2015 "Ginter X" Offshoot Cards

I'm sure I blathered in this space before about how I completed all of the SF Giants Topps Heritage team sets, right? And how I was then going to move on and do the same for all of their Allen & Ginter team sets, from 2006 to the present? We talked about that, right?

Little did I know that there was something lurking out there called "Ginter X" that's potentially even more tantalizing. Black versions of the A&G base sets, with extras and whatnot thrown in. Well that just complicates things, doesn't it? Which isn't to say I'm not all aboard in trying to scoop them up.

I'm a fan of black-bordered anything. It's why I love the Topps 1971 design so much - and the 2020 Heritage majors and minors that followed that design. I've started pulling together a few from the 2007 SP Legendary Cuts series, which I'll blog about shortly.

Anyway, I decided to just go out there and grab each of the 2015 SF Giants cards from the Topps Allen & Ginter "Ginter X" series. I'm quite fond of 'em, and I hope you are as well.

One Project Closes, Another One Opens Right Up

With the arrival of the morning mail, today my Topps Heritage San Francisco Giants team set project has been completed. I dropped some big (for me) $$ on two Barry Bonds cards from 2002 and 2003 Heritage - $12 and $9, respectively - and another base card (Jeff Clark - who??) just arrived from a Canadian eBay seller. That's it. I did it. I now have every Giants Heritage card created from the start of the series in 2001 through today. 

This was accomplished by focusing on the base cards only. The inserts - mostly Chromes - are great, and I have a few of those, and perhaps in time I'll collect all of those, too. I will say that arranging the Heritage team sets in binders scratches some ultra-nerd primal itch, and they look fantastic together.

So now I'm onto a new goal: collect the complete Allen & Ginter San Francisco Giants team sets, from the start of the A&G series in 2006 through this past year, 2020. Oh sure, I know what some of you think about the Allen & Ginter stuff. I have some strong opinions on baseball cards myself. Yet I really enjoy the A&G olde-tyme look - the hand-painted images, the thick/sharp card stock, and the ancient fonts. Figured that these would all look really good together in a binder as well, and decided to challenge myself to put them together.

The rule on this one is similar but a little looser. Yes, I need to grab all of the Giants base cards, but also the more common Giants-related inserts: the "Longball Lore"s; the "Day to Remember"s; the "Baseball Legends" etc. There's almost always a McCovey and a Mays in every year's set, maybe a Marichal or a Cepeda, too. I need to get those before I can consider it complete. New York Giants count, too.

What doesn't count are minis, autographs, relics, and stuff that's so impossible to find that I'd just drive myself crazy and bankrupt trying to track it down. So: Allen & Ginter base cards and the more common extras, no minis. That's it. 

What you're looking at here is a complete 2016 SF Giants Allen & Ginter team set. What's not to love? I've also got 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 nailed - and nothing before 2015. Should be fun.