2018 Topps Allen & Ginter Blaster Box #1

Picked up a blaster box while out shopping.  Nothing major in this blaster except for some rookies.

Rookies: Garrett Cooper, J.P. Crawford, Paul Blackburn, Willie Calhoun, Brian Anderson, and Zack Granite. 

And here are the odds for a retail blaster box.

2018 Topps Allen & Ginter Hobby Box Break #1

Each year Topps Allen & Ginter gets this unusual hype that you don't normally see for most card sets.  It's because of the unusual combination of non-sport autographs in the set, non-baseball autographs in the set, and weird non-sport insert cards. 

It's a strange set, and oddly satisfying.

Each year I try to buy myself one hobby box.  Here's the box for this year.

The hits were a Dexter Fowler and Charlie Blackmon relic, and a framed mini autograph of Madison Keys (tennis player).

I'm pretty happy with these hits.  Getting an autograph is good since not every box is guaranteed to have an autograph.

Here are the hobby pack odds.

And I got this strange mini which had a peculiar finish on it.  It turns out these are glow in the dark minis and are case hits.  They are SSP (super short print).  Some people speculate that these are 1/1s but they're not.  I've seen a few duplicates on eBay already.  Too bad I got a non-player.  This is the rarest card that I got in my hobby box but I'm thinking if I tried to sell it I would probably only get $10 for it.

I got a good number of rookies, including: Jack Flaherty, Rafael Devers, Scott Kingery, Garrett Cooper, Brandon Woodruff, Nick Williams, Ryan McMahon, Ryder Jones, and Amed Rosario.

But the most important rookie card in the box... a Shoei Ohtani rookie! 

2017 Topps Allen & Ginter Rack Pack #2

Another day, another 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter rack pack.  But this time, the cards inside weren't just your average every-day cards.

Holy smokes.  Nevermind the Rediscover Topps silver buyback of Dusty Baker.  I hit a Corey Seager autographed relic book card!  This is crazy.  I don't think I've ever hit anything this good out of retail, ever!  The odds of hitting this card is 1:1,629!  My jaw is on the floor!

I swear, retail screws you over like 99% of the time, but then every once in a blue moon it sucks you back in with insanity like this.  I still can't believe I hit this card.

2017 Topps Allen & Ginter Rack Pack #1

The Aaron Judge hype is dying down a little bit.  Since the all star break he has not been hitting so well.  In fact, he broke Adam Dunn's record for most consecutive strikeouts in a game for non-pitchers.  Nevertheless, I can't stop chasing his rookie cards.

I picked up a rack pack and got a relic card Jackie Bradley Jr.  Pretty cool to get a hit from retail.  I think I would have rather hit an Aaron Judge rookie card instead.  I also got a Jake Thompson rookie card (not pictured).

2017 Topps Allen & Ginter Blaster Box #2

Picked up another blaster box of 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter baseball.  It was a pretty bad box, except for one lone card... an Aaron Judge rookie card.

It's my first Aaron Judge Allen & Ginter rookie card.  Other rookies were Joe Musgrove, Josh Bell, and Mitch Haniger.

I'm glad I got the Aaron Judge rookie card, but paying $20 for it stings a little bit.

2017 Topps Allen & Ginter Blaster Box #1

I'm still regrettably late to jump on this Aaron Judge hype train.  I rarely buy retail, but I've been buying pretty much all 2017 retail baseball that I come across when out shopping.  I keep hoping for an Aaron Judge, but no luck still.

At least all the weird stuff in 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter is fun to look at.  I like looking at the unusual mini inserts.  Getting high number minis is cool.  A&G back minis are cool.  Black border minis are cool too.

The rookies in this blaster were Braden Shipley, Jose De Leon, Alex Reyes, and a Orlando Arcia mini A&G back.

Here are the blaster box odds.  Rip cards are in retail.  Rip cards are usually only in hobby boxes.  Crazy!

2017 Topps Allen & Ginter Hobby Box Break #1

I hardly ever, and I mean ever, buy baseball.  But apparently there is some guy named Aaron Judge who plays for the Yankees who is pretty good.  He's brought madness to the baseball card collecting world so I thought I'd try my hand at a hobby box of 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter.  I pre-ordered it from Blowout Cards for $100 plus shipping.

My three hits were a Miguel Cabrera relic, a Gary Stevens relic, and a mini autographed black frame parallel of Kenta Maeda who is a pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers.  When I first saw that I had a redemption in one of my packs, I thought I might have hit an Aaron Judge autograph since his cards are redemptions, but I wasn't quite that lucky.  I should still feel pretty good about hitting an autograph card at all since most hobby boxes only have three relics.

Overall, it was a fun rip.  I didn't get an Aaron Judge rookie card either!  Dare I try my luck again on another hobby box?  Prices have already gone up another $25 since I ordered this hobby box.