Allen & Ginter World's Champions baseball cards have been issued by Topps for several years now. In addition to baseball players there are usually a number of random quirky cards included in the sets as well, along with "Rip" cards that contain another image under the photo and ask the holder if they will 'keep it or rip it?' and a variety of other inserts, mini cards, relics, autographs and so on.
The original Allen & Ginter was a tobacco company in the 19th Century. The link between baseball cards and tobacco companies predates the link with bubblegum, and a surprising number of very old tobacco brands have been resurrected by the card companies in this century. Upper Deck have their Goodwin's Champions, and Topps release their very high end "206" product and the Gypsy Queen range.
I am ambivalent about the use of long-gone tobacco company names by card companies. While they aren't recognisable brands and the association with packets of cigarettes or tobacco are purely historical, there is an anachronism that tobacco advertising has disappeared from sports grounds within the last 30 years or so, and yet card companies are still preserving the link between tobacco and the sport, albeit in a very obscure way. (Cigarette advertising has sometimes inadvertently appeared on cards. There's a Marlboro ad in the background of a card from 1994, which was shortly before advertising was banned altogether.)
However, as a fan and chronicler of Tony Gwynn's career, I can't escape the fact his life was cut incredibly short because of chewing tobacco and I am supportive of efforts to ban tobacco entirely from the sport. So, that's another reason why I have mixed feelings about these particular card sets.
And, being honest, the cards themselves aren't particularly interesting to warrant the fuss that is made over them by some collectors. The insert series can sometimes be quite nice - I really liked the Star Signs card featured on this blog in one of my first posts - but the sets tend to blend into each other and the cards all feel very samey. I have similar feelings towards Gypsy Queen and Panini Prizm cards. Still, at least they put the set years on the front so it's easy to tell them apart.
Card Number 385: Topps Allen & Ginter, 2013; #97
The enforced quirkiness of the Allen & Ginter brand is shown on the front where they just have the player's surname and don't mention the team. In the photo, Tony is wearing a batting practice jersey - Mitchell & Ness have produced a replica of this top complete with the number 19 on the back.
If the front is quirky, the back is similarly trying to be eccentric in its disdain for numerals, instead writing the key numbers out in full words. (Except for the card number.)
At least it's a different way of summarising and displaying career stats. For a known contact hitter, Tony was afforded very few walks in his career. That's probably because he wasn't a home run slugger like the all-time record holder Barry Bonds. But even Ted Williams, Tony's hitting hero, received over 2,000 walks in his career.
Card Number 386: Topps Allen & Ginter, 2014; #223
This year the team name was on the front of the card. It's a photo of Tony in his batting stance - a classic pose for a hitting champion.
The back was very similar to the previous year's card, except it was printed in blue ink rather than black.
As the cardback is to all intents and purposes the same as the previous year, there is very little else to say about it.
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