Allen & Ginter Adds High End To Its Impressive Resume

Allen and Ginter is a set collector’s dream, or nightmare depending on how you look at it. The cards are designed to have maximum collectability and most of the set isnt even baseball players. Its one of the most popular sets of the year, and Topps collectors wait all year for the opportunity to break it and put the set together.

Well, there is a new aspect to the set this year, and I am not sure how I feel about it. Booklet cards have infested the product for 2010, and my hatred for booklet cards in general make me want to completely bash every aspect of these ones. Ever since the satanic abominations that made their debut in 2007 Triple Threads, my all time favorite set, booklets have penetrated every thing. 2009 Exquisite football, Exquisite Basketball, almost every Topps product that they could fit them into, and even ridiculous TRI-fold cards in Triple Craps. Despite my hatred, for some reason, these look okay for once. It could be the white border, the lack of neon blue foil board, or the painted aspects of the cards, but I don’t hate these cards.

They are going for ridiculous money, and a few have started to show up on eBay. Obviously, the focus of the set is far from cards like this, but I have a feeling that with the inclusion of the Strasburg autos and minis, A&G is heading towards high end pulls for 2010. Cuts have always been an extremely rare part of the set, but rarely become the chase. These are surely to fall into that category, and I expect them to continue to be worth massive cheese for a long time.

Speaking of higher end pulls, the booklets arent the only part of the equation. I just saw that Ginter also has cards like this, and like this which take ridiculous to a whole new level. I cant even begin to imagine how much these will go for, but they are beyond words. I may have to keep an eye out to see if any Twins are on the checklist for these type of cabinet cards.

Who knows, maybe there are even parts we have yet to see.

First Strasburg Ginter Auto is Up

Let the bidding wars begin! The first Strasburg auto from 2010 Allen and Ginter is up on eBay and it is ALREADY at a ridiculous price. With the perceived rarity probably matching the actual rarity now, this card may top 3K or higher, depending on the willingness of bad bidders to let it run.

This card should be one of Strasburg’s rarest base autographs, if information from certain case breakers holds true for the whole print run. With the minis expected to top 1000 at first shot, it may mean that the prices of these redemptions may never drop to a reasonable level – even if Strasburg comes down to earth. With A&G being a set collector’s goal every single year, its not long before the set collectors file in behind the mentally challenged prospectors who still think they can make money on him.

I have never been a Ginter fan, mainly because I have never cared about set collecting, but I can see where people freaking go ape shit over it. We are in the midst of the biggest year of baseball cards in the last few decades, and its only going to get crazier once sets like Bowman Chrome hit shelves.

Prepare yourselves…

Strasburg Eerily Absent From Recent Ginter Box Breaks

Do you remember back a few weeks ago when Topps advised that every product will bring Strasmus tidings to all the good young collectors who bought the boxes and packs? I do, and I then remember when the people who usually buy a ton, bought that much more as a result. Well, as we are slowly finding out, promises of Strasburg in Allen and Ginter may have been quite highly exaggerated.

So far, there are a lot of early reports that cases have not only gone Strasburg-less – but also have been missing case hits themselves as well. This is even more evident when people who buy huge amounts of products are reporting box after box, case after case, filled with everything but a whiff of a Strasburg.

Considering that the price of this product has been driven very high by promises of the Nationals’ Fireballer, there are going to be a lot of unhappy set collectors who are now left with boxes worth a lot less than they paid for them.

Im sure Topps will release an explanation through the usual channels, Ill post updates as soon as I have them.