A Fantastic Card Purchase From a While Ago

A couple of months ago I purchased this blaster box of 2011 Gypsy Queen at the card shop. Since then, I have opened all the packs but I have yet to show any of the cards I pulled. Today, I've decided to go through and show off some of the cards I got to recap the box.

The base set consists of the best players who played in 2011 as well as retired players. It's similar to the sets that followed it considering it has a 300-card base set as well as 50 short-printed cards. The brands' first set remains one of my favorites from the 7 years Gypsy Queen has been around. It has a very simple design with some great small details such as the font used for the words "Gypsy Queen" as well as the fantastic photos on each card.

Like I said, there are retired players in the base checklist which is sadly something Gypsy Queen doesn't do anymore. They have since made the base set all current players and made the short prints the retired players, a decision I somewhat understand. However, I still wish they'd put retired players back in the base checklist. After all, that one detail is something that made many collectors enjoy Gypsy Queen in the first place.

Another staple of the Gypsy Queen set (at least until 2017) was the mini cards. Gypsy Queen took a page from Allen & Ginter's book by including the mini cards in their first 6 sets before changing up the set a lot to make it more unique. 

But the biggest part of the 2011 Gypsy Queen set was all the different types of inserts. One example of this is the Future Stars inserts that show some of the best young players of 2011. The set is rather bland, but Gypsy Queen does have its way of making cards look fantastic, which they accomplished with the dark blue they put on the Future Stars cards.

Another insert in the set is the Wall Climbers which eventually evolved into the Glove Stories insert that was included in the set for many years. Like Glove Stories, they show amazing catches made by star outfielders in the MLB. The 2 I got are Michael Brantley and Nick Swisher both of whom made these spectacular at their home stadiums. Both are great cards, but I personally like the Swisher a bit better because of how nice and classic the Yankees pinstripes look on the card.

Sticky Fingers does something similar to Wall Climbers but instead focuses on fantastic defensive infielders including Brandon Phillips and Jose Reyes. It doesn't focus on a specific play like Wall Climbers but rather points out the defensive talent that each of those infielders has. I think the concept is a bit more unique and I absolutely love the cool border designs.

Like I said, this set is full of inserts, including The Great Ones, highlighting some of the greatest players to ever play the game, no matter the team, position, or time they played. This is proven given the 2 completely different players I got cards of, Rogers Hornsby and Nolan Ryan. What I like about these 2 is that they are complete opposites. Completely different teams, positions, and the era that they played in. However, they are some of the most talented players of all-time, and Gypsy Queen recognized that by putting both of them in this insert set. 

The final insert set was one that proved to be a bit rarer, and that was the Home Run Heroes set. The sole card I acquired from this insert set was Jimmie Foxx, who definitely one of the greatest power hitters of all-time. I like the green color used on the borders as well as the insert set itself. It would be perfect for a set to recreate in 2018 for current players considering how much power hitters like Aaron Judge shaped what 2017 was like for baseball.

In addition to base and inserts, I also got this slightly-miscut framed card of none other than Mickey Mantle. The image is one of my favorites in the whole set and the bronze frame helps the card even more. Even if it's miscut a bit, I don't mind too much. Especially since it's numbered 869/999 on the back.

And I was even able to pull a Jorge Posada relic in this blaster box, which looks incredibly awesome. I almost never get retail hits, so this was really cool to pull. I don't even care that he's a Yankee because Posada was still a very talented player and I'm always excited to add relic cards to my collection. Plus, the Posada image is on the level of the Mantle photo for my favorites of the box so I cannot complain at all.

But somehow, my luck didn't end there as I pulled one of the coolest cards I've ever gotten, a stamp card of Marlon Byrd. It's my first stamp card ever, and it's even-numbered 4/10 on the back. Not only is it a Cub which I'm psyched about, but I'm also grateful for how well centered the stamp is and how it's not slanted given how some other stamp cards from this set look. Plus, the stamp is also really cool and looks really nice on the card. 

Overall, this box delivered some stunning base cards, well-executed hits, and even a relic and a stamp card numbered to 10. That has to be one of the best blasters I've ever opened, and it's a perfect example as to why I enjoy Gypsy Queen so much.