2016 Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball preview

Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball is always a fun product to open, with its unique and retro take on the national pastime combined with a study of subjects well outside the foul lines of any baseball diamond. 2016 Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball, the 11th release of the brand, will feature three hits per box.

The base set keeps its traditional format of 300 regular cards plus 50 short prints (#301-350) that land one in every other pack. Mini parallels came in eight different styles: Mini base parallel, Allen & Ginter Back (1:5 packs), Black-Bordered (1:10 packs), No Number, Brooklyn Back (#’d to 25), Wood (Hobby exclusive, #’d 1/1), Glossy (#’d 1/1) and Mini Metal parallel (only 100 subjects, hobby exclusive, #’d to 3). There are an additional 150 framed mini cloth cards (#’d to 10) as well as one-of-one mini, framed printing plates. The only full-sized parallel is a one-of-one Glossy version of each of the 350 base cards.

Full-sized inserts include a 100-card subset called The Numbers Game. These reveal the story of how certain players chose their uniform numbers. Baseball Legends highlight 25 of the greatest players to set foot on a diamond. Natural Wonders document 20 of Mother Nature’s greatest creations. Mini inserts (1:5 packs) cover several subjects beyond the world of baseball, including U.S. Mayors, Subway & Streetcars (modes of transportation), Laureates of Peace (Nobel Prize winners) and Ferocious Felines.

Relic hits in 2016 Allen & Ginter come in two different designs (A & B) with 60 subjects for each. There are an additional 50 Framed Mini Relics. New for this year are Ancient Rome Relics, which contain a coin from the ancient Roman Empire. These are hobby exclusives and have rare one-of-one Silver coin parallel versions.

Allen & Ginter Autographs come framed with an on-card signature. One of the more exciting aspects of A&G autographs are the non-baseball subjects Topps gets to sign for the product. Last year these included Val Kilmer, Mike Mills from REM, ESPN’s Darren Rovell and Sylvester Stallone and Hulk Hogan as their characters from the Rocky movie franchise. Topps has already revealed that Kevin Costner will have autographs in this year’s release featuring his character Ray Kinsella from the movie Field of Dreams. Costner will also appear in 2016 Topps Archives Baseball on Crash Davis cards from the movie Bull Durham. Black Framed autograph parallels will be numbered out of 25, while Red Ink parallels are numbered to just ten.

Additional autograph hits in Allen & Ginter include hobby exclusive Book Cards that feature a relic swatch and player signature. There will be as many 50 different booklets that will be numbered out of ten. Topps has also inserted one-of-one Cut Signatures of important political and historical figures.

Allen & Ginter Rip Cards return as a special case hit. If you dare to rip them you will find a special mini card inside that could be one of the following: Artists Originals featuring hand-painted artwork, Allen & Ginter Red Autograph (#’d to 10) or an Allen & Ginter Mini Exclusive. Mini Exclusive are an extension of the base set with cards numbered 351-400. Exclusive have Wood (#’d 1/1) and Metal (#’d to 3) parallel versions.

Hobby boxes of Allen & Ginter come with a special box loader. These can be a basic card, relic (#’d to 25), autograph (#’d to 15), auto relic (#’d to 5), cut signature (#’d 1/1) or Cabinet relic (#’d 1/1) Cabinet relics come with large relic swatches that can include portions of a jersey nameplate.