Father-Son Trying to Finish Allen & Ginter Autos Set
The Hobby can feel awfully big. However, when it comes right down to it, it’s a small community filled with collectors who share similar goals and want to help each other out.
Well, there are fellow collectors who could use the community’s assistance.
David Yonenson and his 13-year-old son, Seth, are working on a major project. The Yonensons’ mission is to complete a set of 2022 Allen & Ginter Relic Book Autos. The duo has collected 69 of the 74 booklets. It’s an impressive feat considering each book — which contains either single or dual autos — is numbered to just 10.
When the two-year project recently came to a standstill, David knew he needed to reach out to the card-collecting community for help. In early August, David posted a message on the Facebook group Baseball Card Collectors and Trade ~ Keeping it the realest! He explained the father-son mission and asked if anyone had any leads to acquire the missing cards.
“I’ve resisted posting it all over the place on Facebook. But I finally was like, I’ve reached the end of the road where there’s not that many places for me to look anymore,” David said. “So, I need to crowdsource.”
Just a week and a half after his post, David remarkably heard from a collector in the Facebook group who owned the hard-to-find Ken Griffey Jr./Ichiro Suzuki dual auto. David was able to purchase the book. Just a few days later, he crossed another one off the list, a Miguel Cabrera single autograph book.
Checking Them Off
The Yonensons, who reside in Maryland, have already picked up most of the big-name books in the product. A dual Derek Jeter/Aaron Judge, Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, single autos of Griffey Jr., Albert Pujols, and Bryce Harper are off the list.
The five books David and Seth are missing are single autographs of Judge, David Ortiz, Fergie Jenkins, and Javier Baez, and a dual autograph book of Rafael Devers/Xander Bogaerts.
David knows acquiring some of the more prominent names will be tougher. Before picking up the Griffey/Ichiro, David thought that book and the Judge would be the hardest ones to track down.
“I’ve seen a Judge,” David said. “But I’ve never seen a Javier Baez.”
Self-proclaimed “eBay stalkers,” David and Seth — who are big New York Mets collectors — scour the online marketplace multiple times a day in search of one of the missing books.
“When we found the Ichiro, we were sitting at our kitchen table. I was searching eBay, and I was like, ‘Do we have this one?’” Seth said. “I didn’t recall having an Ichiro. We found an Ichiro that we were looking for for like a year and a half.”
Tracking Them Down
When the Yonensons find one of the books they need on eBay, David will send the seller a note explaining the project.
“Most people have been really, really gracious,” David said. “They have been like, ‘Hey, send me pictures when you complete it.’ So, I probably have 15 or 20 people to whom I will send pics every time I get one or two new books.”
The fact that the books were short printed and some were redemptions makes them even harder to track down. David noted that someone could have pulled a redemption two years ago, forgotten about it, and it’s sitting in a box.
“When Topps did away with the expiration dates for redemptions, that was a huge relief,” David said. “Even if I get the redemption years later, Topps will still honor it.”
Father-Son Bonding
Seth enjoys collecting with his dad. Working on the Allen & Ginter auto set together makes it extra special.
“It’s just like father-son bonding,” Seth said. “Both of us love the Ginter, and we love Topps Chrome. We love opening boxes and packs and seeing all the cool stuff that comes out.”
What makes the project so much fun for a seasoned collector like David?
“I think it’s because nobody I know of has ever done it,” David said. “I’ve never seen a post of anybody doing it. A lot of people collect rainbows of a certain player, and those are out of 299, out of 499, out of 50, that’s easier. It’s like national treasure searching when you get down to one player out of 10, and it’s a more difficult product.”
David encourages anyone who can help track down any of the books they still need to email him at dyonenson@gmail.com or message him on Instagram at daycards30.
David gives him and his son a 45% shot of acquiring all 74 books to finish the 2022 Allen & Ginter Relic Book Autos. He hopes the number will rise once more collectors hear about the project. There’s no stopping the Yonensons.
“You know what, if it takes me 10 years, I’m going to try,” David said.
