Gint-A-Cuffs III: Packs 11-12

Here we go with 2 more packs of everyone's (not everyone) favorite set Allen & Ginter. The world loves Gint-A-Cuffs posts (no, they are tired of them) and I'm no exception (I read all of them).

Honestly, I do enjoy Gint-A-Cuffs. It's fun and makes the experience of opening a box last longer. I'm not just saying that because I won last year. (Really, I'm not.)

Total through 10 packs: 111 points.

Pack 11

151 Brandon Beachy (0 points)
112 Timothy Shieff (0 points)
Freerunning and parkour champion? I had to look it up, but I could so do this. (No I can't)






160 David Wright (+2 points favorite player of Spankee of My Cardboard Mistress)

239 Brett Myers (0 points)
Brian Wilson starter beard.
53 Chipper Jones (0 points)
Really, not a favorite???
300 Ryan Braun (0 points)
Not a favorite and OH SO CLOSE to an SP.



33 Curtis "effing" Granderson (+2 ad back mini, -1 Yankee = +1 point)




HH26 Torii Hunter Hometown Heroes (+1)


Pack 11 total: 4 points
Through 11 packs: 115 points

That sucked. That ties for the lowest pack total yet.

Pack 12

190 Sue Bird (0 points)



136 Dick Vitale (+1 bonus)
"It's awesome baby!"
255 David Price
285 Alex Rios
19 Daniel Bard




302 John Buck (+2 SP)
Marlins baby!



UG6 Uninvited Guests The Lemp Mansion mini (+3)
I ain't scared...much.




FF14 Floating Fortresses Solferino (+2)

Pack 12 total: 8 points
Through 12 packs: 123 points

That's a good score at the half-way point of the box. Can I maintain that pace? Can I pull another strong hit? Does anyone care? Of course you do. I decided to only do 2 packs this time so I could back on pace to finish Gint-A-Cuffs in 4 more posts. I'll have the next round up tomorrow. I know you just can't wait.

Don't look at me, I didn't pick out his name

I was trolling the Topps Diamond Giveaway site a few days ago making offers for those last few die cut cards I want when I saw a Washington Senators card that I just had to have.




How great is that name? Don't go thinking I just traded for it because of his name either. I needed that card for my extended Rangers collection that includes the pre-Rangers Senators cards.




Check out that season he had in 1967 at York. A fine 2.81 ERA with an 0-16 record. That's brutal! Dick only played one season in the majors and you can see all his stats on the back of this card. 21 games, 1-5 record and a 7.56 ERA.

Now I need to add his 1970 Topp Senators Rookie card and I'll have the entire Dick Such collection. Get your mind out of the gutter...

On a side note, the July contest starts tomorrow. It involves my mother-in-law and a pre-birthday birthday gift!

Cool Jr. Bipping

Some time back, I asked about a 2011 Bowman Nelson Cruz gold parallel that Ryan at This Card is Cool posted. That led to a trade that Ryan posted about here.




I love the way Ryan packed the cards. The card on the end of the stack was a 1996 SP Dean Palmer. I didn't understand the writing on the bag until I opened it. There was a Bip Jr. as Ryan put it because he sent me not 1, not 2, not even 3 or 4, but 5 of the '96 SP Palmers. I then noticed that the outside of the bag had "1960s Topps Pose" and a thought bubble that said "One day I'll coach high school baseball." That's funny stuff and makes for a more interesting trade package.

While Ryan and I discussed the deal, I discovered he had a stack of those pesky 2011 Topps Diamond Parallels. I'm not obsessing over the set, but I'd love to complete it eventually so we upped the ante and included 14 of those too.

I'm not even going to show you the Nelson Cruz, that got the deal started because this 2010 Finest Josh Hamilton is to nice. I never busted any of this and any time I can add another Ranger from Finest is alright by me.

Ryan, thanks for a great trade!

Gint-A-Cuffs III: Packs 8-10

I'm working the weekend and we're in hurry up and wait mode so I'm jumping in with 3 more packs for Gint-A-Cuffs III. Of course, there's no hurrying up with these posts because of the way I'm doing the pics, but I digress. Let us digress no more.

Total through 7 packs: 90 points
Pack 8

207 Brett Sinkbeil (0 points)
This guy's not the only one pulling a lot of Marlins.




246 Ian Kinsler (+1 favorite team)
I wonder if Ian is looking for that Geico Gecko? If you don't know what I'm talking about, you aren't paying attention to the card background.

184 Pedro Alvarez (0 points)
265 Buster Posey (0 points)
I don't like Buster. I don't like the Giants. Still, I wouldn't wish a broken leg on anybody. Well, maybe Brian Wilson.
156 Marlon Byrd (0 points)
Former Ranger



212 Aramis Ramirez (+3 points)
I had the images for this post loaded and was writing the post when I noticed this is a code card and had to add it. I wonder if any other 'Cuffers have missed some of these code cards. Did you???




167 Adam LaRoche (+2 ad back mini)




HH53 Justin Verlander Hometown Heroes (+1)

Pack 8 total: 7 points
Through 8 packs: 97 points

Pack 9

27 Dillon Gee (0 points)
227 Lucas Duda (0 points)
Two Mets in a row. I'm pulling lots of Mets. There's another one in this pack.
67 Delmon Young (0 points)
110 Josh Beckett (0 points)
Someone wake me when this pack is over.
91 Joel Pineiro (0 points)
Seriously, if the mini in this pack is a Yankee, I'm gonna puke.



347 Josh Thole (+2 SP)
I told you there was another Met coming up.



316 Manny Ramirez (+3 SP mini)
A mini Manny. Funny.




HH100 Travis Snider Hometown Heroes (+1)

Pack 9 total: 6 points
Through 9 packs: 103 points

I won't complain about hitting 100 with 15 packs to go. That 30 point Hamilton bat relic really helped.

Pack 10

286 Cory Luebke (0 points)
278 Travis Snider (0 points)
58 Alcides Escobar (0 points)
This pack is looking like the last pack...no points.
269 Derrek Lee




AOM 6 Platyhelminthes (+1)
Dumb scientific names.




349 Yuniesky Betancourt (+2 SP)
Dumb human names.





FFF3 Fabulous Face Flocculence Conscientious Objector (+4)
Dumb insert names. Ok, not really, I like this one.




HH90 Ryan Howard Hometown Heroes (+1)

Pack 10 total: 8 points
Through 10 packs: 111 points

There you have it. By the time you read this, I'll be working on my next Gint-A-Post. Don't hate me.

Please let me know if you see any scoring errors. I think it's easier to spot other people's errors than it is your own.

Nice Game Dutch

Derek Holland just pitched his 4th shutout of the season. Only one other pitcher has done that this season. Some guy named Cliff Lee.

Holland was amazing today. He only threw 95 pitches (69 strikes-26 balls) while giving up 4 singles. Three of the four singles were infield hits. He had one walk to go with his 5 Ks and more importantly, the Rangers won 3-0.

Now all we need is another Angels loss...

Gint-A-Cuffs III: Packs 6 and 7

How about we knock out a couple more of these packs? I'm working the dayshift on Thursday and Friday and won't have another post up until Monday (unless I can work on it during lunch).

Through 5 packs: 67 points

Pack 6

122 Ryan Dempster (0 points)
271 Chris Young (0 points)
189 Dexter Fowler (0 points)
100 Albert Pujols (0 points)
I'll echo the sentiments of a number of other bloggers...nobody chose Pujols as a favorite player? Surprise, surprise.



220 Prince Fielder (+3 code card)



BHS1 Minnesota Twins Sketch Card (+3)



307 Ryan Ludwick mini (+3 SP regular back mini)



HH50 Josh Hamilton Hometown Heroes (+1 HH, +4 My Favorite Player +5 total)

Pack 6 total: 14 points
Through 6 packs: 81 points

I need more packs like that one.

Pack 7



109 Martin Prado (+2 favoriter player of The Card Hobbyist)

83 Mat Hoffman (0 points)
Crazy BMXer

146 John Danks (0 points)
240 Matt Holliday (0 points)
186 Yunel Escobar (0 points)



328 Chris Johnson (+2 SP)



UG8 The Winchester Mystery House (+3)
I'd like to take a tour of that house. Who am I kidding, no I wouldn't.



MMF18 Sigmund Freud Minds that Made the Future (+2)

Pack 7 total: 9 points
Total through 7 packs: 90 points

I'm doing better than I thought I would be at this point. I'll be back with more packs on Monday.

Gint-A-Cuffs: Packs 4 and 5

Let's move forward with this thing. So far I've already pulled one of the three expected hits and it was a great one for Gint-A-Cuffs. We'll see what packs 4 and 5 have to add to the game.

Point total so far: 55 points
Pack 4




135 Kyle Petty (+1 race car dude)



47 Phil Hughes (-1 Stankee)
Thanks Yankee man.

103 Andres Torres (0 points)
181 Mark Buehrle (0 points)



AOM22 Homo Habilis Ascent of Man (+1)
These will be up for trade when this Gint-A-Cuffs madness is over.



332 Luke Hochevar (+2 SP)



210 Chase Utley regular back mini (0 points)
I already had this pic loaded before I realized it was zero points for a regular mini. Oh well.



HH74 Jayson Werth Hometown Heroes (+1)

Pack 4 total: 4 points
Total through 4 packs: 59 points

We'll have to do better than that.

Pack 5

5 Aroldis Chapman (0 points)
13 Brett Anderson (0 points)
137 Carlos Beltran (0 points)
This guy has been the talk of local Sports Stations and many trade deadline rumors.
1 Carlos Gonzalez (0 points)



AOM 14 Haplorrhini Ascent of Man (+1)



350 Joe Mauer (+2 SP)
We got to see Joe up close in the visitors bullpen two nights ago. It was great. I didn't enjoy seeing him drive in the winning run in the top of the 9th last night though.



PP5 Portraits of Penultimacy The Hare (+3)



MMF9 Elisha Otis Minds that Made the Future (+2)

Pack 5 total: 8 points
Total through 5 packs: 67 points

That does it for this installment of PATPs Gint-A-Cuffs TITLE DEFENSE!

You think the post office is bad now....just wait

This news story is making the rounds of the interweb news services.


Post offices may be closed

In an effort to bridge a budget gap, the U.S. Postal Service is reviewing more than 3,600 national postal branches for possible closure.

The Postal Service's budget woes come from the loss of customer traffic through increased use of email and online bill paying.

The reduction will only affect the Postal Service's retail services, such as buying stamps and mailing packages.


I don't know about you, but I already have to wait too long (most of the time) to mail packages. Our post office doesn't have one of the machines that allow you to weigh and pay without waiting. I wish it did.

Gint-A-Cuffs III: Packs 2 and 3

My plan is to do this 3 or 4 packs at a time, but I ran out of time to post and only got two packs worth of pictures done. Hey, time's a wastin', so let's get to the points shall we?

Total so far: 17 points

Pack 2

84 Gregory Infante
94 Josh Rodriguez
55 Dustin Pedroia
95 Dan Uggla
78 Luke Scott

306 Josh Willingham +2 SP




WMF7 The Man in the Iron Mask mini +3




FF5 Floating Fortresses Sovereign of the Seas +2

I'll be collecting this insert set. I love these.

Pack total: 7 points

Running total: 24 points

Pack 3

284 Eric Jackson
Until I held this card in my own hands, I thought he was playing an actual guitar.




79 Aimee Mullins +1
TTM material?

132 Colby Rasmus
16 Gordon Beckham




AGR-JH Josh Hamilton Bat relic +10 x 3 (my favorite player) = +30 points!

SWEET! Nothing better than a hit for your favorite team, unless it's a hit for your favorite player too!




47 Phil Hughes mini -1 points...figures




HH80 Cliff Lee +1

Pack total: 31 points

Running total: 55 points

That's it for now. I'll be back with more packs later this week. I'm sure you can't wait!

Twins hold the Rangers scoreless!!

Fortunately it was only in 2 of the 8 innings. Texas managed to squeeze
out a major league high 20 runs in the other 6 innings. They also had a major league high 27 hits.

The 4 errors were a little disappointing. I really want Chris Davis to succeed, but was the only starter without a hit (all the other starters had at least two) and he committed two of the four errors.

Still, it was a fun game to watch in person. There is nothing like an offensive explosion help you forget about the heat. Well, at least tolerate it.