Patience

OK, the box is ordered, the Gint-a-Cuffs entry form is filled out and mailed, the binder is prepared. All that's left is the agonizing wait.

It's Allen & Ginter month.

This is the second year that I will be collecting the Allen & Ginter set, but all of the excitement of last year remains. I cannot wait to get my hands on some 2009 cards. And because of that, I ordered up a hobby box for the first time since returning to card collecting.

This is the best set of the year. Easily. It's well-thought-out. It has character. It's quirky. It's amusing. It's artistic. It's well-made. It's difficult to complete, but not exceptionally so. If I were to set out to make a baseball card set, I would like to think that this is something that I would produce. It's something I'd aim for anyway.

I hear people say it's getting stale, that it needs to be altered or even scrapped. I don't know where that comes from. There are plenty of collectors absolutely giddy with anticipation over the arrival of this set. That doesn't sound like anything that needs tweaking to me.

To pass the time while I wait for my box to arrive, and to remind myself and others how cool this set is, I thought I'd show some my favorite Allen & Ginter acquisitions from last year. I completed the whole set last year. I bought countless blasters, a number of loose packs, several hobby packs and traded with bloggers. With the exception of a few cards, all of these that I'm showing, I pulled from packs. You've probably seen some of these before, but it'll be nice to see 'em all in one place.

Let us proceed:


20. Andrew "William Ocean" Litz, black-bordered mini.
What I like about this card: Actually, I don't like it. The only reason it's here is because I secretly hope some stoner will want this card so much that he'll give me a pile of Dodgers for it. Then, while he hands over the Dodgers, I'll count how many times he says "dude," and as a bonus, I'll have a story to tell my grandchildren. Sounds like loads of fun, huh?
How it can be improved: Show someone who can actually play the guitar next time.


19. Aerodrome mini
What I like about this card: These cards were quite difficult to pull. What was it, one per case? I don't remember. That alone gets it on the list.
How it can be improved: I know nothing about aviation history. I wasn't too impressed with the the sharks either. I'm hoping for something more contemporary. Maybe a five-card set of late '80s pop stars? Richard Marx, Debbie Gibson, Rick Astley, Bobby Brown and Samantha Fox. Now that is entertainment.

18. Ken Griffey Jr., base card
What I like about this card: It's hard to make a bad card of Griffey. He's a photogenic guy. It's a nice pose.
How it can be improved: I don't have the mini of Griffey or I'd show that. The extra white space on some of the base cards is something that could be changed. Apparently, this year's backgrounds will take care of that.


17. Torii Hunter, black border mini
What I like about this card: Hunter's funky pose
How it can be improved: It's not as good at the 2007 card.


16. Ty Wigginton and Ryan Church, no-number minis.
Why I like these cards: Again, they are apparent rare variation cards, which appeals to the Joe Collector in me. I'm not proud of that. I'm trying to get Joe to move into his own place.
How they can be improved: You can go forever without realizing these are variation cards. It was months before I knew the Church card had no number. I could have traded it away and been completely clueless (I mean more so than usual).

There. Those are the backs, just so you know I'm not bamboozling you. Thrilling, isn't it? (I don't know why these scanned so big - Blogger's being goofy tonight).

15. Serena Williams, base cardWhat I like about this card: I like Serena. I like super-competitive athletes. She's one of them.
How it can be improved: It would have been nice if she was featured with the headband/wild hair look that she went with at Wimbledon this year.

14. Cinderella, World's Greatest Victories insert set 
What I like about this card: You have to have a daughter with no interest in baseball cards to appreciate this card. Then you can tell her, "Look, I pulled a card of Cinderella out of a pack of baseball cards," and watch her eyes grow big. It's classic. (Still looking for three of the WGV cards, by the way).
How it can be improved: Make it a card of Miley Cyrus next time.

13. Josh Hamilton, black border mini 
What I like about this card: How can you not like Hamilton? I pulled this during the height of Hamilton mania last summer. So that was cool.
How it can be improved: There needs to be more cards of Hamilton swinging and less of him posing.

12. Pluto, base card
What I like about this card: It's as quirky as can be. Quirky rules.
How it can be improved: It can't.

11. Jim Thome, black border mini 
What I like about this card: This is one of my favorite poses from last year's Allen and Ginter. And I love the black border mini cards. I don't think I've traded any away.
How it can be improved: Again, I don't think it can.

10. Jeanette Lee, base card
What I like about this card: This is the one non-Dodger card that I wanted to pull most of all. It's an amazingly cool card. (Wish I had the mini card). I don't have any interest in pool either, but I'll stop on ESPN2 to watch her.
How it can be improved: I missed out on the Jennie Finch card, so they need to bring her back. I watch a lot more softball than pool.

9. The Gateway Arch mini 
What I like about this card: I started dating my future wife on a trip to St. Louis. The card means a lot. The Captain sent me this card. That romantic rascal.
How it can be improved: A nice shot of Laclede's Landing, including closeups of some of the bars we frequented would be cool.

8. Rafael Furcal, bat relic
What I like about this card: It's the best-looking bat-relic card I have.
How it can be improved: Well, I didn't pull this card. Beardy, creator of Gint-a-Cuffs, sent it to me. Also, Furcal needs to figure out what a bat is again.

7. Ichiro Suzuki, jersey relic
What I like about this card: Usually, when you pull jersey cards from packs, it's of fringe all-stars. And I got a few of those (Adam Dunn, Bobby Crosby). But the Ichiro was special, even though I've seen several other people pull it.
How it can be improved: It'd be nice to get superstar jersey relics once in awhile, a Pujols or Jeter. Heck, I'll settle for a Dodger. I've yet to pull a Dodger jersey card.

6. Lisa Leslie, autograph card
What I like about this card: It's the autograph of an Olympian
How it can be improved: I still prefer autographs of baseball players, but I won't say it's not cool, because it is.

5. Jermaine Dye, cloth cardWhat I like about this card: This is the first real "hit" card I pulled since my return to collecting. Got it at a hobby shop in Buffalo. The fact that it's numbered 1/10 is cool.
How it can be improved: It could be a Dodger

4. Matt Kemp, autograph card (VOTE HIM TO THE ALL-STAR GAME!)
What I like about this card: Autograph of one of my favorite current Dodgers
How it can be improved: Again, I didn't pull it. Beardy was nice enough to send it to me.

3. Russell Martin, mini (A&G back, if you care about that stuff)What I like about this card: Many collectors have said this is the best card of the entire set. I won't argue.
How it can be improved: Topps can stop calling him "Russ," because they're the only one that does.

2. Ryan Church, wood mini
What I like about this card: First wood card I've ever seen. It's a 1/1. And they are near impossible to pull. It helped ease the pain of missing out on a card show because of a snowstorm.
How it can be improved: It would've been cool if the back was wood, too.

1. Jackie, Pee Wee and Roy, World Champions minis
What I like about these cards: I don't think I'd be a Dodger fan if it wasn't for these three guys.
How they can be improved: Throw in cards of Sandy and Don (Drysdale and Newcombe), Furillo, Snider, a few others.

That's quite an eclectic group of cards, isn't it? That's what I love about this set, and why I'm looking forward to it so much. It'll be a great day when that box arrives. Until then, I'll let Axel and the boys play me out.