... oh wait, yes I can. Because I don't have a checklist and we're just shy of 10 days from release. What else is new though, right?
I would like to take a few moments to give my thoughts on this year's Ginter, prior to release. That is, based on the sell-sheet alone. Because that's all we have.
1) First and foremost, production is going to be up. Like, waaaay up. As in, I expect it to make mini insert sets from 2011 look super-short printed. I have almost no basis on which to justify these crazy claims, mind you, but I just have that feeling that Topps is going to swing for the fences here with all the rookie star power that is on the table this year. Bryant, Pederson, Buxton, Sano, Correra, some other guys... You get the picture. While I'm skeptical that Buxton or Sano are going to be in the set except perhaps as a SSP (like Strausburg in 2010?) there is going to be demand for rookie cards. There always is. And Ginter has some of the nicest rookie cards, in my opinion. So, it is a logical leap to think that production is going to be way up. Plus, last year, it would appear as though production was way down, which is why it was such an incredible product last year. Which is a shame. If it isn't broke, don't fix it.
2) It's going to be like an observatory with all the star power. The aforementioned names, Ichiro, Abreu, Puig... I mean, you'd think that there wouldn't be a single so-called scrub auto in the lot. But there probably will be. I suspect baseball autos are going to be more common than last year. Personally, I'm hoping that Brian Dozier gets an auto, or is even a subject in the set. Poor guy hasn't had an auto since Finest 2012. He's having one heck of a season and let's face it, if it weren't for Royals fans being mad their team couldn't win the World Series last year and having to flex their e-peen by hacking voting and stuffing the ballot, he'd be in the All Star Game.
As an aside, if you're a Royals fan, I feel sorry for you. Because either you're part of the ballot stuffing crowd, or you're getting lumped with them. If there's one thing that I've learned from baseball, it's the key to success rests in cheating. I need to use PEDs, gamble on baseball, use foreign substances, and blah blah blah and then I'm a Hall of Famer or people still love me. Or both. Whatever. The Twins are doing pretty well given the highest anyone would rank them pre-season was finishing 2nd to last, and even that was a long-shot.
3) I don't think I've actually stayed on topic during this entire blog post. That is awesome.
4) People have already claimed that the product is going to suck. (I'm looking at YOU, Blowout Forums...) I'll admit, the sell-sheet was very heavy on parallels for filler and really nothing new or unique that we've come to expect from Ginter. But, one thing I don't think we should discount is the fact that Ginter always has something up its sleeve. Unannounced inserts, crazy hits, whatever. Honestly, unless they plan for it to be the last year of the brand (at least for a bit...) and they want it to end on a crap note, it better be good.
I don't know how I feel exactly about all of these "Ginter Buybacks". I mean, the cards are between 7-10 years old, right? Not exactly revving my engine. Granted you have some pretty awesome subjects in those early products, Danica Patrick, Mia Hamm, and Dennis Rodman come to mind. Of course, we have the return of Hulk Hogan, who could forget that... Anyways, long story short, I don't think I like the stamped buybacks, I especially hated them in Topps Series 1/2 from last year so I don't know why I would like them in Ginter, aside from the fact they are Ginter.
5) I still haven't actually completed any of my mini sets that I've been working on. I'm quite literally a failure at collecting. Though I have boxes upon boxes of minis, which is rather astonishing to me...
Anyways. To conclude, I'd like to say that I have an inkling that I'm due for something... significant. I don't know what, if it's just a big-name SP auto, or an auto'd patch booklet or whatever. But there will be some odds-defying going on when I rip my first-ever case. And I'm not referring to my "guaranteed" RIP card. Though I have not technically pulled one of those myself yet. Maybe a nice wood mini of Kris Bryant. That would be alright, I think.
Anyways. As always, keep it in the family.
-GG
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