Colors aplenty, but no blue tape

I've been fortunate to receive plenty of envelopes from fellow collectors over the 2+ years since I started this blog.  In those envelopes, there have been a whole lot of notes.  Some humorous, some complimentary, and all of them appreciated.

But the latest note I received from Brian at the fantastic Play at the Plate blog struck me as quite unusual.

Brian apologized for having run out of blue tape.  I don't think I'll ever see that again in an envelope.  No worries however, because what arrived in the envelope was still packed safe, and is more than welcome here.

Let's start with a couple of cards from sets that I didn't buy any of this year...

The first color will be white, as in a white framed paper card of Jose Reyes from this year's Gypsy Queen

I would not object to getting a few more of these in Blue Jay form.  I think they look really good.

This next card doesn't really have a color, and I didn't know that Archives had created an insert set of these this year, but this tall boy of Fred McGriff is really great.

How about some assorted blue, green and gold?

Not good enough?  Ok, maybe platinum isn't a color, but for me these do just as good!

OK, one more color for ya, a Bowman black border card.

Brian has been one of the biggest supporters of my serial numbered quest, and he didn't disappoint me in this envelope.  Now normally I don't show serial numbered cards in regular posts, but I have a couple of other colors that go with the theme of this particular post.

Let's start with purple.

It's too bad that the purple refractors from Topps Chrome weren't numbered to 1500, because I wouldn't object to having a bunch more of these as part of the 1500 card set.

Finally, how about a little bit of brown framed paper.  Oh, and a legendary player to boot...

hey Babe

No blue tape?  No problem, there was more than enough color in this envelope that I didn't notice!

Thank you Brian, another great envelope!!!  Much appreciated...

thanks for reading, Robert

Another one bites the dust

Actually, to be honest, it bit the dust about a month ago.  I've decided to take another bloggers advice and call the 2012 Gypsy Queen set complete, and not attempt to go after all 50 short printed variations.  Chasing after all 50 SPs doesn't fit in with the 2013 goals.  What does that mean for the blogosphere?

SPs for trade.   16 of them.

6.  Matt Moore
10. Roy Halladay
22. Kevin Youkilis
54. Mariano Rivera

60. Jacoby Ellsbury
83. Ryan Howard
142. Carlos Gonzalez
157. Nelson Cruz

170. Cliff Lee
190. Robinson Cano
220. Joey Votto
230. Evan Longoria

250. Ken Griffey Jr.
252. Tony Gwynn
294. Reggie Jackson
296. Tom Seaver

Speak now, denizens of the blogosphere.  They are looking to find a loving, welcoming home. Comment on this post if you are interested in any of them. 

The 1977 Topps set takes the spot on the fab five list that used to be occupied by GQ.  I'm sure before very long that more vintage sets will be occupying the fab five want list. 

thanks for reading, Robert

My top 25 sets #23: 2012 Gypsy Queen

Set:  2012 Topps Gypsy Queen
Number of cards in set:  350 (300 base cards +50 Variation short prints)
Affordability:  9 for just the base set, 6 if you are going after the SPs (Darvish isn't cheap)
Key RCs: Yu Darvish, Matt Moore, Dellin Betances
Is the set built?: I have completed the base set, but still need 33 of the SPs, including Darvish

What I like about this set:  This set really grew on me over time.  The front features a nice, but busy design, and the photos are a good quality.  A lot of the photos show quite a bit of intensity on the player's faces.  The back of the card is easy to read, and the card number is prominent on the top center just below the team logo. 

What I didn't like about this set:  Some of the SP variations can be pricey, especially the Darvish.  For a set builder such as myself, having to shell out triple digits on a card of a guy who may only last a handful of years in the bigs can be a bitter pill to swallow. 

This is another set that may or may not hang on to a spot in the countdown next year, depending on what else I start during 2013. 

Thanks for reading, Robert

Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera

When I grow up, I want to be in an exclusive club.  One that only has 14 members.  Twelve of the first 13 were elected to the Hall of Fame.

I want to hear my name mentioned with others such as Hornsby, Cobb, Gehrig, Mantle, Robinson, Yastrzemski, Foxx and Williams.

When I grow up, I want to be a nay sayer to all the modern stats such as WAR, OPS+ and Runs from Positional Scarcity (no...that last one is not made up...I swear).  I shouldn't need a slide rule, abacus and 3 calculators to figure out how important a player is in my lineup.

#603 in the insanity set

Miguel actually took care of one of 2 events that I hadn't seen in my lifetime.  Carl Yastrzemski completed his triple crown season of 1967 just 26 days before I was born.  The other event is my Maple Leafs winning the Stanley Cup (they last completed that task 5 months before I was born.)

Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll now get to see the 2nd event happen sooner rather than later.

I hope I didn't make you laugh too hard with that last statement.

Congratulations Miguel!!

Thanks for reading, Robert

You'll have to excuse me...I'm still a little slow (the sequel)

If you're one of the insane crazies that reads my blog on a regular basis (and bless your heart if you are), you may remember my post a couple of weeks back ranting against myself about the Allen & Ginter set.

Well, true to my Dumb & Dumber roots, which are greying/graying by the way, I now provide you with the sequel to that post from two weeks ago.

This post will prove to all just how moronic I can be sometimes. 

I received a couple of trade envelopes over the past couple of days, from great people in the land of the blogs who had some Gypsy Queen cards to help with my want list. 

The first scan comes to you courtesy of the one and only Napkin Doon, who sent me a generous helping of GQ, along with a few other cards that are going to be discussed in another post in the coming days.  I'm showing just 9 cards of the package, because you've seen them all over and over....

Nap, thank you for the cards!

The second package comes from blog reader Patrick S.  (Patrick, if you have a blog out there, somewhere, please let me...and the blogosphere know!)  Here is the prerequisite 9 card scan for you.

Patrick, thank you as well!!

As I sat at the computer this evening, checking the cards I received from both of these fine gentlemen off of my excel spreadsheet, I see the number of cards that I need diminish (duh).  I sit here and think to myself...hmm, only 55 cards to go to complete the set, when it dawns on me.

34 of those 55, you guessed it, are the Variation SPs.  So now, for the 2nd year in a row, I've committed myself to collecting a set that has a bunch of SPs that are going to be costly to obtain.  Look to 2011 Heritage for that other miserable exercise that's going to cost a small fortune.

I've been slow to learn that my rash decisions on what sets to put together are biting me in the ass.  Yes, GQ looks good to me, but not stopping to think about what the set is comprised of has set me on a path of spending that is probably not smart.  Don't even get me started on the '64 set I'm building and the high dollar, high numbered cards (that might be the third post in the series).

In order to remind myself in the future to "look before you leap", I'm putting an index card on the wall right above the monitor with a little message.

I have nobody to blame but myself in the future if this card doesn't work....

Thanks for reading, Robert

Yep, still working on Gypsy Queen

While out running errands with my wife on Saturday, we decided to stop at Target on the way back home.  Target is a rare stop for me since it's about 20 miles from my house (over the state line no less).  Naturally, I poked around in the card area, and since A&G wasn't particularly interesting to me today, I decided to go for another set that I had mentioned a couple of weeks ago on the blog.

Gypsy Queen packs of various types were still in full force there.  The rack packs were actually buried in behind a bunch of Bowman Platinum (no, I will not be touching those), so I dug a couple of them out.  Combined with a couple of loose single packs, my pack ripping jones was cured.

I didn't fare too badly either.

First, the minis...

The top row are all regular backs, the Martinez and Thames are Straight Cut, the Oswalt, well he speaks for himself.

I did pretty well on the brown framed cards as well, no slouches at all.  All the cards above except for the Thames mini are up for trade.

Of course, there are the usual inserts and variations as well.   I was lucky enough to pull a Mariano Rivera variation card that I needed for my set.

In addition, I snagged an auto today from the first rack pack I opened, and it's a nice looking auto if I do say so...

Gaby Sanchez, now of the Pittsburgh Pirates, has a decent looking signature...he uses his full first name Gabriel (or a form thereof) in his signature.

Yes, I still am going to build this set.  Gypsy Queen for me became like a lot of the early season releases among a lot of collectors...lost in the shuffle. 

I still need a little over 100 cards to complete the set, including 38 of the variations....this one is going to take some time to complete for sure.

Want to trade for any of the minis/inserts/auto?  Drop me a line...email or comment always works.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Let's start the last week of year 1 with a simple trade post

I recently completed another trade with Charlie over at Lifetime Topps which netted me quite a few cards towards a couple of the many sets I have on the go.

First, I received 36 cards from a set that just seemed to disappear overnight from the blogosphere, the '12 GQ set.  I'll spare you from having to view all of them, but I thought you might like to see the retired players that came my way:

Charlie also had a ton of '86 Topps cards that he sent my way (was there a fire sale on 86's?  I seem to get these by the hundreds!!)  As I have lately on the blog, I'll have a little fun with a few of them now.

Let's start with the classic story of Rags to Riches:

I couldn't find a second Rich, so maybe Rags to Rich?

These next two guys could write their names backwards and still get it right:

No, palindromes are not medieval knights...

Dodgers fans of the late 70's / early 80's may want to turn their heads before looking at the next two cards:

Blasphemy?

Charlie also sent me my first two Gold Blue Jays from the 2012 set:

these cards just scan horribly in my opinion

Finally to finish the post off, people would say hello to this next guy by saying "bye-bye"

All or nothing for this guy...

Thank you for the trade Charlie, the cards were very much appreciated!

Thanks for reading, Robert

Contest results

First a thank you to all those who entered, and a shout out to those who congratulated me on the milestone, the kind words were appreciated.

Had enough entries for 2 winners, and sure enough there were 2 people who guessed correctly!!

Congratulations to AJ from the Lost Collector, and to Matt from Card Anathema put in a guess of this guy:

Matt Garza of the Cubs! 

AJ & Matt, you both will be receiving an email from me with more information. 

Thank you for reading, Robert

The summer set completion series

Those of you who read, or have read, my blog on a regular basis know that I prefer building sets to a player or team collection.  In fact, you could probably say I'm a pro when it comes to completing sets.

Oh, by the way, the pro is short for procrastinator.

I started thinking over the past couple of days how many sets that I'm in the middle of, and their various stages of completion. It makes me shake my head when I think of how many sets are partially complete.  I even used a post  to try and generate some trades to complete a couple of sets and consequently not have to use Sportlots to buy singles.

No luck there at all.

Well, it's high time to clean up the mess.  Yes, you heard me right, it's time to start completing some of the myriad of sets I've got floating out there.  This of course means getting my act together, starting with compiling lists for some sets that I've started ('75 Topps for example) and getting them posted on the blog.  I'm even determined to put a dent into the insanity set, which is starting to pick up a little steam lately after being dormant for a while. 

It's also time to put the pieces and parts of sets that are in various places in my "computer room" together, because after a while the clutter just gets old (I'm sure my wife thinks so).

What makes it tough for me is the allure of new product.  I've fallen victim to Gypsy Queen, and likely will go after that set.  Archives I'm going to avoid (at least completing the set), but I'm sure that once A&G rolls around in July, I'll be tempted to go after that too.  What will be tough for me is keeping the necessary amount of discipline in order to focus on completing these sets, instead of grabbing the latest "shiny new" set.

I've done series of posts in the past about various topics; this next series will focus on various sets that I've started over the years, the cards I need to complete them, the odds of me actually finishing them by the end of the summer, and so forth.  

What does all this mean?  Well, you're more than likely over the next several weeks to see posts featuring cards from sets like this:

Image shown to display set only, not to promote any allegiance towards this particular player or franchise.

Of course hockey will not be the primary focus, but it's going to get a little more love over the summer.  You're also going to see the ugly duckling/3 legged dog set...'86 Topps

Or a classic like '64 Topps:

Thank you Max!!

There are plenty of other sets that are near completion or are reasonably close.  Some are close as 2 cards from being complete, yet I've let them slide for several weeks.  Even the '08 Masterpieces sets I'm working on (base and captured on canvas) are going to be part of this series of posts.

I know for a fact, however, that if I do complete a bunch of these sets during the summer, that by the time October rolls around, I'll have an empty hollow feeling because there will only be a few sets left, and I'll get the itch to start more. 

Sounds like an obsession, doesn't it?  Or maybe habit is the right word for it.

Thanks for reading, Robert

I guess all I had to do was beg. Don't skip over this post!

It finally happened yesterday.  What I had somewhat "begged" for last week occurred, the 100th follower of my humble blog joined.

Never did I imagine that less than one year in, I'd have 100 people on board.  Thank you to all!!

Now as I promised, it's contest time.

I'm going to base the contest off of the Gypsy Queen blaster I purchased today.  I pulled my first sepia toned mini card, and for the contest you get to guess who I pulled. 

To give everyone a little bit better of a chance to win, I'm going to narrow down the player choices for you.

This player is:

1. Currently on a NL team
2. Has played in both leagues during his career.

That should narrow it down for you.  I'm posting a copy of the checklist for you below as well to make life a lot easier.  Also, to throw a tiebreaker in there just in case more than one of you get the player correct, your tiebreaker will be:

1. The serial number of the card xx/99.  (Kind of appropriate for a guy who is a serial #'d freak huh?)  Closest to the actual number wins.

Those who may or may not remember my contest from a while back, I like to give out more prizes for the more entries I receive.  No pimpage is required, and you do not have to be a follower to win

I probably will do as I have done in the past for prizes, a combination of packs and some cards for your favorite team. 

Deadline to enter the contest is June 6th at 11 PM EDT. 

For those of you who do read my blog on a regular basis, thank you!!  I am going to do my best to keep on trying to entertain you with some humor and some good pulls (hopefully).

Good luck everyone!!

Thanks for reading, Robert

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2012 Gypsy Queen checklist:

1 Jesus Montero RC 2 Hunter Pence 3 Billy Butler 4 Nyjer Morgan 5 Russell Martin 6 Matt Moore RC 7 Aroldis Chapman 8 Jordan Zimmerman 9 Max Scherzer 10 Roy Halladay 11 Matt Joyce 12 Brennan Boesch 13 Anibal Sanchez 14 Miguel Montero 15 Asdrubal Cabrera 16 Eric Hosmer 17 Trevor Cahill 18 Jackie Robinson 19 Seth Smith 20 Chipper Jones 21 Mat Latos 22 Kevin Youkilis 23 Phil Hughes 24 Matt Cain 25 Doug Fister 26 Brian Wilson 27 Mark Reynolds 28 Michael Morse 29 Ryan Roberts 30 Cole Hamels 31 Ted Lilly 32 Michael Pineda 33 Ben Zobrist 34 Mark Trumbo 35 Jon Lester 36 Adam Lind 37 Drew Storen 38 James Loney 39 Jaime Garcia 40 Ichiro 41 Yadier Molina 42 Tommy Hanson 43 Stephen Drew 44 Matt Kemp 45 Madison Bumgarner 46 Chad Billingsley 47 Derek Holland 48 Jay Bruce 49 Adrian Beltre 50 Miguel Cabrera 51 Ian Desmond 52 Colby Lewis 53 Angel Pagan 54 Mariano Rivera 55 Matt Holliday 56 Edwin Jackson 57 Michael Young 58 Zack Greinke 59 Clay Buchholz 60 Jacoby Ellsbury 61 Yunel Escobar 62 Jhonny Peralta 63 John Axford 64 Jason Kipnis 65 Alex Avila 66 Brandon Belt 67 Josh Hamilton 68 Alex Rodriguez 69 Troy Tulowitzki 70 David Price 71 Ian Kennedy 72 Ryan Dempster 73 Ben Revere 74 Bobby Abreu 75 Ivan Nova	76 Mike Napoli 77 J.P. Arencibia 78 Sergio Santos 79 Melky Cabrera 80 Ryan Braun 81 Alcides Escobar 82 David Wright 83 Ryan Howard 84 Freddie Freeman 85 Adam Jones 86 Jhoulys Chacin 87 Jayson Werth 88 Erick Aybar 89 Bud Norris 90 Mark Teixeira 91 Tim Hudson 92 Adrian Gonzalez 93 Johnny Cueto 94 Matt Garza 95 Dexter Fowler 96 Alexi Ogando 97 Ubaldo Jimenez 98 Jason Heyward 99 Hanley Ramirez 100 Derek Jeter 101 Paul Konerko 102 Pedro Alvarez 103 Shaun Marcum 104 Desmond Jennings 105 Pablo Sandoval 106 John Danks 107 Chris Sale 108 Guillermo Moscoso 109 Cory Luebke 110 Jose Bautista 111 Jose Tabata 112 Neil Walker 113 Carlos Ruiz 114 Brad Peacock 115 Kurt Suzuki 116 Josh Reddick 117 Marco Scutaro 118 Ike Davis 119 Justin Morneau 120 Mickey Mantle 121 Scott Baker 122 Casey McGehee 123 Geovany Soto 124 Dee Gordon 125 David Robertson 126 Brett Myers 127 Drew Pomeranz 128 Grady Sizemore 129 Scott Rolen 130 Justin Verlander 131 Domonic Brown 132 Brandon McCarthy 133 Mike Adams 134 Juan Nicasio 135 Clayton Kershaw 136 Martin Prado 137 Jose Reyes 138 Chris Carpenter 139 James Shields 140 Joe Mauer 141 Roy Oswalt 142 Carlos Gonzalez 143 Dustin Pedroia 144 Andrew McCutchen 145 Ian Kinsler 146 Elvis Andrus 147 Mike Stanton 148 Dan Haren 149 Ryan Zimmerman 150 CC Sabathia	151 Carl Crawford 152 Dan Uggla 153 Alex Gordon 154 Victor Martinez 155 Yovani Gallardo 156 Michael Bourn 157 Nelson Cruz 158 Rickie Weeks 159 Shane Victorino 160 Prince Fielder 161 Aramis Ramirez 162 Shin-Soo Choo 163 Brandon Phillips 164 Brian McCann 165 Drew Stubbs 166 Corey Hart 167 Brett Gardner 168 Ricky Romero 169 B.J. Upton 170 Cliff Lee 171 Jimmy Rollins 172 Cameron Maybin 173 David Ortiz 174 Josh Beckett 175 Nick Swisher 176 Howie Kendrick 177 Nick Markakis 178 Jose Valverde 179 Paul Goldschmidt 180 Albert Pujols 181 Jeremy Hellickson 182 Buster Posey 183 Heath Bell 184 Stephen Strasburg 185 Lance Berkman 186 Josh Johnson 187 Brandon Beachy 188 J.J. Hardy 189 Neftali Feliz 190 Robinson Cano 191 Michael Cuddyer 192 Ervin Santana 193 Chris Young 194 Torii Hunter 195 Mike Trout 196 Adam Wainwright 197 David Freese 198 Lucas Duda 199 Casey Kotchman 200 Felix Hernandez 201 Allen Craig 202 Jason Motte 203 Matt Harrison 204 Jemile Weeks 205 Devin Mesoraco 206 David Murphy 207 Matt Dominguez 208 Adron Chambers 209 Dellin Betances 210 Justin Upton 211 Mike Moustakas 212 Salvador Perez 213 Ryan Lavarnway 214 J.D. Martinez 215 Lonnie Chisenhall 216 Jesus Guzman 217 Eric Thames 218 Colby Rasmus 219 Alex Cobb 220 Joey Votto 221 Javier Vazquez 222 Ryan Vogelsong 223 R.A. Dickey 224 Luis Aparicio 225 Albert Belle	226 Johnny Bench 227 Ralph Kiner 228 Eddie Mathews 229 Ty Cobb 230 Evan Longoria 231 Andre Dawson 232 Joe DiMaggio 233 Duke Snider 234 Carlton Fisk 235 Orlando Cepeda 236 Lou Gehrig 237 Bob Gibson 238 Rollie Fingers 239 Juan Marichal 240 Tim Lincecum 241 Larry Doby 242 Al Kaline 243 Jim Catfish 244 Roger Maris 245 Darryl Strawberry 246 Willie McCovey 247 Paul Molitor 248 Wade Boggs 249 Stan Musial 250 Ken Griffey Jr. 251 Gary Carter 252 Tony Gwynn 253 Cal Ripken Jr. 254 Brooks Robinson 255 Frank Robinson 256 Nolan Ryan 257 Ryne Sandberg 258 Mike Schmidt 259 Dave Winfield 260 Curtis Granderson 261 John Smoltz 262 Frank Thomas 263 Eddie Murray 264 Ernie Banks 265 Warren Spahn 266 Carl Yastrzemski 267 Bob Feller 268 Rod Carew 269 Willie Stargell 270 Roberto Clemente 271 Jered Weaver 272 Craig Kimbrel 273 Starlin Castro 274 Justin Masterson 275 Mark Melancon 276 Ricky Nolasco 277 Vance Worley 278 Dustin Ackley 279 Jeff Niemann 280 Willie Mays 281 James McDonald 282 Jordan Walden 283 Mike Leake 284 Todd Helton 285 Carlos Santana 286 Chase Utley 287 Daniel Hudson 288 C.J. Wilson 289 Gio Gonzalez 290 Sandy Koufax 291 Jarrod Parker 292 Delmon Young 293 Yogi Berra 294 Reggie Jackson 295 Doc Gooden 296 Tom Seaver 297 Lou Brock 298 Brandon Morrow 299 Mike Carp 300 Babe Ruth

Reverse psychology

I've hemmed and hawed for a few days about the merits of 2012 Gypsy Queen.  I really am stuck on what to do.  You've seen me write in the past on how I was kind of ambivalent towards the main set, what with its large amount of short prints and retired stars gracing the 300 card set.

Don't get me started on the minis...

A list of minis for trade, including these black beauties, are on the 2012 sets tab

What's totally bass ackwards for me though, is I have developed a fondness for the inserts.  At least the retail ones that I've encountered so far.  I've not pulled one duplicate in any of the insert sets so far, and I've bought 3 blasters and 2 rack packs.  That's totally out of character for me as well, as by now I am usually grousing about the crappy collation on most Topps products. 

Love these all, especially the Moonshots and Sliding Stars

I like the coloring and the artwork on all these sets.  Love em all.  This may be the first time ever that I decide to collect just the inserts, and (gasp) not worry about the base set/SPs.

I've even thought about putting together the base set/SPs and doing something on the blog with it...I don't know. 

I've got a vacation coming up...10 days, heading south to the warmth and fun of Florida.  I'll definitely take some time to think about it then and decide.

I think the Gypsies have taken my brain on this one...

Thanks for reading, Robert

OK, so Gypsy Queen hasn't been that bad to me

Nothing major in this post, just wanted to show off a card that I pulled out of a blaster last weekend.

Hiya Pops!

Willie Stargell relic, not too shabby for my normal luck!!  Yes, it's not an epic pull similar to what Sam at the Daily Dimwit  snagged (and sold for a nice chunk of change, wtg Sam!), but considering I don't pull too many great cards of legends, this card works for me.

thanks for the quick look, Robert

Are GQ minis actually Rookie Cards?

I kind of stumbled upon this post today, because I had planned to do another angle to go along with the Gypsy Queen posts that I had made last week. 

I purchased two Gypsy Queen blasters yesterday during a trip to Wal-Mart.  I didn't have a chance to open them yesterday, so I opened the first one this afternoon.  Nothing fantastic to shout about, but I did get one card that kind of made me think.

Exhibit A is below:

Card # 208, regular back, Adron Chambers of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Notice the prominent RC stamp in the lower right corner.  This made me think for a minute.  Aren't RC's supposed to be from the base set, and not portrayed by any kind of insert?  This was always my impression, so I did a little hunting, and found this definition of a rookie card from about.com.  [NOTE: the paragraph below is the 2nd paragraph of the webpage, and is used to illustrate my question/point.]

Note that a rookie card is not necessarily always produced during a player's rookie season, as there may have been cards that fit the definition printed in previous years. It is generally agreed that to be a true rookie card, the card must be numbered as part of a product's base set. Thus, insert cards of any type are generally not considered to be rookie cards.

Minis have always been inserts as far as I'm concerned.  Does this further muddy the waters of how RC's are defined, or has Topps over stepped their bounds here by stamping GQ minis as Rookie Cards?

I am curious to hear the responses out there....

Thanks for reading, Robert

I feel sorry for the Gypsy Queen master set builder

Many of you know that I was out of town for a couple days earlier this week for work.  It's sad, but anytime I'm in another town for work, I seek out the local Wal-Mart in order to grab some packs.  I just have to see if my luck is any better there than in my hometown.

After kind of ripping on Gypsy Queen last weekend, I felt pity for the set and decided to give it another try, so I bought a blaster.

I opened the packs up while I was at the hotel on Wednesday night, and enjoyed looking at the cards.

Well, I started looking at them in a little more depth this afternoon, and I must say that I feel very sorry for anyone who decides to build a "master set" of 2012 Gypsy Queen.  Why?  Because some cruel, sadistic bastard designed this insanity (yes, I know insanity is a love of mine, but sometimes you go too far...)

First off, I have to give a shout out to Sports Card Radio for posting photos of all the variations.  Without that, I for sure would be hopelessly lost.

Now, on to the goods:

As I mentioned before, I do like the inserts.   The borders are colorful, and the photos are well done also.  I especially like the purple of the moonshots insert, and the sliding stars is almost the same bronze color as the framed cards I posted previously.

OK, now that we've gotten the kudos out of the way, take a look at the minis.   I apologize for the upcoming confusion.

Here's the backs of 4 of the 8 minis I pulled:

Ricky Romero on the left is a green bordered mini.  The Tom Seaver is a photo variation SP.  The John Smoltz is a Gypsy Queen back variation, and the Seth Smith on the right is a straight cut variation of the 301-350 numbered exclusive minis.

The other 4 minis I pulled were base versions of Cobb, Hunter, Maris and Musial (ahhh...the legends)

All I gotta say is....holy shit.

Who in their right mind could keep up with all of this?  All totaled, there are EIGHT variations of minis.  And people think I'm insane?? 

Oh yes, let's not forget the base cards.

Yes, similar to the Upton cards I pulled last week, I pulled both of the Votto variations in this blaster.  Which one is the SP?  You can't tell the players without a program!!  (psst...don't tell the kid in the desk next to you, but the one on the left is the SP)  The Reggie Jackson on the bottom is also a variation SP, makes me wonder how short printed they are if this guy is pulling them. 

While I know that Gypsy Queen is going to be wildly popular this summer, it may turn out to be my "whipping boy" of sorts.  The minis have a whopping 91 photo variations, add to that the 301-350 cards that are exclusive to the minis, and it is all just a little too much for me.  But, it will likely provide me with some more writing material as we go on.

If you're building the master set, bless your heart, because GQ is starting to make my insanity set look like a walk in the park.

A little part of me wishes that cards today were as simple as back in '64:

If that were the case, then a lot of us wouldn't have much to write about, would we?

Thanks for reading, Robert

Focusing on the negative, another Gypsy Queen post

It's funny how ideas for a post just come to me.  I'm downstairs doing the laundry of all things, and yesterday's Gypsy Queen post and the negativity I spewed in yesterday's post just came flooding back to me.  I then had a thought...

I've done a lot of negative posts lately, and I'm not sure why.  I enjoy cards, always have, always will, and yet something has crept into my blogger DNA lately that feeds a little voice inside my head.  That voice then spews out these negative posts about cards, or teams, or experiences, whatever comes to mind at the time. 

I could even go on further about how my negativity goes back to the first full time career I had after I was done with college, in the casino industry.  I could regale you of tales I experienced during those 4 years of the gambling industry, and the inherent mistrust that is rampant in gaming.  I'm sure that many of you have had jobs that have colored your perception of a certain industry as well, but for me, the casino industry is one that I love and loathe at the same time. 

But I digress...

Gypsy Queen, for me, ranks below Heritage as far as products go this year, let me tell you why.

It's gray for one.  I like colors in my base sets.  I even prefer white for a card border's color.  Gray is miserable as a color for me.   Heritage has plenty of colors this year, no blandness to be found.

2nd, what is the fascination with minis?  I'm a cheap bastard, so what good is it to me when I'm paying full price on only 1/2 a card?

Of course, we've got variations on the minis as well.  The Strawberry on the right is the basic mini, the Stanton in the middle is the black version (of course), and on the left is the straight cut version of Aramis Ramirez's card.   Straight cut?  What's next, boot cut?  

Now I pulled a couple of cards that I did like...

The Glove Stories on the left has a nice bronze (?) border, and the blue on the Hallmark Heroes of Joe DiMaggio is actually quite eye catching.  Outside of certain sets though, I normally do not collect inserts (unless they are Jays).  If the base cards were either of these colors, I would be more inclined to try and collect the set.

I had originally intended this post to be more on the positive side about Gypsy Queen, but in the end I just couldn't do it.  For me, the cards are too costly, and there's too many inserts/minis that take away from the set building (at least for me).  I may buy a few more packs here and there, just for a pack rip "thrill", but in the end most of the cards will be traded away to help my fellow bloggers complete their sets.

BTW, anything you see on this page is up for trade, rmitchell6700 at yahoo is the email if you're interested.

Thanks for reading, Robert