Sig Hansen auto spotted

Sig Hansen has finally surfaced.

When 2010 Allen and Ginter came out, Sig Hansen was on the checklist but he didn’t seem to show up in anyone’s cases. Sig Hansen relic redemption cards were found, but nothing regarding the auto.

Recently, Topps stated the relic redemptions would instead be autograph redemptions and Topps held to that. If you got the redemption already, you're lucky.

The company started shipping out the redemptions and the first one has popped up on eBay.

If you have a redemption card on hand, you're lucky. There doesn't seem to be anymore of these listed on ebay anymore.

Hansen is one the fishing boat captains from the television series Deadliest Catch. His card has a broad appeal with set collectors and fans of the show.

It’s unknown how many of these cards exist.

The mysterious case of the Sig Hansen auto

Sig Hansen is one of the captains the documentary television series Deadliest Catch. With that claim to fame, he rightly received a card in 2010 Topps Allen and Ginter.

Supposedly, Hansen also has a relic card and an autograph card card in the set.

The relic redemption card has popped up on eBay here and there, but for over a month, no one has seen an autograph card. There has not been one eBay auction with a Sig Hansen auto or redemption auto, which led many to believe he wasn't part of the set despite being on the checklist.

On Friday, someone asked Topps if he had autos in the set on their Facebook page. Topps Sports responded: “There is. It ended up being a redemption, and he has signed his cards.”

Does this mean that his autos will be retail exclusive cards? Or, perhaps they will be found in this new fancy value packs that you can get at Wal-Mart. The A&G packs in the Wal-Mart boxes are all hobby and people have pulled rip cards, relics and silk cards out of these.

If anyone finds a Sig Hansen auto card, I bet that card would go a decent price on the secondary market. He seems to have a popular following, additionally A&G is popular with set collectors.

Update: We've got word that the relic-card redemptions will be autos instead. So, if you have one of those cards, you're getting an upgrade.

2010 Allen & Ginter 1/1

This is by far the goofiest eBay listing and might even be better than the revolving door autograph. You really need to check out this Felipe Lopez 1/1 "amazing pull".

You must tell me if you at least chuckled at this auction. It did make me feel better about some of the cards I've pulled from Ginter that were less than perfect.

Trip to the Card Shop

After my workout yesterday I went over to the Baseball Card Shop because Dave had sent me an e-mail that he had a 2010 Ginter mini black Lind for me. Yay =)

(The scanner cropped the card, it is perfect.)

I ended up meeting a couple of young kids with their dad, and they were buying baseball cards! Bless that guy for teaching them to collect baseball cards and getting them started just like my parents did for me. Mike gave them our site address so hopefully they will stop by from time to time to read my goofy ramblings. Even though they were Mets fans, they were cool cats.

Then some familiar dude walks in and starts talking and I knew I had talked to this guy before. He looks at me and goes, "You used to work at BC Sports, right?" I said yeah, and he was like, "How did you like the Pujols shadow picture auto you were ordering?" Then it all came back to me. He used to rip a lot of high end packs in the store, always threw me the Yankees, and also told me when I was trying to decide on a Pujols autographed picture which one was cool. So that was what I ended up buying.

Long story short on Joe, he decided to open some Ginter from a fresh box so I waited to see what he pulled because he had ridiculous luck. Mike (the owner) gave me the box topper. I opened it and was very pleased.



Joe picked his packs, and then I grabbed 3 because I had to play, too. Plus, I need wrappers (yes, that is my excuse). First pack I opened, I pulled this card.



I'm a big fan of the Hebrew Hammeri, so this was awesome. Nothing in the other two packs except a Vlad mini and a Reimold mini. I left some of the base cards at the shop because I didn't want them and maybe someone can use them to complete a set. Joe opened his packs and wanted nothing so I went through them and found this:

(Another scanner crop, pos)

Love it! Ginter mini black Alex Gordon. As I said a few weeks ago, I'm a fan of Gordon despite his lackluster performance in the majors. I think he'll come around once he gets accustomed to the outfield.

I also took all the This Day in History cards because I think I may have 1/2 or 3/4 of that set and it might be fun to complete (read: she will get bored and not bother).

I also opened a pack of 1993 Upper Deck for the hell of it. Any mojo? Yep. John Kruk.

It's not wood afterall

For years, when I saw the Allen and Ginter wood mini cards, I assumed they were made out of wood. Little wood chips the size of a regular mini with the picture on front. I don’t even think I thought there was a back to the cards.

I saw a Kevin Kouzmanoff for sale right before I went on vacation last week. I sniped that sucker and made sure I won it. I received the card the day before I left for vacation.

I tore into it quickly all the while thinking, how cool this wood chip card is going to be.

But it’s not wood. Since I have never seen one of these cards in person before, I really had no idea these cards weren’t really wood. It’s just cardboard - not that there is a problem with cardboard.

This card is just a regular mini from Allen and Ginter with a wood-tint finish on the front. They could really make the front any hue they want this way, but they chose wood and for years I went on thinking these were actual wood cards.

I’m not disappointed that I own another Kouz 1/1, but I was definitely disappointed to learn that this wasn’t real wood. … There are so many jokes I could make here, but I am just going to end this post in saying, yes, I like wood.

The Great Ginter Trade

Here is what I am thinking.... I need the following mini's:

Albert Pujols
Albert Pujols A&G
Albert Pujols black

Robinson Cano
Robinson Cano A&G
Robinson Cano black

Adam Lind
Adam Lind A&G
Adam Lind black
Adam Lind Rip

I have the following mini's for trade:













Let's make a deal because I know many of you have opened plenty of Ginter boxes for the Gint-A-Cuffs or just in general. Hook a lady up.

2010 Allen & Ginter Mojo on eBay

While I pull cards of trees and sailors there are people pulling amazingly "mojo-esque" cards. I have no interest in these cards for my PC but I wouldn't mind pulling one to sell for some money to pay for school. I also thought some of you guys who love Ginter or plan on buying more to try and pull any of these cards would like to see what was pulled and what they were going for currently.

Beethoven Hair DNA Relic 1/1

Alexander Hamilton Hair DNA Relic 1/1

Jackie Kennedy Hair DNA Relic 1/1

I plan to watch these just to see where they end up.

New PC additions

Over the last week or so a bunch of recently acquired cards have come floating into my mailbox which always makes getting the mail more fun. While I love opening packs, sometimes getting exactly what you want in the mail is better.

I don't have any patience, so the minute these hit eBay I was all over them.





Then we have this little gem that I love:



Fresh card from Stale Gum:



And finally, just a regular base card that I like very much.

Considering how much more cost effective it is to just buy the cards of the guys I like would be, you would think that I would just do that. No one ever said I was the brightest bulb in the box. I also might be allergic to money since I trade most of it for cardboard.

Ginter is bringing out all the crazies

Either it’s Allen and Ginter or just the madness of what the early baseball card season has brought, it seems everyone is drinking a little bit from of the crazy punch.

People are getting silly or they are trying to make a point, either way, some of you have gone mad!

One of the goofiest auctions on eBay is the 1/1 revolving door. Yeah, you read that right. The revolving door has an auto in this set (I hope you can feel the sarcasm dripping with that sentence). The funny thing is this card actually has a bid (auction link).

There was another auction up last night, but it was taken down almost moments after I looked at it. There was a Stephen Strasburg mini up for $20,000 BIN. The seller was trying to make a point on how crazy everything was getting with Starsburgmania and how out of hand it has all gotten.

Baseball cards this year is making people do some crazy things and, yes, I am talking about the hyped up cards that are going for way too much money.

I know the listings just cost a few cents, but why would anyone want to waste their money this way? It’s not going to change anything. Superman is still going to sell for thousands of dollars (Did you see what the auto redemption is going for?).

Save your pennies.

Speaking of Strasburg ...

Where are the Allen & Ginter minis? When Stephen Strasburg made his debut Topps announced the Washington Nationals rookie would be included in Allen and Ginter with a mini and an auto redemption only.

That was enough for collectors who wanted his card or were looking to flip anything with his name on it.

Two auctions for the mini were on eBay Tuesday night with the same stock photo that has been around the Internet for the last 24 hours. Wednesday morning, both auctions were taken down.

Chris Olds had an interesting piece this morning on Beckett's blog. Strasburg minis have yet to be found said the folks he has spoken with.

Let's take a look a stroll around the Internet to see what others are saying:

On Twitter, Brent Williams (@brentandbecca) wrote: "@toppscards Where are the Strasburg mini cards & auto redemptions. I opened 25 cases! between 2 other guys 28 cases & boards full of others"

Let's take a look at the case breaks at Blowout's forums ... hang on as I rummage through posts and scans. Ah, no Strasburg here. 

Let's check Freedom Cardboard ... wait, oh no, nevermind. There aren't any there either. 

This is a huge PR problem for Topps. Allen and Ginter is always a popular product for them and didn't really need the hype of Strasburg to make it any better, but considered he was a late addition to the set he could be in later cases and not the early ones. 

If that's the case, this will hurt brick and mortar shops and those who always buy early because they would have gotten the cases shipped to them first. Does this help retail since they tend to get their product later than hobby shops.


When the first REAL Strasburg mini shows up, I want to see a scan of the back of the card.

What the $!%* is going on?

Yeah, so I go to eBay to see if there are any Stephen Strasburg Allen & Ginter minis floating around yet.

So far, I found one (auction link).

What in the world?

I get a the superfractor going for an insane price. I kind of get the his base cards going for a pretty penny, but I am not sure I get where all this is actually going.

His cards are just absolutely ridiculous right now. If this card goes for over a grand, what are his autos from this set going to be worth?

Goodness, you might as well buy a case of this just to grab one or two of these cards. It would pay for the whole case and perhaps even then some.

It's a crazy world out there!