I (Sort Of) Won Gint-A-Cuffs X! A Post-Mortem

Okay, so I didn't actually win Gint-A-Cuffs X, per se. That honor belongs to Spankee, who clocked in with 127.5 points. Topps was kind enough to send a couple of boxes of Ginter as prizes, so I was fortunate enough to win the second box trough random selection.

The Commissioner was kind enough to send that box to me earlier this week, and I decided to go ahead and score it to see how it would do when lined up against my contest box. I didn't do a pack-by-pack breakdown, but I did list out all of the scoring cards and scan a few of them. Let's take a look! (Also, check out my concluding thoughts on Gint-A-Cuffs X and 2018 Ginter, in general, after the scoring, and see my set needs here!)

+14 Favorite Team/Players

+1 Adrian Beltre

+1 Rougned Odor

+4 Joey Gallo (FP)

+2 Bryce Harper

+2 Kris Bryant

+2 Barry Larkin

+2 Jim Thome

-11 Damn Yankees

-1 Gary Sanchez

-1 Babe Ruth

-1 Rickey Henderson

-1 Miguel Andujar

-1 Aaron Judge

-1 Hideki Matsui

-1 Roger Maris

-1 Aaron Hicks

-1 Aroldis Chapman

-1 Clint Frazier

-1 Reggie Jackson

-1 Misc.

-1 Tyronn Lue

+3 Short-Print Mini

+3 Carlos Santana (#312)

+7 Black Border Mini

+3 Derek Jeter

+4 Jon Lester

+14 A&G Back Mini

+1 Babe Ruth

+2 Sean Manea

+2 Jacob deGrom

+2 Roger Clemens

+7 Joey Gallo (My FP)

+3 Short-Print A&G Back

+3 Anthony Rendon

+7 Red Brooklyn Back

+7 Justin Bour

+8 Baseball Equipment of the Ages

+2 Eye Black

+2 Modern Baseball Sunglasses

+2 Modern Catcher’s Mask

+2 Vintage Bat

+12 Fantasy Goldmine

+2 Bob Gibson

+2 Roger Clemens

+2 Tom Seaver

+2 Ernie Banks

+2 Greg Maddux

+2 Sandy Koufax

+8 Magnificent Moons

+2 Miranda

+2 Phobos

+2 Mimas

+2 Europa

+8 World’s Greatest Beaches

+2 Cozumel

+2 Bay of Angels

+2 Bondi Beach

+2 Trunk Bay

+12 World Talent

+2 Tzu-Wei Lin

+2 Yadier Molina

+2 Yoenis Cespedes

+4 Kris Bryant (FP)

+1 Aaron Judge (Yankee)

+1 Masahiro Tanaka (Yankee)

+3 Postage Required

+3 Two Penny Blue

+2 Indigenous Heroes

+2 Chief Cornstalk

+3 Flags of Lost Nations

+3 New Granada

+6 Baseball Superstitions

+3 Not Changing Seats

+3 Drawing in the Batter’s Box Dirt

+6 N43 Boxloader

+6 Caros Correa

+28 HITS!!!

+5 Billy Hamilton Full-Size Relic (Jersey)

+5 Michael Conforto Full-Size Relic (Bat)

+8 J.D. Martinez RIP CARD!!!

+10 Manny Machado Extended Mini (from Rip Card)

132 Points, Total!

That's right, had this been my competition box, I would have really won Gint-A-Cuffs! That rip card really put it over the top. I've never had a rip card before, and I swore that if I ever did pull one, I would rip it. Lesson learned! If I ever pull another one, I'll sell it! Now let's look at some scans!

Corre N43 Boxloader - 1 of 500

J.D. Martinez Rip Card

Machado Extended Mini - Front

Machado Extended Mini - Rear

Michael Conforto Full Size Bat Relic

Billy Hamilton Full Size Jersey Relic

Joey Gallo A&G Back Mini

Justin Bour Brooklyn Back Mini

Not too shabby! Everything except the Gallo is up for trade. I only ask that if you make a trade offer, please make it fair - don't offer to send me a ton of 80's and 90's junk wax! (I had a random person reach out a couple weeks ago and ask if I would trade an auto from a higher-end product for a bunch of junk wax....)

Now for some thoughts on my boxes of Ginter for GACX. Most of my commentary revolves around collation. My first box was short a hit. I ordered a second box, and it was also short a hit. I ended up buying a third box, and it had all hits in it. So did the prize box.

Beyond the hits, I also had issues with the inserts. The first box I purchased had zero "Magnificent Moons" inserts. Instead, it had eight "Baseball Equipment" inserts. Furthermore, both the first and second boxes had the same exact "World's Best Beaches" insert cards. 

Boxes one and two were clearly the problem boxes. Beyond the issues mentioned above, both boxes were nearly identical in the base cards included. Hell, the second box had the two copies of Christian Villanueva's short-printed mini (card #315). How the hell does that happen? That makes Ginter a very expensive set to build. 

Lastly, it's a bit of a bummer that Topps is now treating rip cards as hits. In the past, these were included in addition to the three promised hits. I won't complain on this one too much, especially since I had a rip card in my **free** box. It was just something that crossed my mind. 

Lastly, I want to specifically thank Mark for serving once again as our faithful Commissioner. Without his work, I'm not certain GACX would have happened! Also, a huge thanks to Topps for sponsoring the contest and providing prizes! As a winner (finally!), the prize was certainly appreciated!

Thanks for the read!