2016 Topps Gypsy Queen Rack Pack Break

Picked up a Rack Pack of Gypsy Queen at the big T this week. The rack went for $10 and included three 6-card packs plus a "bonus" 3-card pack of framers.

Here are the highlights althoug GQ really isn't my thing - pithy comments will be minimal.

2016 Topps Gypsy Queen Gary Sanchez (base & framed)

One of the three framed cards I picked up was Yankees prospect Gary Sanchez, We also picked up the base card which gives us the opportunity to put up the above side/side.

2016 Topps Gypsy Queen #321 Tony Perez (sp)

The bottom 50 cards in the GQ set are short-prints of retired players, mostly Hall of Famers. Thankfully the HOF SPs doen't interfere with building a set including today's stars.  We will hopefully return to this one in our 1976 ASG feature. And there is a Sloppy Topps issue with this card as well. 

2016 Topps Gypsy Queen Andrelton Simmons,  Jayson Heyward, Scott Kazmir, Zach Greinke 

The April release date for GQ gives Topps more of an opportunity to photoshop players into their new unis. There were at least the above four among our 18 cards. 

2016 Topps GQ #133 Mike Trout

I am all for card photos from other POV, but this one strikes me as a lil dull for a superstar of Trout's caliber.

2016 Topps GQ Power Alley PA-7 Dave Winfield

Home Run Hitters Insert.

2016 Topps Mini MVP #MVPM-BL Barry Larkin

Between this and the Perez SP it was kind of a Reds Hot Pack. Neither the Power Alley nor Mini MVP insert sets contain any Phillies.

Alex Cobb, Mike Moustakas, Charlie Blackmon, Yasiel Puig

The rest of our minis and framed cards are above.

21 Cards no Phillies.

Sources and Links
cardboard connection
baseball-ref

Year of the Horse -1990: 2014 Topps #331 Yasiel Puig

It only took 4 weeks, but we are finally returning to our Year of the Horse postings. Today we are featuring the relatively recent year of 1990.

 

2014 Topps #331 Yasiel Puig

We are only in the 2nd cycle of the Year of the Horse for 1990 births. This pretty much limits us to players that are 23 or 24 years of age. Phter notable players in the birthclass our Phungo Favorite Wil Myers and the Phillies own Cody Asche

I chose Yasiel Puig for the cover of todays posting because in addition to being the most noteworthy of our candidates he also goes by the nickname of "Wild Horse" which is quite appropriate for our "Year of the Horse: 1990" posting.

Year of the Horse Index
1966 Curt Schilling

2014 Topps #1? Yasiel Puig Parallels

I thought 2013 Topps was a decent but not great design.  However the Design was a great pallet for the numerous colored parallels that Topps likes to put out each year. 

Night Owl Cards discusses this more thoroughly in a column published this past weekend.  

Topps previewed 2014 flagship a few weeks back and the cards have a similar white border as 2013, which gives us the potential for another year of good looking parallels. With the help of Pixlr team Phungo looks at some of the possibilities.         

Faux 2014 Topps #1 Yusiel Puig Red Target Parallel

I get my cards at Target mainly because it is the most convenient big box for me. A side benefit is that they brand red and their partnership with Topps yields Red Parallels, which is a solid color for Phillies cards. However a Dodger collector may prefer Walmart.  

Faux 2014 Topps #1 Yusiel Puig Blue Wal-Mart Parallel

Notice that I have guessed at Yusiel Puig as card #1 for 2014 Topps.  The Base card was the first image I saw from 2014 Topps promotional material (via Cardboard Connection) - it differs a bit from the vanilla base cards carrying the "Future Stars" flag above Puig's name. This looks like a foil version of the logo used in 1987 Topps. The Futures Stars weren't at the top of the lineup in 87 Topps but I thought they may take a page out of 89 Upper Deck and Open with Future Stars in 2014.

Faux 2014 Topps #1 Yusiel Puig Chrome

Later in the season when Topps Chrome comes out it may appear as above

Faux 2014 Topps #1 Yusiel Puig Black Parallel

The Black Parallel would of course be serial numbered to 63. The black parallels, may actually look pretty close to this, which is pretty sharp.

And Finally 

2014 Topps #1 Yusiel Puig Whacky Colors Prallel 

It could happen. Who knows what Topps will do when they run out o parallel colors

Sources

Cardboard Connection

Night Owl Cards