It took me a while to find another Topps release in stores again. This has really been a theme for me in 2018. This was pretty much the same as it didn’t look like there was evidence of a product on the shelf at all. There were no empty bins or boxes, no signs of A&G prices or anything like that. Finally when I did find it, it was just a few random packs and there weren’t any blasters around.
Then all of the sudden they just exploded. The thing is that I have four or five Targets I can get to around me and it’s not like one Target is like this, it’s all of them.
Allen & Ginter in general is always one of my favorites. I generally like the old school design, the minis, the weight of the card and then I really like to use them for TTMs when I have some doubles. So let’s get into rippin’ these packs and see what we find.
2018 Topps Allen & Ginter Base
There’s only really been one or two years that I didn’t like A&G. I’m a total mark for this stuff. I said was I liked about it a little earlier, but really from a design perspective I like the vintage aspect of it. Normally there’s some kind of background effect, frame, or in this case both. I’m not going to say that I like this more than some others, but I will say that it has the design elements I like. I like the idea of the scroll at the bottom, but it’s a bit heavy with that AND the logo at the bottom. But again, it’s higher on my A&G scale rather than lower.
Seeing guys like Pedro on these cards is starting to become weird to me. I feel like (and I know this isn’t the case) that we would see players on these cards that I didn’t see too much. Maybe I was following baseball for some of their career but not all. And even that part of their career I didn’t truly follow or remember at the time. But guys like Pedro I followed their whole career. Just feeling a bit old maybe.
Allen & Ginter Mets Finds
There were some slim pickings for Mets in these packs. I don’t know what the checklist is like at all because I never really check that stuff. Just a couple Yo-Yos in the box was all Topps could muster I guess. It almost doesn’t even look like a Mets uniform on that base card. The way it’s sort of faded it just kind of looks like a generic blue uniform.
The World Talent card is more obvious. I’ve always like inserts like this in A&G (I guess that’s a good thing because it’s one of the inserts you get the most). When I was little I used to LOVE looking at my grandfather’s encyclopedias and I used to always love all the flag pages. I used to draw the flags and things like that. I can’t really explain it but maybe that’s what draws me to things like that.
A Little Jersey Find
So this one is pretty sweet. I got two other jersey cards out of other packs and they were both white which is a bit disappointing. Not only is this one not white, but it has a stripe. And even better, not only that but it’s navy blue. So that means this has to be some kind of alternate jersey. I’m no White Sox fan so I really don’t know what uniform it is, but it’s not black or white. Definitely liking this one. I think I got a pinstripe from Aroldis Chapman last year so that’s two pinstripes in a row.
2018 Allen & Ginter Inserts
It’s almost funny that two of the inserts are baseball related. Considering how much non-baseball or straight up history you can usually find in these it’s actually funny to see it baseball related. I like the Baseball Equipment much better. While the Fantasy Goldmine is interesting as someone that’s played fantasy, there’s much better subjects I’d rather see.
I like the idea of the beaches and the moons, but geez some of those are pretty boring. The images I mean.
2018 Allen & Ginter Minis
Minis, Minis, Minis, I love me some minis. These are just a few that you can get. I’m never a huge fan of the A&G back variety that you can get. First, it’s the same on the front and second, some don’t have numbers (like the Chris Davis card). I’m not sure what is going on there. They always do this little border thing and I wish they would change it up a bit. I don’t really think I got my favorite minis this year from this blaster.
Overall, not a bad blaster to open. Minis always make Ginter fun and it seems they are pretty willing to put some game-worn or autographs in these blasters in recent years. The design is good this year too.