Code Breaker Exclusives...

In the last couple of days, I have had the pleasure of email-versating with Jason Wong. For those of you that don't know Jason, I am sure you will soon enough. He will be card #338 in the 2009 Allen & Ginter set. Jason is the guy that cracked the Allen & Ginter code.



I remembered reading a "how I broke the code" post he wrote before I even pulled my first code card. I love puzzles, word games, and codes, so it was totally fascinating to me. Way beyond my skills, but fascinating.



I recently read a cool post by Jay Bee Anama on his always great bdj10's Topps Card Blog. He had a good experience dealing with "the codebreaker." I decided to drop the guy an email, congratulating him on his upcoming card. I let him know I could have saved him a lot of time and effort. If he wanted a card THAT bad, I would have made him one.



Turns out he's a pretty nice guy. He likes the punkrockification process that we apply to cards here at PunkRockPaint. We decided to work out a little trade. He's gonna send me an autographed code ad. I sent him the un-pixelated versions of the cards below:

1977 Topps - Jason Wong #661

1977 Topps - Jason Wong Code Breaker #662

We decided to save visage of the mystery man until the release of Topps' Allen & Ginter 2009.

2008 Allen & Ginter. My First Set

This is the first time that I have ever built a set of cards.

Sure, I have put together hand-collated sets before. 1985-90 Topps, 1988-90 Donruss, and 1988-90 Fleer come to mind immediately. But never before have I purchased cards for the sole purpose of completing a set. At some point of hoarding the over-produced cards of my youth, I realized that putting them in numerical order was the best way to keep them organized.

Twenty five years of collecting and 2008 Topps Allen & Ginter is the first set that I have built from scratch. The cards are too darn cool not to put in a binder. (I love stacking my mini cards up behind the standard size ones. It is as if the ducklings are following their mother. Errr. I mean, the infantry following the charge of the cavalry. Hmmm. I guess that sounds tougher.) I got some help along the way from Dayf at Cardboard Junkie and Tricia at The Hamiltonian (sending Ichiro soon?), but I am still TWO cards away. (#310 Michael Bourn… speedy little guy… and #319 Jason Giambi… I am imagining this card pictures him with a large mustache. I am pretty sure I will be disappointed. Anyone out there got extras???)

.

.

.

I was intrigued by the ’06 and ’07 sets. The Freddy Adu and Mia Hamm cards especially. Unfortunately, never saw blasters of either set at Target or Wal Mart, and all the decent card shops around here seemed to disappear.

After all the anticipation in the blogosphere (I hate that word. Never using it again.), on the release date I bought a ridiculously overpriced hobby box from a shop on my way home from work. The inserts and non-sports “champions” had me hooked from the first pack. A week later, I was amazed when I first saw a blaster on the shelves at the local Wal Mart. I have since filled in my set with (since my girlfriend may read this,) a few blasters.

I recently bought what will be my final (I SWEAR this time) blaster. It is ridiculous to think that I will get the final two cards I need from eight retail packs, but stranger things have happened. In my last blaster, I got a Ryan Howard gamer, a Babe Ruth icon, Romulus and Remus, and five of the last eight cards I needed. I hoping this one is as good/lucky. I will probably add the box break on here. I love reading about other peoples breaks, so I will return the favor.

I have TONS of doubles, triples, quadruples, etc. Send me your want lists if you want to trade for Padres cards.

I hope you like the additions to the set that I have created. I know the last thing we need is another presidential card, but I am not a fan of the one I pulled. As always, I am open to special requests.