2011 Topps Allen and Ginter set review.

         Let me just start out with saying that I  L O V E D  the 2010 Topps Allen and Ginter that being said, today, July 13th 2011 marked the release of the new 2011 Topps Allen and Ginter set. The cards are Beautiful, the price of the boxes is... tolerable (roughly 100$ per box of 24 packs), the distibution of the cards throughout the box... Sucks!! In my opinion as a long time collector, there is no reason that in one box I should receive duplicates of any cards the base card set is 350 cards the last 50 cards of which are short printed which means they are placed less frequently in the packs than other cards and there is just less of them. The fact that I want to build just the base set (cards numbered 1-350) if I did not buy any single cards on ebay or in the card store I would have to AT LEAST buy 3 boxes of cards. Don't get me wrong I love opening cards but I do not love the way that Topps has gotten one over on its collectors. I witness my friend Jon open 4 boxes of this set which is 96 packs of cards @ 8 cards per pack. and STILL was unable to put even 1 complete set together. he pulled out 7 of the same insert card...7!!!!!! Absolutely ridiculous!!! I felt bad for him after he pulled the 4th duplicate but then we just got a few laughs about how stupid it was. needless to say he will be contacting Topps about the injustice.
        O.K. venting complete. I better stop before start to hate Topps, because I really don't. they have produced some great cards this year, and Ginter is a fantastic product as well it just has a few minor production/organization flaws. Lets get to the meat of it. The box that I opened really was a GREAT box as far as 'hits' were concerned. I pulled some great cards.
Set Layout:
Left: This is the standard base card from the set. Cards are great and classic looking with the last name of the player on the top left of the card and the brand name 'Allen and Ginter' in a solid color title bar along the bottom of the cards. The back of the cards are almost identicle to last years.
Top Right: Is a standard base card right?? Wrong! notice the corners of that Tulo card there are arched designs that are supposed to be part of some awesome and some ridiculosly hard to crack code throughout the entire set. There is a reward from Topps for the first person to crack it. FYI its NOT gonna be me. this is a pretty cool variation and competition for this set.
Bottom Right: This is the standard mini variation of the base card. look the same as the standard base. just smaller.

Top Left: Is the Hometown Heroes insert which is probably the most prevalent insert that one will see throughout this set. 100 card set of star players set on a cool looking card showing their hometown and state.
Bottom Left: This is one of my favorite inserts. Floating Fortresses. This set features famous battleships of the world. its a departure from the baseball players but tastefully done and draws in appeal for collectors of not just baseball cards.
Right: is an insert set of 'Minds that Made the Future' each card features a famous inventor or innovative thinker. not exactly a great subset for a baseball card set. nuff said.



The picture below shows a few of the different mini insert cards that are included in the set. including an endangered species set, 'mysterious figures' set, and even a facial hair insert set.



Now on to the real gems of the box. Each box contains 3 'hits'. my hits consisted of Derek Jeter Jersey card, Ryan Braun Bat card and a David Ortiz bat card. Pictured below is an example of these game used cards.

Overall I think Topps has created another stellar product. There were just a couple of aspects from the opening of the box and seeing doubles of multiple cards in just 1 box was a turn off. The Game Used cards that I managed to pull from the box made up for it in my mind, but now I need to do a lot more searching in order to complete my set... who am I kidding it just gives me more cards to search for. I love the thrill of the hunt. If you like Baseball sets that have a few misc. topic cards and novelty cards mixed in it is my suggestion that you check out this product. Thanks for taking the time to read my newest installment and as always, Peace and Baseball cards!!