6-Pack Analysis: Or, How I Suddenly Yearn for a Allen & Ginter Silk Shirt

Well, we've made it to the end of the 6-Pack Analysis of 2008 Topps Allen & Ginter without encountering a true Perfect Pack. Pack 1 came close, but then Matt Cain and his losing record crashed the party. Packs 2 through 5 didn't really pass the test, either.

And of course, as I noted at the top of this exercise, the idea of the Perfect Pack has changed. With so few cards per pack and a bevy of relatively easy-to-find chase cards numbering into the thousands, it's increasingly difficult to rate base cards. Therefore, for the purposes of this 6-Pack Analysis, all cards were treated as base cards. When a David Wright relic card appeared in Pack 1, it was rated as one singular card in a pack of eight cards, not weighted to the value of two or three cards.

Based on the overall strength of Pack 1, it came as a surprise to me that Packs 2 through 5 didn't pass muster. Some other things that surprised me:

• I got 4 relic cards in the box that I opened

• I didn't get any doubles

• I got a smattering of inserts, including a Fukudome card with no number and a baby Team Orange card that I kind of like (even if the team is fictional)

One more thing: I've started calling mini cards Baby [Player Name], so watch out.


Pack 6

Khalil Greene The funkiest name of any white boy--wasted on a mediocre shortstop.

Troy Tulowitzki Troy looks bored out of his mind. I guess that's what happens when you're injured for the whole year.

Mark Buehrle Buehrle has the same eyes as Rich Gossage. And if you squint hard enough, you can almost see Goose's fu manchu facial hair on Mark's face, can't you? Someone ought to start a letter-writing campaign to Buerhle...

A.J. Pierzynski Who would win in a lunchroom free-for-all: Shawn Chacon or A.J. Pierzynski?

Baby John Lackey The man got within two outs of tossing the first visitor's no-hitter at Fenway in fifty years.

Carlos Zambrano Framed Silk (#1/10) This is the dumbest-looking card I've seen come out of one of these packs. And yet... wouldn't it be kind of cool to sew all the silk cards into a shirt?

Bram Stoker Just out of curiosity, who were the 40 or so players that were left out of this set to make room for the World's Champions subset? Had I been bumped for James Fenimore Cooper, I would probably would've been pissed. Bram Stoker? Not so much.

Luke Scott Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Irrelevant!


•••

Pack 6 Success Rate: 62.5% (5/8)
Good: Baby Lackey, Stoker, Pierzynski, Buerhle, Zambrano
Bad: Greene, Scott, Pierzynski

Ah hell, move Pierzynski up to the 'Good' side of life and give this one a 75% Success Rate.

So, what to do now? Well, for one thing the Code thing intrigues me, but I'm not good with ciphers, so I won't seriously entertain cracking it.

Do I like the set? Yes. I wish a few things had been done differently, like alternate artwork used on the baby, er, mini cards. But the base card is nice, and I enjoyed opening a box and not finding a single double. It encourages building a set.

6-Pack Analysis: Todd Benzinger Edition

Lately i've been thinking of old Red Sox alums. Guys like Jody Reed (he always appeared abnormally sweaty on his cards), Ellis Burks, Glenn Hoffman, and Todd Benzinger. Burks was always my favorite, and it deeply saddened me the day he left as a free agent. But I can see why he left.

Boston's a funny place to watch sports. Maybe I should rephrase that. The dynamic of sport in Boston is funny to follow. Baseball has always been a soap opera here, from Ted Williams feuding with the writers, to Buddy LeRoux failing to send Carlton Fisk his contract, to the seven-year Manny Ramirez trade rumor, every game is analyzed as if it were part of postseason play, every players scrutinized for every at-bat, every throw, and every bullpen session thrown.

And I'm not just talking about the writers or talk radio. I'm talking about every fan. Even those who are not fans knows someone who lives and dies with the fate of the Red Sox. And if it's not the Red Sox, then it's the Bruins. Or the Celtics. Or the Patriots. And don't forget the Revolution. And we haven't even gotten to college sports yet.

Watching games in a pressure-cooker atmosphere is not for the faint of heart, and I can only imagine how the players feel. Every game is the biggest game of the year. At least players can keep an outsider's perspective. They can call their families in other cities around the country (and the world) and share a laugh over the crazed attitudes of rabid New Englanders.

It's not surprising when a player like Manny Ramirez decides he wants out. Especially a player who's lambasted daily by one Dan Shaughnessy (as a side note, Shaughnessy is the only one of his generation of name sportswriters at The Boston Globe not to land a job on a major television network. Jackie MacMullan, Bob Ryan, Will McDonough, and Peter Gammons have all gained (or did gain, in McDonough's case) national prominence as a national network television sports analyst. And yes, I'm counting ESPN as a national network.), he of Curse of the Bambino fame (I believe Shaughnessy also helped coin the now ubiquitous term 'Red Sox Nation').

So it's funny that I've been thinking of those old Red Sox, because as I opened Pack 5, I got a card of Todd Benzinger Incarnate.

Pack 5

Jeremy Bonderman That's a six-syllable name, for those of you counting at home, and the first of two white guys with long last names to start the pack.

Chad Billingsley I hope Chad's first name is really Chaddington. That would make my day.

Carlos Lee So much for the streak of white guys with long names. We'll have to start a new streak, this one of All-Stars named Carlos.

Carlos Guillen Current streak alive at two, which in itself is impressive. I had a 2 in 399 chance of getting an All-Star Carlos. It's too bad I already got Beltran in another pack; I could've pulled the trifecta.

Mini World Leaders: Mirek Topolanek, Czech Republic What kind of card back is this? I don't even get Topolanek's career highlights? Boo!

Matt Holliday/Oklahoma How many more years before the Mantle comparisons come out? I mean, the fact that Matt Holliday is from Oklahoma pretty much cements that it will happen eventually, right?

Nyjer Morgan The name 'Njer' comes from the Latin 'Nyjerious' or 'to languish on a team that itself belongs in Triple AAA.'

Clayton Kershaw Todd Benzinger is Alive and Well and Pitching in Los Angeles.


•••


Pack 5 Success Rate: 50% (4/8)
Good: Holliday, Guillen, Lee, Topolanek
Bad: Billingsley, Morgan, Bonderman
Ugly: Kershaw



Look for Pack 6 tomorrow!

6-Pack Analysis: What the Kids Want

I was approached by a band of 10-year-olds as I tried to convince myself to buy a $20 blaster box of Topps Opening Day. I felt silly enough standing there by myself in Target, right up next to the cash registers; an open target for the silent judgment of the other shoppers. But to be given advice by a pack of 4th graders really took me down a few notches.

That said, what they told me was very interesting. They said that there was no reason to buy Opening Day, that it was crap because it didn't have memorabilia cards. They said what I really should've bought was Topps Chrome. When I mentioned that you only got 4 cards per pack and the pack cost $3.50, they said it didn't matter. Chrome was what I should be buying. And here I was getting psyched about mascot cards aimed at the very audience who rejected them.

•••

Here's something I just noticed about the Allen & Ginter checklist. The Hero Numbered cards are all of players who are currently Topps spokesmen: Alex Rodriguez (#1); David Wright (#100); David Ortiz (#200); Ryan Howard (#300, #400). I wonder if this has been a common practice for Topps; I've never noticed it before. Then again, maybe it's never been this obvious.

•••

Pack 4...

Jose Valverde I'm not quite sure who or what Jose's looking at in his photo, but it sure ain't the camera.

Troy Glaus How did Glaus get out of the Mitchell Report stranglehold with nary a scratch?

Gil Meche Every time I get a card of Meche, I can't help but think of Philip Roth's Great American Novel, and now that Topps has included a card of Gilgamesh in its 'Ancient Icons' insert set, well...

Howie Kendrick Here's another photo taken from the ground up. Kendrick is 5'10". Why couldn't the photographer just stand up and take the shot at eye level? I understand the fundamental reasoning behind shooting someone from the ground up: you want to give the subject a larger-than-life persona. But it gets tiresome, especially when the guy you're trying to immortalize platoons at second base.

Jason Giambi Watching the Yankees/Red Sox series, it's interesting to note how different Giambi's arms look from his steroid days.

Mini Ryan Braun Nice-looking card. These mini cards would've been even cooler had Topps used photography not on the players' regular cards. It would've been twice the amount of work, sure, but collectors are not exactly shelling out chump change for these cards.

Shane Victorino/Hawaii state flag This is the first time I've ever seen the Hawaii state flag, and I have to say it's already my favorite.

Empire State Building What a great card! You know what the best part is about the 'World's Champions' subset? It's a subset, not an insert set. Also, the WCs for 2008 are a much better class than in previous years, if you ask me (though still no Sir Garry Sobers).

•••

Pack 4 Success Rate: 75% (6/8)
I was psyched for this to be a great pack, but the inclusion of Kendrick and Valverde makes it only above average. And by the way, I know I should be pleased to get Jose Valverde in a pack, but I'm not. It's a bad photo, and really I don't care very much about relievers or the Astros in general.


Pack 5 coming soon!

6-Pack Analysis: Color Distribution

Abstract color used to be a staple of Topps baseball card design. 1952, 1954, 1955, 1958, 1959, and 1960 all feature color prominently either as a photo backdrop or design flourish. Heck, even 1951's two sets are known by their color distinction (Red and Blue). Color made a brief comeback in the 1970s (1971's black border, team-color-coded frames in 1972 and 1975), and then seemed to disappear.

Nowadays the only place you'll find as liberal a use of abstract color is in Heritage and other retro sets. For a fan of abstract design, that's kind of depressing, but then again, retro sets seem to crowd the marketplace these days.

The reason I bring this up is that abstract color makes a small but memorable appearance on A & G cards. I'm wondering how the designers decided which color to use for which player, and if some colors are used more often than others. Yellow, blue, green, pink, greenish-grey--five colors total. And while I don't have a complete set to figure accurate percentages, I'd say from the cards that I do have, color distribution is pretty even.

Color distribution probably is not something you think about too much, I know I don't. But I also know that in those sets where color plays a starring role, it really bugs me when so many cards of the same color end up next to each other on the checklist. If we were discussing the color distribution patterns of early Nineties Score, I wouldn't have a problem; a card's color was based on the series it appeared in. But the meritocratic checklisting system Topps employed for so many years gave each set the illusion of being a random jumble of cards. By extension, shouldn't the color assignment for each card also have been random? I'm not entirely convinced the color of backdrop was part of the meritocratic system, but it's worth investigating.

And now...

Pack 3

Adrian Beltre If Carlos Beltran is the Generic Superstar, Adrian Beltre is a Generic Star.

Jorge Posada With Posada's career winding down, here's a question: Does he deserve to get into the Hall of Fame? Gut instinct says probably not.

Nick Markakis You know what I like? I like that some of the most exciting young players in the game play in the AL East division, and none of them play for the Red Sox or Yankees. Nick Markakis, Carl Crawford, BJ Upton, Evan Longoria, Scott Kazmir... actually, Markakis is the only one of those guys not with Tampa Bay. This means he's on the first bus outta Baltimore when his contract expires, he's gunning for a one-year wonder with the Orioles in a stacked division, or Nick has resigned himself to a career of personal achievement, not team success.

Fausto Carmona I find it interesting (and bad business for teams) that pitchers can put together one or two great years and then cash in for a gigantic contract. Now, Fausto Carmona is a good pitcher. But before he won 19 games last year, he was 1-10 in 2006. Is that kind of consistency worth upwards of $48 million for the next four to seven years? Even if he wins 15-19 games a year for all seven of those years, you're not looking at a Hall of Famer, and you may not even be looking at the next Rick Wise. I think the idea of the contract year is very short-sighted. And don't even get me started on Barry Zito. Fausto sure does look happy on this card though.

Francisco Liriano Gotta feel bad for Liriano. He goes from boy genius to being on the shelf for a year to wowing triple AAA crowds and yet the big league team doesn't have room for him. (By the way, if you have the video game MLB: The Show 2006, Liriano's slider is almost unhittable.)

Mini Austin Kearns I think it's really too bad the team in Washington isn't called The Senators. Did the franchise want to dissociate itself from that hapless moniker? Because really all they're doing is muddying up their current name.

Roy Halladay/Colorado State Flag The Colorado flag is cool. I wonder what the symbolism means. It kind of looks like a belt buckle.

Jesse Carlson Says he was born in December 1980, so that makes him a 27 year-old rookie. And so far he's doing fairly well in a middle-relief role for the Jays. Him and Scott Downs, man. Those Blue Jay middle relievers have been lights out so far this year. (By the way, Downs is another guy who has a 3-year hole in his career, 2001-2003.) And as a final aside, I find it interesting when rookie cards of middle relievers make big splashes in the hobby. Last year it was Joba Chamberlain and Hideki Okajima. Carlson's cards aren't attracting much interest on eBay, so was last year's flurry of interest a one-year thing?


•••


Pack 4 Success Rate: 75% (6/8)
Markakis, Beltre, Posada, Halladay, Carmona, and Liriano lead the way for a relatively good pack.


Look for more A&G dissection tomorrow, with Pack 4.

6-Pack Analysis: My Readers Are a Tough Crowd to Please

Pack 2

Pack 2


Matt Kemp I got nothing to say about Kemp except that he looks bored. The next time I make the big leagues and get to be photographed for my own baseball card, remind me not to look like I'd rather be asleep. This photo of Kemp gives hope to my new theory that some cards feature photos intended for a different use, like say a media guide or a side of a milk carton.

Chris Young In 1960, Leaf (or Sports Novelties, as the brand was known at the time) included a card titled "Baseball's Two Hal Smiths." You'd think that Topps would want to copy that for one of its brands, with "Baseball's Two Chris Youngs." I'm not a National League guy, so I don't know if this is the good Chris Young or the bad one, or if they're both good, or what. I do know that this guy's glove is absolutely gigantic.

Adam Wainwright Actually, I'm beginning to notice that all the gloves on these cards look huge, so I guess I can't hold it against Chris Young if he wants to use a comically-oversized mitt. I'm digging Wainwright's card, and if you remove the glove from his left hand, he could be at the blackboard in front of a lecture hall full of high schoolers.

Tom Gorzelanny Tom's lucky: you almost can't tell he's on the Pirates. That way, if he shows this card to a non-baseball friend, he can pretend he's on any team he wants. Which brings up a question that's been nagging me: If you had a choice, wouldn't you want to play for the hometown team? Says here that Tom lives in Orland Park, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago and home to R. Kelly and Buddy Guy). Wouldn't he want to play for the Sox or the Cubs? Were it me, I'd want to play for the Red Sox and that's it.

Mini Jason Varitek Boy, remember those dark years when Varitek wasn't in a Topps set? Wonder what that was all about. Anyway, now it seems like Topps is making up for lost time. They got him everywhere, and not just rehashing the same photo over and over again. Seems like they've shown him in ten different poses, at home eating lunch, throwing change out the window at the toll booth, and singing karaoke with his Japanese friends.

State Flags: Joe Mauer/Minnesota Mauer's great, isn't he? One of my favorites. Also gotta love the old-school Twins batting helmet. Makes you think Gary Ward's lurking around somewhere. By the way, the State Flags insert is okay, but have you noticed how boring most of the flags are? I'd like to think that if these cards have any value, it's based on the beauty (or overall craziness) of the state flag depicted. Were this the case, the Maryland card would be worth the most.

Brian Schneider The highlight of this card is the Shea Stadium patch on Schneider's right arm. Also what looks like either a leech or a massive shaving cut on his right cheek. I'm really hoping it's a leech.

Marie Curie Proof once again that you don't have to comb your hair to make a difference in this world.


***

Pack 2 Success Rate: 62.5% (5/8) Not a great pack. Besides the mini Varitek, the Mauer/Minnesota, and the Marie Curie cards, only two others make the cut (Matt Kemp and Chris Young). The rest of the pack is filled out by guys who were born to be mediocre (Gorzelanny, Schneider, Wainwright). Perfect Packs have no time for mediocrity.

6-Pack Analysis: Allen & Ginter Style

Back Without Popular Demand! That's right, after at least a two-year absence, it's time for another 6-Pack Analysis. In this installment, I'll be searching out the elusive Perfect Pack from a box of 2008 Topps Allen & Ginter.

While I painstakingly remove six packs from the box for analysis, let's review the ground rules for this adventure. As I stated back in March 2006, analysis of a pack must be based on the merits of each card and how they complement each other, and a Perfect Pack is one that contains a perfect storm of the best cards of the set.

In the case of Allen & Ginter, many of the "best" cards in the set aren't really a part of the set at all, but one-off chase cards. So then, can there be a Perfect Pack that does not include one of the best chase cards? My answer is yes, and not just because it is the most convenient answer. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the answer has to be an emphatic yes. Otherwise, technically there would be only one or two Perfect Packs in the known Allen & Ginter universe. And what if one of those packs with a once-in-a-lifetime card has seven others that are really terrible? Just the chance of that occurring makes the whole system feel a little cheap.

So! A Perfect Pack does not have to contain a well-publicized, you're-never-going-to-find-one chase card. To go back to the first point, each card in the pack factors into the overall success of the pack (the pack's Success Rate, shown as a percentage).

Right. I've got the six packs lined up and ready for dissection and analysis, I've donned my safety goggles and white lab coat, turned off my cell phone, and have hidden the tv remote.


Pack 1

Mark Teixeira Sometimes I wonder who the photographer is on some of these cards, Teixeira's included. Billy Barty? Warwick Davis? Peter Dinklage? Barty's deceased, so I'm guessing that gives more work to Davis and Dinklage. Also, is it just me or does Teixeira's left arm look disturbingly big, like it extends way past his knees?

Carlos Beltran There are a few generic poses for sidelines baseball cards: standing, bat raised, glove raised, ball shown in faux-pitch, smiling, not smiling, glaring, indifference. Carlos Beltran chose "bat raised." Here's a question: Are there Generic Superstars? You'd think that would be an oxymoronic statement, but I'd argue that right now in his career, Beltran is as generic a superstar as you can get. Don't misinterpret that statement: he's a great player. But he's also one of those guys you forget about (and really only remember when they're busy clobbering your favorite team senseless).

Matt Cain Here's another photo shot from the ground up. Why not just give the player a digital camera and tell him to hold the camera in one hand and take a self-portrait? Seriously, it wouldn't be any worse. Also, Matt's from Germantown, Tennessee, the boyhood home of former SNL-er Chris Parnell. Parnell is the only former cast member to be fired from the show twice.

Mickey Mantle This is just a great photo of Mantle, in my opinion one of the best Topps has used in the past few years. The artistic stylings leave a little to be desired, as this card almost could be confused for a rejected image from the 2005-06 Topps 1952 Style basketball set.

Mini A.J. Burnett It's nice to get a mini card in every pack, and it's even better to get one featuring landscape orientation. You know, I just noticed that Topps is still claiming Brooklyn as its home. Last time I checked, One Whitehall was in Lower Manhattan. Why don't they just write "New York, New York" on their cards? I'm surprised the Ghost of Brooklyn Present hasn't rattled its chains around Eisner's bed lately.

David Wright Jersey Relic Neat looking card, even though the actual swatch has to be less than 1 centimeter square. I'd like to see a jersey swatch card that is 80% swatch and 20% card border.

Andrew "William Ocean" Litz For a minute there I thought he was Soy Bomb. Nope, he's the American air guitar champion. Oh well, maybe 2009 for Soy Bomb. You know, that could make a great campaign: "Vote Soy Bomb for A&G 2009" Seeing as how he's not really the champion of anything (except maybe confusing the hell out of people), probably the only way he'll get into next year's set would be if the person who cracks the A&G code would donate their place...

Lisa Leslie What's great about this card is that Leslie apparently plays for the Purple Team.


***


Pack 1 Success Rate: 87.5% (7/8)

Pretty good pack. Bona fides in Mantle, Teixeira, Leslie, and the Wright Relic, plus Generic Superstar Beltran, Pseudo-Soy Bomb, and a mini Blue Jay. If only Matt Cain could bring down his ERA, then we'd really have something to talk about. Perfect Pack? Hard to say, so soon into the 6PA. It should be noted that there will have to be higher standards set for a Perfect Pack Success Rate in this product, simply because there are only 8 cards to a pack.


Pack 2 coming soon!