My Ripping Addiction Causes the Troll to Resurface... 2013 Allen and Ginter

Greetings friends and bloggers!
Yes, it has been about a year since my last post. I don't have much of an explanation - there are about 6 thousand reasons and excuses. I won't try to claim that I am back, but I will say that I am back into collecting again and with the long weekend I had tons of extra time to hit the storage boxes and fill the binders, all the while making list after list.

I am trying hard to get the cards I have had scattered around for the past couple years safely stored in binders with corresponding lists. I have been pretty darn successful. I ordered 10 boxes of 100 Ultra Pro Platinum pages along with a dozen d-ring binders (thank goodness for back to school sales!) and a small bookshelf for the extra bedroom.

Yes, I was burned out pretty bad on collecting. I took a solid year off, then spent the next year as a casual collector, then started liquidating cards on eBay. I made a little bit of money, but ended up reinvesting pretty much all of it back into cards. I worked hard at finishing 1965 Topps (so close!), building my '63 Topps set (getting respectable), finishing 1979, 1991 and 1996 Topps and working hard at 2007 - 2013 Topps flagship. I still Topps Heritage, but it is so damn expensive and so damn tough and so damn frustrating. I will get back into next year when they do my beloved '65 Topps design...

So, the title of this post... I mentioned selling cards and buying more. One of my purchases was a hobby box of 2013 A & G. I really wish I had been ready to get back to playing Troll because I would have loved to actually participate in Gint-A-Cuffs this year... I wouldn't have fared very well. It was a HORRIBLE rip! It was enough to reignite my addiction, obsession and true love of the rip, especially the always fun and full of surprises Ginter rip.

I would estimate that since the hobby box I have ripped 8 (maybe 9 or 10, I've lost count) retail blasters, along with a couple jumbo hangers and retail packs. Basically I have invested over $300 into this product and I am nowhere close to completion.

Subconsciously, this may be why I decided to try and remember my blogger password... I went to Target and left with a blaster and a hanger pack. I ripped the hanger first and got 2 cards that I needed and also nabbed  a black bordered mini. The blaster, on the other hand, was a horrible mistake. I tore into the 8 packs and sorted the cards into stacks of base, SP, inserts and minis and then checked them against the binder. I then realized that out of 8 packs I did not find a SINGLE card that I needed!!!! Not a base card, not an insert, not even a short print. In fact I got my second extra copy of Cole Hammels' SP.

After this I decided that I can't blow another 20 bucks on one of these boxes.
So... I sorted and sorted and sorted some more. I filled a binder with the regular set plus all of the full sized inserts. I organized all of my dupes, put each one penny sleeves and sorted them numerically and typed out a list and posted it here on this blog.

Its amazing how motivating the frustration of Topps' crappy collation can be...It got me to update this page for the first time in a year. I didn't stop at A and G either. Nearly ALL of my lists are current and up to date.
Yep, that's right, yer friend the Troll is READY TO TRADE!!!!!!!! Help me out with Allen and Ginter PLEASE! I made 4 separate page to cover my full sized haves and needs and the same thing for minis. I can't waste any more bucks on blasters. Especially with this many dupes kicking around. If you can help me out, I promise to do my best to make it worth your while...

I haven't listed them out yet, but I have ripped many, many blasters of each series from 2012 and 2013 Topps both and I have stacks upon stacks of inserts, parallels and singles, so if you have a needs list, send it my way.

All of my want lists, as well as my Ginter trade list are on the side bar. My address is, too. If we've traded before, I no longer have my post office box, so make a note of my new address. My e-mail address is the same, though. You can reach me right here.

Hey, thanks for reading my 3 AM rant. I should note that as I type I am watching (for the 2nd time) the replay of the Rays loss to the A's earlier today. Yep, they got swept and I am getting nervous. I still LOVE the Rays. I still collect their cards and you can find me at the Trop for nearly EVERY home game.

Thanks again for reading. I am going to bed.

Please trade with me! Wait... Una cosa mas (one more thing). I started the post with a Bill Buckner card. Question for parents out there. If you are going through cards with your child and they pick up this card and ask "who is Bill Buckner?". How do you respond? Just wondering. Signing off for real now...

Go Rays!
troll out.