Inside the Pack: 2020 Topps Allen & Ginter Value Pack Review

Continuing my run on retail this year, I opened some value packs of Allen and Ginter. Returning for a 15th year, A&G is always a smash hit — if you’re into that sort of thing. The product is baseball-centric but also includes pop culture icons, historical figures, objects from nature, and so on. If you can think of something, it’s been featured in Ginter at some point.

Inside the pack (hey, that’s the name of my blog!), value packs come with 3 regular packs. They also add a bonus pack of something unique to only value packs. For Bowman, for example, value packs contain packs of camo border cards. In Allen and Ginter, the bonus pack contains 3 gold-bordered mini cards. I’m a sucker for these every year, so I decided to go with value packs over blasters. In all, I opened 20 value packs, so I got 60 regular packs and 20 packs of gold border minis.

I was lucky enough to get a bunch of hits — two full size relics or Jon Lester and Miguel Sano, a framed mini relic of Javier Baez, and a framed mini autograph of Jordan Yamamoto. But the most exciting card for me was the Brooklyn back Roger Clemens #/25. I’m a sucker for these every year because I love hand-numbered cards and because I have Brooklyn lineage in my blood. I kept flipping over my minis with a feeling that I’d get one, and I finally did in my 19th value pack.

My favorite cards were the Where Monsters Live minis. These cards have a matte black finish with glossy eyes peering out from somewhere, like a closet or under the bed. Allen and Ginter always comes up with the most imaginative insert sets, and this is no different. The only thing I would have liked more is if the eyes glowed in the dark. (I did check multiple times on multiple cards!)

The card I’ll tuck away is the aforementioned Jordan Yamamoto framed rookie autograph. Yamamoto is a pitcher for my favorite team, the Miami Marlins, who are headed to the playoffs for the first time in 17 years. Yamamoto looked sharp at times in limited action in 2019, but was nothing short of disastrous in his 4 outings in 2020. I have faith in his abilities moving forward, and hope to see him on the big league squad in 2021.

In addition to the value packs, I opened one blaster box. While the inserts were seeded the same, I didn’t get any hits, and the lack of gold minis makes me lean heavily toward the value packs for this product. Truth be told, I wish I had some more to open. If you can find some, grab them and have fun ripping!