The Gint-A-Cuffs Train Keeps a Rollin'...

With 48 points so far on my 2011 Gint-A-Cuffs run, it is time for pack #7, aka my MONEY PACK! Here is what I got…
Card #231 of Rangers pitcher CJ Wilson. He is followed by Phillies slugger Ryan Howard on card #65. I checked the favorite player list twice for Howard, but that is a negative… Next up is a sweet horizontal card of Howard’s teammate and 2008 Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee on card #290. Again, negative on the FP list. Hmm…
Who needs the fav player list when you’re pulling short prints? Next up is card #327 of Nationals closer Drew Storen. The 2009 first rounder is having a great year so far with a 6-2 record, 2.77 ERA and 34 saves. Even better is that Storen earns me 2 points for being a short print.
The next card is #241 of New York Mets first baseman and first round pick from 2008, Ike Davis. No points…
Card #6 in pack #7 is another sweet horizontal card and I have to say I definitely prefer the horizontals in this year’s Ginter. I prefer this cuz it is card #236 of Rays centerfielder BJ Upton. It is the first card I have pulled from my favorite team which earns me a point, plus it is probably the coolest looking A and G Upton card I have seen so far… That brings my point total for this pack up to 3 (and counting!).
Next up is card # HH40 of Brewers first baseman and 2011 MVP candidate Prince Fielder. Again, how is this dude not on the fav player list??? Either way I get a point for being a Hometown Heroes card… Prince Fielder is a fellow Floridian. I was born in Broward County, Fielder is from Brevard. He went to the same high school as Tim Wakefield. Cool. Four points so far…
My last card is a little one. A high points, super awesome little one. It is card #140 of 2010 Cy Young Award winner King Felix Hernandez AND it is a black bordered mini. That is plus 3 for BB-mini and another plus 3 for pulling a mini from the Favorite Player List. Finally! The 6 points for King Felix makes this pack worth 10 points. That brings my grand total up to 58. Not too shabby…
I have 17 more packs to rip and I totally plan on knocking them out quickly. I have a deeper reason. My wife is getting less pleased about the 17 packs of cards sitting all over the house. I don’t wanna put any cards into the binder until I post them. They really need to get these cards put away which means I really need to get them posted…
Aside from BJ, everything is up for trade… More Gint-A-Cuffs fun to come! Go Rays! Troll out.

The Historic, First Ever, CT Gint-A-Cuffs Post, I Am In!

So I suppose now is as good a time as any to start posting my box for this year’s Gint-A-Cuffs… I bought and ripped this thing a while back. It actually seems like a lifetime ago that I ripped these. My wife and I made a date of it and we each ripped 12 packs and kinda went head-to-head. I think I won, but wait, that isn’t really possible, is it? Anyway I have the rules printed out along with the favorite player’s list, so I am ready to post! Here is pack #1 and #2. These were my rips. I am pretty sure these are steps 1 and 2 towards my Gint-A-Cuffs championship. Here we go!
Pack numero uno… The pack states that I was supposed to get 8 cards. I didn’t. This is what I did get…
#188 Geovany Soto. Meh.
#217 Shaun Marcum. Meh, meh.
#265 Buster Posey. I THOUGHT he might be on someone’s fav player list. He aint.
#1 Carlos Gonzalez. This dude has a monster year last year… AND card #1 is out of the way…
#148 Sanya Richards. No extra points for pulling super fast Jamaican ladies…
#136. Dick Vitale… Its awesome baby, I am getting a point!!!
My last card is #SPU8 of the Strongman. Good for 3 points.
Okay, one pack in and I got 4 points. That’s good right….
On to pack #2.
Here we go!
We start off with #91 of Joel Pineiro.
#116 of Josh Beckett. 2 people have Jon Lester as their fav player, yet no one likes Josh Beckett. Go figure.
#32 Dirk Hayhurst. I really feel like I should lose a LOT of points for pulling this card.
This pack ends with just 3 base cards, here is what else I got…
Ascent of Man, #AOM 26. I really like this set. If you finish it you must put it in binder pages, it makes a really cool picture. This card on the other hand is supposed to show the epitome of human evolution, a dude peeing in the street. Still I get +3 for it…
Hometown Heroes, #HH60 of A-Rod. Stoopid A-Rod. Get a point for HH, lose a point for stoopid A-Rod. And by the way, I am a Floridian and he aint a home town hero down here...
Next, a hit?
Card #AGR-FC – A bat relic of Yankees 12th string catcher Francisco Cervelli. 10 points for a relic, divide by two cuz he is a stoopid Yankee. GRR.
And the last card is a base mine, #179 of the Flyin’ Hawaiian Shane Victorino. No points.
Okay, got 4 points on my first pack, 8 on my second. The championship is mine!!! Two packs in and I sit at 12 points. There are 22 more packs to come. Stay tuned. Oh, by the way, EVERYTHING is up for trade.
Go Rays! Troll out.

WARNING! 2011 A & G Post -- Seven out of Ten Portraits of Penultimacy Minis For Viewing or Trading...

I have been pretty lucky with Allen and Ginter so far this year (2011). I haven’t pulled anything, but I got together a local network of collectors to split 2 cases of the product. I did horrible on my box, but I have been getting dupes from everyone else, so set-wise I am doing pretty well… Of course no one has dupes of rip cards, autos, rare minis, etc., but pending delivery I think I have the base set (1-350) finished, plus many of the normal minis sets as well. I know that many bloggers and collectors hate this time of year with Ginter Overload and all. I admit that I get tired of it, too, but it doesn’t make me love this product less…

Honestly I get more excited if I get a 2008 mini that I need than I would if I got a great card from 2011, but whatever… As I get some dupes myself I will post them here to help out the rest of you trying to finish your mini sets. I am going to begin with the Portraits of Penultimacy mini set. Very cool word you don’t see too often. The first time I saw it in print was in reference to Scottie Pippen, the second fiddle on the Championship Bulls teams of the 1990s. I haven’t finished the set, nor have I scanned the checklist – I wonder if old Scottie Pippen is in this one. He would fit in perfectly.

Okay, everything here (other than Toto, for now) is up for trade. I have several copies of some of these. Anyway, as y’all now, I am still trying to finish off the regular Topps sets from 2007 – 2011, PLUS Rays gold cards, PLUS Rays Ginter minis, plus 2008 Upper Deck Documentary, PLUS 2010 Allen and Ginter, plus some Vintage sets. In other words, I am pretty easy to trade with…
Here we go! Starting with card # PP1 of unaccredited telephone innovator Antonio Meucci. Wow, I have nothing to say about him, how often does that happen?
Card number PP4 of deranged blacksmith and Dr. Frankenstein’s assistant, Igor. I’m gonna guess that Igor is even shorter than Tim Collins, so I guess that makes him pretty cool. I guess.
Card number PP5 is my favorite of the set so far… It features the hype machine known as the Hare. The unbeatable speedster who lost a race in one of the great upsets of all time…
Card #PP6 features the Lone Rangers faithful sidekick Tonto… I am quickly running out of time before I am expected to actually work while at work, so…
Card PP7 shows composer Antonio Salieri, while card PP8 features Sancho Panza, squire to Don Quixote… The final card I have is of a little dog… Card #PP10 of Dorothy’s pooch Toto.
Everything is up for trade… Get in touch and these minis could be yours... Oh, by the way, I dug out my checklist for 2011 Ginter and there is no Scottie Pippen card included. I am missing 3 cards to finish this one off... Thomas Dewey, Doctor Watson and Mike Gellner. If the last card is the Mike Gellner I think it is, I WANT IT!!! Cheers! Go Rays! Troll out.

Gint-A-Cuffs ---- I AM IN!!!!

I started blogging in 2009, my first post was around this time of year, when just about every blog was filled with images of Allen and Ginter. By the time I figured out what it was and where to buy it, Gint-A-Cuffs was winding down. Last year I was poised and ready to be a part of it. I signed up, I trash-talked, I bought a new binder and pages and dreamed of pulling rip cards. THEN I realized how broke I was and I never got a box. Hell, I still haven't even finished last years set...

This year, 2011, I am IN!!!!! I stopped by the LCS today. He had picked up a case from his supplier this morning. Within an hour of opening up his case was sold and I GOT A BOX!!! It seems that I always join the party late, but today I was right on time. Of course it is time to go to work so I have to wait till after midnight to get to ripping, but for now I am just thrilled to show off this picture of MY BOX in my HAND!!! 2011 Gint-A-Cuffs Champion, Troll out!!!!!!