The 2006 Topps Allen and Ginter set hit store shelves in July of 2006. The inital set was a raging success and was considered my many to be the top set of the year. The 2006 A & G base set consisted of 350 cards including:
- 300 current and former baseball players
- 25 historical figures from the late 1800's such as Queen Victoria and John Rockefeller
- 15 stars from other sports including Jennie Finch, Danica Patrick and Mike Tyson
- 10 players that had cards in the original 1887 Allen and Ginter set
50 of these cards were short printed and were more difficult to pull from packs than the other 300 cards. Much of the popularity of Topps Allen and Ginter comes from the great assortment of insert cards which include:
- N43 cards: Inserted 1 per hobby box, some were autograph or relic card versions
- Rip cards: Inserted 1 per case, these cards are a full sized cards with a Rip exclusive mini card inside of it
- Dick Perez sketch cards: Inserted 1 per pack, they represent artistic renditions of star players
- Mini cards: Inserted 1 per pack, there are many different varieties and subsets of Topps Allen & Ginter mini cards
- Framed Mini Printing Plate Cards: The printing plates used by Topps to create the mini cards, each numbered 1 of 1
- Framed Relic Cards: Featuring pieces of game used jersey or bats
- Framed Autograph Cards: Autographs of stars from baseball and other sports
- Framed Original Cards: Original Allen and Ginter cards
The first Topps Allen and Ginter set kicked off new hit for collectors that is still going strong today. Here are a few cards from the 2006 set.