stuck in the middle

Around the middle of July, I was happy to announce that Aardvark Trading Co. was going to be in the position to sell hobby boxes of Topps Allen & Ginter baseball cards after preordering an entire case from some eBayer. We were very excited to be able to touch an unopened case, bust it, and then hopefully keep track of the “hits” (as the kids call them) as reported by people purchasing boxes. I thought it would provide an excellent opportunity for interested parties to study a case of cards and over analyze it… to death.

I was on edge waiting for the UPS truck for the initial days that followed Topps’ official release. Nothing. Then I finally got the eBayer on the horn and was informed that his supplier had declared bankruptcy. Long excuse short…. there would be no case coming.
Bummer. We got our money refunded without a problem, but already the price of cases (now in hand) had increased to the point that we didn’t think it would be a wise investment given that the market was immediately saturated with product.

Jay Marshall (2007 Topps A&G no. 244 and black-bordered mini)

I managed to get these Jay Marshall cards autographed in person the same day. It was then that I realized that I was going to have to rethink my plan for dealing with the 2008 set. Would I find myself trolling for blaster boxes at Target, paying way more for a box than I cared to from a local dealer, or trying to find a three hobby box deal online?

Walking out of the third different Target store in a 36-hour period on Saturday afternoon, I decided to purchase a hand-collated set online, and invest the difference (both time and money) in the pursuit of the sets I’ve been neglecting- 2006 A&G and 1975 Topps.

Mike Caldwell (1975 Topps no. 347) and a 1975 Dodge Dart Sport

I’ve seen quite a bit of the 2008 Allen & Ginter set via the interweb. I have to say that experiencing cards like these is probably best done with the actual cards in hand rather than seeing them online. So I will save my thoughts on the set until I have one in front of me.

By the way, I’ve also wasted a good couple of days trying to crack the damn Allen & Ginter code, but I believe the code has cracked me. I wonder if that’ll win me a prize off the lower shelf.

– Kris

Tags: 75 Topps, Allen & Ginter, autographing, case bust, Kris, Topps