All the things you love/hate about Allen & Ginter in one tidy post

I've decided that this is officially an obsession. I need to know all of the non-baseball players in every set of Allen & Ginter and I need to know them now.

A couple of posts ago I started listing all of those cards with the thought that it would be a project I would forget about quickly only to come back to it in two years. Instead I'm coming back to it in two days.

So, with apologies to readers who tune into this blog to see pictures of baseball players, I am now listing everyone (or everything) that was/is not a major league baseball player in A&G (this doesn't include inserts). I will link this page for handy reference on my sidebar.

Please enjoy. Or don't enjoy. Whatever.

2006

Non-Baseball Players

Chester A. Arthur
Jerry Bailey
Billy The Kid
Buffalo Bill
Andrew Carnegie
Brandi Chastain
Grover Cleveland
Randy Couture
Thomas Edison
Jennie Finch
Bob Fitzsimmons
Ulysses S. Grant
Wendy Guey
Ben Harrison
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Rutherford B. Hayes
Hulk Hogan
Andy Irons
Stonewall Jackson
Jesse James
Duke Paoa Kahanamoku
Takeru Kobayashi
Robert E. Lee
Pope Leo XIII
Carl Lewis
Abraham Lincoln
Herman Melville
Queen Victoria
Danica Patrick
John Rockefeller
Theodore Roosevelt
Leon Spinks
Jim Thorpe
Mike Tyson
Chancellor Otto Von Bismark
Kaiser Wilhelm
John Wooden
Orville Wright
Wilbur Wright

Total: 39 

Places or Things

Statue of Liberty

Total: 1

Note: I didn't collect A&G the first two years so I don't have a ton of knowledge about it. I'm surprised at the number of presidential figures and historical figures in general. As the years progress, A&G turns into a vastly different beast.

2007

Non-Baseball Players

Freddy Adu
Laila Ali
Mario Andretti
Susan B. Anthony
Mike Aponte
P.T. Barnum
Bob Baffert
Alexander Graham Bell
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Jamie Fischer
Joe Frazier
Mohandas Gandhi
Augie Garrido
Gary Hall Jr.
Mia Hamm
Jack the Ripper
Ken Jennings
Julio Juarez
Bruce Lee
Greg Louganis
Misty May-Treanor
Jason McElwain
Dan O'Brien
Louis Pasteur
Dennis Rodman
Eleanor Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Cael Sanderson
Mark Selby
Sitting Bull
Harry S. Truman
Mark Twain
Kerri Walsh
Mark Zupan

Total: 35

Places or Things

Brooklyn Bridge
Ferris Wheel
Eiffel Tower
Groundhog Day
Tower Bridge
Washington Monument

Total: 6

Note: I wondered on an Allen and Ginter post recently whether the 2017 set saw the first time that a husband and wife received separate cards in the same A&G set (Peter Rosenberg/Alexa Datt). But, of course, it's not because Eleanor and Franklin D. in the second A&G set! Duh!

2008

Non-Baseball Players

Matt Biondi
Bonnie Blair
James Bowie
Joey Chestnut
Todd Clever
James Fenimore Cooper
Davy Crockett
Marie Curie
Charles Dickens
Frederick Douglass
Albert Einstein
Allen Fisher
Benjamin Franklin
Nicky Hayden
Wild Bill Hickok
Victor Hugo
"Rampage" Jackson
Dan Jansen
Bruce Jenner
Dean Karnazes
Jeff King
Jeanette Lee
Lisa Leslie
Andrew "William Ocean" Litz
Les Miles
Billy Mitchell
Claude Monet
Frank Morris
Bob Motley
Takudzwa Ngwenya
Friedrich Nietzsche
Annie Oakley
Pablo Picasso
Mary Shelley
Mark Spitz
Bram Stoker
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Kerri Strug
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Harriet Tubman
Kevin Van Dam
Pete Weber
Oscar Wilde
Serena Williams
Stevie Williams

Total: 45

Places or Things

Bigfoot (monster truck)
Empire State Building
The Gateway Arch
Golden Gate Bridge
Grand Canyon
Pluto

Total: 6

Note: A&G at its best.

2009

Non-Baseball Players

Kristin Armstrong
Beethoven
Bryan Berg
Napoleon Bonaparte
Louis Braille
Stephanie Brown Trafton
Alexander Cartwright
General Custer
Charles Darwin
Wyatt Earp
Sigmund Freud
Richard Gatling
Geronimo
Walton Glenn Eller
Charles Goodyear
Heinrich Hertz
John Higby
Doc Holliday
Burke Kenny
Robbie Maddison
Kolan McConiughey
LaShawn Merritt
Samuel Morse
Florence Nightingale
Alfred Nobel
Loren Opstedahl
Cat Osterman
Michael Phelps
Will Simpson/Archie Bunker (horse)
Sitting Bull (second appearance)
Anna Tunnicliffe
Vincent Van Gogh
Steve Wiebe
Dominique Wilkins
Jason Wong
Brigham Young
Mariel Zagunis

Total: 37

Places or Things

Alamo
Electron
Milky Way
Old Faithful
St. Patrick's Cathedral
Suez Canal

Total: 6

Note: There are also seven Negro League era baseball players in this set (there are some Negro League players scattered through the 2007 set as well).

2010

Non-Baseball Players

Ken Blackburn
David Blaine
Tyler Bradt
Drew Brees
Nicolaus Copernicus
Ivory Crockett
Leonardo Da Vinci
Tiago Della Vega
Anne Donovan
Hans Florine
Alan Francis
Galileo Galilei
Anthony Gatto
Johannes Gutenberg
Sig Hansen
Tony Hawk
Tony Hoard and Rory (dog)
Sherlock Holmes (fictional)
Nick Jacoby
Avery Jenkins
Shawn Johnson
Meb Keflezighi
Ryan Kennelly
King Tut
Tom Knapp
Kelly Kulick
Judson Laipply
Niccolo Machiavelli
Captain Nemo (fictional)
Isaac Newton
Randy Oitker
Regis Philbin
Preston Pittman
Max Poser
Sacagawea
Summer Sanders
Stuart Scott
Jordin Sparks
Gary Stewart
Johnny Strange
Jules Verne
Hubertus "Master of Hellfire" Wawra

Total: 42

Places or Things

Area 51
Betelgeuse
Lucy (skeletal remains)
The Parthenon
Revolving Door
X-Rays

Total: 6

Note: There are also five Negro League-era baseball players in this set.

2011

Non-Baseball Players

Geno Auriemma
Sue Bird
Daniel Boulud
Cheryl Burke
George W. Bush
Guy Fieri
Marc Forgione
Jo Frost
Peter Gammons
Matt Guy
Dirk Hayhurst*
Mat Hoffman
Lou Holtz
Tim Howard
Eric Jackson
Ana Julaton
Jake LaMotta
Jack LaLanne
Stan Lee
Nancy Lopez
Evan Lysacek
John McEnroe
Shawn Michaels
Heather Mitts
Aimee Mullins
Jim Nantz
Manny Pacquiao
Kyle Petty
Sanya Richards
Rudy Ruettiger
Timothy Shieff
Maxim Shmyrev
Hope Solo
Annika Sorenstam
Picabo Street
Diana Taurasi
Dick Vitale
Micky Ward
Wee Man
Chrissie Wellington
Chuck Woolery
Kristi Yamaguchi
L.L. Zamenhof

Total: 43

*-Judgment call. Hayhurst's baseball career ended in 2011 and he's dressed as a garfoose.

Places or Things

Royal Wedding

Total: 1

Note: A sad year as A&G tried very hard to eliminate places and things from the set. Even the Royal Wedding card features people.

2012

Non-Baseball Players

Erin Andrews
Jerry Bailey (second appearance)
Guy Bluford
Keegan Bradley
James Brown (announcer)
Michael Buffer
Swin Cash
Don Denkinger
Annie Duke
Fatal1ty (Jonathan Wendel)
Roger Federer
Rulon Gardner
Greg Gumbel
Hank Haney
Kirk Herbstreit
Marty Hogan
Bob Hurley Sr.
Bela Karolyi
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Bobby Knight
Lefty Kreh
Meadowlark Lemon
Ewa Mataya
Colin Montgomerie
Curly Neal
Arnold Palmer
Ara Parseghian
Richard Petty
Phil Pfister
Michael Phelps (second appearance)
Al Unser Sr.
Kate Upton
Dale Webster

Total: 33

Places or Things

None.

Note: The trend that started in 2011 really kicked into gear in 2012. A&G greatly increased the number of retired baseball players in the set and discarded virtually any non-ballplayer who didn't participate in some other sort of competition or was part of a sporting event. No inventors. No writers. No musicians. The only exceptions are Guy Bluford (first African-American in space) and, of course, Kate Upton.

2013

Non-Baseball Players

Bonnie Bernstein
Matthew Berry
Matthias Blonski
Amelia Boone
Bobby Bowden
Byamba
John Calipari
Olivia Culpo
Jason Dufner
Pope Francis I
Monty Hall
Scott Hamilton
Kevin Harvick
Phil Heath
Chanel Iman
Roy Jones Jr.
Mike Joy
Ekolu Kalama
Brian Kelly
Artie Lange
Tommy Lee
Julia Mancuso
Ziggy Marley
McKayla Maroney
Penny Marshall
Mike McCarthy
Barry Melrose
Nana Meriwether
Chris Mortensen
Shawn Nadelen
Ed O'Neill
Pele
Adam Richman
Mike Richter
Freddie Roach
Guillaume Robert-Demolaize
Henry Rollins
Nick Saban
Bud Selig
Chrissy Teigen
Robin vanPersie
Abe Vigoda
Lindsey Vonn
Nik Wallenda
Bill Walton

Total: 45

Places or Things

Death Valley
Grand Central Terminal
Panama Canal

Total: 3

Note: A return to earlier years.

2014

Non-Baseball Players

Dr. James Andrews
Matt Besser
Anthony Bourdain
Erin Brady
Samantha Briggs
Jordan Burroughs
Sam Calagione
Jim Calhoun
Kevin Clancy
Buffalo Bill Cody
Felicia Day
Jenny Dell
Michael Eisner
Allyson Felix
Tanner Foust
Judah Friedlander
Vince Gilligan
Iron Sheik
Maria Gabriela Isler
Danielle Kang
Helen Keller
Larry King
Chuck Klosterman
Bert Kreischer
Carli Lloyd
Diana Nyad
Jordan Oliver
Daniel Okrent
Queen Victoria (second appearance)
Mike Pereira
Dave Portnoy
Bill Rancic
Ryan Riess
Anthony Robles
Mark Roth
Gar Ryness
Adam Schefter
Kevin Smith
Snoop Lion
John L. Sullivan
Laura Phelps Sweatt
Chuck Todd
Glen Waggoner
Austin Wierschke
Chuck Zito

Total: 45

Places or Things

Barbed Wire
Polar Vortex

Total: 2

2015

Non-Baseball Players

Rocky Balboa (fictional)
Michelle Beadle
Joe Buck
Buck 65
Frank Caliendo
Apollo Creed (fictional)
David Cross
Ivan Drago (fictional)
Jimbo Fisher
Julie Foudy
Joe Gatto
Malcolm Gladwell
Incredibeard
Megan Kalmoe
Jonah Keri
Val Kilmer
James "Clubber" Lang (fictional)
Keith Law
Zach Lowe
Gus Malzahn
Jeff Mauro
Mike Mills
Kelia Moniz
James Murray
Aaron Paul
Lakey Peterson
Brian Quinn
Darren Rovell
Brody Stevens
Thunderlips (fictional)
Bernie Williams (ex-ball player as musician)
Brian Windhorst
Robb Wolf
Sam Vulcano
Malala Yousafzai

Total: 35

Places or things

Appomattox Court House
Fall of the Berlin Wall
Magna Carta
Philae Probe

Total: 4

Note: 2015 might be the nadir in terms of non-ball players. It's overrun with comedians I've never heard of and several irritating people. At least the Rocky subset takes the edge off, but it's no wonder I've accumulated less of this set than any other A&G set since I started collecting it.

2016

Non-Baseball Players

Monica Abbott
Anthony Anderson
Denise Austin
Michael Breed
Dwier Brown
Timothy Busfield
Colin Cowherd
Mike Francesa
Missy Franklin
Gennady Golovkin
Mike Greenberg
Ernie Johnson
Orlando Jones
Steve Kerr
Rick Klein
Laurence Leavy
George Lopez
Jill Martin
Paul McBeth
Cord McCoy
Joe McKeehen
Jessica Mendoza
Jay Oakerson
Robert Raiola
Steve Schirripa
Ari Shaffir
Maria Sharapova
Jason Sklar
Randy Sklar
Morgan Spurlock
Steve Spurrier
Michele Steele
Leigh Steinberg
Matt Stonie
Hannah Storm
Vinny G
Heidi Watney
Jen Welter
Cheyenne Woods

Total: 39

Places or Things

Cuban Embassy
Dawn Spacecraft
Falcon 9 Rocket
Gravitational Waves
Papal Visit (Pope Francis I)

Total: 5

Note: A&G titles one of the "things" as "Papal Visit" but it's really just a picture of Pope Francis, which would make it the second time he's appeared in the base set (first time in 2013).

2017

Non-Baseball Players

Tom Anderson
Corey Bellemore
Wesley Bryan
Miguel Cotto
Vashti Cunningham
Alexa Datt
Jay Glazer
Laurie Hernandez
Brooke Hogan
Valarie Jenkins
Dan Jennings
Nick Jonas
Michal Kapral
Andy Katz
Kevin Kelley
Krazy George
Allie LaForce
Eric LeGrand
Joe Manganiello
Garrett McNamara
Efren Reyes
Peter Rosenberg
Ken Rosenthal
Ollie Schniederjans
William Shatner
Kirby Smart
Ben Smith
Stephen A. Smith
Jayson Stark
Sage Steele
Gary Stevens
Lyle Thompson
Harriet Tubman (second appearance)

Total: 33

Places or Things

Giant Panda
Paris Locks
Trees in India
U.S. National Parks Service

Total: 4

Note: Valarie Jenkins, who plays disc golf, is the second member of the Jenkins family to be featured in A&G. Her brother, Avery, was in the set in 2010.

2018

Non-Baseball Players

H. Jon Benjamin
Biz Markie
Scott Blumstein
Genie Bouchard
Phil Coyne
Theo Epstein
Sean Evans
Sonny Fredrickson
Bill James
Ben Lecomte
Tyronn Lue
Christopher McDonald
Method Man
Champ Pederson
Kelsey Plum
Michael Rapaport
Lincoln Riley
Austin Rogers
Scott Rogowsky
Tom Segura
Ryan Sickler
Steve Simeone
Claire Smith
Paige Spiranac
Sloan Stephens
Stugotz
Lindsey Vonn (second appearance)
Tommy Wiseau

Total: 28

Places or Things

Bomb Cyclone
Bullpen Car
Cryptocurrency
Marine National Monument
Samesung Park
Total Solar Eclipse

Total: 6

Note: This is the lowest total for non-baseball players since Allen & Ginter reappeared in 2006. It is also the lowest collective total, when you add the places and things, since 2012, when there were 33 non-baseball players and zero places and things.

 2019

Non-Baseball Players

A.J. Andrews
Justin Bonomo
Rhea Butcher
Augie Carton
Cespedes Family BBQ
Loretta Claiborne
Danielle Colby
Mason Cox
John Cynn
Hailey Dawson
Drew Drechsel
Brian Fallon
First Tiger Mask
Emily Jaenson
Tyler Kepner
Hilary Knight
Jay Larson
Post Malone
Charles Martinet
Matthew Mercer
Rodney Mullen
Robert Oberst
Mike Oz
Quinn XCII
Travis Pastrana
Dan Rather
Lawrence Rocks
Ben Schwartz
Mayumi Seto
Kyle Snyder
Sr. Mary Jo Sobieck
Vincent Stio
Marc Summers
Gary Vaynerchuk

Total: 34

Places or Things

Egg

Total: 1

Note: The third straight year that the non-baseball cards total has been under 40, the longest such streak since the A&G reboot. Outside of 2012, when there were none, 2019 matches 2006 and 2011 for the fewest number of "places or things" cards with just one.
 

2020

Non-Baseball Players

Johnny Bananas
Baseball Brit
Steve Byrne
Jared Carrabis
Andy Cohen
Kelsey Cook
J.K. Dobbins
Tony Dunst
Jeff Dye
Julian Edwards
Mike "Doc" Emrick
Aaron "Wheels" Fotheringham
Chip Gaines
Derrick Goold
Courtney Hansen
Nyjah Huston
Ken Jeong
Sakura Kokumai
Bucky Lasek
Ryan Nyquist
Briana Scurry
Justine Siegal
R.L. Stine
Hugo "Juice" Tadron
Steven Tefft
Nick Thune

Total: 26

Places or Things

None

Note: The lowest total number of non-baseball player cards in any A&G set by a significant number. This is the fourth straight year that the non-baseball cards total has been under 40, and the first time since 2012 that there are no "places or things" cards. This is Allen & Ginter out-and-out yelling "I'm not the same set that I once was!" 

2021

Non-Baseball Players

Michelle Akers
Jose Andres
Marc Anthony
Simon Baker

Jason Biggs
Buzz Bissinger

Rocky Bleier
Chris Brickley
Steelo Brim
Tom Bunk
Jeff Carlson
Steve Carlson
Randall Cunningham
Jeff Garlin
Dave Hanson
Leo Kelly
Daniel Kim
Jim Koch
Mike Lange
Rose Lavelle
T.J. Lavin
Trevor Lawrence
Bobby Moynihan
Alyssa Nakken

Kevin Negandhi
Kim Ng
Jimmy Pardo
Jesse Sanchez
Bianca Smith
Ben Soffer

Sarah Spain
Sarah Tiana
Uncle Larry

Jaylen Waddle
Roy Wood Jr.
Kelly Wrangham
Petr Yan

Total: 37

Places or Things

None

Note: First the good news: This is the most non-baseball players in an A&G set since 2017 when there was also 37. Now the bad news: No places or things for the second year in a row and only the third time since A&G's return in 2006.

 

2022

 

Non-Baseball Players

Malika Andrews

B-Real

Rachel Balkovec

Bradley Beal

Charlie Berens

Eric Bobo

Kate Brownell

Ronny Chieng

Davey Cuts

DJ Muggs

Landon Donovan

Stephen Dubner

Mark Duplass

Jason Ellis

Danny Glover

Blake Grice

Ian Grushka

Matt Hamilton

Jared Hart

Scott Hanson

Dave House

Tim House

Benny Hurowitz

Blake Jamieson

John Landsteiner

Rad Lopez

Sam Mewis

Neal Moore

Morgan Murphy

Alyssa Naeher

Charlotte North

John Osborne

T.J. Osborne

Jeremiah Paprocki

Chris Plys

Rob Riggle

Drew Rosenhaus

Rodney Scott

Sen Dog

Charlie Sheen

Martin Sheen

John Shuster

Kendall Toole

Arie Torres

Luke Wessman 

Joe West

Michelle Wie West

Field Yates

 

Note: Forty-eight non-baseball players is the most in an A&G set since 2013. It's also the most non-baseball people in an A&G set ever, since the absence of places or things cards is now at three years in a row. 

I'll try to add to this list each year ... or at least until I stop collecting (you never know).

(Additional note: All of the words below were written in 2017 and are a bit out of date after looking at the above checklists from 2018-2022).

In compiling these lists I noticed that A&G virtually overnight ran screaming from featuring historical figures. In 2010 there was a healthy amount, just like every year before it, and then 2011 almost nothing, except for historical baseball figures.

I don't know if that was in response to complaints from collectors or a change in marketing. But I think I can trace my growing disinterest in Allen & Ginter to that decision. Ever since that switch in 2011, there's been only a stray non-baseball historical figure here and there and I just don't like the set as much.

The history that was once a fixture in A&G has been replaced by a bunch of current figures, most of whom I don't care a flying fig over. I'm a media guy, so I shouldn't complain about the steady stream of media people featured in A&G the last three or four years, but I do not need a Darren Rovell card.

I don't know why the switch from history to present was made, but it can't be because Topps has run out of old-timey people because:

Henry Ford, George Washington Carver, Eli Whitney, James Watt, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sylvia Plath, John Steinbeck, Agatha Christie, Mozart, Bach, Scott Joplin, etc., etc., etc., have never appeared in A&G.

I know, I know, copyrights, but somehow A&G cleared that hurdle its first four years in existence.

Anyway, there you go. I've officially bored everyone on a variety of fronts.

But my curiosity has been satisfied. And that's the most important thing.