Along with my 3 boxes of 2011 Topps Allen and Ginter, Dave and Adam's Card World sent along a couple of hobby packs of 2010 Upper Deck.
I'll spare you the base cards, but here are the highlights:
Why they included the celebrity predictors set is beyond me. I don't need John Mayer and Jennifer Aniston. Add in the fact that they are hideous cards, and I'll pass. I love the ballparks cards though. The Camden Yards one is sweet. Two of the inserts were especially nice:
Though its a nice card, the Chutley is a little boring, especially when placed next a sick die cut Pujols. The Pure heat inserts are a home run. I also scored a little bonus in the first pack:
So, after my Red Sox Pitcher Gint-A-Cuffs box, any guesses as to what my next hit would be...
Dude...really? At least the swatch is red this time. So at this point, I am 4 for 4 on Red Sox pitchers. I am 2/4 on Lackey relics. I was not too excited, but it got a little better:
At least he is not on the Red Sox. Nothing special, but not a Red Sox pitcher. This ends the suckassy portion of the hits. Now begins the portion where Allen and Ginter completely redeems itself:
I'm not familiar with the Daniel Boulud, but I'm always down for pulling a unique auto. His sig is pretty sweet, and they seem to be going decent on eBay. Moving on to the next box:
Sweet! She doesn't play for the Red Sox, either. Awesome purple/pink swatch to make an awesome card. I also got another auto:
The perfect complement to my Mike More auto RC I showed off a while ago. This might make a nice little eBay lot. It doesn't hurt that he is killing it this year.
And now, the best card I pulled, hands down. When I saw this, I scared my wife because I yelled, "YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!!!"
The only card I wanted more than this was the Mac Auto. But, since I already have his autograph elsewhere, I'm ecstatic to pull the relic. This made all three boxes worth it. Did I choose the wrong Gint-A-Cuffs box? Absolutely. My GAC box scored a lousy 186. That's probably going to be near last place. For comparison sake, I scored my other two boxes. My Lackey/Lind/Boulud box scored 210. My Richards/Morse/McEnroe box scored 214. I wouldn't have won, but at least it would have been more respectable.
I finally posted my A&G want lists. You can find the link on the sidebar or just click here. I want to eventually have all of the base sets 2006-2011 (I have 2009 already) and a few other things. I now wish I hadn't traded away so much of my 2010 stuff.
The Markakis is a short print, as well. Why didn't that card come in the Gint-A-Cuffs box? I mean, it's a short print code card from the favorite player list. Where was that kind of combo when I needed it? All of these are for trade.
Floating Fortresses:
These are not for trade. I was originally only going after the Monitor and Merrimack, but these cards are sweet.
Minds that Made the Future:
I am a nerd. I love these cards. The set is a little bit big, but I'm going for it. Not for trade.
Highlight Sketches:
I think these are really well done this year, with the exception of the horizontal pictures. If they had put horizontal frames on them, I would absolutely love them. Nevertheless, I'm collecting them. Not for trade.
Ascent of Man:
Easily the most talked about cards this year, I'm still not sure I'm sold on them. They are completely not what I thought they were going to be. I borderline hate these cards. I also borderline love them. I am the "/" in "love/hate". I am collecting the set though. Not for trade.
That's it for the inserts. Of course, that leaves the hits, which are coming soon.
There were a number of keepers for me in there with the Cuddyer, BJ Upton, and Justin Upton Black Border. I also am hanging on to the Alcatraz card since I had the opportunity to tour the island a few months ago. Most of these cards are already spoken for. Be on the lookout for my want/trade list coming soon.
Now that I got my terrible Gint-A-Cuffs box out of the way, I can move on to the other 2 boxes I got. I should have a want/trade list up soon, because I need to complete my set. For now, here are the boxtoppers:
Box 1:
CB-5 Alex Rodriguez/Derek Jeter/Shaun Marcum
CB-2 Roy Halladay/Carlos Ruiz/Ryan Howard
No state relics or other interesting boxtoppers for me. I like the cabinet cards, but have no intention of collecting them. These are both for trade.
So, the response to my contest last week was pretty overwhelming. The performance, however, was pretty underwhelming. I know the odds were against you, but geez, that was bad. The first 22 entries weren't too horrible, with 11 people gettin one right and 11 people getting zero right. 50/50 aint bad, but no winner, yet. Then we get to the next 11 entries. All goose eggs. So then, 2/3 of the entries were zero correct. Then, someone came through with two correct. There were a few more responses after that, but they didn't amount to much. The stats:
40 Entries
86 players guessed out of 90 possible
27 Entries didn't get a single correct player
12 Entries got one correct player
1 Entry got 2 correct players, and thus wins all prizes.
Before I say who that is, here are the 6 "stars" that I got in my pack:
2005 Donruss Team Heroes Pedro Martinez
1988 Topps All-Star Ozzie Smith
2004 Donruss Team Heroes Lance Berkman
2002 Topps Chris Carpenter
2006 Topps Roy Oswalt
2005 Donruss Team Heroes Eric Chavez
That means, by correctly guessing Chris Carpenter and Pedro Martinez, the winner is...
282 Reid Brignac
14 Adrian Beltre
289 Paul Konerko
104 Huston Street
174 Joakim Soria (+2, FP list)
SRU9 Knife Throwing (+3, Step Right Up)
HH95 Kyle Drabek (+1, Hometown Heroes)
Pack Total: 6 Box Total: 165
Pack 22:
38 Angel Pagan (+1, FT)
121 JD Drew
20 Jeremy Hellickson
145 Victor Martinez
134 Matt Cain
328 Chris Johnson (+2, SP)
UG7 Alcatraz (+3, Uninvited Guests)
MMF11 Tycho Brahe (+2, Minds that Made the Future)
Pack Total: 8 Box Total: 173
>>> Awesome, I really wanted the Alcatraz mini. My trip there in April was incredible.
Pack 23:
44 Ozzie Martinez
36 Eric Sogard
244 Chone Figgins
203 Aaron Hill
191 Matt Guy (+3, Ginter Code)
AOM17 Hominidae (+1, Ascent of Man)
325 Mike Stanton (+3, Mini SP)
HH39 Tim Lincecum (+1, Hometown Heroes)
Pack Total: 8 Box Total: 181
>>> A code card of the cornhole guy...nice.
Pack 24:
275 Justin Verlander
9 Joe Saunders
228 Brandon Snyder
138 Matt Garza
287 Yovani Gallardo
303 Jaime Garcia (+2, SP)
63 Neil Walker (+2, A&G Back Mini)
HH62 Pedro Alvarez (+1, Hometown Heroes)
Pack Total: 5 Box Total: 186
>>> At least Verlander shows up in the last pack to make it suck a little less.
Well, my first attempt at Gint-A-Cuffs eternal glory is a dud. My final tally:
Ok, so this is where things start to get a little sloppy. Between packs 16 and 17, I went down stairs and had some leftover pizza...which in my tipsy state, was glorious...and I had a bourbon or three. Say an hour later, I went back upstairs to finish the box.
Pack 17:
76 Chase Headley
277 Hank Conger
273 Brent Morel
217 Shaun Marcum
295 Chris Carpenter
AOM1 Prokayotes (+1, Ascent of Man)
AP14 Indian Rhinoceros (+3, Animals in Peril)
HH77 Mark Buehrle (+1, Hometown Heroes)
Pack Total: 5 Box Total: 128
Pack 18:
101 Peter Bourjous
140 Felix Hernandez (+2, FP list)
176 Brian Bogusevic
251 Ian Desmond
69 Neftali Feliz
306 Josh Willingham (+2, SP)
297 Travis Hafner (+2, A&G Back Mini)
FF7 Mahmudiye (+2, Floating Fortresses)
Pack Total: 8 Box Total: 136
Pack 19:
270 Kevin Youkilis (+2, FP list)
216 Jose Tabata
12 Hope Solo (+1, Hope Solo)
262 Manny Pacquiao
AGR-JBE Josh Beckett (+10, Framed Relic)
215 Andrew McCutchen
HH59 Brett Gardner (+1, Hometown Heroes, -1, Yankee)
Pack Total: 13 Box Total: 149
>>> Yay, my first Red Sox pitcher relic from 2011 A&G. Oh wait, it's actually my third...out of three possible.
Pack 20:
222 James Shields
238 Rudy Ruettiger
161 Casey McGehee
42 Heath Bell (+2, FP list)
BHS-14 Mariano Rivera (+3, Highlight Sketch, -1, Yankee)
332 Luke Hochevar (+2, SP)
232 Picabo Street (+3, Black Border Mini)
HH51 Josh Beckett (+1, Hometown Heroes)
Pack Total: 10 Box Total: 159
>>> Josh Beckett again, just for good measure. 4 packs to go, and I need to average more than 11 pts/pack to get to 200.
Seriously, if you have watched all of the videos for the first half of the box, you should have gone out to get a bottle of the Kraken by now.
Pack 13:
70 Evan Longoria
2 Ty Wigginton
40 John McEnroe (-1, John McEnroe)
59 Jeremy Jeffress
113 Miguel Montero
214 Elvis Andrus
49 Javier Vazquez (+2, A&G Back Mini)
HH76 Adam Lind (+1, Hometown Heroes)
Pack Total: 2 Box Total: 99
>>> I made this video before I found out that Mark made Johnny Mac a "-1". Mark, all of the rules you made are great...except for that one. YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!!!
Pack 14:
118 Rafael Soriano (-1, Yankee)
254 Denard Span
263 Mark Trumbo
64 Ricky Romero
65 Ryan Howard
308 Jhonny Peralta (+2, SP)
UG10 The Lizzie Borden House (+3, Uninvited Guests)
FF19 HMS Revenge (+2, Floating Fortresses)
Pack Total: 6 Box Total: 105
>>> Finally hit the century mark!!!
Pack 15:
56 Scott Kazmir
201 Andrew Romine
165 Jo Frost
AOM6 Platyhelminthes (Flatworms) (+1, Ascent of Man)
AGR-JLA John Lackey (+10, Framed Relic)
232 Picabo Street
HH10 Ryan Braun (+1, Hometown Heroes)
Pack Total: 12 Box Total: 117
>>> I'm noticing a trend with my hits.
Pack 16:
30 Hanley Ramirez
205 Kendry Morales
147 George Bush
231 CJ Wilson
170 Tim Lincecum
311 Ian Stewart (+2, SP)
SRU3 Fire Eating (+3, Step Right Up)
HH6 Dan Haren (+1, Hometown Heroes)
62 Alfonso Soriano
50 Carl Crawford
45 Annika Sorenstam
196 Jered Weaver
185 Justin Upton
23 Aubrey Huff
128 Michael Cuddyer (+3, Black Border Mini)
HH19 Nick Swisher (+1, Hometown Heroes, -1, Yankee)
Pack Total: 3 Box Total: 78
>>> Gint-A-Cuffically speaking, this pack sucked. But, I'm a big fan of the Cuddyer black border.
Pack 10:
292 Wade Davis
31 Jimmy Rollins
162 Mat Latos
18 Daniel Hudson
BHS-13 San Francisco Giants (+3, Highlight Sketch)
304 Madison Bumgarner (+2, SP)
PP8 Sancho Panza (+3, Portraits in Penultimacy)
MMF6 George W Carver (+2, Minds that Made the Future)
Pack Total: 10 Box Total: 88
Pack 11:
75 Jose Reyes (+1, FT)
10 Miguel Cabrera
51 Tim Collins
260 Alex Rodriguez (-1, Yankee)
212 Aramis Ramirez
144 Jorge Posada (+3 Ginter Code, -1, Yankee)
52 Francisco Cordero (+2, A&G Back Mini)
HH28 Grady Sizemore (+1, Hometown Heroes)
Pack Total: 5 Box Total: 93
Pack 12:
249 Carlos Ruiz
130 Robinson Cano (-1, Yankee)
97 Zach Britton
114 Brandon Phillips
77 Rafael Furcal
319 Jon Niese (+2, SP, +1, FT)
348 Russell Martin (+3, Mini SP, -1, Yankee)
HH43 Joba Chamberlain (+1, Hometown Heroes, -1, Yankee)
Pack Total: 4 Box Total: 97
>>> I'm predicting that the winning GAC box comes in near 250, so being at 93 halfway through doesn't really give me confidence.
202 Nick Swisher (-1, Yankee)
143 Carlos Zambrano
81 Yonder Alonso
177 Aaron Crow
155 Josh Johnson
33 Curtis Granderson (-1, Yankee)
19 Daniel Bard
HH13 Shane Victorino (+1, Hometown Heroes)
Pack Total: -1 Box Total: 4
>>> That's just awesome. I'm glad I counted the N43 first, otherwise I'd be in the red.
Pack 2:
126 Jair Jurrjens
24 Kristi Yamaguchi
261 Carlos Pena
279 Brian Wilson
BHS-22 Ubaldo Jimenez (+3, Highlight Sketch)
316 Manny Ramirez (+2, SP)
PP4 Igor (+3, Portraits in Penultimacy)
FF16 HMS Dreadnought (+2, Floating Fortresses)
Pack Total: 10 Box Total: 14
>>> That's much better.
Pack 3:
194 Rick Porcello
171 John Lackey
274 Stan Lee
298 Peter Gammons
AGR-JPA Jonathan Papelbon (+10, Framed Relic)
WMF-9 The Babushka Lady (+3, Mysterious Figures)
HH11 Jason Heyward (+1, Hometown Heroes,+2,FP list)
Pack Total: 16 Box Total: 30
>>> I'd like to make it a true daily double, Alex. One hit down, at least 2 to go (I hope).
Pack 4:
37 Fausto Carmona
247 Yadier Molina
178 Ben Revere
61 Brian Roberts (+2, FP list)
35 Adam Dunn
343 Drew Stubbs (+2, SP)
170 Tim Lincecum
HH37 Clayton Kershaw (+1, Hometown Heroes,+2,FP list)
