I Wish You a Merry Cards-mas!!!

Ho, ho, ho...Merry Cards-mas! This marks my third annual Christmas Day recap of the new cardboard Santas in my collection. This year, the additions are few, but I definitely feel like it is quality over quantity.

First up, we have this mini insert from 2010 Allen &Ginter. Creatures of Legend, Myth, and Joy were relative tough pulls at 1:128 packs(from the info I could find).

I like the mini history lesson on the back. Apparently Topps produced relics of a few of the cards from this set. Sadly, a Santa relic for this set was not produced by Topps. No, for 'game used' Santa gear, I chose to go all the way back to 1998.

This oversized gem comes courtesy of Upper Deck. This is the size of two regulation cards side-by-side and is complete with a sizeable swatch of Santa's red suit! I love that he design borrows directly from the early 'game-worn jersey cards that UD was known for. It's not the only Santa relic available, but for now it'll have to be he only one that has a permanent residence in my collection. I was able to add these two for a little over the cost of a blaster and hey definitely fill me with more holiday cheer than rolling the dice on another retail box!

I hope you all have a safe and Merry Christmas! Thanks for reading.

Cracking Some Ginter - Does My Hot Streak Continue?

I'm a few days behind the release date, but I was finally able to track down some retail Allen & Ginter packs last night. There wasn't much variety on the shelves of my local Target. I basically had a choice of a few standard loose packs or a blaster. I opted to use my $1 off coupon that came in my series 2 blaster to purchase two loose packs. I figured it would be a nice way to get a quick intro to the product first hand. So far, I've liked what I've seen which has mostly been from following Nachos Grande's case break - thanks Chris. Here are highlights from my first look.

My two packs were heavy on young pitching talent. The Betances was, unfortunately, my only Yankee pulled. I chose these three because of the incredibly strange look of each. I had read about the 'measles' filter that Chris described in several of his posts from the first box of his case, but it didn't really come through in the scans that I saw in those posts. All three of these cards(and the majority of the others from both packs) had that same filter. It looks so out of place. I'm not sure what the design team was going for, but I know they missed the mark. Maybe as I see more of these cards in person, I will begin to overlook it, but right now, it sticks out like a sore thumb! That being said, Harvey looks like he has a lazy eye, and Scherzer's heterochromia(two different colored eyes) is front and center.

I happened to pull an SP in each pack and this awesome Ancient Armory insert fell out of one. The minis were nothing to speak of, both regular back, non-SP, players that I don't collect(thus the lack of a scan). However, there was one more card of note in these packs.

When I first saw this card, I wasn't thrilled. I saw the stamp and figured 'oh great, a buy back. Woo-hoo...'. It was when I was flipping back through the stack of cards that it caught my eye. I noticed it was this year's design which made me realize it couldn't be a buy back. So, I looked a little closer...

That's when I saw that stamp on the back!  Serial numbered out of 10?!?! I scanned the back of the pack and it looks like my odds on this 'Base Card 10th Anniversary Parallel' were 1:522 in the retail packs. Not quite the long odds of the Puig relic I found in the series two loosey, but still pretty darn good. I obviously wish it was a player or personality that I'd be interested in keeping, but it's a nice piece of trade bait. 

The verdict on these packs: I'm still on the fence about the design/execution of the base set. I like the insert that I pulled which will likely be good enough to get me to pick up at least a few more packs. Since the Anniversary parallel was pulled along with an SP in each pack I'd have to say that my Hot Streak is still intact!