Random Wax: 2024 Allen & Ginter

 2024 A&G: I was not happy when Max Fried signed with the Yankees in the offseason.  He's had another great season with them making the All-Star team.

I'm good with this base design.  It has the A&G design that works.  Gunnar Henderson is having another good season in Baltimore but hasn't had the pop he had last year when he hit 37 home runs.

This is a flat tailed gecko on this X-Ray’d insert.  Pretty cool cards actually.  They are plastic on the front and overall, a fun card from the Oregon Zoo.

The two minis I pulled including a Black Border Parallel Charlie Blackmon.

Here we get one of the non-baseball players in the set.  Tim Robinson is an actor and a comedian.

Sister, Sister inserts focus on sister cities in the United States and abroad.

I really enjoy retired greats and there were two in this pack.  I'm a big Paul Molitor fan so it was fun to pull him.  Nice pack of cards.  A&G isn't something I chase a lot but they are enjoyable when I do pick them up.

BREAKDOWN:
14 – Total Cards
2 - Mini
2 – Retired Greats
1 – X-Ray’d
1 - Sister, Sister
1 – Black Border Mini

2024 Allen & Ginter

2024 A&G:  These hit our local shelves last week.  We'll kick it off with Red Sox great Wade Boggs.  He never played for the Yankees, just saying.  Okay maybe he did but I won't recognize that. He retired with a .328 career batting average and 3010 hits.  His last hit was in a Tampa Bay uniform.

The design is fine.  Not outstanding but it works for this brand.  

My rookie card pull.  Same basic design.

The back talks more to the dog show as opposed to Josh himself which was a bit disappointing.

I pulled two retired greats on my minis.  Pops is on a Gold Border Mini Parallel.

The backs are what we are used to.

That Jackie Robison is my Chrome insert.

For the Oregon Zoo inserts we get X-Rays of their animals.  These are actually pretty cool.  The front of the cards is made of plastic which work into the X-Ray theme.  I like them.  Was glad to see A&G hit the shelves.  Always fun.  

BREAKDOWN:

14 – Total Cards

6 – Retired Greats

3 – RC

2 – Mini

1 - Chrome

1 – Gold Border Mini

2022 Allen and Ginter Blaster

2022 A&G:  Picked this up in February but I guess I forgot to share.  Allen & Ginter can be hit or miss with me but I still like picking up at least one blaster a year.  Nice looking Kirby Puckett to kick it off.  I've always liked Kirby even if he and the Twins squeaked by the Atlanta Braves in that darn 1991 World Series.

I actually like the large logo on these.  Not having a true border on the right still throws me off though.  Pete Alonso has had two seasons.  He's really struggled as of late and is not helping my fantasy team.

Kenley Jansen is a guy I thought would struggle with the pitch clock due to everything he does on the mound but he's had a solid year as the closer for the Red Sox.

Some youngsters I pulled.  Cruz is having a good year for the Marlins as is Brandon Marsh for the Phillies.  

Who doesn't like potato chips?

Hause is maybe Dave Hause the musician?  Nice Willie Mays card.

Some of the randomness you get with A&G.

Nice Clemons card while my relic was from Anthony Rendon who continues to struggle with injuries and at the plate.  I am happy to see the Angels all in on trying to make the playoffs and not trading Ohtani.  Fingers crossed they can do it.

Of all things on a What's Cookin card, we have ketchup?

Plenty of retired greats.  Really enjoy seeing Jason Varitek included.

Nice looking Banner Season insert.  We end it with one of my favorite players in Rickey Henderson who's probably thinking "I'll be on seocond base in no time".

BREAKDOWN:

48 – Total Cards

14 – RC

10 – Retired Greats

8 – Mini

3 – Base SP

3 – Banner Season

2 – Pitching a Gem

2 – It’s Your Special Day

1 – Ducks

1 – B Design Relic

1 – What’s Cookin'?

1 – Baseball Lexicon

1 - Rookie Design Variation Mini

2021 Allen and Ginter Blaster

2021 Allen & Ginter:  These weren't flying off the shelf and after seeing them two weeks in a row I picked up a blaster.  I'm glad I did.  Plenty of good cards and I pulled the one I really wanted...Uncle Larry...AKA Andrew McCutcheon's awesome alter ego.  I really want the 2020 Topps Series 2 SP of this photo but the price makes that not an option so this is the next best thing.

The design is a bit boring to me.  Not much going on.  Still I that's about the only negative I got.

Love the inclusion of retired greats.  It's fun finding football here too.  Trevor Lawrence is probably who everyone is hoping for but I like pulling Randall Cunningham any day.

This is a T51 MURAD Reimagined.  Not sure what MURAD is for and doesn't matter to me.  It's a good looking card.  The backs talk about a highlight which for Bobby Dalbec here was his performance in a doubleheader.  

These three are all Base SP cards.  Stoked to pull Harold Baines.  Big fan and always liked the look of those blue and white unis.  I also liked seeing Sparky Anderson who looks like he's ready to rip in to someone.

Great looking card which is a Deep Sea Shiver.

The non-athletes I pulled.  I was not familiar with any of these three.  Still enjoy pulling them and learning about these guys.

On to the minis.  I know plenty of folks like these but I'm not a big fan.  The Chipper helps ease the pain a bit.  The LeMahieu is a black border parallel while the Dylan Carlson is a Rookie Design Variation.

More minis to include an A&G back parallel.  

My last mini.  Not my favorite.  Not much to see here.

The Arboreal Appreciation and Birds of a Feather inserts are nice.  The appeal of this brand is of course the variety and non-sport inclusions.

Animals are always fun and who doesn't like a manatee?  I do like A&G and this box did nothing to change my mind.  They are always interesting with all the different kinds of cards available in the checklist.  Below are my Topps Historical Hits pulls.  

BREAKDOWN:
48 – Total Cards
11 – Retired Greats
4 – SP
4 – Mini Base
2 - T51 MURAD Reimagined
2 – Topps Historical Hits
1 - Football
1 – Rallying Back
1 – Deep Sea Shiver
1 – Birds of a Feather
1 – Mini A&G Parallel
1 – Mini Far Far Away
1 – Mini World Leaders
1 - Arboreal Appreciation
1 – Mini Black Border Parallel
1 – Mini Rookie Design Variation

2020 Allen & Ginter Baseball

 2020 Allen & Ginter Baseball:  Game 1 of the Braves-Dogers series starts tonight so some baseball seems appropriate for today.  I'm not a huge A&G fan but I do like some of the aesthetics and feel of the cards.  Don Mattingly is the manager of the Miami Marlins who were just won their first playoff series since their last championship in 2003.  It was also their first playoff appearance since '03. 

My pull wasn't the strongest but still some fun players.  Tim Anderson led the league in runs this year and batted .322 after leading the league in batting last year.

There were a total of 5 RC cards in these packs.  There were four packs in the value pack - three regular packs and one with gold parallels.

Retired greats fit in so well on these old designs.  Darin Erstad was so good and part of the only Angels championship team. 

The non-sport inclusions in these are always fun but I'm usually left a little wanting with these.  

I like the Debut to Remember inserts.

The old parallels look pretty natural with this set and might even look better.  Pretty good ones right here with A-A-Ron and Catfish Hunter.  This was a surprise find and I'm glad to have a chance to look at these in hand.  I won't go looking for more of these but go for some individual players.

BACKGROUND:

23 – Total Cards

5 - RC

5 – Gold Parallel Minis

2 – SP 

1 – SP Mini

1 – Base Mini

1 – Digging Deep

1 – Reach for the Sky!

1 – Black Parallel Mini

1 – Debut to Remember

1 – Giants Beneath Mini