You like metal?

I've been showing off a bunch of Allen & Ginter cards lately and this will be my last A&G post for awhile.

I thought it would be fun to show off all my metal cards from Allen & Ginter

This is the only non Pirates metal mini I have. It's from 2019 and features him in a Phillies uniform. Strangely enough the 2019 versions didn't have the standard hand numbering that others have.

Above is the 2015 version. The 2015 Rip Cards weren't coated inside with the proper wax sealant which caused all the metal and art cards to get EXTREMELY scratched up.

This is the 2016 extended SP mini metal

And here is the base of which I own all 3 of the print run.

I've talked about being a metalhead on here a few times sighting bands like Vision of Disorder (V.O.D.) and Pantera being two of my favorite bands of all time.  

I am not up with bands post 2005 though.  I don't really have the time now to listen to music other than driving home from work on occasion. 

Having been in a teenage metal band, I think the sounds of guitars shredding, double bass pedal drumming, and deep bass lines will always be in my blood. 

Do you listen to any metal bands? 

WOOD you believe I forgot a 1/1?

A few days ago I showed off my wood minis of Cutch from 2015, 2016, and 2017.  

I forgot to show off my 2019 though.

This is my only non Pirates wood mini

The 2018 A&G wood minis never surfaced except for a few of the "extended" sp set.  Cutch was included in that set and I was negotiating to get it shortly after the release day, but when it was revealed none of the base set wood minis made their way into the set, the seller pulled the item and I have never seen it again. 

Do you collect cards of your favorite players in other uniforms besides your favorite teams?

Experiment 626

I've been posting a bunch of my Allen & Ginter cards on Instagram lately and decided that since many people on IG are celebrating 626 day, I would show off a family of Allen & Ginter cards. 

626 day is named after Experiment 626 aka Stitch from Disney's Lilo & Stitch.  

For those that have seen it, there's a phrase Ohana means Family.

Here's my family of 2015 Allen & Ginter cards. 

Multiple different sizes and some very rare cards can be pictured here.

Above you see the mini mini (/2), the mini, the base, and the box topper.

Here are some close ups of the more rare cards

This is a mini rip card /15.  These are EXTREMELY RARE to find still in tact.

Inside could be a rare mini mini card /2 or a redemption for a Mini relic complete set.

Speaking of mini minis

Yeah, these are pretty rare AND TINY!!!

Look how small it is in my hand

I showed off the wood 1/1 mini yesterday, but here it is again.

This is the extended short print

Have you ever watched Lilo & Stitch? 

Do you have any rare Allen & Ginter cards in your collection? 

Who WOOD believe this?

The Topps Allen & Ginter wood parallels 1/1 have long been some of the most sought after e on the after market.  

They are incredibly difficult to obtain as they are only made available inside a rip card.  Rip cards for those that don't know are cards featuring 1 to 2 different athletes/personalities that can be ripped to find bonus cards 3inside. The problem with this is that so many uj collectors and player collectors don't rip their rip cards because they want to keepg the wood parallels legacy, the 2018 batch went missing except the extended numbers.  G

I remember having an opportunity to buy the wood extended Cutch SP from 2018 A&G on release day and balked at the $150 price tag associated with i.  t.  This was before it was revealed that all other wood minis never made it into production.

I am forever kicking myself for not acquiring that card.

I have managed to get the 2015, 2016, and 2017 wood minis in my collection and have had several conversations over the years with the owner of the 2010.  

For now though it looks like these 3 will be the only ones in my collection. 

What cards do you regret not getting before knowing how rare they were?

The Uncle in Ginter

I've been slowly trying to pick up the Andrew McCutchen Uncle Larry cards from 2021 Allen & Ginter, but I have also been doing it while staying in budget.  

When the cards were first starting to show up the prices were very high for the buy it nows on eBay. I maintained my diligence and patience and have been able to snag four cards so far.

Here are a few of the cards I have grabbed thus far.

Abive is the black border mini

This is the short print framed autograph limited to 25 copies.  When Topps announced Uncle Larry would be a part of the checklist and would have autograph cards I was hoping that he would have an unique signature for Uncle Larry instead of his standard ACutch auto.

Above is the hot box foil

And finally a relic card of Cutch featuring Uncle Larry

Have you ripped any Allen & Ginter this year? 

Don't be a poser! Set your milestones another night...aka Congrats Joey Votto...aka good luck tonight Miggy

I was really hoping that Miguel Cabrera would hit his 500th HR last night so I could show off some of my Andrew McCutchen and Joey Votto/Miguel Cabrera cards.

I have shown off my relic collection of Joey Votto when I discussed Players I shouldn't root for, but I do.  That post is 3 years old and I have added a very nice parallel to the card you see above to my collection.

Joey Votto hit his 2,000 career hit last night at the age of 37.  It is unlikely that he will get to 3,000 but he could be a favorite for MVP this year especially if the Reds make the playoffs.

I will save the Cutch/Miggy/Votto cards for another day, but here is an uncut sheet of Allen & Ginter minis from the Topps Vault that features Andrew McCutchen, Joey Votto, 

Max Poser set a record prior to 2010 for longest spiral of dominos to be toppled over (450 meters) and the most dominos stacked on a single domino (1,002).

With the 2,000 hits for Votto out of the way the dominos are set for more milestones of these 3 players to come to fruition tonight.

I predict Cutch will get to 1,800 career hits tonight and/or Miggy will get his 500th career homerun.

Let's see if I can predict the future again like I did back in 2017 when I declared Charlie Morton would be standing on the mound in Game 7 of the World Series for an Astros victory.

Kong is better than Godzilla

I recently got myself an HBO Max subscription to test out so that I can stream a few movies (Zach Snyder Justice League cut, Godzilla vs Kong, and Mortal Kombat).  

The first thing I streamed was Kong: Skull Island.

I have a secret I need to share.

I love primates!!!!

I have been a fan of King Kong since I went on the old Universal Theme Park ride and it smelled like bananas.  I loved that ride so much when I was in my preteens.  I even enjoyed the 2005 Jack Black starred, Peter Jackson directed King Kong movie that lasted almost 4 hours long. 

I also loved Brie Larson in Kong:Skull Island so that helped to rewatch K:SI 

Once I watched Kong: Skull Island I went back and rewatched both Godzilla movies.

I'm not as big a fan of Godzilla as I am King Kong.  One of my old friends was obsessed with Godzilla.  I never understood the fanhood of the character.  

Now I don't want to spoil anything in Godzilla vs Kong, but Kong comes up in a huge way to help save the day, but let me say that in an actual fight between the two Godzilla will certainly win, but I'm rooting for Kong.

Much like sketch cards I prefer the (Brian) Kong variety to the (Bob)Zilla variety

Above is the original art Brian Kong created for a pack inserted sketch card in 2015 Topps Museum Canvas Collection.

That sketch card was also used to create the reproduction insert card found in 2015 Topps Museum Canvas as seen below

Brian Kong's art is so good it was also used as the reproduction art for the 2016 Topps Museum Reproction Canvas Collection cards

Above is the 5x7 gold parallel numbered to 10 copies

Below is a 1/1 mini sketch card from 2014 Allen & Ginter.

The above sketch is by also by Brian Kong, who has worked with Topps for many years on many different projects. I have been able to talk to Brian about comics and baseball fairly regularly when I would see him at comic book conventions in the mid 2000s.  

Above is the first sketch I ever got from Brian at the Big Apple Comic Con April 2005.

My two favorite characters (Sawyer and Kate) from my favorite TV show of all time (Lost).

I've been doing a lot of talking about (Brian) Kong, but let's talk about that Zilla now...

Bobzilla has fed off the hype of the Topps Project2020 and Project70 success and has been drawing on cards and selling them via ebay which I have lost because quite frankly the art style doesn't appeal to me.

  A few lines and a dinosaur?

I can do that myself.

For much less money too...

I've been drawing on cards for half a decade and some of you may even have some of my originals, which I did long before TP2020 or TP70 came out.  No offense to Mr. Zilla but I'm going to stick with my favorite Kaiju named artist and that is KONG!!!!

Who is your favorite kaiju?

Godzilla, King Kong, Mothra, or something entirely different?

What do you think of these "artists" like Bobzilla selling cards that have been drawn on?

Let's talk about another pair I saved in October

Allen & Ginter has long been a favorite product for me.  I love the quirkiness of the product by combining baseball players with other celebrities and complete randomness (egg, bitcoin, etc).  It also always has fun inserts to chase that aren't baseball related like historical buildings, ancient animals, political figures, and so much more.  It is a fun product.

By far though, I love the minis and the multiple parallels the most.  

There are still a few parallels that I am chasing, but during the month of October I was able to grab a pair (no pun intended) of Allen & Ginter red backs hand numbered to 25 copies.

2014 was my favorite year for Ginter.  The design is awesome and the image used for Cutch is Cutch in his prime.

2017 should look kinda familar too because just over a week ago I showed off the magenta printing plate for this card.

The back is a very classy looking design as well.