First Three Ginter Boxes of 2018!

I'll post a full on recap of these boxes later this evening or early tomorrow morning, but here are the videos of the break for those interested. The first two also detail out our Contest #4 winner (which I won't spoil yet). :D

So far: very fun product

Ginter was Delayed... but I have contest results!

Hi all!

So, my LCS guy texted me the other day and told me there was a shipping issue at the distributor level where one distributor flat out didn't get product from Topps. Kinda a bummer. Fortunately, he coerced them (don't ask me how) to 2-day shipping a case over all the way from California. That means I'll be going to pick it up shortly and I'll have it today! In the meantime, lets see who won Contest #3!

Ginter tomorrow plus a contest win from Henry

Allen & Ginter is here tomorrow and I have the day off (I promise... wasn't planned). Suffice it to say that tomorrow afternoon will probably be a whole lot of pack busting. Should be fun! Along those lines, I still have two contests open that anyone can join to win some of the cards from the case I open.

Contest #3

Contest #4

Before this blog gets completely overrun by Ginter content, I want to highlight a contest I won from Henry over at the newer, but great blog Cardboard Greats. Henry sent me this Diamond Tributes relic from 2005 Fleer Tradition of Chipper Jones. It's only my second ever hit of the HoF 3rd baseman and I'm more than grateful.

Thanks so much Henry!

2018 Contest of Gintery Goodness - Part 4

I am officially excited. It's been awhile since I remember being this excited about an Allen & Ginter release. The last time was probably in 2015 when Allen & Ginter X first came out and we got a whole new look to the base card.

This year has me excited for a whole different reason. The non-baseball cards; they just sound so phenomenal! First and foremost, we've finally got boxtoppers back!

A&G Natural Wonders Box Loaders Set Checklist
10 cards. Hobby only. Limited to 500 copies.
NWB-1 Big Sur
NWB-2 Mount Kilimanjaro
NWB-3 Zion National Park
NWB-4 Vatnajökull Glacier Cave
NWB-5 Amazon Rainforest
NWB-6 Na Pali Coast
NWB-7 Phang Nga Bay
NWB-8 The Antarctic
NWB-9 Banff National Park
NWB-10 Seljalandsfoss Waterfall

The past few years have seen only baseball related boxtoppers, and none of them were all that special in my opinion. This is a welcome change and I'm excited to chase after some rather large cards again.

Second, the insert minis in this year's product:

Baseball Superstitions 

Exotic Sports 

Flags of Lost Nations 

Folio of Fears

Indigenous Heroes 

Postage Required

World's Hottest Peppers 

It's really exciting when one has to internally debate, and has trouble picking which insert set will be the worst this year. I think I finally decided that, although probably fun, the World's Hottest Peppers set will cool off the fastest and won't have a great visual appeal.

Oh right, you came here for a contest.  Alright, here's the (probably) last method of entry:

Comment below with the name (or number if you're lazy) of the first card I pull of each of the above mini inserts (that means I expect seven names or numbers). I'll record the first box I open on video and give a rundown. Comment with the most correct wins one of the many Ginter prizes I'll be giving out (we'll say the tiebreaker is the Baseball Superstitions set... cause after all, this is a baseball set).

Here's a link to the Cardboard Connection checklist where you can find all the mini inserts listed.

2018 Contest of Gintery Goodness - Part 3

This one's super simple folks.  You comment on this post before Monday, July 16th and you enter yourself into a drawing (done either Wednesday or Thursday) for one of the many Allen & Ginter type prizes I'll be giving away after opening my pre-ordered case.

Good luck! Yesterday's contest is still open as well so go make a guess if you haven't yet!

2018 Contest of Gintery Goodness - Part 2

So part 1 of this contest was not quite what I hoped, but that's understandable as I simply haven't posted in a while. Currently RAZ leads all comers in the World Cup pick'em with just four games remaining. In the mean time, we'll keep on trucking with part two of the contest. Again, Ginter seemed to do some weird things with inserts this year, so I can't really finalize prizes until we get a released checklist. Expect it to be similar to years' past (2015, 2016, and 2017).

This particular contest has been a favorite of mine

a simple, yet creatively cleaver design.

I tell you all to pick with your heart

the player of which Topps is likely to start.

Last year I somehow foreshadowed the pick

naming all the star Cubs did the trick.

This year could prove a bit more tricky

after the Astros won the World Series

Will Topps honor Houston and go with José,

or will another be chosen in an attempt to downplay?

You decide! After all, that's the point of this game,

Pick #1 and win all the acclaim!

Here's all the number #1's from previous years. Comment with your answers below. The person who comments first and gets it right will win, so I would suggest not duplicating answers. For this contest, you can provide an answer once every 24 hours (simply comment again). I know A&G comes out next Wednesday, so hopefully this isn't too late and we don't have a situation where the checklist comes out this afternoon (or something like that). Regardless, good luck!  More to come!

2018: ???

2017: Kris Bryant

2016: Jorge Soler
2015: Madison Bumgarner
2014: Roger Maris
2013: Miguel Cabrera
2012: Albert Pujols
2011: Carlos Gonzalez
2010: Adam Lind
2009: Jay Bruce
2008: Alex Rodriguez
2007: Ryan Howard
2006: Albert Pujols

Drawing Parallels Where They Don't Belong

Night Owl recently sent me a package that contained a smattering of different cards that checked a whole bunch of boxes off in my collection. He hit some wants lists, threw a couple Julio's at me, and even sent me a couple of Braves pitchers. I've been sitting on the below scans for a week or so trying to be a bit creative with them... to no avail. I decided to take these an entirely different direction.

Friday, I put up my first of many contests based around the upcoming Allen & Ginter release. The contest involves joining a fantasy World Cup pick-em. If you're at all interested in the upcoming World Cup, you should join! It'll be a fun way to follow it even if you don't win. Plus! FREE CARDS!

If you're looking to join, here's the link and code required to join Bubba's Bangin' World Cup Pick'em! Note that this shindig starts tomorrow, so you should hop in ASAP!

http://fcpredictor.espn.com/us/7/userhome.do

Code: 1552729-75428

Here, I'll even help you out! Five-Thirty-Eight just released their World Cup Projections complete with a fun interactive tool.

Along those lines, I decided to relate each of these ten cards that Greg sent me to a World Cup team. Hooray for shameless self-promotion!

France

Born 8/13/1997, Kolby is the youngest of the players Greg sent me. France just happens to have one of the youngest rosters at this year's World Cup (second only to Nigeria). Their youngsters are lead by phenom Kylian Mbappe, yet looked quite questionable in a friendly against the USA last week.

Serbia

Did you know Aaron Harang was 6'7"? That seems incredible to me. In any case, Serbia just happens to have the tallest average squad at this year's World Cup coming in at 73.5" or 6' 1.5" which is quite tall for a soccer player. In fact, former captain, and one of the more iconic Serbians, Branislav Ivanovic measures in at 6'1" which means there must be a bunch of other Serbians much taller.

Costa Rica

This Ginter mini was a set need for me and also happened to be the oldest person contained in Night Owl's package. The oldest squad designation belong to Costa Rica (just shy of 30 years). They sure look like a bunch of old farts up there.

Colombia

The hidden gem of this package was definitely this 2016 Heritage short print. Scherzer has always seemed like a hidden gem of a player as well.  He's been such a great pitcher for so long (he'll be going to his 6th consecutive All-Star game this year), but his team hasn't won anything.

James Rodriguez (and Colombia in general) is probably the best example of this type of hidden gem in the soccer world. If you don't follow soccer, this guy is probably the best player you've never heard of.

Peru

Meanwhile, Shae Simmons and Peru own the honor of being the shortest player and team on this post. Shae is 5'11" while Peru averages 69.9" or 5' 9.9". I'm sure that little girl really helps keeps the average height of this team nice and low.

Portugal

I found it somewhat surprising that Greg somehow did not send me a single player that has a World Series ring. Obviously, the Braves haven't won in awhile, but other stars like Trout, Votto and Mattingly (quite famously in fact) have never seen a ring. Soria has the interesting distinction of having started his career in Kansas City, left before they won the World Series in 2015 and then came back to KC the year after. Feels bad man.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal are the current holder of the UEFA EURO (probably the biggest international soccer competition outside of the World Cup, and they're looking to duplicate that performance this year.

Argentina

This comparison was simple. The best baseball player and the best soccer player. The end. Good luck Argentina.

Brazil

My favorite card of the package award goes to this new deckle-edge insert from 2018 Heritage featuring Joey Votto. I loved that Topps attempted to bring these back and I feel like they did a half decent job at it.

Meanwhile, Neymar and Brazil enter the 2018 FIFA World Cup as the odds-on favorite to win it all. I certainly hope they don't pull it off as I don't think it would make for a very entertaining World Cup, but oh well.

Switzerland

The last two cards of the package feature what was my favorite player over the last few years (though he's slowly being eclipsed by Sean Newcomb). Xherdan Shaqiri won over my heart with his play in the World Cup in 2014 and his absolutely stunning goal in the 2016 UEFA EURO. It's easy for me to follow him as well as he plays for Stoke City in the Premier League.

Belgium

Finally, my favorite current soccer player is easily Manchester City star and Belgian international Kevin de Bruyne. Both Belgium and Switzerland have become my two de-facto favorite squads for this competition since the USA was incapable of qualifying. Belgium as a whole is also absolutely loaded and can easily challenge all the top teams on any given day. It should be interesting to see which side of Belgium we see in Russia this year.

Thanks so much for the cards Greg and I hope everyone enjoys the World Cup!