Ripping a box of 2013 Allen & Ginter

As part of the box break that Nachos Grande ran in February and into March, I bought the 2011 base set of Topps Allen & Ginter.  I looked through the set when I got the box break results, and I was hooked.  So, sucker that I am, I bought a retail box of 2013 and opened them today.  I will say this:  it was interesting, but the distribution of cards in these packs is one of the weirdest things I have seen.

First off, I didn't get any serial numbered hits.  I did get one very nice mini hit, though: one of the "All in a Day's Work" minis.

The minis are an interesting insert.  I like them -- their unique size is cool, their limited print numbers (relatively speaking) are interesting, but the variations are a bit strange.  For instance, how much rarer than a normal card are the "black bordered" minis like these two guys:

I guess the good thing to me is that I like Gary Carter and have collected him since I was about 13.  I was a catcher until I got to varsity baseball in high school, where I became a utility player -- good enough to be on varsity for three years and to play where the coach put me, but not good enough to own a position, I suppose.











I will admit that seeing a mini card that was a "normal" Chrissy Teigen might be the first time that I've ever been disappointed to see a Sports Illustrated model.

Another question:  how much rarer than a normal card are the A&G backs to the minis like this Lou Brock:

I was not disappointed by getting two of the non-baseball guys that, if you asked me, I would have admitted to wanting most for (obviously) different reasons:

Mike McCarthy, Green Bay Packers coach (though without a Green Bay logo in sight...one would think that they could have included the G on the hat or jacket without a problem) led my Green Bay Packers to a Super Bowl victory a couple of years ago.

Henry Rollins, on the other hand, is one of the seminal figures in the California punk scene in the 1980s first with Black Flag and then with the Rollins Band -- with whom he did one of the best songs of the early 1990s, Liar:

If you're still with me after that musical interlude, I'll show you the autograph hit from this box.  In addition to being a music nut and a Packers fan, I'm even more rabid about college football.  I have season tickets to the Georgia Bulldogs -- have since 2006.  So you might expect me to have a little excitement about this:

I'm not.

I have disliked Notre Dame since about 1981 because of basketball and Digger Phelps because I grew up a Marquette basketball fan.  Lou Holtz didn't help matters much either.  So, to get a Brian Kelly autograph made me angry for about 15 seconds -- long enough to check eBay to see the range of prices I will hope to get when I get rid of that.

Unless one of you makes me a good offer!