Pack Break: (4) 2013 Topps Allen & Ginter's World's Champions Jumbo Packs

It took me a few years to get struck by Ginter fever but last summer I finally warmed up to the set.  If you've been reading my blog at least since the beginning of last summer you might recall that I made a Craigslist purchase of a complete '07 A&G set as well as a near complete '06 and '08.  I even worked hard through last fall and winter to complete the '09, '10, '11, and '12 Allen & Ginter sets too with a lot of help from generous traders here in the blogosphere.  I think all of the quirky insert sets and the clean design just finally clicked in my brain that made me say "Hey, this is a pretty interesting set!"

Anyways, I've decided to cut back on the number of sets that I build and unfortunately A&G was one of the casualties of that decision.  That doesn't mean I can't bust some retail packs though!  I had to make a run to Lowes (I can't stay out of that store) the other day to get a couple things and Target is in the same shopping center.  Hmmm, didn't A&G come out a few days ago?  Maybe they have some in stock!  Here's the results of the 4 retail jumbo packs:

Let me first say that from my few packs that these retail jumbos are chock full of inserts.  I ended up with 4 Across the Years (expected), 3 Civilizations of Ages Past, 3 Curious Cases, 1 Martial Mastery, 2 Heavy Hangs the Head as well as the 1 Codes Ciphers and Cryptographs card of the creepy ass Zodiac Killer.  14 insert cards in 4 packs.  If you are building the insert sets, I would buy a bunch of these jumbos.

 It has been said in the few days that Ginter has been out this year that there is no "babe" like last year's Kate Upton or Erin Andrews.  While she won't be 18 until December 9, she's still a very attractive young woman.  I sound like a total creep here being 13 years and 4 days her senior but I must give credit where credit is due.  How could you not love the "McKayla is not Impressed" photo taken of here on the medal podium at the Olympics last year.  She even has baseball links (Attention: Spiegel, Night Owl, Zakwin, gcrl) since she parlayed a gold medal into throwing out the first pitch at Dodger Stadium. Not as impressively as the Korean gymnast's first pitch but still it bares mentioning.

Speaking of Dodgers I did get this Hyun Jin Ryu black bordered mini.  Not too shabby.  Apparently he's a good pitcher but I know little about him.  I probably know more about MaKayla Maroney (in 2 minutes of internet searching to find out how old she is) that I do about him.  For you mini card freaks out there, I got 8 total in my 4 jumbo packs.  And the best one is yet to come!

I popped open the bottom section of the last pack and the mini slides out.  Sweet! it's an Oriole, so there's one less mini I have to track down for the team set.  I've learned to take a look at the backs of these minis cuz you never know what "back" you might get.  I flip it over and I see this:

 Yep, hand numbered to 7/25!  Probably my lowest numbered serial numbered card that I've pulled from retail.  It's an ebay 1 of 1 because 7 is Mickey Mantle's number and 25 is Jim Johnson's newest teammate Bud Norris's number!  That will definitely bring a premium!  Not that It's for sale though.  So that makes it worth at least a million bucks.  Allen & Ginter has made me very rich all of the sudden.

For the rest of you commoners, the total list of inserts I got:

Mini Regular Back Parallel: 54 BJ Upton, 136 Panama Canal, 160 McCann
Mini Black Bordered Parallel: 246 Hyun-Jin Ryu
Across the Years: ATY CG C. Gonzalez, JH Hamilton, RS Sandberg, TSV Seaver
Civilizations of Ages Past: CAP-BAY Babylonians, PER Persians, PH Phoencians
Curious Cases: DA Denver Airport, FM Faked Moon Landings, MK MKULTRA
Martial Mastery: MM-ZU Zulu
Mini Heavy Hangs the Head: HHH-AUG Augustus, RAM Ramses II
Mini Codes, Ciphers, and Cryptographs: Zodiac Killer