2015 Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball Cards

I meant can’t find any information!!

I found what appears to be a Mike Moustakas 2015 Allen and Ginter Framed card that has the 10th Anniversary stamp on it but the card has #201 on the back.I can find any information on it. It this a error?
God Bless,
Fairon Spears

Card stock is great. Printing of subjects makes all players look like they have freckles at best. Longhand writing on back is very important if the industry has been preserving the origin of the name on the product. Just looking at this portion of this release without comparison to previous years product… there is something wrong with the art on the boarder, let’s say the matte printed around the edges is not filled. The price is like shopping and you have to wait to it goes on sale, as these have directly from topps. I can’t figure how many millions of these were made but washing down the insertions with buybacks from the last ten years is boring unless this is a collector’s first year. How mini a mini can get and large a loader can be is still not…

Topps, Topps, Topps. I’m a little upset with myself here. A & G 2015… I’ve been a big fan of your’s for years. Decades, even. I still am, to be perfectly honest. Its just… Perhaps I was expecting something, hmmm I don’t know, a lil’ different. Perhaps not. Perhaps I was aiming too high by expecting a repeat of the satisfaction+ I got out of the 2014 product. Man, I really hate that have to say this. But if I had to choose which one of the following I thought was the best out of this year’s bunch of Allen & Ginter, Archives, and Crome baseball, my answer would be……… Gypsy Queen. Does that make sense? I’ve bought my fair share of each and every one of the cards I listed. And after ripping open multiple blaster boxes, hobby boxes, I even tried a bunch of jumbo rack packs, but I have finally had enough I say. I’ve given up on buying anything Topps has put out in 2015 except Gypsy Queen.

I know this space is intended for reviewing 2015 A & G but I wanted to kill 3 birds with one stone. I’ve been so frustrated with the results of my purchases from this year’s releases that it made me question the effort put into building these sets. But I also realised that there’s a good chance the reason for my dissatisfaction has a lot to do with how pleased I’ve been with these same cards for quiet a few years in a row now. Regardless of how I slice it I just can’t find much about this year’s Allen & Ginter that stands out to me or has me wanting to spend any more money to buy more. This year’s Archives kind of bums me out, too. I felt like I just wasted more of my time with every box I finished opening. And I know Chrome hasn’t even been out very long at this point. Still, when I look at them its just, ugh. That design.

Bottom line… As long as eBay’s supply continues to meet my demand whenever I go looking to buy a few factory sealed boxes of cards from a year or so ago I’ll survive :D

I love the look of these cards. My only complaint in the 2015 edition is the lack of “old time” players. I have been collecting these cards and I always try to make a page of old timers, 2 pages of current players & a page of non Baseball as well as a page of inserts , no room for full sets in my life anymore. Otherwise I love them.

I have to disagree with many of the negative comments I’ve read about A&G. Most of the negative comments are that (1) it’s too difficult to pull an auto, and (2) there are lots of obscure non-sports cards.

That’s A&G! That’s what makes it different than the rest of the baseball products during the year. Either it’s your thing, or it’s not. If it’s not your thing, no need to negatively review the product. Just wait for Topps Chrome (out next week).

I like A&G because I like to build base sets, and I also like collecting different insert cards. The Starting Points 100-card insert set is a fun one to try to build. I’ve gotten 6 boxes and am a bit more than half way through.

I also like the variety of hits in Ginter. I know that many boxes have the dreaded 3 relics, so if you are only going to buy a couple boxes and you don’t like relic cards, you probably should avoid A&G. That being said, with the chance for rip cards, 1/1 wood minis and book cards in addition to some tough autos (all quite valuable hits), it’s a fun break.

I had tremendous luck in my 6 boxes, so I’m sure that is flavoring my opinion of this product. I pulled 2 double rip cards and 1 regular rip card in 3 of my boxes and an auto in another. 2 of my boxes had 3 relics. I also pulled a 1/1 wood mini and one of my box toppers had the pack of 5 red-border minis serial numbered to 40. So far, I’ve gotten about half my money back in resale value having sold about 50 cards from the 1,152 in the 6 boxes. Once the auto and one of the double rips sell, I will be pretty close to even for the 6 boxes, with over 1,000 cards added to my PC for essentially free.

So, if I have fun opening the product, am able to add some interesting and varied cards to my PC, and can make half of my money back (or more) in reselling, I consider the product a success.

Hey dave I too ran into the same thing you had. Every last 2 cards are blankbacks but with no authentication n even in one of the packs it also had 1 more towards the middle, same thing. I too would like to know more cuz I only bought 10 packs. Should I go buy the rest?

Having purchased hobby boxes for a number of years I appreciate and understand the risky nature of hits, but this product is AWFUL. How many half inch by half inch pieces of obscure sports writers shirts can you put in a product? For a product retailing for close to $100 you should really have at least a few decent hits. As for the cards themselves, the artwork makes ever player look like a freckle face, Did not love this product in the past and thought I would give it one more shot. What a waste. Save yourself the money and aggravation and avoid this product. Learn from my mistake.

Got 8 hair DNA relic cards:

Charles Dickens 2012
Ronald Reagan 2012
King Edwards VII 2012
JFK 2012
Alexander Hamilton 2013
Edgar Allen Poe 2011
Geronimo 2012
King Edward VIII 2012

NEVER HAVE I PULLED ANY BIG CARDS OUT. HAD TO BUY ALL SINGLES ON EBAY> DIEING TO KNOW IF ANYONE EVER PULLED A HAIR RELIC CARD B4… AND DID THEY EVEN MAKE 2015 DNA HAIR RELIC CARDS THIS YEAR????

Yep, no auto here…there never is–it’s A&G. It’s the 10 year anniversary for A&G, a rather bitter celebration for me: in 10 years, I’m pretty sure I’ve been shutout on autos. Cumlatively: 0 for 10, humbled like Vatican City playing Brazil in a friendly. But those 8 Dan Uggla jersey pieces in years 1-5, the 11 Upton(s) jersey chunks (not always sure which Upton sometimes–can’t tell much from a dime-sized piece of white cloth) in just 2008-14, and the three swatches from three different lower-weight class boxers’ trunks, would make any baseball fan happy.

Every year, I think A&G will be, has to be, should be different this time. Still the same: over-priced, with a “street value” that is the sports card equivalent to aspirin, repetitive in design (effort?), and more interested in showcasing unknown comedians than offering any type of tribute (dare I say “homage”) to the original 1887 namesakes.

If nothing else, A&G has definitely been consistent over it’s 10 year span: one of the most uninspired, overpriced products of Topps’ yearly releases. I’ll take Gypsy Queen any day!!!

Opened my first hobby box of this on Saturday. It’s just weird enough for me to keep going and try and finish the base set, but I don’t see the cost per box related to what’s available. I got mine for $84, which was great, and every pack was interesting based on the sub-sets and such. Who doesn’t like to pull a Mermaid or a Tomahawk.

I’m not an REM fan, so the Mike Mills autograph didn’t do anything for me. That said, it’s a really freaking cool looking card. I’ll probably get it slabbed and sell it. There were 2 relics, but they are so plain, to be honest, I can’t even tell you who the players wore. Plain cards, plain patches, nothing worth remembering.

Two buybacks, which I didn’t even realize what those were until reading through the comments here, so thanks for that info. One was Brooks Robinson, I don’t remember the other. I’d have to go back and look again to see if there was a mini-Buyback.

The Cabinet Card box topper may as well have been a postcard. Neat I guess but nothing to write to email home about.

I see some stores trying to fetch $100/box for this set. Can’t pay that. If I find a good deal on it, I’d buy another. May get some blasters here and there to pick up set cards. The set is a pain in some ways, though. So many weird cards per pack that I think I’m only about 135 deep into the base set after one box. No doubles, though, so that’s good.

5 for overall card quality
3 for number of hits
2 for quality of hits
5 for distribution

Round up to give it 4 stars.

The was my first time buying a hobby box of A & G and I was quite impressed. However, that might be because I received a hotbox. It contained a Jeremy Roenick relic, Carlos Beltran relic, 2 10th anniversary buybacks, 1 framed mini buyback, and a Rip Card. Can someone confirm if this is a hotbox?

No problem, thanks Trey

Eric, the only thing is that on these cards, they are not buy backs. They are the 2015 set and the 10th Anniversary part is not gold embossing, it is just printed on the cards.

My problem is that it is like a normal card and not the printing plates. I have the Kris Bryant one and don’t want to short change myself listing it on Ebay and losing out with a low price.

I was wondering if anyone can tell me about blank backs. I got what seems like a hot box where the last 2 cards in every pack had a blank back.

I opened an imposed proof card #10. There is no player name and its not on the checklist. I have never seen this before. Any help with what it is?

A&G is always a fun rip. I enjoy all the subsets even if they are tough to fill up. Opened one box and got 3 10 annv. cards, Teheran and Heyward relics, David Cross mini auto and a framed mini Pablo Sandoval printing plate. The non sports items are interesting and a good change from basic sport cards. Don’t buy cards if you expect to make money on them, buy for the enjoyment.

Al – sounds like you got a hot box of buybacks if every pack had two. There are only supposed to be 3 total in a hobby box.

Topps packaging may be a bit on the sloppy side. Just picked up a retail jumbo pack and ended up with 5 mini cards! Pretty sure it was supposed to only have one or two at the most.

Ripped 3 boxes… no auto yet. Did get a rip card though. My question is this… in the hobby box pulled the rip card from the last 2 cards of every pack have 10th Anniversary Issue down the side. None of them are numbered

This will probably be the first time in years that I don’t buy a hobby box of Allen & Ginter. The design is a too minimal and could use a bold border. Too many of the cards I pulled had rougher edges than they should. The relics are the same boring crap they always are, I wish Topps would parallels for relics in this set like in Gypsy Queen. The pop culture autos are OK but not something I would chase or hold onto. The baseball autos are a good selection of current players but the print runs on some must be ridiculously low because I see a lot of the same ones being pulled. This was a product I was looking forward to but after the results I had as well as people I know had this might be another Topps set that has disappointed me this year. The price point for this is too high for what is guaranteed and should be lowered to around where Archives and Stadium Club are atot change the guarantees.

Allen and Ginter has always been my least favorite release of the year. Cool cards but not worth $95 a box. Retail version is just as bad. This product is chill from the collecting aspect but with that being said get your generic relic cards and favorite players on eBay or COMC. Other than Kris Bryant and Joc Pederson autos this year has been kind of a drag. Need new life in the way of different player rosters for autographs. Here’s to hoping Chrome is a fun rip

The unique autos and relic cards make the set but I am really disappointed with the base cards especially being an Orioles fan. The pictures on the Allen and Ginter cards are the exact same ones used on the Heritage and Gypsy Queen cards (with the exception of the Machado and Schoop card) I don’t know if this is the same for the other teams or not. But baseball is a 162 game season, you’re telling me Topps can’t get different pictures?

Only have opened 2 hobby boxes so far, so this is not that thorough. Definitely like it better than last year. Then again, this year got a mini auto and a rip card. My first. Last year opened 4 hobby boxes and didn’t pull a single auto. Downside is the relics. But that seems to be consistent year to year. Card design is better, though with the cutout 10 on the horizontal cards.

The really good are the buybacks. From what I can tell, they are from every year, as mine range from 2006 to 2012. Also, both my mini buybacks were framed, but the shop I go to had a customer ripping a box and his was unframed. Also like the first ladies mini cards and the Starting Points. Just nice variations.

Like a lot of cards out there, how much one likes it will depend on what is in the box. I got lucky, so am happy. Will probably buy a few more boxes to attempt a master set.

WOEST PRODUCT OF THE YEAR – NO GUARANTEE AUTO – THE 3 JEREY’S YOU PULLHAVE NO VALUE – OVER ALL IT’S A 1 STAR PRODUCT

Allen Ginter always is an Awesome product.

Just picked up a blaster from Target. Best card was a base Yasmany. But I respect the product and I think this is how a baseball card should look. In my blaster there were 48 cards and I got 7 non-baseball cards. (A better ratio than years before) I’ll buy more.

I don’t give product ratings until I’ve actually opened the product, but I am very optimistic based on the looks of the checklist. The base auto checklist is loaded! And how about the Bernie Williams guitar pick relic card? Awesome.

Although I collect vintage and modern, Allen & Ginter is not a release I normally care anything about. I get tired of seeing the same retired players using the same photos over and over. A good example are the Gypsy Queen Nolan Ryans over the years! This year though, I may buy some A&G BECAUSE it does not have all those same retired players!

i was just wondering the hobby box proportions. I.E. Height, weight, length? Any ideas?

Regardless of others opinions on allen and ginter autographs! There is no autograph per box, and no where does allen and ginter provide any say as a guarantee to one auto per box! So to those who say otherwise are ignoring what allen and ginter has always done! Never guarantee one auto per box, thats why they repeatedly announce three plain boring relic variations so most boxes for $100.00 dont seem like a complete bust. As previous comments here, yes! Allen ginter is for collectors and not for others quick busting to resell. But regardless for the price plain boring relics are not desired by most. Theres no reason for cooler patch variations like many other topps products like gypsy queen. Allen an ginter can easilly be better and still keep unique on its own lead in a collectors market. And now oddity cards are gone? What happened to the awesome bookcards from previous years? Last years dna relic cards were very dull! And the osteologists cards? Im still waiting as their no where to be found. Who wants the texting champion auto? Allen and ginter can be much better cause the big hits if your lucky are drying up and leaving the product simple and plain to end up in the box you never look at in storage. The price is still the same, so should be every part of the new years releases.

Hey Ryan, any indication if the duplicate numbers in the checklist mean some are SP?

77 Jason Hammel – Chicago Cubs
77 Ervin Santana – Minnesota Twins

102 Christian Vazquez – Boston Red Sox
102 James “Clubber” Lang – Boxer

182 James Loney – Tampa Bay Rays
182 Todd Frazier – Cincinnati Reds

229 Ivan Drago – Boxer
229 Eric Young Jr. – Atlanta Braves

258 Rocky Balboa – Boxer
258 Steve Pearce – Baltimore Orioles

285 Ichiro – Miami Marlins
285 Melvin Upton Jr. – San Diego Padres

I’m not a baseball collector per se but I am seriously considering getting some of this set to chase after the non-sports inserts. The fact that this hits during the NBA offseason helps those prospects. I love what they are doing with the inserts, and Ancient Armory is the one I want the most. Ancient topics are very rare on cards- even back in they heyday of non-sports cards ancient topics only got a handfull of sets. There have been more than 2 dozen sets about birds (which I also collect) yet I know of only 4 ancient subject sets…with the newest being issued in 1912.

I can understand how people aren’t as thrilled with the non-baseball auto selection from last year. Snoop Lion being the top dogg left little more to be desired. A lot of people who left you scratching your head going, “Who?”

But here’s the thing. I think Topps realizes that they need to make Ginter eclectic with their bizarre auto checklist as they have in the past and can’t get by on the other quality of the product as they did last year.

I opened enough of it last year to know that you pretty much did get an auto a box, and if you didn’t get an auto a box, you either got a very rare (~1 or maybe 2 per case) box with 3 relics (framed versions were like 1:186 packs I think?) or got a RIP Card or something else along those lines. I’ll take a RIP card over an auto.

This year has so much star power for rookies and sophomores the checklist is going to read like a dream sheet. And honestly, based on the other content (which is mostly a bunch of 10th anniversary parallel stuff) they’re going to need it. If it doesn’t read like a high-end dealer’s inventory, people are going to be disappointed and the hype is going to fall off very quickly.

Just touching on the subject of ‘no-name’ autographs, just because you’ve never heard of them doesn’t mean nobody has ever heard of them. Some sports, like rowing for example, don’t get the publicity as say track and field. So the stars and brilliant personalities in the sport don’t come to mainstream attention. But, if you were to ask any rowing fan who Mary Whipple is, they’ll be able to tell you. I know last year had Felicia Day, who is the Nerd Queen (apparently Olivia Munn is the Queen of the Nerds… not sure what the distinction is?) and I still want her auto. As an aside, Olivia Munn needs an auto in Ginter. Just saying. The ‘texting champion’ was probably the one auto that felt like a real stretch, while the rest were pretty much spot on with what the product is supposed to be.

As someone has already said, you probably won’t be making gobs of money breaking the product. Sorry, hyper-case-breakers and money-grubbers. Ginter is a set for the collectors. The card stock and designs are simple, elegant, and high quality. No flimsy cardboard here. A non-matte finish makes them ideal for IP autos. There is always that lurking threat of an absolutely monstrous hit like cut autos, DNA relics, and other weird stuff. So expect to lose money if you’re breaking the case to rip and flip. Stick to your Bowman and Flagship sets if you want your guaranteed ROI.

I’ve always enjoyed collecting this product. However, the extensive nature of the entire set can suck up your life.
I was really just wondering, in addition to Ichiro. I read that Rocky and Thunderlips are going to have autographs. Do youknow of this carrying a Rocky theme? Or any other goodies?

A&G is one of the most aesthetically beautiful cards created by Topps. Unfortunately, pricing falls sharply upon opening the a Hobby pack, box, or case; sending base card values to hover at .5-.10 cents per base card depending on the player. “A&G Hot Rookie Base Cards” do well and are by far the %1 most popular A&G base card among “Graphhers” (those who seek after market on card “In Person Player/Celebrity Autographs”). The “Big Hit Odds” seem to be out of reach for the mid level Hobbiest looking for return on purchase hovering at $870-$990 per Hobby Case. Overall a “fun” product if you go in knowing you are not going to cover the purchase price with hits and will come out with less than half value of purchase price.

Let me be clear, i loved allen ginter products for some time. There’s no reason they can’t put one autograph per box as most aren’t worth much anyways. Bought a case of last years and there’s nothing worse than a stack of all plain white relic cards. even now, im still waiting for redemptions from 2012. my wife loves collecting the sub sets, but for the price there’s no magic anymore. And lets not forget the terrible non sports auto list from last year. Un less you pull one of the big cards, most of the other set is becoming of no value for the price. if snoop dog and only a handful of rookies is the best you can do. Ive already lost any interest in this years product.

I love this product but the one issue I have with it every year is that there often times I spend than what came in the box was worth. I wish these boxes would come with a guaranteed autograph because there have been times I got three relic cards and that combined with everything else only equal about half the value of the box. That said it is definitely a fun product and is one I enjoy every year.

I can’t see why A&G won’t be just as great as in the past years. Looking good for 2015!