A Retail Calm Before the Card Show Storm

For no real reason other than I wanted to get a look at the brand new 2019 Topps Archives set, I made a small retail purchase at a Target near my house today even though I'm heading to the Mansfield show tomorrow.

To be fair, most of this 4-value pack purchase was covered by a coin cup that I cashed in at one of those Coinstar machines. I had to resort to value packs since the store was out of blasters, though this wasn't a huge deal given the luck I had with last year's set.

Although collectors have mixed emotions when it comes to Archives, it's always been one of my favorite retail releases each year. I don't understand why Topps can't replicate the sets as well in Archives as they do in Heritage, but they typically do a reasonable job.

The autograph checklist, however, prevents me from buying a hobby box of this release every time it comes out. I enjoy pulling the Fan Favorites cards out of retail packs, but it's another story when you're paying $100 for those 2 autographed cards.

Plus, I've pulled autographs out of retail Archives over the last 2 years, so I don't feel the need to spring for a hobby box.

As has been typical with Archives for many years now, the 300-card checklist pays homage to 3 Topps Flagship design. Though many of us would prefer only for vintage sets to be represented, they represent all the decades equally, and 2019 is no exception.

We haven't seen 1958 Topps since Heritage came out 12 years ago, so it's nice to see these beautiful vintage cards replicated once again. There is a surplus of vintage sets that capture my attention, but the colorful backgrounds from '58 establish this set as one of the greatest of all-time.

I wasn't lucky enough to pull any of the '58 SP All-Stars, but those cards, based off the originals, are also part of the 2019 Topps Archives set. The red and blue backgrounds are flooded with stars, so much so that they are the first thing that comes to mind when I think about All-Star baseball cards.

I may not have landed as many retired players as I would like, but if I choose to, I can pick up some singles from Archives at tomorrow's show. I'm just pleased to pull any cards of players I collect, from HOFers like Duke Snider to active players like Kyle Schwarber.

Another of my favorite Topps Flagship sets ever produced, 1975 made its appearance in 2019 Topps Archives before we see this release again in 2024 Topps Heritage.

I still believe it would be a better idea to recreate this set several years ago to have more than 5 years between when '75 Topps is in Archives versus when it will be in Heritage. However, that doesn't mean I'm not elated to see stars, both past, and present, represented in the most colorful Flagship set of all-time.

The 2-color combinations on each card are one of the main reasons why I collected and, eventually, completed the 1975 Topps set in the first place.

I'm sure any given page of my '75 Topps binder features at least 6 different colors, and if you know what I like when it comes to Baseball cards, it's colorful cards of any kind.

However, there does appear to be some problems with this set as there typically is with Archives. The 2 Giants cards at the top have different color combos as well as different colored names.

My only guess is that Kevin Pillar was photoshopped from a Blue Jays uniform into the Giants, and Topps didn't have the time to alter the rest of the card.

The final of the 3 Flagship sets represented is 1993 Topps. I don't have any strong feelings, positive or negative, about these cards. I'm far more interested in '58 and '75 while '93 seems to be along for the ride.

Although the photography for the 1993 part of the set is superb, this is what I'm talking about when it comes to representation of all decades. They didn't include this set because of how iconic the original cards were. Rather, Topps needs to appeal to fans of all eras.

There seems to be 1 set in Archives each year that I'm not a huge fan of, so I don't care too much about '93 being included. There's plenty else in this set for me to appreciate.

Most of the market for 2019 baseball cards has been dominated by the big 4 rookies (Vlad Jr, Tatis Jr, Alonso, and Jimenez) which is why I was so pleased to see a couple of them show up in my 4-value pack purchase. 

Tatis may be out for the season, but his rookie year numbers speak for himself by showing that he's already one of the most well-rounded players in the game at just 20 years old. Meanwhile, Alonso is on pace to break the single-season rookie home run record set by Aaron Judge 2 years ago.

Though nothing may ever top the historic 2018 rookie class, 2019 is standing its own thanks to those 4 stars along with guys like Austin Riley, Nick Senzel, and Yordan Alvarez.

I'm just waiting for that major rookie hit to come along that'll make all these 2019 Baseball card (retail and hobby) purchases worth it.

The 2 cards above (along with the Lindor at the top of this post) are SPs along with the '58 All-Star cards that alluded me.

I haven't followed Eloy or Kikuchi very closely this year, but I enjoy that Topps took the opportunity to recreate the '93 rookie card design, most famously featuring Derek Jeter, for this year's Archives set.

I was able to continue my autograph luck with retail Archives for the 3rd consecutive year while landing a nice on-card auto for the Cubs PC. A member of the Cubs for 8 seasons, Davis played a role similar to Jason Varitek for the 2000s Red Sox.

He was a terrific defensive catcher and a 2-time All-Star who even earned MVP votes. If that wasn't enough, the autograph is a purple parallel numbered out of 150, not bad for a $6 value pack.

But the autograph fun didn't end there.

Somehow, 2 consecutive value packs on the Target shelf yielded 2 autographs, both of which are on-card and serial numbered. The 2nd hit is an autograph of Montreal Expos pitcher Steve Rogers from an insert set that commemorates the 50th anniversary of the franchise.

There's a regular insert set that features Expos players in the '69 Topps design, but I was fortunate enough to pull a green foil auto which is far rarer (1 in every ~800 packs).

Steve Rogers isn't the greatest name, but that's not what Archives is about, to begin with. Plus, my Dad and I are major Expos collectors, and he grew up a Cubs fan, so we lucked out big time when it came to the teams.

For about 1/4 the price of an Archives hobby box, we got the same number of autographs that one of those promises, not to mention they're both serial numbered hits.

This is why I've always praised Archives for being such a spectacular retail product. You get beautiful base cards, cool inserts/SPs modeled after previous Topps sets and the chances of pulling an autograph, even if it's not a huge name, are in your favor.

It's hard to believe my weekend is already this exciting when it comes to cards, and I haven't even made it to the Mansfield show yet.

My Gypsy Queen & Bowman Retail Splurge Part 1

It wasn't until last Saturday that I first learned about a coupon that Topps had available in their recent circular. They run these types of promotions every so often, and, thankfully, Baseball cards fall under the umbrella of "toys." 

Thus, collectors are able to take advantage of these incredible discounts, but they aren't made available all that often. From my knowledge, these coupons are produced once every few months. When I found out about Topps' most recent coupon, it was already the last day of the promotion. 

If I didn't take advantage of this sensational deal right away, I'd have to wait much longer before another coupon was produced. Although it was extremely short notice, my Dad and I decided to make use of this discount and take a trip to Target last Saturday as we hoped to land some blasters of 2019 Bowman.

Unsurprisingly, every last blaster of 2019 Bowman had already been purchased from my nearby Target. However, there were a couple of other options for the product, including value packs. Thus, I made the best of what was available by turning this coupon into a retail splurge of 2019 Gypsy Queen and Bowman.

Since I wrote a post on 2019 Bowman a few days ago, I'm going to hold off on the 4 Bowman value packs that I ripped until tomorrow. Therefore, today's post will be dedicated to the 2 blaster boxes and the 2 value packs of 2019 Topps Gypsy Queen that I opened. 

Although I already opened up a hobby box of this product back in March, I only ended up with about 50% of the base cards (#1-300). Because I was missing a reasonable number of cards, the retail packs that I opened delivered a ton of new cards that I hadn't already pulled. 

It's crazy, even with all the stellar cards from the hobby box I opened, that I missed out on some of the greatest cards in the set. This list includes the 4 cards above and, most definitely, the Rhys Hoskins hat tip card towards the top of this post.

It's also worth pointing out that I pulled what is likely the last original card of Bryce Harper on the Nationals that we'll ever see. Granted, there could be All-Star/milestone cards that honor his accomplishments in D.C. However, as far as originals go, this is probably it.

I haven't gone through the 2019 Topps Gypsy Queen binder to put the new cards away, but I'm certain that I was able to put a major dent in what I need from this base set. 

Although the base cards are beautiful, the standout cards from this Gypsy Queen purchase were the SPs, inserts, and variations that I pulled from these packs.

The retired player SPs can be found in hobby packs at 1:24 packs, or 1 per hobby box. However, one only needs to open 14 retail packs before they're bound to come across a card numbered #301-320. Out of all the packs that I opened, I ended up with one SP; Roberto Alomar.

Along with Don Mattingly, Alomar is the only SP that I have from the entire 2019 Topps Gypsy Queen set. Additionally, Alomar's card is simply much better than Mattingly's, for it features an image that works way better with the GQ set design.

Although inserts aren't the highlight of the Gypsy Queen set, Topps has developed 2 creative concepts for this set's insert cards. Fortune Teller tallboys have been featured for the last 3 seasons, and the design and sheer style has improved after each and every year.

After pulling Judge and Nola's Fortune Teller cards as well as Blake Snell's, I believe I have around 8 of these insert cards. Given how beautiful these cards are, especially with the purple, I wouldn't be surprised if I attempted to complete this insert set. 

The Tarot of the Diamond insert cards, introduced in 2018, fit the bill perfectly as far as Topps Gypsy Queen is concerned. Personally, I don't think Gypsy Queen should alter either of these genius topics for years to come so long as colorful designs are continuously utilized.

In addition to Corey Kluber, AKA "The Magician," I pulled a Ronald Acuña Jr insert card that I landed in my hobby box. Dubbed "The Joker," that card is available for trade if anybody is interested.

When Topps revamped the entire Gypsy Queen product back in 2017, variations became an essential part of this creative set. Because the product lacked somewhat of an identity for a few years, I understand why these various variation cards were implemented. 

It's taken a few years, but Topps seems to have finally nailed the difficult to pull of Gypsy Queen product. Although the change is very subtle, the GQ logo swap variants help the cards feel even more reminiscent of the pre-war tobacco cards. 

Although I didn't luck out with a big-name player, it was exciting to pull my first-ever Bazooka back variation from a pack of Topps Gypsy Queen. Like the Tarot insert cards, I believe that these were introduced back in 2018. Thankfully, it's incredibly easy to tell Bazooka back variations from other cards in this product.

I may or may not hold onto this card; it depends. I'm a huge fan of the retro design on the back of the card, but Corey Spangenberg isn't high on my list of players to collect. I don't know a whole lot about him, so perhaps I'll do a little bit of research before deciding to trade or sell this somewhat rare variation.

I'm not certain of the exact odds, but I recall that the missing nameplate variations are 1:28 or 1:38 retail packs, a bit tougher than the hobby box odds. I opened just 20 standard Gypsy Queen packs in my break, so it was a little surprising that I ended up with 2 of these variants.

Moreover, I'm usually unlucky when it comes to variations or parallels in both retail and hobby breaks, so it was equally shocking that I lucked out when it came to players, twice. Stanton and Kershaw are both players that I collect, so it's safe to say that I did very well as far as these variations are concerned.

With that being said, it wasn't just Stanton and Kershaw's missing nameplate cards that I landed. There was 1 more card, easily the best card of this break, that was also a missing nameplate variation. This one, however, wasn't only a base card variation.

Falling at an astounding 1:750 packs, this outstanding card of Roberto Clemente above combines 2 SPs/variations into 1 standout card. Not only is it a missing nameplate variation, but the card is also a high number SP in the checklist, making for an incredibly rare pull and a card much better than anything that I pulled from my Gypsy Queen hobby box.

Honestly, I'd take this card over half of the autographs in the checklist. That's how eye-catching and incredible the photo is. It would've been nice to pull his base SP as well just to have a card with Clemente's name on it, but I'll take a rare variation any day, especially featuring one of my favorite players in Baseball history.

At this point, I hadn't even gotten to the 4 value packs of Bowman, yet I was already incredibly pleased with how this retail splurge had gone thus far.