2 Double Rizzo !

I am really looking forward to Opening Day and will be rooting for Rizzo and the Cubs to take the final step this year and win the World Series. To open the season a style I added a cool Heritage "2 Double" card numbered to only 10. Here's Rizzo !!!!

This is really a big card, type of box topper ! Not sure what the "2 Double" means to be honest so I welcome any color on this !!

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Allen & Ginter Box 3 !

Time for the final Box, box 3 of my Allen & Ginter break ! Clearly box 2 disappointed but this one is going to make up for that !!!

Let's start with the box topper. This time not a large card as is usually the case but actually a tiny little envelop !! I had no clue what I was going to find in there as I had never heard of these so I was very excited. Here's what I got !

All these red minis are numbered to /33 and look pretty cool. Still making up my mind if I am going to chase these or not (probably not, too much to chase already !)

More minis in the rest of the box, including Robin Hood and a cat or a Sphynx as they call it !!

 More Pastime, here's Glavine !!!! and Trout !

Another cool Fields of Lore card, love the way these look !

More inserts ! First up, Moscow...clearly in the Netherlands we are not happy with the Russians today after what has been happening in the last week or so. I read a statistic that as a % of population the events of last week had, for us, a higher death toll as a % of population compared to 9/11 (because we are a small country of course). Anyways, let's not compare tragedies as they are all incredibly horrible and should not happen in the first place. Let's turn to the positive and point to the cool Natural Wonder card and a nice Festivals and Fairs card.

Now let's move to the hits of the box, meet Fielder and a guy named Riess, apparently a poker player. Both are for trade !

Now let's turn to the best card of the box, a RIP card numbered to only 5. Given that this is my first (and likely only) RIP card I will ever pull I think it deserves a seperate post. This should also help to discuss the question: To RIP or not to RIP !!

Is this a proper cliffhanger or not :-)) hope to see you back tomorrow for the RIP card discussion !!

Allen & Ginter box 2

After I showed you the loot from Allen & Ginter box1 it's time for box 2 today ! Let's start with the disappointment: 99% of basecards and 95% of the inserts were the same as in box 1. Clearly not a great way to start collecting this year's set and not helping me much on my way to complete the set. But, as said in my earlier post, plenty of stuff to trade !! With the insert also largely the same let's focus on the fun stuff !

Let's start with the box topper, McCutchen. I like these box toppers and have a Kershaw on the way as well !

Next up, the 5% of inserts I did not find in box 1 which is a Field of Lore card. This one is from Wrigley Field. I was lucky enough to visit Wrigley Field last year, a cool experience. Hope to get my hands on the other cards from this set as well !

Next up a bunch of minis and yes, that's a black-bordered Glavine !!

Now let's move to the "hits" of the box, here's Tulowitzki and Posey, both for trade !

The last hit of the box was a framed auto of Kelly, a nice looking card if I may say so !!

That's it for box 2, a bit disappointed in all the base cards and insert but this will be compensated by the RIP card that I pulled from box 3, more on that tomorrow !!

Ginter Arrives across the Pond !!

I have been swamped with work, family and world cup in recent weeks so posting has been very modest. Hopefully things will accelerate from here, at least until my holiday in two weeks time !!

Best break of the year for me is always Allen & Ginter, closely followed by Gypsy Queen. Like each year I try to get 3 boxes of A&G and this year was no different. They arrived yesterday so let's have a look at what I pulled. As boxes 2 and 3 had almost exactly the same base cards (thanks Topps!) I still need plenty of regular cards (bad news) but also have plenty to trade (good news!!). The other good news is that I did pull my first RIP-card, one numbered to only 5 and from a team that a lot of you support so stay tuned for that one, maybe I will dedicate a seperate post to that one all together !!

As I am always 1 to 2 weeks behind everyone else let me not bore you with the base cards and focus on the inserts and hits. I do think they did a good job with the base cards this year although the non-baseball stuff is less exciting than previous years, in my view. Let's kick off !! The first box contained a box topper ! I pulled a Landmarks & Monuments. Although it's a hassle to store these properly I do love these and will try to complete the full set !! Meet Jefferson below !

Best insert for me this year is Pastimes. These cards really look nice, have a look at Ripken and Smoltz !!

After Pastimes, the best insert set for me is Air Supremacy. They are really cool looking cards. To me it would be really awesome in case Topps does a set of historic locomotives/trains for next year's A&G !! So Topps, in case you are listening :-))

Another one of the inserts are the World's Capital's, fairly nice looking cards.

Two more insert sets, Festivals and Fairs and Natural Wonder !

Minis !! Always love the minis and will chase all the sets and subsets !! Here are a few I pulled, including some of the mini inserts !

Let's have a look at the hits ! Here are two, Gonzalez and Zimmerman. I have the feeling I have been pulling a bit too many Zimmerman relics the last few years. Both up for trade !

Last hit of the box was a framed-mini relic iof Longoria. I like this years framed minis given the colour combinatiojns they have chosen.

I want to finish with something "strange" which is a regular base card without a number. I no we have had this with minis for years (apparently there are only 50 of these minis each) but never seen them for base cards. Noticed Night Owl also talking about this last week. According to the blowout forum all Jennings are missing a number and missing number 114. Might have something to do with "crack the code" contest.

That's it for box 1, box 2 and 3 posts should appear soon with one of them containing the first base card I ever pulled, from a team a lot of you are supporting !

In case you want to trade some A&G let me know, my want list should be up in the coming days!

My First Glavine Box Topper !

So Heritage recently came out. They didn't really add many Glavine cards in there. However, they did come up with a new Box-topper concept in which Glavine was included. I was able to pick-up the relic version recently. Here it is, looks oke although I was a little disappointed when it arrived as it is fairly small and looks a little cheap with the gold corners and all. But hey, it's a Glavine so I need it !!!!

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Some Dutch Ginter

Staying with the Allen & Ginter theme I recently came across a cool box topper, one of the Dutch team !! Not many baseball cards around with Dutch players, let alone the Dutch team so this was a great card to chase. As nobody is interested in these it seems I get it for only a dollar !! Here it is, the Dutch team after a great win !!

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