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  1. #1




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    2016 Allen and Ginter Blaster Break + Review

    Alright, it's been awhile since I've done a proper review so I figured I'd warm up on a box of 2016 Allen and Ginter. And by box I mean blaster, because Topps had the brilliant idea of releasing on a Friday so I have to wait until Monday to get my product. Thanks Topps.



    Configuration: 8 packs of 6 cards per piece (4 base cards, 1 mini, 1 insert. Packs with a special insert may have only 5 cards)
    Cost: $19.98 plus tax at Wal-Mart
    Odds of Hits: 1:70 packs for Full Sized Relics A/B, 1:288 packs for Framed Mini Autographs, everything else that is cooler is way, way harder.

    Minis:



    Fairly standard odds for minis this year, at least in the parallel department. 1:5 for A&G Back, 1:10 for Black Bordered, 1:13 for SP's, etc. What was a little surprising to me was the odds for mini insert cards -- a staggering 1:25 packs per insert. This suggests that the print run on mini inserts are down, which is good! Everyone can agree that the disaster of 2011's mini inserts still haunts us to this day. I have more sets of The World's Most Mysterious Figures than I know what to do with. The minis will also serve as my example of the base card design, as I was too lazy to get a picture of a full sized based card. This is very much a throw back to earlier years (2007-2009ish time frame) with no border, and varying colored splotches as backgrounds. The text at the bottom is different colors for different cards, which could either be aesthetically pleasing or drive your inner-self bonkers if you prefer a more uniform look to things.

    My particular box did exceedingly well in the odds department as I hit 2x A&G back minis, 2x BB minis, and 2x inserts. The mini insert subjects this year are above average, as they're weird enough to be interesting but no so weird or dumb to be annoying.

    Base Cards Grade: B+
    Mini Cards Grade: A+

    Inserts:



    Insert Grade: A+

    Ginter continues to boast 1 insert per pack, which is becoming increasingly rare these days. I opened a box blaster of Archives recently and had no less than two packs that lacked an insert or even a short print. If you're going to give me worthless cards, at least give me worthless cards that are interesting! Fortunately, no card in Ginter is worthless as they are all cherished treasured to be fawned over. Always.

    This year's big full-sized insert chase is "Numbers Game" falling approximately 1:2 packs. Sticking with a more baseball-oriented theme, "Baseball Legends" is another full-sized insert set that is a bit smaller in size. "Natural Wonders" is also showcased above with a really pleasant almost picture-esque look to them. I thoroughly enjoyed opening and looking at these inserts!

    Finally, the retail-exclusive insert set is by far the one to get the most excited about: "In The Wild". Showcasing several teams' mascots in the wild, Ginter brings the product back to a more baseball-focused set to appeal to the primary audience of the Topps brand.

    Hits:



    What product would be complete without hits? Except maybe Ginter and Opening Day and probably Topps Flagship and... well, quite frankly every set should be complete without hits but as always I'm going to plug the fact that the hobby has become so hit-centric that it has become nearly impossible to value the products for their elegance and beauty. Never the less, it's always exciting to get a bit of ink or a swatch of fabric and Ginter usually is no exception. Unfortunately, I do have to slam this year's product for having the weakest checklist by far for autos. "By GG, there are a ton of great names on there!" Sure, it's great to have Ken Griffey Jr. and Andres Galaragga, and Hank Aaron... but here are my critiques of those names:

    1) How many are redemptions? If I had to guess since I haven't seen any pulled in any breaks thus far, I'm going to guess all of them.
    2) How many are SSSSSSSSP into basically non-existance? Probably all of them, since I haven't seen any pulled in breaks thus far.

    I mean, in theory there should be no less than 36 of them (/25 for the black-framed versions, a nice addition, and /10 for the red ink versions, and there has to be at least 1 blue ink version...) but with auto's not falling one per hobby box and a lot of weak/irrelevant names I've seen too many breaks where I look at the autographs pulled and ask myself, "When did I get SO out of touch that I don't recognize any of them?" I do think the set has moved too far out of the "World Champion" genre and moved too far into the "Pop Culture" genre, which saddens me. But that's my mini-rant/negative review. The good news is I don't actually include the hit score in the final grade because I really do believe that hits shouldn't matter.

    Hits Grade: C-

    Overall Grade: A
    Buy Recommendation: BUY for Set-Builders and Card Lovers.

    Final Thoughts: Several mistakes from last year were corrected for -- the inclusion of HoFers back into the product, for example. Ginter should NOT be one of the products which misses out on HoFers. It just shouldn't. Greed in expanding the bombardment of product after product after product lead to a shortage of the HoF licensing and some fat had to be trimmed. Unfortunately, they basically threw out an entire side of beef when they "trimmed the fat" but that has been rectified this year! I am not at all impressed with the autograph checklist. There are approximately zero names that jump out of the checklist and scream, "YOU WANT ME! YOU WANT ME!" (the one name being Kevin Costner, but since he was in Archives it's kind of a "Meh" point, hence the approximation towards zero). On the plus side, the Minnesota Twins are actually represented in the product this year! Park, Sano, and Buxton all have autos which is fantastic. There are Twins Autos to be had! And since they are doing absolutely horribly this year, hopefully they won't be astronomically priced like say the Cubs autographs in the set!

    Ginter has come around in the insert department and become much more baseball-centric in the overall set. Which is a major win. Even the case-hit minis in hobby, "Skippers", feature current managers and will be fun to chase as they aren't just outrageous oddballs (which admittedly were still fun to chase... but now they're meaningful! Did I mention Paul Molitor (MN Twins) is one of the subjects?) This should, in theory, help the product's appeal towards the general audience of Topps. I say in theory because I suspect in practice the abundance of irrelevant autographs for baseball-only collectors will largely deter the hobby's hit-driven customer base away from Ginter. Still, for those able and willing to appreciate cards for what they are it is probably one of the better sets Ginter has put out in recent years. A fair bit of "value" has been driven out of the product with RIP cards falling two per case (more supply = lower prices... though I haven't confirmed this as of writing this review) so I don't suspect most people will come out ahead if they're banking on big hits. Hopefully the mainstays such as the Brooklyn Back minis /25 and other staples maintain their typically great baseline values to help the bottom line out. Overall the product is great though and I would highly recommend getting even just a blaster to see for yourself. Worst case scenario you can trade things to me. (Yes, even the base cards).

    -GG
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  2. #2
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    How much of this you usually break, a case?

  3. #3





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    Nice review Ryan and a really solid blaster, I don't really like mini's but it seems that is where I get my value out of ginter as in my 2 blasters I pulled 2 no numbers with 1 of them being Mike Trout.
    Do something nice for someone everyday, it will pay off in the long run.

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  4. #4




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    nice review. and congrats on the mini auto. I would love to have blaster like that. ;]
    collecting rookies auto game used of hall of famer or retired players all sports.

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