Cubs 2011 Allen & Ginter

These got here very quickly!

First, a little about the design.....There are a couple big changes this year. This is the first time that Ginter has a team logo on the card. In fact, its the first time that Ginter even mentions the player's team on the front of the card. The second big change is the placement of the player's name. It has always been at the bottom, center of the card, directly underneath the player's picture. This year, it is in the upper left hand corner of the card. I don't have a problem with either of the changes. The cards still have the "Ginter" look to them. As long as that is always the case, Topps should make occasional changes.

As far as the Cubs go, there are eleven in the base set and none among the SPs. The only disappointment for me is that Darwin Barney didn't get included in the set. I'm guessing that Ginter has a longer lead time than the base set. Topps did have enough time to include the Santo patch on a couple of the players, so that tells me that some of the cards weren't designed until at least spring training.

Before I get to the base cards, I'll start with the insert. That's singular, insert. Only one! Starlin Castro was included in the Baseball Highlight Sketches set.



The card talks about his MLB debut on May 7, 2010. In that game he hit a 3 run homer in his first MLB at bat, and later hit a bases-clearing triple. That made 6 RBIs in his first game, a MLB record.

Castro was in the pre-sell checklist for the Hometown Heroes inserts, but he got bumped. That means that out of the 100 cards in the set, not a single Cubs player was included (this is the second time the Cubs got shut out of a Ginter insert set...the 2008 States set was also Cub-free). With 30 teams, there should be at least three Cubs. Then again, there are ten Cubs that got relic cards, which is way more than there should have been. I would gladly trade in 3-4 relics for a few Hometown Heroes.

That's enough about the inserts. Here are the eleven base cards.....Enjoy!