While retro-themed baseball card sets have been popular for quite some time, Topps took the concept to its logical extreme in 2006 with Allen and Ginter Baseball - cards that looked like the very first trading cards from late 1800s tobacco products. The idea proved so popular that the brand returns for 2007, fusing old school aesthetic with modern sensibility.
Hobby boxes of 2007 Allen and Ginter Baseball hold 24 packs of eight cards each, plus a box topper pack. On average, boxes should produce two autographs, relics, printing plates, Allen and Ginter originals or rip cards.
Base Cards
Just like its debut in 2006, the 2007 Topps Allen and Ginter base cards are intended to look just like the tobacco cards from over a century ago that inspired the set. The pictures of the athletes are mostly from the waist up, set against a white background and made to look like they are paintings. The athlete's names and the brand info are located at the bottom of the cards.
Card backs contain some relevant statistics, but in the style of the old cards, many of the stats are spelled out as complete words. It's a nice little touch that adds to the overall package.
In another homage to the original cards, the Allen and Ginter base set features more than just baseball players. Along with MLB veterans and rookies, collectors will find 31 historic figures and 20 world champions from other sports, like diver Greg Louganis, boxer Laila Ali and martial artist/actor Bruce Lee.
To add to the challenge of assembling the 350-card base set, Topps also short-printed 50 cards that can be found at the rate of 1:2 packs.
My review box had excellent collation, producing 143 base cards (including 12 short prints) with no duplicates.
Mini Cards
More then just a parallel, the mini cards that are found in each pack are significant because they are the same size as the original Allen and Ginter cards - 1 15/32" by 2 11/16". Aside from their size, they share the same design as the base cards, though with different backs.
And speaking of those card backs, they help differentiate some of the different parallel levels of the mini cards. While regular minis fall one per pack, minis with an Allen & Ginter back are seeded 1:5 packs, while minis with the Bazooka logo are numbered to 25. Minis with normal backs but no card numbers have print runs of 50 copies.
There are also black-bordered parallel minis seeded 1:10 packs, and rare one-of-one minis printed on wood and found only in hobby boxes. Finally, some packs contain mini insert cards that depict the flags of 50 different nations.
The About.com sample box had a mini card in all but one pack: 14 regular minis (including Astros rookie Hunter Pence), six Allen & Ginter backs, one black-bordered parallel and two flags.
Insert Cards
Instead of a decoy card to prevent pack searching, Allen and Ginter uses a super-thick insert card. Packs without autograph or relic cards contain inserts with sketches of 30 different MLB players by Dick Perez - the official artist of the Baseball Hall of Fame, and a man well known for his work for baseball card products.
The other insert isn't listed on the checklist that comes with the product or on Topps' website, but it's one that collectors should know from the company's other 2007 baseball sets. It's the A-Rod Road to 500 continuity insert, with cards that commemorate 25 more of Alex Rodriguez's career home runs.
I found 22 Perez sketch cards plus one A-Rod Road to 500 card in my review box.
Relic Cards and Autographed Cards
Most boxes of Allen and Ginter hold two relic cards (Topps' term for memorabilia cards) that stay true to the rest of the set with unique designs. The relic swatches are contained within a mini card, which is sealed inside plastic and set inside a frame that is the size of a regular baseball card. Some of the relics can be seen from both sides of the card, though the two in my box could not.
There are the usual game-used baseball relics from 50 MLB players (big names include Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds and Mickey Mantle), but also unique cards with items worn by the non-baseball personalities in the set. Even George Washington - yes, the father of the United States - makes an appearance on the relic checklist with pieces like an actual hair from a powdered wig he once wore.
Allen and Ginter also has autographs from a number of its subjects, and once again the signatures of the non-baseball players are likely to be in high demand. After the set was released, Topps announced a number of short-printed autographs from the likes of Laila Ali, Dennis Rodman and Jeopardy! champ Ken Jennings.
The biggest signed cards to be found are 1-of-1 cut signatures from ten historical figures like Franklin D. Roosevelt, Orville Wright and Roy Rogers. The Mother Teresa autograph was pulled at this year's National Sports Collectors Convention, and industry experts expect it to bring a five-digit price tag when it sells.
Nothing that interesting popped up in my sample box, but I did pull a Dontrelle Willis jersey card and a Prince Fielder bat card.
