I, like many of my fellow collectors, are putting together a set of Allen and Ginter mini cards, inspired by the Cardboard Junkie's "2006-2010 Allen & Ginter combination mini FrankenSet."
I don't really have a name for it, per se, but I am working on Amalgamated Miniature Allen and Ginter Set. A little bulky, but how often does one get to use amalgamated in a sentence?
It is a fun set to make, and I love pulling a mini and then running down to my subterranean lair, by which I mean my basement, and seeing where the card will slot in. Usually it goes into an empty spot, because I only have 77 out of a possible 350 spots filled. I am still a Ginter novice.
I wonder, of all the frankenmini sets out there how much overlap there is. There are some no brainers as far as card selection goes, and then some tough calls, too. Everyone has a favorite team or players, and teams and players they don't like. And some folks don't like the "other" cards in the Ginter sets (although if they don't like that, I don't know why they collect Ginter.)
For example, I pulled card number 285 from a pack of 2006 Ginter I ripped the other day, none other than legend Yogi Berra. A no brainer, most likely. But the spot was occupied. By a black bordered 2010 Arod.
So yea, a no brainer. Black border or not, Arod was gone. First, because it was Arod, despite his future HOF spot. Second, it was a 2010, the worst design as of yet for A&G. The black border does not save it. But what else does spot 285 hold in the remaining sets?
2007; Nick Johnson (only slightly better than a blank space)
2008; Brandon Phillips. Despite having met him once, and even getting his auto, not Yogi Berra.
2009; George Kotteras (rookie). A catcher, but still, a no brainer.
So in that spot, Yogi is a no brainer.
Lets look at another spot, number 92.
In 2010, and holding the spot as the only 92 in my collection, is Randy Oitker, a champion bowman. Pretty cool, an obscure card of a champion.
Who wins?
In 2006, holding the spot is Frank Thomas. Hmm. The Big Hurt is pretty badass.
2007; Victor Martinez
2008; Dan Jensen, speed skater
2009; Joe Mauer.
So in short, 92 is a pretty good slot. I guess the choice would come down to card design, and ol' Randy, for all his plaid goodness, would probably be one of the first cut. Jensen too, unless the card is awesome. Who do you take between Mauer and Frank Thomas? Victor probably falls to them both at this point in his career. Maybe a variation back or border helps this one.
But for me, right now at least, Randy still holds the spot. But only because I don't have a Big Hurt of a Joe Mauer.
Lets look at another. Spot 13.
Right now, my spot is occupied by a free agent, a no number on back 2007 black bordered Michael Cuddyer. Normally, Cuddyer occupies spot 253, but since this card has no number, I just picked a random spot and stuck him in. He can move at will, and will get bumped as soon as a an actual 13 comes along. He is one of two free agents in my Amalgamated Ginter set.
And it will be one of five choices;
2006, Juan Pierre
2007, Eleanor Roosevelt
2008, Mike Lowell
2009, Jermaine Dye
2010, B.J. Upton
Another interesting choice. I like Roosevelt, but Lowell is a Red Sox...
So in short, it would be fascinating to peek at other GinterStein collectors checklists, to see where the overlap is. And it would be equally fascinating to see, if we all had every mini, who would get the slots.
Below are the Ginter Checklists through the years.
Good luck on this set, but you may end up following my path of wanting to collect even more of these minis and try for all the sets. I found myself saying the same thing with a handful of numbers. I said to myself that I couldn't bear to omit some cool cards because they shared the same number, so I said the hello with it and I'll collect all and any that I can find.
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