Gypsy Queen – retired players new in 2013

Continuing the show of Gypsy Queen retired players.  Here’s the stats again of retired players in each set.  This was in my post yesterday:

In the 350-card set from 2013, there are 260 current players and 90 retired players.

In the 300-card set from 2012, there are 246 current players and 54 retired players.

In the 350-card set from 2011, there are 297 current players and 45 retired players, plus 8 players who have a second card showing them in a different uniform.

Of those retired players, 21 are in all three sets.

Of the remaining 69 retired players in 2013 Gypsy Queen, 5 had cards in the 2011 set and 25 cards in the 2012 set.  That leaves 39 retired players who are new to the Gypsy Queen set in 2013.  I’m scanning their cards here.

Cecil Fielder, Bert Blyleven, Bill Buckner, Enos Slaughter, George Kell, Billy Williams, Joe Morgan, John Kruk, Monte Irvin, Phil Niekro, Rickey Henderson, Early Wynn, Hal Newhouser, Vida Blue, Don Mattingly, Whitey Ford, Bruce Sutter, Will Clark, Don Sutton, Tony Perez, Al Lopez, Goose Gossage, Fergie Jenkins, Rick Ferrell, George Brett, Harmon Killebrew, Hoyt Wilhelm, Jim Abbott, Jim Rice, Jim Bunning, Bobby Doerr, Lou Boudreau, Bob Lemon, Paul O’Neill, Robin Roberts, Robin Ventura, Ted Williams, Bill Mazeroski, Phil Rizzuto.

I don’t have every single one of these yet, because some of them are SP’s.  But I’ll scan the ones I do have.  The Ted Williams card is probably the most notable.  Jim Abbott is also a very cool inclusion.

I have no clue why this interests me, but it does for whatever reason.  I think it’s the auditor in me that needs to reconcile this somehow.  If you’re curious about other “combinations”, there are 14 retired players with cards only in the 2011 set.  There are 3 retired players with cards only in the 2012 set.

2011 has 45 retired players (14 only in 2011 + 21 in all years + 5 in 2011 & 2012 + 5 in 2011 & 2013)

2012 has 54 retired players (3 only in 2012 + 21 in all years + 5 in 2011 & 2012 + 25 in 2012 & 2013)

2013 has 90 retired players (39 only in 2013 + 21 in all years + 5 in 2011 & 2013 + 25 in 2012 & 2013)

2013 Gypsy Queen – retired players in all three sets

Up front – if you want to skip reading and see something fairly interesting scroll down to the Seaver card.

OK, on to show some posts of actual Gypsy Queen base cards.  Gypsy Queen, like some of Topps’ other offerings, combines current players with retired players.  I decided I’d take a look at the retired players in this set.

In the 350-card set from 2013, there are 260 current players and 90 retired players.

In the 300-card set from 2012, there are 246 current players and 54 retired players.

In the 350-card set from 2011, there are 297 current players and 45 retired players, plus 8 players who have a second card showing them in a different uniform.

Of those retired players, 21 are in all three sets.  Most of those are on the same team for all three years, but Andre Dawson, Gary Carter, Reggie Jackson, Nolan Ryan and Frank Robinson are shown on different teams in one of the three years.

Andre Dawson

Gary Carter – and the same picture in back to back years.  D’oh!

Reggie Jackson

Nolan Ryan

Frank Robinson – by the way, the picture used in 2013 is actually the same picture as Robinson’s second card in the 2011 set – he is one of the 8 players with cards from 2 teams.

The other 17 players are all shown on the same team each year.  And as you’ll see, sometimes the same photo.  Those players are: Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Tom Seaver, Cal Ripken, Brooks Robinson, Jackie Robinson, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Ryne Sandberg, Frank Thomas, Al Kaline, Sandy Koufax, Stan Musial, Bob Gibson, Johnny Bench, Lou Gehrig, and Tony Gwynn.

Ruth – Ruth also has a card in the 2011 set where he’s pictured with Boston.  I think the Ruth cards are some of the best in the whole Gypsy Queen product.

Cobb – Cobb also has a second card in the 2011 set.  He’s pictured with the Philadelphia A’s, who he finished his career with in 1927 and 1928.

Ripken

Seaver – oh, Topps.  For shame!  Same photo 3 years in a row.

Brooks Robinson

Jackie Robinson

Snider

Sandberg – fielding, running and hitting in the 3 years!

Thomas

Kaline

Koufax

Musial

Gibson

Bench

Gehrig

Gwynn

So a few duplicate pictures, with the Seaver being a pretty egregious error on Topps part.

Other than that, I do like the three cards compared next to each other.  Gwynn has two from his later years, and the Thomas cards next to each other are pretty neat.

In my next post, I’ll show the cards of retired players that are new to Gypsy Queen in 2013.

2012 Heritage & 1963 Topps – 1990 Reds and Big Red Machine

There was one Big Red Machine member in the players in the 1964 Topps set.  Pete Rose was the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, and 1964 was his first “solo” card.  He also has a Topps Venezuelan version as well.

In the 2012 Heritage product, Topps stamped a Pete Rose rookie card and inserted into packs as a 50th anniversary buyback; it sold on eBay last year.  I’m not sure if they did so for Rose’s card this year, but I’d assume they did.  However I haven’t seen that one on eBay.  I found this very interesting at the time last year; for the first time since 1989, a Pete Rose card was included in a baseball card product licensed by MLB.  It’s not an original card, which is why it’s OK, I guess.

There are no other Big Red Machine members in 2013 Heritage or 1964 Topps, however there is a single member of the 1990 Reds team.  Though many of the players from that team weren’t even born yet, the team’s manager had his first card in 1964 Topps.  Lou Piniella was featured on the first of 3 “rookie prospect” cards in 1964.  He took a while to make it to the bigs, as his next Topps card wasn’t until 1968.  He was on a card early enough on that he also has a Venezuelan edition, too, and probably a buyback version in 2013 Heritage (though I haven’t seen one on eBay yet).

2012 Topps Heritage Relics and Autographs

The 2013 version of Heritage is full of relics and autos of different variety, though this is a set collector’s product and these are harder to pull than with some other sets.  Below is a brief description of each of the possible pulls.

’64 Mint Coins – 50 total cards (1:2,941 to 1:168,000 – Hobby only)

These cards have a coin embedded into them – and Topps did this in a different format this year in a way that made the cards far more rare.  As opposed to tying the type of coin to how that year related to these players (born in 1963, rookie in 1963, All-Star in 1963, etc.), Topps included the same 50 players in the set and did different players at each tier with no apparent correlation as to which tier.  Each player is only included in one tier, though – i.e., Buster Posed has a dime card, but he doesn’t have a nickel, quarter or half-dollar card.  I know three of the half-dollar guys are Aaron, Clemente and Miguel Cabrera.

• Nickel – #/15 (20 cards)
• Dime – #/10 (15 cards)
• Quarter – #/5 (10 cards)
• Half-Dollar – #/1 (5 cards)

Framed 1964 Topps Coins Buybacks – 10 coins (1:47,008)

Framed 1964 Topps Tattoo Buyback redemption – (1:23,504)

Framed 1964 Bazooka Stamps Buyback redemption – (1:47,008)

1964 Topps Beatles Buybacks – (1:14,120)

There are quite a few buybacks, too, which is something Topps has done over the past few years of Heritage.  These are all re-packs (sometimes with fancy frames, sometimes done via redemption) of oddball stuff Topps did back in 1964.  The Beatles Buybacks are one of the bigger things for this product – these are supposedly 1/1 pulls (I think maybe 1 each of all 60 cards from 1964).

Framed US Postage Stamp Relics – 35 cards (1:4,701, #/50)

Topps also framed some US postage stamps from 1964 and inserted them into packs.  Not something I’d get overly excited about, but another potential pull, I guess.

Clubhouse Collection - 5 levels

Clubhouse Collection – 72 cards (1:38)

Clubhouse Collection Gold – 72 cards (1:225, #/99)

This is the most common relic – you’ll basically get one of these per hobby box, unless you get one of the better pulls.  The gold versions are new this year, and basically just have gold shininess where the card would otherwise be white.  These cards have either a jersey swatch or a bat square of a current player.  I pulled Paul Konerko and Billy Butler from my hobby boxes.

Clubhouse Collection Dual – 5 cards (1:5,003; #/64)

After that, the pulls are much more difficult.  This set pairs a current player with a star from 1964, with a jersey swatch from both players.   This year’s tandems are Posey / Mays, Killebrew / Mauer, Clemente / McCutchen, Ellsbury / Yastrzemski, Kaline / Cabrera.  Not a bad group – all but Ellsbury, Kaline and McCutchen have won the MVP, and each of those guys has finished in the top 3 at some point in their careers!

Clubhouse Collection Autograph – 11 cards (1:6,477; #/25)

These cards are even rarer.  There are 7 cards of current players, and 3 cards of players from 1964.  I actually pulled a card of David Freese – out of retail no less (sold it on eBay)!  The cards are numbered to 25, and with an on-card autograph in addition to the relic.  From the Reds, Todd Frazier has a card in this set.

Clubhouse Collection Dual Autograph Relic – 5 cards (1:17,583; #/5 – Hobby only)

These cards also have a current player with a player from ’64 on the same team.  The most impressive one here is Freese and the late, great Stan the Man.

Flashback - 1 levels

Flashback Autographed Relics – 11 cards (1:6,474, #/25)

These single player cards all come with 1964 players with bat inserts.  Most of the guys featured have cards in the Baseball Flashbacks insert (Luis Tiant, Musial, and Billy Williams being the ones who don’t).

Real One Autographs - 4 levels

Real One Autograph – 63 cards (1:124)

There are quite even more real one autos than last year (it’s gone from 37 in 2011 to 52 in 2012 to 63 now).  Aaron, Mays (redemption) and Musial are the big pulls from this set, though I also found Maury Wills and Luis Tiant interesting as they didn’t have cards in the 1964 Topps set.  So their versions are “cards that never were”.  I purchased the Maury Wills and am searching for the Tiant on eBay – at the right price of course!

Real One Autograph Special Edition – 63 cards (1:408; #/64 or less)

Each of the Real One auto’s has a Red parallel numbered to 64 – except for some of the rarer ones like Aaron and Musial.

Real One Dual Autograph – 10 cards (1:3,531; #/25 – Hobby only)

These cards also pit a current player with a former player from the same team.  Quite a few redemptions here, though Freese and Musial, as well as Freese and Dick Groat, made it into packs.

Real One Triple Autograph – 5 cards (1:35,160; #/5 – Hobby only)

These are new this year, and all were packed out as redemptions.

Other Cards

1964 Cut signatures – 19 cards (1:80,932; #/1)

Finally – just about the rarest pull out there are cut signatures.  There were (supposedly) 19 cut signatures from the set #’d to 1/1.  I’ve seen three of these on eBay thus far - Harvey Haddix, Chuck Dressen, and Gene Mauch.

Esteemed Heritage Book cards – 25 cards (1:94,016; #/1)

New in 2013 were book cards with bat barrels inserted.  These weren’t packed out – they came as redemptions.  Ernie Banks is the biggest name from the checklist, with Dick Groat being the only other retired player.  I think these may have been retail only.

1964 Topps complete set redemption (1:773,520)

I think there were two of those inserted based on the odds.

2013 Topps Heritage insert sets

Topps included 5 “traditional” insert sets into 2013 Heritage.  That’s aside from parallels, variations, box toppers, Relics/Autos, and the Bazooka retail inserts I featured earlier.  These are the same sets they had in previous years, with one new one called Memorable Moments.  I included these below with the write-up from the Topps sell sheet.  Odds below are for hobby packs – you’d get about 8 or so of these per hobby box.

One thing I don’t like about the insert cards this year – which Topps started doing last year – they are “lettered” (“NA-CK” for Kershaw instead of “NA-7″).  This is really annoying for a set collector like me.

New Age Performers (30 cards, 1:8)

“Top current players whose performances have eclipsed the giants of the past”.  These cards show a current player on the front with a white border and a colored diamond background.  The reverse shows his 2012 statistics and compares his season to the 1964 campaign of a former superstar (1963 as the previous season would have seemed to make more sense).

Then and Now (10 cards, 1:15)

“Statistical comparison of a 1964 player vs. a 2012 player who were league leaders in statistical categories”.  Again, I think they should have done 1963 as the previous year, but the front of this card shows a player from 2012 who was the leader in a specified category next to a player who was in the top 10 in the same category in 1964.  The reverse shows the MLB top-10 in that statistic for both years.

Baseball Flashbacks (10 cards, 1:12)

“Flashback highlights from the 1964 season”.  The front shows a player from ’64 and headlines an accomplishment from that year.  The back describes the accomplishment in more detail.

News Flashbacks (10 cards, 1:12)

“World news moments from 1964″.  Mary Poppins, a good card to feature here.

Memorable Moments (15 cards, 1:12)

“Top moments from the 2012 season”.  And that day when Teddy Roosevelt won the Nationals race.

 

2013 Heritage & 1964 Topps parallel sets

After there was no parallel in the 1963 Topps set, Topps Venezuelan was back in 1964 after a year layoff, and this time it is a parallel of the first 370 cards in the set (the first 4 series).  The cards have a distinctive black back.  The trivia question is still there, but it isn’t a scratch-off – the answer is just right there for you to see.  These cards were released in Venezuela and command a big premium, particularly a nice copy, when you can find them.

2013 Heritage Venezuelan – 525 cards (1:47)

Topps copied this in 2013 with Heritage, paralleling the entire 500-card Heritage set, as well as the action variations (I’m pretty sure they didn’t parallel the color swaps or any other variations).

Topps again issued, as box-toppers in 2013 Heritage, buybacks of original 1964 cards that are now stamped as “50th anniversary”.  I know 2013 is the 50th set if you’re counting 1964 as the first set.  But that doesn’t make it the 50th anniversary – this always confuses me.  Anyways, these cards came in “penny” 1-card packs inserted in every other hobby box (with the ad panel coming as the other potential box-topper).  Here’s the one I got in my first Heritage box.  It’s interesting, because this is an “uncorrected error” card from the ’64 set – Koppe is right-handed and has his glove on the right hand.  Sly little devil!

The 2013 Heritage set also has a whole lot more of what we’re used to as far as parallel sets go.  In addition to all the variations I’ll posted on later, there are quite a few of the standard parallel cards.  There are now 4 sets of Chrome parallels, and 2 25-card partial parallels that you could probably consider “variations”.  But they seem more like partial parallels to me!  In fact, all 6 of these sets are partial parallels – either 100 cards or 25 cards.  Odds below are for hobby packs, except for the Bordered parallels, which only come from retail packs.

Chrome – 100 cards (1:24; #/999)

Chrome Refractor – 100 cards (1:42; #/564)

Chrome Black Refractor – 100 cards (1:368; #/64)

I’m collecting versions of the Bautista card because I like the picture.

 

Chrome Gold Refractor – 100 cards (1:1,932; #/5)

But not the Gold Border cards.  They are new this year, and a bit unnecessary (and too pricey) if you ask me!

Chrome Purple Refractors – 100 cards (effectively 1:12 – each hobby case contains one hot box, which has 1 purple refractor per pack)

Purple refractors are new in 2013, though they are kind of back from 2011, when there were hot boxes with green refractors.  These were unannounced – so .

Mini – 100 cards (1:235; #/100)

Minis are new this year as well, and also a bit unnecessary if you ask me.  I do like these better than the Gold border things, though.

Black Border – 100 cards (1 per 3-pack retail blister)

These are back as incentive packaging for packs at either Wal-Mart or Target.  I did get one pack of these, and the black border works well with this set, better than the past two years.  That Longoria is pretty nice, too.

Topps Archives giveaway at the Cubs game!

I’ve mentioned it a few times on this blog, but back in September I moved to Chicago and specifically the Wrigleyville area.  This is great (my wife might not agree) because I can walk to Wrigley Field.  And when the Reds are in town, I can go to the games pretty easily.

Yesterday, me, the wife and the baby made our way to Wrigley to see the Reds play their first game of the year there.  The Reds held on to win after a really dicey 9th inning saw Aroldis Chapman nearly blow a non-save situation.  We were watching that part from home, though!  When we left, it was 2-0; we didn’t make it for too long – it was way too cold, and all three of us are getting over some illness.

I’m going to today’s game with some friends, but the cool thing about yesterday’s game was definitely the giveaway.  If you’ve read about it at all – Topps is giving away specially made Cubs cards on 4 different Friday games throughout the year.  Today’s frigid game was one of those days.  Since we had two tickets, we got two of these “quarter sets”, which are Topps Archives cards of various former and current Cubs players on past Topps designs.  The cards all have the same back – which is based on the 1977 Topps card back.

There were 20 cards in this package, there will be 82 total – 1 for each home game and 1 for the potential 163rd game if the Cubs magically ended the season tied for a playoff berth.  Season ticket holders also got a set of these cards stamped with a season ticket logo.  And each game’s ticket has the corresponding card pictured on the ticket.  Wrigley Wax has a good write-up on the reason behind each card – let’s just say there was some thought put into placing each player based on the date and game number.

One thing I wish could have been done would be to expand the focus and include some of the older players in Cubs history.  Gabby Hartnett (and matching up his card with the “homer in the gloamin’) would have been a good addition.  So would have Mordecai Brown or a card for Tinkers to Evers to Chance!

2013 Heritage & 1964 Topps – Variations

One of the big things for the Topps Heritage product is all the card variations.  It’s always done in a way also a throwback to the relevant set (in this case 1964).

Error variations

An apostrophe where it doesn’t belong – card #4

In 1964, card #4 was the AL victory leaders, and this error was the one correction made in the middle of the print run back then (the rest of the cards below are uncorrected errors).

Card #4 is again AL victory leaders in 2013 Heritage.  The 2013 Heritage set has a rare variation where the apostrophe is added as well.  These error variations come 1:1,567 packs, which is basically one every 3+ cases.

Born in 1942 – card #125

Pete Rose’s 1964 Topps card is fairly iconic; it’s the hit king’s first 2013 card, and it showcases the All-Star Rookie Team trophy. This was the second year in a row the previous year’s NL Rookie of the Year had something wrong with his card.  Ken Hubbs had won the award the previous year, and his card omitted his position.  Rose’s card says he was born in 1942, but he was actually born in 1941.

Yu Darvish has card #125 in 2013 Heritage – an interesting match.  He’s on the All-Star Rookie Team, but wasn’t the second baseman, isn’t a Red and certainly isn’t the reigning NL Rookie of the Year.  He got the 1942 treatment as well.  In fact, Topps put his birthdate at April 15, while his actual birthday is August 16, 1986.

…Or 1932 – card #325

Card #325 had a similar error – with Hector Lopez showing a birthdate of 1932 as opposed to his true birth year of 1929.

Rafael Betancourt has card #325 in 2013 Heritage and has the same super-rare error variation, again with him also getting the birthdate and not just birth year corrected.

…Or 1930 – card #335

The famous (to card collectors) Don Mossi got an uncorrected birth year error as well.  His card says he was born in 1930, but like Lopez he was also born in 1929.

Johnny Venters is the equivalent in 2013 Heritage.

…Or 1931 – card #355

And the last of the 4 birthday errors was Vic Power, who was 4 years off (shown as 1931, actually born in 1927).

The Orioles’ Chris Tillman got the 1931 treatment in 2013.

Pittsburfh!

Card #440 in 1964 was the great Roberto Clemente, and Topps misspelled his team’s city, fat-fingering the g in “Pittsburgh”.

Topps really reached here to get their poster boy another variation in Heritage.

The correlation here just doesn’t make sense.  In 1964, they misspelled his 1960 season (not the most recent one on the statline).  And they misspelled the name of the city Clemente did in fact play for, whereas with Harper, they changed his team and then made the misspelling the same.  Oh well.

Senators Variations

Topps also created four variations where the photo was different for players on the Nationals; the cards still say “Nationals” on the top, but the players are shown wearing old school uniforms of the Washington Senators.  The 4 players with these cards are Ross Detwiler, Ian Desmond, Ryan Zimmerman, and (of course) Mr. Harper.  Supposedly there were supposed to be Colt 45 variations but those were scrapped.

Senator Variations – 4 cards (1:13,058)

Swap Variations

Topps also created two different variations – one that plays with the 1964 card design, and another that switches the photo used.

Action Image – 25 cards (1:26, hobby only)

The first swap variation were 25 action image variations where the player photo was changed to an action shot.  To be honest, though, they didn’t even do the greatest action shots, as the Cano demonstrates.  But it is much better than his regular card which is just a big time closeup.

Color Swap – 25 cards (1:155, hobby only)

There are also 25 color variations where the team name is in yellow letters and the background for the name and position is over a gray bar.

Last up are the red and blue borders that have become standard fare at Target and Wal-Mart.

Target Red Border – 25 cards (1:8; Target retail only)

Wal-Mart Blue Border – 25 cards (1:8; Wal-Mart retail only)

It’s worth noting – the Wal-Mart Blues and Target Reds are 2 completely different groupings of 25 cards.

1964 Topps / 2013 Heritage – Ad Panels

Advertising Panels

Prior to and during the release of its 1964 flagship baseball set, Topps sent 3-card advertising panels to market the set to retailers carrying the product.  These 3-card panels had 3 different player cards on the front of the card.  Beckett lists 6 different player combinations known:

• Walt Alston, Bill Henry, Vada Pinson
• Jimmie Hall, Ernie Broglio, AL ERA Leaders
• Mickey Mantle, Jim Davenport, Boog Powell
• Denis Menke, Dean Chance, Tim Harkness
• Hoyt Wilhelm, Curt Flood, Bill Bruton
• Carl Willey, White Sox Rookies, Bob Friend

There also must be others, because I found a picture of the one below with John Wyatt, Joe Nuxhall and the AL Strikeout Leaders card.  I have seen one of the Willey/Friend and Sox Rookies in a Legendary Auctions ad on the web.

The reverse has info on the set – see the picture below.  Topps was advertising the metal coins that were inserted into packs.  There is one example player’s card back for each panel issued, and for 1964 that was Mickey Mantle (it was Roger Maris in 1962, but I don’t know who it is for 1963 – my guess is Stan Musial).

For the 2013 Heritage Set, Topps again directly copied this idea.  This is one of 3 options you were guaranteed to get as a topper to a hobby box (the others being 1964 buybacks and Topps Giants).  Like the 1964 version, these are 3-card panels with 3 different player cards on the front.  The reverse shows the card back of Justin Verlander - I’m surprised they didn’t do King Felix, who is on the front of all their packaging.  They also advertise the fact that you can find metal coins in the Heritage product, though those only come as buybacks of the originals.  There are 30 different panels.  The orange background promotional language is probably designed based on the 1963 panel.  I didn’t pull one from either box of Heritage, so these pictures are sniped form the interwebs.

1964 Topps Giants & the 2013 Heritage version

Topps Giants – 20 cards (hobby box topper)

The other set from 1964 that Topps included in the 2013 Heritage product was the 1964 Topps Giants set.  The larger cards were issued as a 60-card set in their own packs in 1964, while cards from the 2013 cards come as box toppers in hobby boxes.  They are very rare, supposedly coming one every other case or so from what I’ve read.  Topps has previously used this design in a retro set, as these were much more common in 2011 Lineage.

In Lineage these came 1 per box, so they weren’t nearly as rare (read: expensive) as the ones this year.  Also, this year’s set includes 15 active and 5 former players.  Out of the former players, Ernie Banks and Eddie Mathews don’t have cards in the original set – not sure why they weren’t included back in 1964 (particularly Banks as Mathews was on the downside of his career).  Here are the other players with the 2 cards side by side.  The card on the right is the new one from Heritage; the left is the 1964 card.

Bob Gibson

Harmon Killebrew

Willie Mays

For Mays, I already had a picture on the blog of his original, so I didn’t feel like going through all the photo-shopping to get it side-by-side with his one from this year.

It’s also notable for Mays that they used a photo that couldn’t possibly be from 1964 – that’s a New York Giants had he’s got on!