Well it just arrived around baseball card shops all over the country and it’s shockwaves are being felt by collectors and newcomers to the hobby everywhere, it’s 2008 Topps Allen & Ginter.  This is easily the top product of 2008 and is filled with even more stuff than the previous 2 releases.  What makes this card brand special?  Well there are tons of things and I will go through them because this is my favorite box of cards of the year to collect and I want to get everyone on board and those that are thinking about buying their first pack in years to go out and give them a chance at resurrecting that feeling of collecting again. 

To start I better give a quick summary of the cards.  Back in the day Allen & Ginter was a real brand of cards…I’m talking early 1900’s.  Not only did the cards feature pictures of famous baseball players but they went further and picked out champions in other walks of life and plastered their faces on cards.  Flip ahead 100 years and the brand is put back out by Topps with pictures of baseball players as well as tons of other famous people.  For example I just noticed that one of the cards inside the packs is of Hotdog eating champion Joey Chestnut, there’s another one of fisherman Kevin Van Dam, one of Harriet Tubman and even the Gateway Arch in St. Louis has a card this year.  The coolest part is that Topps put out a card of me in the set…#307 to be exact.  I’m very thrilled because this set is my favorite set and I would honestly be content for the rest of my life if I do not get another card…to put it another way this is the set I have wanted to be in for the last 2 years!

Like I said above if you are new to the game this is the brand that got me back into cards a couple years back and renewed my love for collecting.  Now I don’t want to scare anyone but these cards sell out quickly.  If you are lucky enough to have a baseball card shop in your area they will more than likely have these unless they are sold out.  For those that aren’t as fortunate you can run over to Target or Wal-Mart and check out the baseball card section.  In Target the card section is usually at one end of the checkout lines on one side of the store entrance, kind of hard to find but if you ask someone they should find it for you.  Wal-Mart is kind of the same way and they are usually located by the tobacco counter.  I’m telling everyone this because after about a month the only place you can find these things are on eBay and for more than retail price.  Now I’m not sure when these are going to arrive in stores, last year it was about a week after release when they showed up in MN and I was only able to find them in one store up here.  Also if you are in the Brooklyn Park, MN area do one thing…be sure to leave me a box to buyJ

Okay for all of you collectors there have been a couple changes this year.  Those annoying Dick Perez cards have been replaced by something called the US set.  It’s a set of all 50 states represented by a player that was either born or lived in by that player.  I thought it would be cool if they had a guy born in each state for all 50 cards and I thought that was the set but I noticed the Nick Markakis Georgia card and it said he was born in NY so that throws out that idea.  Anyways I made the Wisconsin card and will be signing and inscribing up that bad boy for whoever sends it to me to sign. 

Another couple of minor changes, there are things called silk cards #’d to 10, the snake cards have been replaced by sharks, roman emperors with world icons and countries with world leaders.  There is also a thing called Crack the code…I’m sure it will take tons of hours to solve this code but what the heck it’s worth a shot and under the message board on the site we will be sharing cards and trying to figure out the code…I guess the winner that cracks the code will get their own A&G card in next year’s set…I could just see it now, one card for our entire message board…cool.

There’s also tons of other stuff that will stay the same, rip cards, short prints, mini cards, wood cards, an Abraham Lincoln hair card and the relics.  It’s a fun set…let’s see how I did

1 box of A&G

143 base cards…not sure about short prints right now, there isn’t a list

4 Game Used card…not sure how this happened because I think you are only suppose to get 2

Vlad, Hafner, Ryan Howard, Garrett Anderson

1 Crack the code card

David Wright Box Topper

20 State born/lived in cards

1 Shark card, Mako

1 World Icon Cleopatra

2 World Leaders

12 regular base minis – 4 Ginter Back mini’s – 4 Black Bordered mini’s

Final word

Well I opened a lot of Ginter boxes over the past two years and I think this is going to be the best Ginter release yet.  The content inside is overflowing with different sets to go after and lots of nice looking cards that are waiting for ink to get put on in the form of a signature.  As you can see above I didn’t have any major hits but for the $ it doesn’t get any better than this.  If you are a set collector this set will have you working for days.  My final word…this will be the one and might be the only set I will be working hard on for the rest of the summer, if you want to dabble in cards for the first time in years this is the set for you!

Just wanted to warn everyone that 08 Topps Allen & Ginter cards will be arriving in stores shortly.  This will be the main set I will collect this year and once again the set I tell new collectors to go after if you are just getting into the hobby.  Here's a little note though, these boxes sell out quickly so be sure to start now if you want to have some fun.  They are not priced high and are a pretty fun set.  In MN the best places to find these would be Target & Wal-Mart and anywhere else you can try eBay and your local card shop.  I have a case coming in later next week and should have a box here to review tomorrow sometime.  As for now here's a pic of my new card! As always send it over to be signed if you pull one!

Alright I promised a TC bear story and here it is.  For those of you that don't know the Twins Mascot is TC Bear...He also can hit a ball farther than I can...seriously.  Well TC bear was involved in the Mascot stuff for the All Star game.  He got to go to all the events and entertain the crowd as well as be in the All-Star Mascot HR Derby contest.  TC Bear has cleaned up in the event the past couple years and was once again the favorite to win this year.  Well his toughest competetion I heard came in the 1st round when he knocked out Bernie Brewer...From there he cruised to the finals and eventually ended up winning the thing.  Well he was pretty excited because he got a nice looking trophy to put in his bear house and be proud of from the last couple years.  This year though MLB changed sponsors and he got a sweet crystal trophy that said "Mascot HR derby Champ".  The trophy was given to him, he took a picture and quickly the sponsor took the trophy back.  When asked about it later the sponsor told him it was going into storage for next year and they would use the same trophy.  I don't know about you but it seemed pretty unfair that a big time sponsor couldn't swing for a nice little trophy that a bear worked hard to get.  What do you think 

I just got back from my signing in Mankato...man what a long day.  At 4pm we left the Metrodome...when I say we I mean Wally The Beerman, Sue the Organist, TC Bear (who is fresh off winning the mascot HR derby in NY) and our drivers!  Well we got back around 11pm...what a day.  It was pretty neat to head back to Mankato.  I played in the Northwoods League 8 years ago and the place really changed.  The place was packed, they had a winning team on the field and it was a fun place to be.  I remember when I was there they were the Mankato Mashers and they wouldn't stop playing the song "Monster Mash" and it got old quick.  Flip through 8 years and they are now the Moon Dogs and they are selling out.  I signed autographs for about an hour and met a lot of people from this site.  I did a radio interview for a little bit....I threw out the first pitch...with my left hand since I cannot throw still, I hope the video doesn't end up on Youtube...it was ugly and I almost fell because I was wearing dress shoes!  It was a fun time and pretty cool to go back to a place that had a lot to do with my success on my way to becoming a Big Leaguer. 

Please keep checking out our sponsors below.  Also I have a great story on TC Bear that might make you upset.  Keep checking out the site for that later in the week. 

I was just thinking that one year ago the madness of the Final Vote for the All-Star was blowing up this site after I got nominated.  It got me thinking about a lot of things.  Things like why wasn't the final totals ever released.  I noticed in an article the other day they finally gave out Okajima's vote total...4.4 million.  It would just be nice to have known what type of damage we did on the polls instead of hearing what place we got, maybe someday somebody will come out and give the #'s.  It also got me thinking about what if I had made the team.  For me it would be cool to sign baseballs with AllStar07 inscribed on them and when I get older I would always be able to attend Tristar events and put that ever needed inscription on the balls!  The last thing I thought about was what each guy on the final man vote was doing now a year later...what I found was kind of shocking.  I call what I found the curse of the 07 final man vote.  Nearly each guy who was on the vote is currently injured or struggling.  Don't believe me let's check it out.

Me - Partially Torn Ligament in the elbow,

Kelvim Escobar tear in shoulder hurt and hasn't pitched in the big leagues this season,

Jeremy Bonderman - Out for season with surgery (blood clots)

Hideki Okajima - Not hurt but has struggled a lot according to media

Roy Halladay - Hit in the temple on a line drive - Made the All-Star team

Roy Oswalt - Currently Hurt with a bad hip

Tom Gorzelanny - Sent to AAA after struggling with Pirates

Chris Young - Hit in face by a line drive and has been out for awhile

Carlos Zambrano - Just came off the DL with shoulder problems

Brandon Webb - The only guy that goes against this curse...MLB All Star - Great season

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