Completed insert set – 2012 Allen & Ginter mini Giants of the Deep

This one’s been sitting in the queue needing an update for a while.  I’ve wondered in the past and still do if I’ll ever get caught up posting the insert sets I’ve completed!  Here’s another mini set from Allen & Ginter that I completed back in November of last year.

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Info about the set:

Set description:  “15 cards featuring various species of whale.”  These are horizontally oriented mini cards with the animal depicted inside.  There is a write-up on the back describing why the species is endangered.

Set composition: 15 cards, 1:5 odds (2012 Allen & Ginter’s)

I weirdly got zero of these in my box!

Hall of Famers: Not a sports set.

Card that completed my set: #GD14 – Beluga Whale

I got this card from COMC in 2020!  I’m behind!

How I put the set together:

• 2 cards from a card show
• 1 card from a trade
• 5 cards from Beckett
• 3 cards from Sportlots
• 4 cards from COMC

Thoughts on the set:  This is the kind of set that makes Ginter interesting.  But they just have the checklist on the back, so not all that cool – would be interesting to have some things to read.  Like with some of these mini sets – the photos aren’t very clear in a lot of cases.

Highest book value: They all book for the same

Best card (my opinion): #GD9 – Orca

Pretty easy choice!  I’d have considered the Narwhal but the picture isn’t very good on that one.  The Orca is very clear compared to a lot of these cards.

Here’s the scan of the full set.

Any other tidbits:  From 2011 to 2013, and then again in 2019 and 2021 Upper Deck inserted patch cards called “Animal Kingdom” into Goodwin Champions.  I cross-referenced the checklist for this set to the Goodwin patches, and the following 18 cards were in both sets:

• GD1 – Humpback Whale (2011)
• GD2 – Sperm Whale (2019)
• GD3 – Blue Whale (2013) – also in the 2011 Ginter Animals in Peril set
• GD4 – Narwhal (2013)
• GD5 – Beluga (2011)
• GD9 – Orca

The 9 cards that weren’t in the Animal Patches set are: Bowhead, Right Whale, Fin Whale, Pilot Whale, Pygmy Sperm Whale, Minke Whale, Bottlenose Whale, Gray Whale, Bryde’s Whale

Completed insert set – 2011 Allen & Ginter Cabinets

Most of the insert sets in Ginter are not of the standard size.  You have the Baseball Highlight sketch cards and maybe 1 or 2 others, but the rest are minis.  And there are cabinet cards or N43 cards that are box toppers.  I finished off the Cabinet set from 2011 6 or 7 months ago.

Info about the set:

Set description: “10 oversize cabinet cards featuring mini parallel cards showcasing 2 to 4 key subjects in an important 2010 baseball highlight, or the founding of a National Park.  These subjects are featured on mini-parallel cards on a larger 5 ¼” by 8″ cabinet card.”

There’s a lot of duplicate wording on that write-up from the sell sheet.  Basically, these are really large cards with scenes as the background and then 2, 3 or 4 photos of mini cards using the 2011 A&G design.  Cards #1-6 are baseball highlights from 2010, while cards #7-10 are National Parks and the President and some other influential figure who helped to get the park that designation.  The backs have a checklist of the specific portion of the set (the baseball cards only have the first 6 listed, the National Parks only have the last 4).

They were a little off in calling the mini-pictured cards “parallels”.  The players all had cards, however Tony LaRussa isn’t in the main set and most of the presidents or other figures aren’t either.

Set composition:  10 cards, box topper (2011 Allen & Ginter’s)

Hall of Famers:  1.  Shown above, Tony LaRussa is on card #6, which is titled “Decade of Dominance”.  It’s honoring Albert Pujols, who did have quite an incredible first 10 years.

Ryan Dempster is the other player on this card.  I was trying to figure out what this card was getting at, other than Pujols being really good.  He hit more homers of Dempster than any other pitcher, but I think this card is in honor of May 30, 2010.  In that game, Pujols went deep 3 times.  Two of those bombs were off of Dempster, who also gave him 2 intentional passes.  So he could have hit the magical mark of 4 homers in a game if not for the free passes.

How I put the set together:

• 1 card from my 2nd hobby box
• 7 cards from Beckett Marketplace
• 2 cards from COMC

Card that completed my set:  #CB-9 – Yosemite National Park.

I got this card from COMC back in May.  Pretty cool putting Old Faithful on there, though there is no “parallel” in the main set.  Old Faithful did have a card in 2009 Allen & Ginter.

Thoughts on the set:  Retro sets are best the more they connect with the original.  Cabinet cards were a staple of tobacco cards from back in the late 1800’s, so that’s pretty cool.  I like the combination of national parks and baseball highlights.

Best card (my opinion):  #CB-10 – Redwood National Park

This card is for the National Park in Northern California.  I picked this one because it’s the only one I’ve been to out of the 4 cards in this set.

Other tidbits:  Here is a checklist of the 10 cards in this set, followed by information on the date of the game (or year the National park gained its status) and the “mini cards” shown on the cabinet.

CB-1 – “Galarraga’s almost perfect”.  June 2, 2010.  Armando Galarraga, Miguel Cabrera, Jason Donald.

This would probably be my favorite if I had picked from the baseball portion of the set.  This is from the perfect game that Galarraga lost when umpire Jim Joyce incorrectly called Jason Donald safe at first base for the 27th out.  Topps should have figured a way to get Joyce onto this card.

CB-2 – “Postseason No-No”.  October 6, 2010.  Carlos Ruiz, Ryan Howard.

One thing that is really weird about this set – the main guy in the event is usually in the background, but not on the mini card.  The only exception is It depicts Roy Halladay’s no-hitter against the Reds, which was the 2nd no-hitter in postseason history.  You see Ruiz running out to Halladay in the background, but Halladay isn’t one of the mini cards.  Howard had the last put out at first, so I get why he’s on there, but to me just having Ruiz and Halladay (or at least having the guy who threw the no-no) would have been the way to go.

CB-3 – “Dallas is perfect in Oakland”.  May 9, 2010.  Landon Powell, Daric Barton.

Topps did the exact same thing here with Dallas Braden’s perfect game.  Powell was the catcher, Barton gloved the last out at first.

CB-4 – “Multiple Milestone Matchup”.  September 23, 2010.  Felix Hernandez, Jose Bautista.

Ichiro is in the background here.  Hernandez pitched a complete game near the end of his Cy Young season.  Bautista, however, went deep off him to give Toronto a 1-0 win.  It was Bautista’s 50th homer of the season, and Ichiro notched his 200th hit in the game as well.  That was his 10th straight season with 200+ hits, extending his own record and tying Pete Rose’s record for number of such seasons in total.

CB-5 – “A-Rod does it again, for the 600th time”.  August 4, 2010.  Derek Jeter, Shaun Marcum.

This one’s pretty simple.  A-Rod hit his 600th homer.  Shaun Marcum was the pitcher.  Derek Jeter was on base.

CB-6 – “Decade of Dominance”.  May 30, 2010.  Tony LaRussa, Ryan Dempster

See above.

CB-7 – “Grand Canyon National Park”.  1919.  President Woodrow Wilson, President Benjamin Harrison, President Theodore Roosevelt.

This card has 3 Presidents on it.  Wilson was the President who signed the bill to make the Grand Canyon a National Park.  Benjamin Harrison actually first introduced a bill to make it a National Park in 1882 when he was a Senator.  And Teddy Roosevelt established the Grand Canyon Game Preserve when he was President.

CB-8 – “Yosemite National Park”.  1864.  President Abraham Lincoln, Senator John Conness.

Conness lobbied for protection of Yosemite, Lincoln signed it into law.

CB-9 – Yellowstone National Park.  1872.  President Ulysses S. Grant, Old Faithful.

CB-10 – Redwood National Park.  1968.  President Lyndon B. Johnson, Congressman John E. Raker.

See above.

Completed factory insert set – 2011 Allen & Ginter Glossy Rookies

This is a set that was factory exclusive to 2011 Ginter.  I didn’t buy the factory set, so I had to get each of these cards through individual purchases.

Info about the set:

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Set description:  In October 2011, Topps announced it was issuing a glossy factory set of Allen & Ginter cards.  There were 999 sets produced.  There were 10 bonus cards (also glossy) issued that were an extra for purchasing the factory set.  The cards contain 8 promising rookies from the 2011 season in the same design as the 2011 Ginter set, a card of the newly married Prince William and Duchess Kate, and a card honoring the Navy Seals who were about to have the 50th anniversary of their creation.

Set composition:  10 cards, in glossy factory sets (2011 Allen & Ginter’s)

Hall of Famers:  None – the set is all current players

How I put the set together:

• 7 cards from COMC
• 2 cards from Beckett Marketplace
• 1 card from Sportlots

Card that completed my set:  #AGS5 – Anthony Rizzo

Rizzo in a Padres uniform just doesn’t look right.  I got this card from Sportlots last month.  It took forever to find for a reasonable price.

Thoughts on the set:   Issuing the glossy factory set felt like a money grab at the time, but it is an impressive checklist to add to the Ginter product.  Unfortunately, 2011 was one of my least favorite designs for Ginter.

Best card (my opinion):  #AGS1 – Eric Hosmer

I like the Hosmer card just a bit more than the Dee Gordon.

My Favorite Reds card:  There are none.

Here’s the scan of the full set:

Any other tidbits:  5 of the rookies (Moustakis, Gordon, Rizzo, Blackmon and Crawford) have made the All-Star game since their 2011 rookie season.  And that doesn’t include Hosmer who may be the best player of the group.

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• AGS1 – Eric Hosmer
• AGS2 – Dustin Ackley
• AGS3 – Mike Moustakis
• AGS4 – Dee Gordon
• AGS5 – Anthony Rizzo
• AGS6 – Charlie Blackmon
• AGS7 – Brandon Crawford
• AGS8 – Juan Nicasio
• AGS9 – The Duke & Duchess of Cambridge
• AGS10 – U.S. Navy Seals

Completed insert set – 2011 Allen & Ginter Minds that Made the Future

This is the 4th full-size insert I’ve completed from A&G.  Like most of those insert sets, it’s one that doesn’t have anything to do with sports.

Info about the set:

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Set description:  “Honoring the biggest brains in history!  Archimedes, Kepler, Mendel, Volta, Lavoisier, etc.”  The set has a gear as a frame containing a picture of the brilliant mind.  A picture of the individual’s invention is in a circular frame just below that.  The back has a write-up about the famous person’s influence on the world.

Set composition:  40 cards, 1:8 odds (2011 Allen & Ginter’s)

Hall of Famers:  None as it’s not a sports set.

How I put the set together:

• 6 cards from 2 hobby boxes
• 8 cards from trades
• 18 cards from Sportlots
• 5 cards from COMC
• 3 cards from Beckett Marketplace

Card that completed my set:  MMF24 – Nikola Tesla.

I got this card from Sportlots last month after buying a bunch of cards when COMC had its Black Friday sale.  Tesla is one of my favorite cards of the set.  Tesla was a significant contributor to the science surrounding electricity and magnetism.  Plus, he’s the naming inspiration for an American automobile company, and an 80’s heavy metal band (who I saw live a few years ago).

Thoughts on the set:  It’s an interesting set, and I liked reading through the write-ups of so many brilliant minds.  There’s so many cards that it was really hard to put together.  I always like to learn something from these Ginter sets, and having 40 cards does make it so you get to read quite a lot!  But 40 is a lot to put together – which is why it took me over 3 years!

I would have also added a few more recent people.  Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Tim Berners-Lee, John Nash and Ralph Baer are just a few that seem to be missing.

Best card (my opinion):  #MMF40 – Ben Franklin

Tough to top the most famous inventor in American history!  He has the final card in the set.

Any other tidbits:  This set is all about history, like so many Ginter sets.  There was another 2011 set – from Goodwin Champions – called “Citizens”.  I thought there would be a few guys in both sets, but Louis Pasteur is the only guy in both sets.  Alfred Nobel is in that set, but surprisingly is not in this Allen & Ginter insert set.

I also think Plato and Socrates could have been included.

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• MMF1 – Leonardo Da Vinci
• MMF2 – Alexander Graham Bell
• MMF3 – Eli Whitney
• MMF4 – Nicolaus Copernicus
• MMF5 – Johannes Gutenberg
• MMF6 – George Washington Carver
• MMF7 – Samuel Morse
• MMF8 – Granville Woods
• MMF9 – Elisha Otis
• MMF10 – Alessandro Volta
• MMF11 – Tycho Brahe
• MMF12 – Gregor Mendel
• MMF13 – Carl Linnaeus
• MMF14 – Johannes Kepler
• MMF15 – Isaac Newton
• MMF16 – Marie Curie
• MMF17 – Carl Friedrich Gauss
• MMF18 – Sigmund Freud
• MMF19 – Bernhard Riemann
• MMF20 – Leonhard Euler
• MMF21 – Robert Fulton
• MMF22 – Ada Lovelace
• MMF23 – Florence Nightingale
• MMF24 – Nikola Tesla
• MMF25 – Galileo Galilei
• MMF26 – Charles Darwin
• MMF27 – Louis Pasteur
• MMF28 – Guglielmo Marconi
• MMF29 – Antoine Lavoisier
• MMF30 – Michael Faraday
• MMF31 – Dmitri Mendeleev
• MMF32 – Robert Koch
• MMF33 – Euclid
• MMF34 – Archimedes
• MMF35 – Jagadish Chandra Bose
• MMF36 – Aristotle
• MMF37 – John Deere
• MMF38 – George Eastman
• MMF39 – Samuel Colt
• MMF40 – Benjamin Franklin

Completed insert set – 2012 Allen & Ginter mini Culinary Curiosities

This is actually the first mini insert set I’ve completed from 2012 Allen & Ginter.  I was pretty surprised about that fact, but I only bought 1 box of Ginter and didn’t even get one of these in that box.  Still, I think this is my favorite mini insert set from 2012 Ginter.

Info about the set:

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Set description:  “10 cards highlighting some of the oddest dishes and most bizarre delicacies from around the world.”  The mini cards have a pretty standard A&G design.  The miniature cards are horizontally oriented with a white border and the set name in a nameplate at the top.  The picture of the delicacy shown on top of a red and white checkered table mat.  The back has a writeup describing the dish.

Set composition:  10 cards, ~1:30 odds (2012 Allen & Ginter’s)

I’m projecting with the odds.  Insert minis combine for 1:5 odds, and there are 6 mini insert sets.

Hall of Famers: Not a sports set.

How I put the set together:

• 1 card from a case break
• 4 cards from Beckett Marketplace
• 3 cards from COMC
• 2 cards from Sportlots

Unfortunately I didn’t pull one of these in the hobby box I bought of 2012 Ginter.

Card that completed my set:  #CC1 – Nutria

This was one of 3 cards I got last May in an order from Check Out My Cards.  I think I had just gotten sick of not finishing this set off and figured 75 cents per card was worth it.  Nutria is a dish that’s also known as Coypu, is a type of river rat cooked to taste.  Chef Paul Prudhomme, who passed away in October last year, was best known for cooking this.  He used to serve it in his Cajun restaurant, K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen in New Orleans.  This was probably the least strange dish of the 10 cards, not that I’m in a hurry to try river rat!

Thoughts on the set:  This is a cool set.  I like when Ginter has unique subject for these minis.  It tends to make for a fun read.  This set was more fun than the average – I’d daresay it’s my favorite mini of the 2012 product.  Also, I kind of like the checkered place mat background.  It’s kind of like the place mats you’d find at an old school pizza parlor, which is a nice touch.

Best card (my opinion): #CC7 – Fugu

The Fugu is a type of puffer fish that’s been cooked as a delicacy in Japan.  The fish itself is poisonous and is lethal unless cooked in a very specific manner.  Certification to cook and serve it takes 2-3 years in Japan.  I had read about this before, and would have guessed this fish would be included in a set like this.  There’s a fascinating back story about the history of this fish – it’s been illegal to serve at various times throughout Japan’s history, and the Emperor of the country is not allowed to eat this for safety reasons.

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Any other tidbits:  2 of these dishes are poisonous if not prepared correctly, 2 of them require eaten something that is still alive, another requires cooking an egg while a fetus is still alive, and one dish involves collecting beans that have passed through the digestive system of a tropical animal.

• CC1 – Nutria (South America)
  • River Rat cooked in a variety of fashions.
• CC2 – Haggis (United Kingdom)
  • A recipe of sheep heart, lungs and liver hashed with oatmeal, onion, spices and liquid stock.
• CC3 – Kopi Luwak (Indonesia)
  • Coffee beans obtained in an … unusual … fashion.  Coffee berries are fed to the asian palm civit.  Once the civit digests the pulp, the defecated beans are harvested.
• CC4 – Casu Marzu (Italy)
  • A Sardinian cheese made from cheese milk that goes past typical fermentation into a state of decomposition.  It contains live “insect larvae” (i.e. – maggots) at the time of consumption.
• CC5 – Rocky Mountain Oysters (Western U.S.)
  • Deep-fried bull testicles.  These are served in Coors Field, which makes this dish somewhat more relevant to a baseball product than the others!
• CC6 – Hakarl (Iceland)
  • A national dish made from the Greenland shark, whose skin is poisonous unless processed.  To do this, the shark is buried for 6-12 weeks, exhumed, cut into strips, and hung to dry for 3-4 months.  When ready, the dish is known for an incredibly strong smell of ammonia. This dish was featured on the TV show that I watch, Elementary – Watson is grossed out when she comes home and smells the dish that Holmes is eating.
• CC7 – Fugu (Japan)
  • Puffer fish that’s poisonous unless served in a specific fashion.
• CC8 – Sannakji (Korea)
  • Raw baby octopus cut into pieces while they are still alive and served immediately thereafter.  The pieces are still squirming at the time of consumption.  The suction cups on the arm pieces can present a choking hazard.
• CC9 – Balut (Philippines)
  • Duck egg matured 17-21 days to the point that the fetus is live.  The egg is boiled then spiced to taste.
• CC10 – Muktuk (Alaska)
  • Whale skin and blubber served raw, pickled, or fried.

I haven’t eaten anything on this list, though I imagine at some point I’ll try haggis, rocky mountain oysters and (maybe) Muktuk.

Completed insert set – 2012 Allen & Ginter Historical Turning Points

I don’t focus too much Allen & Ginter, but I did finish off another regular size insert set from the 2012 product.

Info about the set:

Set description:  “20 cards featuring great battles, speeches, and decisions that helped determine the course of civilization.”

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Set composition:  20 cards, 1:10 odds (2012 Allen & Ginter)

Hall of Famers:  None – it’s not a sports set.

How I put the set together:

• 3 cards from my hobby box
• 1 card from a retail pack
• 7 cards from trades
• 6 cards from Sportlots
• 2 cards from Beckett Marketplace
• 1 card from COMC

Card that completed my set:  #HTP18 – On the Origin of Species

Charles Darwin was the last card I needed.  I got it May last year from COMC.

Thoughts on the set:  This set fits in pretty well with the Allen & Ginter themes.  It’s always good to learn some history!  Though it’s more generic / not as unique as some of the mini sets from 2012.  Also, I would have preferred adding the invention of the internet to get something more recent included.

Best card (my opinion):  #HTP5 – The Fall of the Berlin Wall

I love French history, and wanted to go with either the French Revolution or the Battle of Waterloo.  However, I think going with an event from my lifetime made more sense.

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Any other tidbits:  Here’s a list of the events, with the year they occurred.  I always prefer chronologically for sets like this, but Topps never obliges.

• HTP1 – Signing of the Declaration of Independence, 1776.
• HTP2 – The Battle of Waterloo, 1815.
• HTP3 – The Fall of the Roman Empire, 476.
• HTP4 – The Reformation, 16th century.
• HTP5 – The Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989.
• HTP6 – The Treaty of Versailles, 1919.
• HTP7 – Invention of the Printing Press, 1440.
• HTP8 – Allied Victory in WWII, 1945.
• HTP9 – Discovery of the New World, 1492.
• HTP10 – Discovery of Electricity, 1752.
• HTP11 – Signing of the Magna Carta, 1215.
• HTP12 – The Renaissance, 14th to 17th centuries.
• HTP13 – The Industrial Revolution, 1760 to 1850.
• HTP14 – The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863.
• HTP15 – The First Flight of Kitty Hawk, 1903.
• HTP16 – The French Revolution, 1788-1799.
• HTP17 – The Great Depression, 1929 to the 1930s.
• HTP18 – On the Origin of Species, 1859.
• HTP19 – Sputnik I, 1957.
• HTP20 – The Agricultural Revolution, 18th and 19th centuries.

Completed insert set – 2011 Allen & Ginter mini World’s Most Mysterious Figures

Here’s a fourth mini set from Allen & Ginter that I’ve completed.  This is a catch-up post for a set I actually completed back near the end of 2014.

Info about the set:

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Set description:  “Furtive characters come out of the shadows on these 10 cards.”

Appropriate for the tone of Allen & Ginter, these mini cards highlight some of the mysterious figures in known history.

Set composition:  10 cards, 1:15 odds (2011 Allen & Ginter)

Hall of Famers:  Not a sports set.

How I put the set together:

• 3 cards from 2 hobby boxes
• 3 cards from trades
• 4 cards from Sportlots

Thoughts on the set:  This is done in the semi-bizarre fashion of so many other Ginter sets, which are always a fun thing to collect.  This set is no different.

Card that completed my set: #WMF9 – Babushka Lady

I got this card back in August 2014 from COMC.  The Babushka Lady was a woman in a head scarf seen in recordings of JFK’s assassination.  She is seen with a camera “recording” the screen, but the FBI was never to identify the woman or obtain her photographs.

Best card (my opinion): #WMF7 – The Man in the Iron Mask

The 1998 film by that title, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeremy Irons and John Malkovich, is one of my favorite movies.  This figure was a prisoner in France during the reign of Louis XIV.  He wore a mask at all times, and was usually held in a prison with two doors so no one could hear him.  His actual identity has long been the subject of rumor; Voltaire speculated he was an illegitimate half-brother of King Louis.

• WMF1 – Rasputin
• WMF2 – The Poe Toaster
• WMF3 – Kasper Hauser
• WMF4 – Fulcanelli
• WMF5 – D.B. Cooper
• WMF6 – The Count of St. Germain
• WMF7 – The Man in the Iron Mask
• WMF8 – Nostradamus
• WMF9 – The Babushka Lady
• WMF10 – Captain Charles Johnson

Completed insert set – 2011 Allen & Ginter mini Animals in Peril

My last post wrapped a bow on my 2003 write-ups.  Before I get moving on to 2004, I’m going to do a few more completed set posts.  And a few other “fun posts” that I like to do.  I finished up another book, so look for that later this week.

I’m starting to wonder if I’ll ever get caught up posting the insert sets I’ve completed.  I’ve got to try, though!  Here’s another mini set from Allen & Ginter that I completed back in November of last year.

Info about the set:

Set description:  “Some of the most endangered species around the world.”  These are horizontally oriented mini cards with the animal depicted inside and some fauna on each side.  There is a write-up on the back describing why the species is endangered.

Set composition: 30 cards, 1:15 odds (2011 Allen & Ginter’s)

Hall of Famers: Not a sports set.

Card that completed my set: #AP15 – Philippine Eagle

I got this card from the Beckett marketplace last November.

How I put the set together:

• 4 cards from 2 hobby boxes
• 2 cards from a card show
• 8 cards from trades
• 13 cards from Sportlots
• 3 cards from Beckett

Thoughts on the set:  This is the kind of set that makes Ginter interesting.  It’s an interesting read.  Though I wish it wasn’t a mini set – the photos aren’t very clear in a lot of cases.

Highest book value: They all book for the same

Best card (my opinion): #AP19 – Tasmanian Devil

Any other tidbits:  From 2010 to 2012, Upper Deck inserted patch cards called “Animal Kingdom” into Goodwin Champions.  I cross-referenced the checklist for this set to the Goodwin patches, and the following 18 cards were in both sets:

• AP1 – Siberian Tiger
• AP2 – Mountain Gorilla
• AP5 – Gharial
• AP7 – Dhole
• AP8 – Blue Whale
• AP11 – Giant Panda
• AP12 – Snow Leopard
• AP13 – African Wild Dog
• AP14 – Indian Rhinoceros
• AP15 – Philippine Eagle
• AP16 – Markhor
• AP17 – Orangutan (both the Bornean and Sumatran Orangutan included in Goodwin)
• AP19 – Tasmanian Devil
• AP20 – Bengal Tiger
• AP21 – Whooping Crane
• AP22 – Sea Otter
• AP29 – Hawaiian Monk Seal
• AP30 – Kakapo

The 12 cards that weren’t in the Animal Patches set are below:

• AP3 – Arakan Forest Turtle
• AP4 – Darwin’s Fox
• AP6 – Vaquita
• AP9 – Bonobo
• AP10 – Ethiopian Wolf
• AP18 – Grevy’s Zebra
• AP23 – Red Wolf
• AP24 – Key Deer
• AP25 – Black-Footed Ferret
• AP26 – Amur Leopard
• AP27 – Anderson’s Salamander
• AP28 – Greater Bamboo Lemur

Completed insert set – 2012 Allen & Ginter Baseball Highlight Sketches

I finished off a regular size insert set from 2012 Ginter back in November last year (I have a lot of catching up to do on completed insert sets).  I don’t focus too much on Ginter sets – I stopped collecting it after 2012 – but this was “gett-able” back around the holiday season last year.

Info about the set:

Set description: From the sell sheet – “25 cards featuring reproductions of original commissioned sketches showing some of the greatest baseball highlights of the year.”  Actually there are only 24 cards.  And they should have added “and in history”, because there are certainly some retired players in this set.  As the description mentioned, Topps commissioned artist Chris Henderson to do some original sketches.

Set composition:  25 cards, 1:10 odds (2012 Allen & Ginter’s)

Hall of Famers:  14.  Tom Seaver, Ryne Sandberg, Brooks Robinson, Frank Thomas, John Smoltz, Nolan Ryan, Mickey Mantle, Cal Ripken, Ozzie Smith, Carlton Fisk, Willie Mays, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente

How I put the set together:

• 3 cards from my hobby box
• 3 cards from a case break
• 1 card from a retail pack
• 4 cards from a card show
• 4 cards from trades
• 9 card from Sportlots

Card that completed my set: #BH24 – Roberto Clemente

This card honored Clemente’s MVP season of 1966.

Thoughts on the set:  Very cool set – and most of the artist’s photographs are great.  This is something that Topps does every year for Ginter, and it’s a good thing at that.

Best card (my opinion): #BH21 – Willie Mays

Before Dwight Clark, “The Catch” meant this amazing play.  This is easily my favorite rendition in this set.  Card #1 of Roger Maris and #3 of Ichiro are other favorites for me as well.

Any other tidbits:  It would be great to own some of the originals.  At some point, the artist sold them on eBay – here’s an example of the Willie Mays over-the-shoulder catch which would be awesome to own!

Completed insert set – 2011 Allen & Ginter Hometown Heroes

It’s nice to get to an insert set from Ginter completed.  Every year Ginter has one really common insert that comes more than every other pack.  Even though these are 100-card inserts, they are easier to finish than the base set, since that has 50 SPs.  In 2011 this set was Hometown Heroes.  I finished this set up almost a year ago – and am finally getting around to posting about it!

Info about the set:

Set description: “Featuring 100 MLB stars and their hometowns!”  The horizontally oriented set shows the player to one side with his last name and the name of his hometown.  A map with a flag in the player’s hometown is behind the picture on the other side of the card.  The back features a write-up of information about the player’s hometown.

Set composition: 100 cards, 3:4 odds

Hall of Famers: None – the set is all current players

Card that completed my set:  #HH-3 – Brian Wilson

How I put the set together:

36 cards from 2 hobby boxes

44 cards via trade

7 cards from a card show

13 cards from Sportlots

Thoughts on the set:  As far as these 100-card Ginter sets go – this is as good as any.  It’s probably the best read of any insert set.  And the set is designed better than the base set – 2011 Ginter was the worst base set design in my opinion!

This was one of 2 cards I got from Sportlots in May.  Wilson is from Londonberry, NH, which was the home of the first potato grown on American soil.

Highest book value:  #HH-79 – Derek Jeter

Jeter’s in the set, and he’s the most marketable as far as book value goes.  Jeter’s card talks about how he was an all-state basketball player, in addition to being the National Player of the Year in baseball.

Best card (my opinion):  #HH-54 – Joe Mauer

In a set of Hometown Heroes – Joe Mauer is easily the first guy you think of as playing for his hometown team.  There are 3 others who’d qualify for that distinction – Neil Walker, Brian McCann and Jason Heyward.

My Favorite Reds card:  #HH-27 – Brandon Phillips

Phillips is actually the only Red in the 100-card set.

Other information:  Only two players in the set went to the same high school – Michael Young and Dan Haren.

People named on the descriptions on the back include:

• 6 MLB Hall of Famers (Tony Gwynn / Utley, Frank Robinson & Joe Morgan / Jimmy Rollins, Alexander Cartwright / Shane Victorino, Phil Rizzuto / Rick Porcello, Rod Carew / Manny Ramirez)
• 5 academy award winners (Billy Bob Thornton on Cliff Lee’s card, Michelle Pfeiffer / CJ Wilson, John Wayne / Chase Utley, Hillary Swank / Alex Gordon, Steven Spielberg / Andrew Bailey)
• 4 Grammy winners (Buddy Holly / Matt Kemp, Roy Acuff / Todd Helton, Don Henley & Norah Jones / Austin Jackson)
• 2 NFL Hall of Famers (Don Hutson / Cliff Lee, Warren Sapp / Zach Greinke),
• 2 US Presidents (Abe Lincoln / Jayson Werth, Thomas Jefferson / Justin Verlander)
• a former MLB commissioner (Peter Ueberroth / Troy Tulowitzki)
• a gold medalist (Babe Didrikson / Roy Halladay)
• the Wizard of Menlo Park (Thomas Edison / Rick Porcello)

Here is a breakdown by state of the 100-card set:

• 15 – California
• 10 – Texas
• 9 – Florida
• 8 – Georgia
• 4 – Tennessee, Washington, Virginia
• 3 – Arizona, New Jersey, Oklahoma
• 2 – Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Maryland
• 1 – Connecticut, Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Dakota, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Wisconsin, West Virginia