A & G Blaster No. 3

Rather than heed my own advice, I opted not to quit while I was ahead and went straight for another blaster of Allen & Ginter last weekend. Unfortunately, with the playoffs starting this week I keep feeling like buying more baseball cards, so this madness may not end anytime soon. I did finally realize that Topps Updates & Highlights comes out this month rather than December as I had originally thought, so that may temporarily distract me from buying stuff that's probably a little pricier than my usual baseball card budget. (And yes, I realize how lame 2008 Topps base is. I have my reasons...)

Pack 1:
259 - Francisco Rodriguez (first card out of the box if I hold it in the light a little, I can see roller marks. probably not a good sign.)
4 - Roy Halladay (he will be one of my fantasy keepers for the second straight year)
23 - A.J. Burnett Mini (ouch... first serious victim of roller damage)
293 - Pedro Feliz
109 - Joey Chestnut (has anyone noticed how his picture on the card looks nothing like the actual guy and looks more like something taken out of a Guide to Wholesome Eating circa 1950? I would have taken a picture of the card, but competitive eating is gross.)

297 - Max Scherzer RC (Max is a native St. Louisan who was drafted by the Cards out of high school but did not sign. now he's on the wrong team.)

Pack 2:
162 - Austin Kearns
207 - Yuniesky Betancourt (more printing lines only visible in light)
330 - Luke Hochevar RC (SP)
312 - Brandon Wood Mini (SP)
US15 - Casey Blake US Flag (this card seems to be about a millimeter wider than it should be)

10 - Deep Blue World's Greatest Victories
130 - Tim Wakefield
288 - Pete Weber

Pack 3:
258 - Eric Chavez
177 - Evan Longoria RC (more barely visible printing lines, but this is a nice card. he's already writing himself into baseball lore based on what he did yesterday.)
337 - Jason Schmidt (SP)
WDS2 - Tiger Shark World's Deadliest Sharks (that makes 2 shark cards in 3 blasters, 1 hobby pack and 1 retail pack, but they're both the same shark.)
US33 - Ryan Zimmerman US Flag
- Checklist 4 of 4
37 - Pedro Martinez

294 - Torii Hunter (wacky, but not nearly as wacky as his 2007 A&G picture)

Pack 4:
134 - Jason Varitek
77 - Joba Chamberlain (just a plain old non-autographed Joba)
339 - Jack Cust Mini (SP) (former Portland Beaver)
45 - Justin Morneau
16 - Hiroki Kuroda RC
284 - Daisuke Matsuzaka

Pack 5:

216 - Brett Myers (still watching last night's game on tape. hero or goat? it's looking more like hero at this point in my tape.)
25 - Aramis Ramirez (kind of a blah looking card of a guy I don't particularly like)
307 - Pat Neshek (SP) (I wonder how many of these cards he's signed already. he almost gives Channing Frye's blog a run for its money... almost.)
86 - Kelvim Escobar Mini
US21 - Chris Capuano US Flag (back-to-back starting pitchers for playoff teams that were injured for all of this season)
8 - Brian Bass RC
144 - Grand Canyon (the inanimate object count stands at 2, or 3 if you count Joey Chestnut's weird photo)

Pack 6:
86 - Kelvim Escobar (the larger, yet still injured version)
123 - Josh Willingham
182 - Nate McLouth Mini A&G Back

219 - Charles Dickens (I was forced to read A Tale of Two Cities at some point when I was in school and did not enjoy it. thanks for bringing up repressed childhood memories, Topps!)
285 - Brandon Phillips
299 - Rafael Furcal (aka Rafael 4-Call if you listen to Jon Miller)

Pack 7:
173 - Rick Ankiel (the lone Cardinal. and guess what? barely visible but still present printing lines!)
218 - John Maine
324 - Casey Kotchman (SP)
21 - Miguel Tejada Mini (somewhat mangled by the roller)
125 - John Lackey Mini (also somewhat mangled by the roller. Mutant Pack Alert... and each box has seemed to have one... two minis in this pack, eight cards total)

US5 - Chase Utley US Flag
- Crack the Ginter Code ad
- Checklist 3 of 4
262 - Mark Spitz
133 - Wild Bill Hickok (I think I saw him on the bus tonight)

Pack 8:
250 - Ichiro Suzuki

15 - B.J. Upton (go Rays!)
248 - Lastings Milledge
WL3 - Guy Verhofstadt Mini World's Leaders (the Prime Minister of Belgium)
212 - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
119 - Billy Mitchell (Tchaikovsky totally kicks Mitchell's ass out of the pack and he ends up on the floor with no quarters left.)

Despite all my complaints, I only ended up with 3 cards that were damaged to the point where I actually wouldn't keep them as part of a set (if I was collecting such a thing.) Is it worth trying to return the cards? Probably not. The unfortunate thing is that they were all minis, though not any more rare parallel versions or anything.