Gint-A-Cuffs IV: Packs 1-6

I was lucky enough to jump on this year's Gint-A-Cuffs train before it left the station. While I normally stick to design posts and steer clear of pulls/breaks/trades, I figured I could do a little Allen & Ginter review along the way to keep the blog on topic. So here's the first of 4 consecutive G-A-C posts.

BOXTOPPER

I was really excited to start my box off with this beauty. I was expected just a run-of-the-mill N43 or something so I was damn shocked when I cracked the box open to see this huge cabinet card wrapper.
+ 20

PACK 1
WIN29  Nolan Ryan +2
Mini 322 Sergio Santos SP +3

36 Kirk Herbstreit
97 Max Scherzer
105 Arnold Palmer
126 Justin Masterson
145 Drew Storen
267 Neftali Feliz
PACK TOTAL: +5
RUNNING TOTAL: +25

This year's workhorse insert is What's In a Name?, where they show a guy's mini card along with their full given name. Not a whole lot different than the Hometown Heroes cards from last year, though the mini is a neat addition. It's pretty cool to see and read about a guy's full name. It used to be commonplace to know a player's middle name but since it's a bit rarer these days, I like the set.

PACK 2
HTP16 French Revolution +3
Mini124 Jered Weaver A&G +2
335 Alexei Ramirez SP +2
5 David Price (FP) +2

4 Yu Darvish
82 Giancarlo Stanton
206 Joey Votto
266 Carlos Ruiz
PACK TOTAL: +9
RUNNING TOTAL: +34

Another insert is the Historical Turning Points set. They do a good job of running all the way through history, even up to events like the Berlin Wall falling. The image quality of the events themselves don't seem to fit with the borders or the rest of the cards in the whole set.

PACK 3
Stephen Drew Framed Cloth Card +35
WIN5 Troy Tulowitzi +2

118 Carl Yastrzemski
146 Josh Beckett
189 Lance Berkman
244 Brett Anderson
Mini198 Phil Pfister
PACK TOTAL: +37
RUNNING TOTAL: +71

Wow, what a great pack for me! This is my first ever hobby box of A&G so I've never pulled anything like that boxtopper and now this Silk card. Stephen Drew isn't exactly the most sought-after player but I'm pretty happy. Plus the red lines on the border match the D-Backs pretty well. Look at that 01/10!

PACK 4
WIN73 Ryan Zimmerman +2

45 Ewa Mataya
72 Joakim Soria
123 Adam Lind
172 Chris Perez
231 Todd Helton
259 Wade Davis
Mini162 Jeff Francoeur
PACK TOTAL: +2
RUNNING TOTAL: +73

PACK 5
BH14 Mickey Mantle +2
Mini179 Cole Hamels A&G +2
320 Jonathan Papelbon SP +2

39 Brad Peacock
99 Sandy Koufax
124 Jered Weaver
179 Cole Hamles
219 Ian Kennedy
PACK TOTAL: +6
RUNNING TOTAL: 79

Even with 6 points, what a gross pack. I will say that the Baseball Highlight Sketches look a lot better this year. The borders seem to frame the images a little better. It kind of a has the feel of U.S. paper currency, so maybe my reasons for liking it are superficially subconscious. But as far as the guy I pulled in the pack, yuck.

PACK 6
WIN14 Chipper Jones +4
196 Lou Gehrig (NYY) -1

20 Miguel Montero
21 Matt Moore
52 Cameron Maybin
160 Shane Victorino
296 Mark Trumbo
Mini104 Ian Desmond
PACK TOTAL: +3
RUNNING TOTAL: +82

So a quarter of the way through, I've probably got half of points. I could be wrong but I think the Silks are an extra hit and I'll still be getting 2 relics or 1 relic & 1 auto. Stay tuned for the remaining 18 packs.