Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Hello, A&G! (Teaser)


I'm extremely happy A&G has finally hit the shelves.

If there's one set I think most collectors can agree on, it's this one. People have differing opinions about Topps flagship, Bowman, Heritage, etc.

But almost every collector I've talked to is an A&G fan.

I don't have near the card budget for a box of this year's A&G (though I am interested to live through the "Gint-A-Cuffs" craze for the first time as a blogger).

I know how fun a box of this stuff can be, though. My first A&G box in '08 was a blast. The Ichiro jersey I pulled topped it off that year. (I still rank '08 as the best edition of A&G).

If I do ever plop down the money for another box of A&G (perhaps if I could ever find a job), it'll be a retail box. I went that route in 2010, saving about twenty-five bucks along the way. Since the base cards are the focal point for me, it was a good buy.

Besides, I ended up pulling a Matt Kemp autograph redemption from that one, which I dealt for a ton of cardboard goodness. The retail box ended up netting me everything I'd want from a hobby box, and more.

In a way, though, I'm a little sad. This is the last "exciting" set for me until early October, when Topps Update is slated to hit the shelves. No more rushing to Target to see if there's new packs waiting for me.

As a result, I'll be sure to savor this break. As you can see above, I purchased a rack pack and a blaster of A&G. Getting the blaster was my original attack, but I added a rack pack for good measure.

I'll think of it as my little "reward" to myself for getting straight A's in school this past semester.

I snuck a peek through the wrapping of the rack pack for a card I wanted, as I'm sure most of us do. There's a Carlos Quentin base card looking out at me (or at least it looks like him) from the bottom half of it. He was one of my favorites during his time with the White Sox, so I went with that one.

Check back tonight for what I pulled from my A&G breaks!

4 comments:

Nachos Grande said...

I'm going to be chasing the full set (all inserts, plus all the relics, and all the minis) this year...If you end up with any you don't want, hit me up. I've got a case of the stuff coming tomorrow (it's basically my only card purchase of the year) so I'll have plenty of stuff to trade!

night owl said...

There are bloggers who don't like A&G. Several.

I don't plan to go as crazy for A&G this year as I have in the past. In fact, there is probably 2012 A&G sitting in my Target right now, but because I don't get paid for another 2 days and it's way over on the other side of town, I'll be waiting. If I show it after 47 other people have shown it, so be it.

CaptKirk42 said...

I like A&G but I don't do the blogcraze of it there are plenty of bloggers to do that months before I even see one card in person. I blog about some of my A&G eventually. I don't even do the GintaCuffs stuff as I usually get the stuff months after the "Contest" is over.

flywheels said...

I'm already all over A&G. I've done 3 related posts today alone! May end up w/ another before the day is done...or at least until I crash on the couch w/ a pizza to watch the All-Star game.