 at a time just to see if anything catches your eye.  I don't bite very often.

I'm looking for a bargain.  I'm looking for unique.  I'm looking for someone like this who simply doesn't care for their minis and wants to dump them all.  I usually get one of these such lots a year and sometimes I get lucky, sometimes not.  The one above was alright; nothing to write home about, but it had a couple NNO minis and a Bazooka back (or whatever they call them this year).

No, this story is not about that listing.  It is about a somewhat different and much bigger listing.  My searching of "2016 Ginter mini lot" led me to a very unique item, featuring not 2016 Allen & Ginter, but the Topps online exclusive product 2016 Allen & Ginter X.

I purchased six boxes of Allen & Ginter X last year, which I honestly thought was fabulous. I originally thought the product was going to be unique to 2015 what with Ginter's "special" 10-year anniversary.  Not the case!  They released a very similar product again this year with a few changes.  More lists!!! :D

1. The guaranteed hits have been completely revamped
• Instead of 2 hits per box with a chance at an autograph, this year features only 1 hit, but the hit is a guaranteed autograph.
• Also of note is that the autograph is now unique to this online product.  I believe they are mostly black minis with silver ink graphs. 
2. Short print ratios have been changed
• A lot of this might have to do with the fact that Topps messed up the Ginter SP ratio in general last year, but the bottom line is that short prints are again short prints in this version of the product (and that includes minis!).
3. All mini parallels have been removed
• No more ad-back minis, no more silver minis.  Just regular back black minis.
4. No more inserts
• You can no longer pull full-sized or mini inserts from this product

I think the real draw for many people would be that guaranteed, and admittedly very sharp looking, autograph.  It happens to also be my main problem with the set and why I decided not to purchase any boxes this year.  It essentially moved most of the value of the box to that one autograph you pull.  I don't particularly like that.  I prefer the minis I pull to hold value.

Last year's set had those hard to pull silver minis which drove some of the value.  Oh those minis?  They're kinda pricey now... 

Last year, I didn't come even remotely close to putting together the Ginter X mini set since no one seemed to have any of the cards. Figuring this year would be the same, I decided that I didn't want to pursue this year's Ginter X set.

That's when I saw this listing. 

I'll leave you with that little teaser.  You'll find out more... whenever I feel like writing another essay.  Thanks for reading!

A Trade Package from a fan of the NL Champs

Finally!  We've arrived at the last trade post from September!  The below cards are courtesy Dayton of the newer blog Retro Cub.  Dayton has been posting quality stuff for two months now and has also featured a couple really nice pulls.  Go check it out when you have the chance!

Aside from being yet another Cubs fan (and Cubs collector) to start blogging, I'm not entirely sure of Dayton's collecting niche yet.  However, I do know that he opened up quite a lot of Allen & Ginter from 2012 and that had me interested!  Of the six 'normal' mini inserts from 2012, Dayton was able to help fill in my want list for five of them!

I promise, I'll get back to reviewing Allen & Ginter insert sets in due time... and none of these have been featured in the countdown yet, but they are all solidly in the top half of the list.  2012 was a good year for inserts.

I do think my favorite insert from this trade package was Beethoven's stink/serious face.  His story (and music) always impress me, and I feel every time I read or listen about who he was, I learn some new or crazy fact about his life.

I will always add cards like these to my collection.  I have no particular great affection towards either subject (although traitor Yunel did play very well for my Bravos for a couple years), but I enjoy simply having more rare minis in my collection in general.  Google has learned that I do sometimes play golf in my downtime, so occasionally a targeted ad pops up featuring "the legend" Hank Haney.  Meh.  No interest.  I will not show your face on this blog sir. 

Speaking of more rare minis!  Two framed minis with subjects whose faces I will show!  I've mentioned before that, while I don't particularly follow tennis, I am extremely impressed by what tennis players can do.  Roger Federer is one of the biggest tennis names out there and I'm proud to add this piece to my collection.

Greg Gumbel will forever be linked in my brain as the host of March Madness.  He is so ingrained, that his other accomplishments (whatever they may be are completely irrelevant to me).  This is similar to Bob Costas and Olympic coverage, and more recently, Rebecca Lowe with Premier League coverage.  I enjoy all three of those hosts when they are doing that job.  Actually, I truly believe that Rebecca Lowe is an absolute master of her craft.  Many of you who don't watch the Premier League should have recently seen her help cover the Rio Olympics.

It's a shame that ESPN doesn't have anyone I can immediately point to like this.  Perhaps the closest talent they have at this level is Scott Van Pelt (who I usually enjoy, but whose niche is unfortunately golf) and maybe Bob Ley with his older work.

Dayton didn't forget I was a Braves fan either, sending me two retail only parallels.  The Freeman gold mini is obviously a welcome addition, as he might be the only position playing Bravo that has been with the team for at least a year and is collectible on a long term basis.  Sigh.

Tyrell Jenkins has been in the minors since late 2010 and actually made the move up to the big-leagues this year.  He made 14 appearances (8 starts) and going 6 innings for half of those starts.  His low inning count and a couple really bad starts have really inflated his current MLB ERA.  Hopefully this will be a guy that will step up for us next year.

Unfortunately, this package contained no Cubs or Indians so it didn't allow me talk much about the Series that started last night.  I don't particularly have a rooting interest, but I suppose if I was pressed for a decision, I would be rooting for the Cubs.  I just enjoy good baseball, and mostly good pitching.  Kluber's performance last night.  That's what I like.

Thanks for all the great cards Dayton!