Allen & Ginter Through The Ages

By through the ages, I mean the past 8 years of Topps Allen & Ginter. After cataloging two blasters of the 2013 product I was wondering if I had a card for the same player for each year of A&G. Turns out I do, but for only one player. And that player is Ryan Howard. No surprise it would be a Phillie. So here's 8 years of Ryan Howard. I'm not going to bother with the backs since they haven't changed.

2006

The simplest and, in my opinion, the best A&G design.

2007

Not much change beyond putting the year on the front.

2008

Mainly topography changes. The card stock is a bit whiter.

2009

Big changes for this year. The card has a border and the color wash background takes up more space. Different topography and the card front has only the player's last name, which will be the norm from here on. This year also saw the introduction of horizontal action cards.

2010

Another big change. A white border around a pale green background with the color wash on the background.

2011

Probably my least favorite design. There's way too much going on here with the gold border, the colored background for the text and the ornate team logo. Having a team logo at all is a big change.

2012

A bit simpler than 2011, and the team logo was dropped. Overly ornate borders are also the hallmark of Topps Gypsy Queen.

2013

The border is less ornate and I think the light blue border color is less distracting. The best design of the past three years. Too bad this is an action card since it's not directly comparable to the past years.