At least it's colorful

 

Last Thursday I had a few errands to run, almost none that I wanted to run. One of them was a dentist visit, so once that was done, I figured I deserved a trip to the card aisle.

My card aisle visits are down to maybe eight times a year -- remember those once-, twice-a-week journeys? -- so it had been a little while. Recent history told me Walmart was the place to go (Target had been hopeless for going on a couple years), so I stopped only to see what looked like three workers huddled up next to where the sports cards go, chatting away. Two of the guys had to be at least 6-4 so I wasn't busting in only to see nothing. So I checked out Target.

 

The shelves there were the typical blizzard of hockey, basketball, nonsports something and Topps complete sets. But I saw one lowly blaster of this year's Allen & Ginter sticking out, which was just what I wanted.

 

A&G and I no longer see eye-to-eye. It's been that way for a few years now. But there is always a little bit of interesting in the set, which is not something I can say for a lot of sets released now. 

I bought the box for too much -- A&G is now 52 cents per card, which is outrageous -- spurred on mostly from what little I had seen online. The cards, while looking almost nothing like past A&G sets, are pleasingly colorful. I like the look. And I had to see the look person.

 

Box break, woooo!

PACK 1

221 - Daniel Van Kirk, comedian

125 - Tim Hudson, Athletics

101 - Mark Vientos, Mets

399 - Randy Johnson, Expos

272 - Ollie Palmer, gold border mini

SS1 - Aaron Judge, Yankees, Spotless Spans insert

OK, some explainers that are sure to annoy ... well, me, but maybe some others. Daniel Van Kirk falls into that category of Forced Into The Set So We Have Easy Autograph Subjects. I had never heard of him, so I quickly listened to some of his stuff. It's all right. It's no inventing the light bulb or even toppling the most dominos.

Much more annoyingly, notice the number of the terrific Randy Johnson. There are now 100 short-printed cards in A&G because the set is 400 cards. I believe almost all of the plus-350 cards are repeat subjects with different pictures, so it's relatively easy to ignore. But even if the subject matter of A&G was the same as it was 10 years ago, that change alone would cause me to decide not to complete the set.

Ollie Palmer is a soccer player and I didn't know there were gold borders until pulling the card. I have no idea if this is a notable pull.

 

PACK 2

 58 - Shea Langeliers, Athletics

133 - Tyler Freeman, Guardians

213 - Olivia Pichardo, college baseball player

239 - Tom Sandoval, TV personality/musician

72 - Gunnar Henderson, Orioles, mini

TT-7 - Great Horned Owl, Talon-ted insert

 

Owlie card! 

This pack is not big on familiarity, although I appreciate the Olivia Pichardo card as I have heard of her. The Gunnar mini is nice, too, let's see if it stays with me or ends up with my nephew.

The Tom Sandoval card is typical A&G pandering, which will continue into the next pack.

PACK 3

201 - Tom Schwartz, TV personality

78 - Rafael Devers, Red Sox

80 - Brett Baty, Mets

312 - Dave Winfield, Padres

SRFD7 - ice cream sundae mini

SS5 - Christy Mathewson, Giants, Spotless Spans insert

There you go, did you know Tom Schwartz and Tom Sandoval are reality TV personalities, who, shocker, opened a restaurant and cocktail lounge! All the ingredients for me wanting a card of them, individually.

The best card in this pack -- sorry, Dave -- is the ice cream sundae. I'm all about a dessert insert set.

PACK 4

44 - Riley Greene, Tigers

145 - Luis Ortiz, Pirates

120 - Freddie Freeman, Dodgers

144 - Jordan Groshans, Marlins

227 - Jon Berti, Marlins, mini

FITS4 - Snorkeling, Fun In The Sun insert

Freddie Freeman is just the first of the Dodgers I pulled in this box who is running out of time to get his act together.

I looked up the Fun In The Sun insert topics. It's filled with things I'll never do. Building A Sand Castle and Enjoying A Pina Colada are about the only ones my speed.

PACK 5

255 - Timmy Trumpet, DJ/musician

297 - Shintaro Fujinami, Athletics

252 - Tommy Coughlin, pro wiffle ball player

308 - Vladimir Guerrero, Expos

6 - Xander Bogaerts, Padres, A&G mini

SS16 - Greg Maddux, Braves, Spotless Spans insert

 

For those who aren't Mets fans, Timmy Trumpet is the guy who played Edwin Diaz's walk-in music. I'm assuming he wasn't too busy this past season. 

The Spotless Spans is this year's massive baseball-themed insert that A&G has had for most of its existence since 2006. It's mostly an excuse for Topps to get all of the Hall of Famers in the set again, as well as more stars for the star-chasers to chase.

PACK 6

17 - Ken Griffey Jr., Reds

153 - Gavin Lux, Dodgers

8 - Gerrit Cole, Yankees

92 - Matthew Liberatore, Cardinals

RDV4 - Corbin Carroll, Diamondbacks, 2006 A&G mini rookie variation throwback

MTYE - Violin, Music To Your Ears insert

 

A lot of the inserts this year are pretty basic, but I like the topics.

 

The Corbin Carroll card, I guess, is the hit of the blaster. It'd mean more if 1) I didn't just see another blogger pull it and 2) The Dodgers weren't losing to the worthless Diamondbacks right now. Plus, Carroll -- without knowing very much about him -- just seems odd. 

PACK 7

279 - Kenley Jansen, Red Sox

184 - Andre Dawson, Cubs

122 - Jeremy Pena, Astros

333 - Larry Walker, Rockies

347 - Sammy Sosa, Cubs, mini

SS22 - Mariano Rivera, Yankees, Spotless Spans insert

This surely only bugs me, but several images in this set -- like the Andre Dawson -- show the player cut off at the waist. Working in newspapers almost my whole career, I've learned all the cropping rules and you are not supposed to crop people at the waist, nor shoulder, elbow, knee, ankle, etc. I thought everyone knew that. Or maybe we're ignoring that too.

PACK 8

85 - Mookie Betts, Dodgers

183 - Oswaldo Peraza, Yankees

264 - Nolan Arenado, Cardinals

246 - Ermsy, artist

O1-12 - Only In ... Kansas City mini

TT9 - Golden Eagle, Talon-ted insert

Mookie is the other Dodger who needs to find his inner July-August ballplayer. There will be plenty of glee when the Dodgers are eliminated, from the usual fans of less-together franchises. But the real feat of the Dodgers this year has already been accomplished -- winning 100 games with an absolutely broken pitching staff.

Ermsy is a suitably weird card. He's one of the Project 2020 artists. I wasn't crazy about his cards.

I do like the Only In ... minis a lot. The cards showcase a notable feature of an MLB ballpark. The deep-red borders are very cool and in a less-stable moment I may consider collecting that insert set.

But, for now, I am not collecting anything from this set -- just the usual Dodgers.

It's colorful, sure, but the set no longer speaks to me ... and why would I spend 52 cents per card on something like that?