I owe Smed a huge, huge, huge, huge, huge apology for taking this long to post all the fantastic stuff he sent over in his Spring Cleaning. But understand why it’s taking forever… there was so much awesome stuff I had no idea what to scan and show and how much. Should I break it up into a three-part post of the highlights? Should I make a video going through every card? These decisions, it torments a blogger endlessly.
I decided to post all the hits and “new” stuff Smed sent over, even though everything he shipped to New Jersey was fantastic and helped out this Yankees fan’s collection. A lot of his stuff will be used for future posts and for the team binder. Thanks man!
Smed gave me my first lick of 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen… and I can clearly see what the fuss was about. These cards are very nice, from the inserts to the on-card autographs. Yes, on-card autographs. Sweet.
I remember when everyone was blasting this set when Topps first released the product information. Now it’s considered one of the best products of the year. Collector’s these days… sheesh. Now the problem for Topps remains this: the only reason Gypsy Queen prices were high as a kite is because it was under-produced. Now that people want it, Topps will run the presses like it was producing Allen & Ginter. You’ll see either a) the popularity wane leaving a ton of product available for cheap or b) Gypsy Queen overcoming Ginter as the most sought out painted product Topps releases, putting the nail in the coffin for Ginter. It’s fun to think about.
Keeping with painted sets, here’s a C.C. relic from 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter.
He pitched a good game last night… unfortunately James Shields pitched a better one. So goes the life of an AL East team.
One final “retro” card, a Brett Gardner bat piece from 2011 Topps Heritage.
After a slow start, Brett Gardner is putting up a Brett Gardner-season; .290 AVG, .370 OPB, and is currently tied with Jose Reyes for second in the league in stolen bases with 30.
For all those shiny lovers, we have a 2010 Bowman Chrome Draft Purple Refractor of Ivan Nova.
Yeah, it looks blue because of the scanner, but it is purple. Nova, since being sent back down because of Phil Hughes’s return, is pitching lights out in Triple-A and we should see him back in New York fairly soon.
Smed, thanks so much for all the cards, they were a great help for the collection!
GQ's design is more attractive than A&G, but A&G has a different style and crowd, mainly due to the non-sport inserts and non-baseball autograph/relic collection. GQ was exactly what it should have been, if not formulaic, with a 300-card set plus the SPs, a couple parallels, a mini set with a couple parallels, and a small collection of well-themed insert sets with mini parallels. I don't see A&G dropping out due to GQ, but it's been running for five years and the concept may be running slim. It all depends on the non-baseball content, really.
ReplyDeleteI'm way in the minority, but I really don't understand the fascination with Gypsy Queen's design. It flat-out bores ... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
ReplyDeleteI kinda shrug at the Gypsy base cards but, the relics, framed paper and autos are top notch.
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