2022 Topps Allen & Ginter Retail

Greetings!

Hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas and are getting ready for New Years hijinks!

First a PSA...I had my first colonoscopy a couple of days ago (you all didn't think a post would veer into health topics did you?).  Fortunately, nothing was found and I was given a clean bill of health, so I guess that means my next experience would be 10 years from now.  They need to find a better method than that liquid concoction they make you chug.  Anyway, if you're stalling about undergoing the procedure, just get it done with...it could save your life!

Since baseball cards are back at retail (especially if you time your visits around the time the card vendor stocked the shelves), there's more choices available for us.  There's still some things missing like rack packs (besides Topps Flagship) and gravity feeders, but these days you can go to the card aisle and generally spend a minute or two there looking at options as opposed a year or two ago.

A few weeks ago during a Target shift I saw a box of Allen & Ginter on the shelf.  All the packs were in the box so it must have been put there recently.  I'm not an A&G guy but I usually get a pack or two to sample the set.  I picked one up at the end of the day, $3.50 for 6 cards.  Here's who I got:

#249 - Drew Rosenhaus

#126 - Tom Seaver

Drew represents Gronk, among other NFL players.  Nothing wrong with getting Tom Terrific either.

#324 - Sal Bando

Here's a guy you don't expect to see in sets these days.  Bando is a Short Print, which comes 1 in every 2 packs.

There's 350 cards in the set, but there are some oddities.  Cards #167 and 181 do not exist, and there are 2 versions of Cards #337 and #344 (in the SP section).  Those second versions, for Manny Ramirez and Luis Castillo, are not Short Prints, which makes me think they were supposed to be in the main set.  Great quality control during your pandemic-related delays, Topps.

#BS-43 - Reggie Jackson (Banner Season)

#TO-1 - Power Outage (Time Out! Mini Set)

There's 50 cards in the Banner Season set, while there's just 10 cards in the Time Out! set.  

#189 - Rob Riggle

Hey, not a bad final card.  The Marine-turned-Comedian has been in a bunch of fun stuff, from Step Brothers to Holey Moley.

Here's some card backs because New Year's:

Anyway, that's the pack.  Odd to open a pack of baseball cards and not get a current player but that's A&G for you.

Everyone have a safe and happy New Year!  May 2023 be infinitely better than 2022!  Get that colon checked...and thanks for reading!