First Look: 2015 Topps Allen & Ginter baseball
By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor
Topps‘ run with Allen & Ginter baseball cards turns 10 this season and the company isn’t holding much back when it comes to the unusual inclusions that have made the brand a staple.
The company’s first reveal of 2015 Topps Allen & Ginter on Friday includes buyback autographs from past Ginter releases, a new helping of autographs from past Ginter signers and even a 10th anniversary parallel.
Each 24-pack hobby box will include a mix of three autographs, Relics, cut autos, buybacks or Rip Cards per box with the rips falling one per case when it arrives on July 22.
The model for this one hasn’t changed. The standard set will be 300 cards capped by 50 short-prints found one in every other pack. The mini parallel lineup will include standard, A&G, black-border, no-number (limited to 50), an A&G Flag back (/25), Wood (1/1) and printing plate (1/1) versions to chase. The red-bordered mini packs will once again be found one per case. There will be a 10th anniversary base card parallel where each card is limited to only 10 copies.
This year, the metal parallels return this time with serial-numbering to just three copies, while cloth cards are back and also limited to 10.
Buyback mini cards from Ginter in 2006, 2007 and 2008 will be included in packs with a 10th anniversary logo stamp and be found one per hobby box. Full-size buybacks will be found two per box. Buyback autos will be found with frames and then also previous autographed cards will be issued as buybacks as well. (One is an original card signed and framed. The other is a framed card with an added stamp.) Also to be found will be 100 A&G buybacks of original cards from the 1800s.
On the autograph front, only a handful of players were teased by Topps. There will be a lineup of baseball signers and non-baseball signers along with Red versions limited to 10 and 1/1 cut autographs to be found, too.
Rip Cards are back with five possible inclusions inside — original art pieces, Red autos (/10), mini exclusives, mini Woods (1/1) and metal minis (/3). Double Rip Cards also return with cards only found inside of them as well as possible Red buyback autos that are stamped with a 10th anniversary logo. Also to be found are Mini Rip cards with a smaller mini mini inside or a redemption for a full set of framed Relics.
The Relic lineup this year will include three types of Relics — a mix of framed and standard Relics that will not be found at the same time in the same box. Relic booklet autos will be limited to only 10 copies and have an autograph as well as a memorabilia piece for the player, while some will have two players’ autos.
For standard-sized inserts, there will be Starting Points (player debuts), Ancient Armory (weapons), Menagerie of the Mind (mythological creatures), What Once Would Be (past visions of the future), What Once Was Believed (past concepts) and Great Scott! (discoveries).
For mini inserts, there will be six types of cards to be found (seeded one in every five packs). They are First Ladies (presidents’ wives), Hoist the Black Flag (pirates), Birds of Prey, Mythological Menaces, World Beneath Our Feet (bugs) and a set of Magnates, Barons and Tycoons.
Ginter has had a healthy lineup of box-toppers in the last decade and this year’s version will include nine different versions. Among them are Pride of the People (monuments), Reprints (base cards of 10 players), Cabinet Relics (game-used jerseys), Cabinet Book Relics (two jumbo pieces) and a lineup of new box-loader player cards that includes Relics (/25), autos (/15), auto Relics (/5) and even 1/1 cut autographs.
A preliminary checklist was not released.
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Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball and Beckett Sports Card Monthly magazines. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.
It’s ok.. wish they’d get out of borders tho.
POS?
Although Posey’s name is short, it’s too long for the nameplate from his game-used jersey to appear on an oversized card.
I’ll collect my PC stuff but this product is really tired at this point.
How about modernizing the look? I don’t mind borders, as they are different, but I would definitely like a new look to the design. Content is very good.
I’m only slightly disappointed that they didn’t release any non-baseball signers so I will anxiously await a preliminary checklist. I think Topps has done a good job this year mixing up the content to be something different (10th Anniversary focusing on buybacks and stamping and what seems like a metric ton of parallels… for Ginter…) though I am a little skeptical about the extremely limited print run of most of the parallels. What’s the point of having them if there’s only 10? It makes set building, which I think is what the product relies on fairly heavily, even more difficult than it already was.
However, I have very high hopes for this product. The move last year to severely short print the framed mini relics to allow for more autographs per case was an outstanding idea and should be maintained this year!
Look for our Sunday Conversation item this week … I asked Clay Luraschi for some info/teasers on that front.
Let me be clear, i loved allen ginter products for some time. There’s no reason they can’t put one autograph per box as most aren’t worth much anyways. Bought a case of last years and there’s nothing worse than a stack of all plain white relic cards. even now, im still waiting for redemptions from 2012. my wife loves collecting the sub sets, but for the price there’s no magic anymore. And lets not forget the terrible non sports auto list from last year. Un less you pull one of the big cards, most of the other set is becoming of no value for the price. if snoop dog and only a handful of rookies is the best you can do. Ive already lost any interest in this years product.
WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT MORE AUTOS PER CASE? DON’T PAY ATTENTION TO COMMENTERS THAT HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY’RE TALKING ABOUT. ALLEN GINTER ONCE AGAIN WILL NOT GUARANTEE ATLEAST ONE AUTO PER BOX BECAUSE THEY WANT TO UNLOAD ON YOU A STACK OF PLAIN USELESS RELIC CARDS WITH NO VALUE. LAST YEAR WAS TERRIBLE AND IT LOOKS LIKE ANNIVERSARY TIME WITH NOTHING NEW AND EXCITING. LAST YEAR I BOUGHT A CASE AND FOR THE PRICE, WHY DO I WANT 30 PLAIN RELIC CARDS. LETS NOT FORGET THE TERRIBLE AUTOGRAPH LIST LAST YEAR. SNOOP DOGG? REALLY? THATS THE BEST WE CAN DO…..2013 I DID GREAT WITH THE PRODUCT BUT VALUE HAS NOT MUCH MEANING AS THE FACT OF THEY SHORT US FOR WHAT WE SPEND. WE WANT RARE!!!!! WE WANT UNIQUE!!!! RIP CARDS ARE BECOMING USELESS AS THERES NO REASON TO RIP THEM ANYMORE. LAST YEAR THE BEST YOU COULD PULL FROM A RIP CARD WAS FOR A REDEMPTION FOR GUESS WHAT???? AN ALL PLAIN USELESS RELIC SET WORTH NOTHING. LAST YEAR WAS A BUST AND TOPPS STILL IS GIVING THE HARDEST TIME WITH REDEMPTIONS. IM SORRY BUT THERES NO WAY MY MONEY IS GOING FOR A CASE WITH ONLY 4-5 AUTOGRAPHS IN IT. QUIT BASING NEW ISSUES OF THE PRODUCT OFF OF OLDER YEARS CAUSE LAST YEARS WAS TERRIBLE HONESTLY. WITH ALL THE NEW HIGH END STUFF COMING OUT, SETS LIKE ALLEN GINTER SHOULD FIND A WAY TO SHINE. NO REASON YOU CANT INCLUDE MORE AUTOGRAPHS AND RARE AUTOGRAPHS LIKE HISTORIC AUTOGRAPHS. WE’LL PAY THE PRICE BUT GIVE US MORE THAN THE BASIC TOSS IN THE BOX CARDS.
Ginter wasn’t that good to me this year. I could only find two hobby boxes locally and I pulled two worthless relics. Then I got 6 blaster boxes and what did I find? Two more relics of SPORTS WRITERS. I figured time to just buy what I collect from this set instead of taking my chances. I like to pick up at least a framed auto from Ginter of the guys I PC, or red ink if I can afford it, so this year I was only after a $200-300 dollar Kris Bryant and after picking up the last one available on the Bay i’m DONE!