I made a trip to Target upon hearing about the new Office stuff that was showing up in the dollar section. I figured that while I was there I would check out the sports card section and maybe I'd be lucky enough to stumble across an Allen & Ginter blaster box. Luck wasn't with me, but I decided to grab one of the new Topps Chrome blaster boxes and 3 packs of A&G retail knowing full well that I had no shot at any memorabilia cards.
I'll start with the Allen & Ginter packs:
A&G Pack 1:
Mark Teixeira
Ivan Rodriguez
Dan O'Brien (SP)
Eiffel Tower mini (Bazooka back 14/25 - 1:214 packs)
Roy Halladay
Chris Burke
Not a bad pack. It's kind of a bummer that my Bazooka back ended up on the back of a monument and not a superstar, but it's still a nice pull.
Grade: A
A&G Pack 2:
Lou Pinella
Caesar Augustus mini
Nick Markakis Perez Sketch Card
Tower Bridge
Elijah Dukes RC
Eleanor Roosevelt
Chris Capuano
This pack wasn't as good. The Dukes RC is alright.
Grade: C-
A&G Pack 3:
Ted Lilly
Roger Clemens SP
Road to 500 - 252 (1:24)
Russian Federation Flag mini (1:12)
Checklist two
Luis Castillo
Roy Oswalt
This pack had a couple of hits. The weirdest thing is that the flag mini might end up being the best of them.
Grade: B
Chrome Pack 1:
Jon Garland
Zach McClellan RC
Brian McCann (Blue Border Refractor - 1:6)
Juan Lara RC
Not a bad pack. Two rookies and a blue refractor.
Grade: C+
Chrome Pack 2:
Dice-K RC
Kei Igawa RC
Johan Santana Refractor
Josh Fields (RC)
This is an excellent pack. Even though he's having a rough second half, I was hoping to pull the Dice-K card. Santana is a nice pull for the refractor.
Grade: A+
Chrome Pack 3:
Garret Anderson
David Ortiz
Jack Wilson (X-Factor Refractor - 1:3)
Brian Roberts
I'm a big Ortiz fan so pulling him is a plus.
Grade: B-
Chrome Pack 4:
Pat Burrell
Khalil Greene
Chien-Ming Wang Refractor
Jeremy Hermida
A mediocre pack made worse by the fact that the best card is that of a Yankee.
Grade: D
Chrome Pack 5:
Cole Hamels
Adrian Gonzalez
Carlos Delgado Refractor
Jonny Gomes
Blah.
Grade: C-
Chrome Pack 6:
Aramis Ramirez
Jose Contreras
Vernon Wells X-Fractor
Chris Capuano
This would be a very good day if I were a Capuano fan as I pulled his card in both sets.
Grade: B+
Chrome Pack 7:
Freddy Garcia
Kelvim Escobar
Hideki Matsui Blue Refractor
Brian Bannister
Matsui's not a bad pull for the refractor even if he is a Yankee. :)
Grade: B-
Chrome Pack 8:
Hank Blalock
Albert Pujols Refractor
Mickey Mantle Home Run History #350 (1:24)
Jimmy Rollins
Not a bad way to finish up. It's too bad that the A-Rod and Mantle cards aren't worth much at all because many collectors are sick of them and just want to dump them all and I don't know if there's much interest in them.
Grade: B
