Completed set & master set – one last look at 2011 Gypsy Queen

This is a pretty big one to complete – I finished off the 2011 Gypsy Queen set last month, including the SP’s.  This product was the surprise of 2011 as far as how well it did, and I really liked the design and the way the pictures look.  Since I’d completed every insert set by the time I got the base set done, my “look back” will cover everything – base and inserts.

Info about my set:

How I put the set (non-SP / then SP) together:

183 (176/7) cards from my first hobby box

62 (59/3) cards from my second hobby box

11 (10/1) cards from retail packs

5 (4/1) cards from a group break

48 (44/4) cards from trades

8 (7/1) cards from Sportlots

26 SP cards from an eBay lot

1 SP card from a card show

6 SP cards from Check Out My Cards

Card that completed my set: #338 – Babe Ruth (1 of 2 cards I got from a Check Out My Cards purchase – the other was Nick Markakis)

General Set Info:

Set composition: 350 cards (297 current players, 53 retired players)

Earliest active player from this set: #164 – Cy Young

When I’ve done this for older sets – I usually do “last active player”, but for these sets one I’ll do first active player.  This is easily Cy Young, who debuted in 1890.  The only other player to play in the 19th century in this set is Honus Wagner, who debuted in 1897.

Player with the most cards in the set: 8 of the retired players have 2 cards – they are shown with different teams.

• Ty Cobb (Tigers & A’s)
• Jimmie Foxx (Red Sox & A’s)
• Rogers Hornsby (Cardinals & Cubs)
• Johnny Mize (Cardinals & Giants)
• Frank Robinson (Orioles & Reds)
• Babe Ruth (Yankees & Red Sox)
• George Sisler (Browns & Braves)
• Tris Speaker (Indians & Red Sox)

First Card and the Hundreds: #1 – Ichiro, #100 – Nolan Ryan, #200 – John Lackey, #300 – Franklin Gutierrez

The Ichiro is a pretty nice card.

Highest book value: #338 – Babe Ruth SP (see above)

Most notable card: #66 – Sandy Koufax, #318 – Hank Aaron

I picked both these guys because in 2011 Topps signed agreements with Koufax and Aaron to promote their products. This was a pretty big deal at the time, since both guys hadn’t had cards in quite a while.

Best card (my opinion): #18 – Christy Mathewson

This is kind of what I think a Gypsy Queen card should look like.  An all-time great pitcher in Christy Mathewson who doesn’t get a ton of cards.  Great shot of him in an old school uniform in what looks like a pre-game windup.  It’s a beautiful card.

Second best card (also my opinion): #99 – Ozzie Smith

I’ve said it before, but I like insert sets that have legitimate themes, and I like cards that capture memorable moments. This card captures the Wizard rounding the bases after a walk-off home run in game 5 of the 1985 NLCS.  Smith had 6 full seasons in his Hall of Fame career where he didn’t hit a single homer, but this one got Jack Buck to let out his famous “Go Crazy” call.

Best subset card: N/A

Favorite action photo: #84 – Tim Lincecum

“The Freak” shows his freaky follow through.  Dustin Pedroia has a really nice card as well.

Favorite non-action photo: #67 – Dave Winfield

You can’t beat a young Winfield posing in his old-school Padres uniform.  I can see how he was drafted by the NBA after seeing this picture.  Felix Pie, Andre Dawson, Carl Yastrzemski and R. A. Dickey all had cards I considered here.

My Favorite Reds card: #22 – Barry Larkin

I had a framed paper of Larkin, so I used that photo.  I picked this one because Larkin didn’t have a lot of “retired” cards until 2011, and this one was pretty cool.

Other Notable Cards: I think I’ve covered quite a few.  This is a really nice set – going through it again re-confirmed that for me.  So you could argue there are a bunch more “notable” cards.  Too many to scan.

My “Master” Set Info:

469 cards – 350 “base”, 119 “insert”

• Insert sets: Great Ones, Home Run Heroes, Future Stars, Wall Climbers, Sticky Fingers, Gypsy Queens

How I put the additional sets together: Boxes, packs, card shows, trades and online – various sources, just like I did with the full base set.  I covered each insert set in earlier posts.

General Insert Set Info:

Most notable insert card of any type: GQA-SC – Sandy Koufax

A year and a half later, Topps has put Sandy Koufax autographs in plenty of its products, but this was one of the first to have them after Topps inked him to a deal at the start of the year.

Best Autograph or Relic card: Framed Mini Relic #FMRC-RHE Rickey Henderson

These framed minis aren’t a new innovation in 2011 Gypsy Queen, and I’m an admittedly biased Rickey Henderson fan.  But I just love the way the green goes with this card.  And Rickey is not in the base set (or anywhere else in the product), so that adds to how cool the card is.

Best Insert card: Mini Variation #18 – Christy Mathewson

This was a tough one – those Framed Paper cards are very nice.  But these mini variations are a throwback to the originals, which is something I can always appreciate.  They came 1 per  the 10-card mini packs in the hobby boxes.  The Mathewson regular card is my favorite, but this variation with him in the old style baseball sweater seems to go with the design even more.

Best Reds insert card of any type: Triple Autograph Relic #TAR-RVB – Robinson/Votto/Bench

3 former Reds MVPs – this card is so out of my price range it’s not even funny, but at least I can admire the picture of it on my blog!

Completed insert set – 2011 Gypsy Queens

Well, I’ve busted my Ginter box, but I’m doing Gint-A-Cuffs and the rules don’t come up until Sunday.  So for the time being, I’m going to cover a couple completed sets.  I wrapped up the “master set”, or at least what I’m considering the master set, for 2011 Gypsy Queen.  The full look at everything is tomorrow.  Today – is the last insert set I finished up.

The sixth and final insert set I completed from 2011 Gypsy Queen is the only “non-baseball” insert set.  It’s a play off the Gypsy Queen idea – called “Gypsy Queens”.  This can be a little confusing.  Like if you’re trying to search COMC for just Gypsy Queens the insert set – it’s hard to filter without getting every card from 2011 the 2011 product (not just the insert).

Info about the set:

Set description:  ”A colorful caravan of 20 Gypsy Queens”.  Though it ended up only being 19 cards.  I have a theory on why Topps dropped it to 19.  It’s nothing earth-shattering, but involves Prince William, Kate Middleton and the gemstone parallels of these cards.  This set features a bunch of made up Gypsies with some interesting writing on the back, usually describing some crazy thing that particular Gypsy Queen does.  The borders feature some tan / orange-ish background.

I’ve read that these gypsies are based off of Topps employees.  There are also “tarot back”, autographed, and gemstone parallels of these cards.

Set composition: 19 cards, 1:24

Hall of Famers:  None – these aren’t even baseball players!

How I put the set together:

2 cards from the 2 hobby boxes I bought

1 card from a group break

1 card from a trade

4 cards from a card show

7 cards from Sportlots

4 cards from Check Out My Cards

Thoughts on the set:  I collected it because it wasn’t that difficult, but it certainly is kind of weird.  I like what they did this year (2012 – Gypsy Kings) better – at least they tied it to baseball.  It was mildly interesting to read the backs – Topps had a lot of times where they reference one of the other Gypsy Queens.  For instance, Hevalia (GQ18) is the sister of Sonia (GQ5).  I bet you didn’t know that!

Card that completed my set: #GQ8 – Dianamara

I got this card from a Sportlots purchase.

Highest book value:  All the same

Best card (my opinion): #GQ2 – Oriana

Because I’m a creep and she’s the hottest.  Plus, the back of her card says she’ll help heal you (as opposed to some of the others who may turn you into a bloodthirsty werewolf).

2012 New vs. old Gypsy Queen comparisons #3

Some more looks at what I did last year – updated for this year….

Leaders Off the Diamond

2011

There is a guy from the old set that had a noteworthy impact on the game away from the diamond.  John Montgomery Ward (often known as Monte Ward).  First, he was a great player who pitched, hit and managed.  Ward broke away from his semi-pro team in 1878 as a pitcher for the National League Providence Grays.  The next year, he won 47 games and led the team to a first place finish.  He pitched the first perfect game in baseball history the next year.  After that, he hurt his arm and started playing more and more in the field.  He still pitched from time to time – and holds a record for the longest shutout in history – an 18 inning, 1-0 win in 1882.   The Grays thought he was on the decline, and sold him to the New York Gothams (Giants) in 1883.

He tought himself to throw left-handed so he could play outfield while his arm healed in 1884.  He then became the team’s every day shortstop.  Ward graduated from Columbia Law School in 1885, and then led the formation of the Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Players.  The players had become frustrated with the reserve clause, which kept players from opening their services to multiple teams.  This allowed owners to sign players to one year contracts without worry about moving teams.  This clause would be the base of the struggle between owners and players for more than 80 years.  They were initially successful – they gained the right to negotiate with other teams when their current team cut a players’ salary.  He was a big part of Albert Spalding’s successful tour to promote the tour abroad in Hawaii, Australia, Egypt and Europe.  While Spalding was gone with Ward and the rest of the star players, the other owners instituted a classification system and a salary cap of $2,500 per player.  The owners refused to meet with Ward on this and they played the 1889 season under these rules.  With negotiations going nowhere, Ward successfully created a new league called the Players’ League in 1890.  He pulled over half of the National League players into the league, and the league had successful attendance numbers.  But the profit-sharing system led to a revolt from the business owners, who sold many of their teams back to the National League.  Ward went back to playing with the National League, retiring in 1894 to represent players in the coming years.

2012

So, I want to do something different in 2012.  Nothing against Jackie – he does have a card in 2012 Gypsy.  It’s a nice card and I’ve featured it already on this blog.  But, Roberto Clemente has an award named after him.  And he is in the 2012 set – so, I’ll go with that!

Aces Wild

2011

In the 1880′s, professional baseball teams usually had a rotation of just two pitchers.  In fact, usually the team had one superior pitcher and a supporting staff member.  The first pitcher would usually take up most of the starts – many times 2 out of 3 or more.  Mickey Welch became that pitcher when the New York Gothams (Giants) were formed in the 1883 season – he took over the heavier load of 54 games while Montgomery Ward, who was battling an arm injury and transitioning to a position player, took the lighter load of 30+ starts.  Welch had an even heavier load, and a better year in 1884, but the Giants weren’t good enough to compete for the National League pennant.

The next year, the owner purchased the contract of an even greater pitcher, Tim Keefe from the New York club in the American Association.  This put 2 future Hall-of-Fame, 300-game winners together on the same team.  In the first year, Welch won 44 games in a slightly heavier workload and Keefe won 32; both posted an ERA under 1.75.  The team finished an incredible 85-27, but was actually edged out by the last of 2 great seasons from Cap Anson’s Chicago dynasty.  The duo was almost as good the next year, as Keefe won 42 games and Welch won 33 in almost equal workloads, but again Chicago was the class of the league.  The duo wasn’t quite as good the next year, but the club went on to take the NL pennant and the World’s Series championships in both 1888 and 1889.

The formation of the Player’s League in 1890 saw Keefe leave the team.  All told, the duo won a combined 324 games in the 5-year span.  It was the first time a team had signed a complete rotation of “Aces” – something we just saw Philadelphia do this past year when they added Cliff Lee to their rotation alongside Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt.

2012

Well, it’s hard to argue against the Phillies Aces today.  But their offense sucks!  Oswalt is not longer there, Halladay has been good but not great and Lee is on the DL.  Only Hamels has been a worthwhile Ace this year.  But, a fellow division member now has the best starting five in the majors.  Through Saturday’s games, the Nationals’ five starters had an ERA of 2.09 – and it’s only that high because Edwin Jackson is coming in at a still-respectable 3.69.  Gypsy Queen doesn’t even have the 5th starter, Ross Detwiler.

World Series Champions

The 1886 World’s Series pitted the St. Louis Browns of the American Association against the Chicago White Stockings of the National League.  It was quite possibly the most notable of the 7 World’s Series held between the NL and the AA.  First, it was the only series won by the American Association.  The Browns won 4 pennants in a row, going 1-2-1 in that span, but the other 3 were all NL victories.  Additionally, it signaled the end of Chicago’s run as baseball’s first dynasty.  This would be the last pennant they’d win for 20 years.  The Gypsy Queen set featured primarily National League players, but they did feature cards of the WS champion Browns.  Here is a comparison of the key members of that team – alongside similar players from the 2010 champions, the San Francisco Giants.  For this year’s Gypsy Queen set, I get to compare the 2011 champions, who happen to be the same franchise – the St. Louis Browns of the 1880′s eventually moved leagues and became the St. Louis Cardinals.

Best Hitter

2011

The Browns best hitter was outfielder Tip O’Neill.  In 1886, O’Neill led the Browns’ position players in hitting, slugging, OBP, hits and RBI (of note – Bob Caruthers, the team’s 2nd pitcher, may have actually had an even better hitting year than O’Neill).  O’Neill was one year shy of a truly historic season.  In 1887, he wasn’t just the best hitter on the Browns, who again won the AA.  O’Neill posted what is probably the 2nd best season in the 19th century, behind only Hugh Duffy’s 1894 season.  He won the triple crown and led the league in every major offensive category except stolen bases.  He set an incredible number of records – many of which were only outdistanced by Duffy in 1894.  This included: Average (.435), OBP (.490), SLG (.691), H (225), 2B (52), R (167), TB (357).  Hemerely led the league in HR, 3B and RBI.  Aubrey Huff was the Giants best hitter last year – he had a truly underrated season.  He led the team in hits, runs, HR, RBI, was just behind his college teammate Pat Burrell in SLG.

2012

Well, the guy for this one is no longer with the Cardinals, and he’s been about the worst player in baseball in the first month of the 2012 season.  But Albert Pujols was obviously the best hitter on last year’s World Champions.

Staff Ace

2011

Dave Foutz, along with 2nd hurler Caruthers, pitched the Browns to the title in 1886.  Foutz went 41-16 with a 2.11 ERA and threw over 500 innings.  He was the best pitcher in baseball that year – he led the AA in wins and ERA.  After splitting 4 decisions and giving up just a 0.62 ERA in the 1885 World Series (the Browns and Chicago tied this series), Foutz went 1-1 in the 1886 “Fall Classic”.  It was actually Caruthers who won 2 of his 3 decisions.  Perhaps all the innings wore down Foutz – he had 3 solid seasons, 1885-1887, though he won only 25 games and saw his ERA balloon to 3.87 in 1887. He wouldn’t pitch a full season after the 1887 campaign, though he continued on with Brooklyn for almost another decade as a first baseman.  Tim Lincecum is the obvious choice here – the two-time Cy Young winner is clearly the team’s Ace.

2012

Easy one and a good one – though he’s missed the month of April, Chris Carpenter was the shut down guy last year.  He not only propelled the Cardinals to the World Series, but the biggest thing he did was shut the door on Philly in the Division Series with a 3-hit shutout to beat Roy Halladay, 1-0.

Soul of the Team

2011

I wouldn’t want to have any reference to the Giants’ 2011 season without including Buster Posey!  Posey led the club in hitting, provided leadership behind the plate for the young staff – all during his first season.  Naturally, he won the Rookie of the Year.  Arlie Latham was the “spark plug” of the 1886 champion Browns.  Latham led the league with 152 runs and was an excellent base stealer.  Meanwhile, he was a known practical joker – often playing pranks on his owner (Chris von der Ahe) or manager (Charlie Comiskey).  He made some notable history later in his life – he was the first full-time coach in baseball, hired so by John McGraw in the early 1900′s.  He is also (still) the oldest man to steal a base – he played in 4 games for McGraw in a pinch in 1909, almost 15 years after his retirement.

2012

Another one that fits here – let’s go with the hometown hero, World Series MVP David Freese!

So that’s the last of my individual player comparisons from the two Gypsy Queen sets, 125 years apart.  I’ll continue on with some other posts about Gypsy Queen over the next week-plus, similar to what I do with other sets.

2012 New vs. old Gypsy Queen comparisons #2

Updating the first 3 parts of last year’s comparisons between the 1887 and 2011 Gypsy Queen sets from last year seemed to work well.  Now I’m showing the next 4 comparisons – updated for a year later.

The Up and Coming Star

2011

At the time of the release of the Gypsy Queen cards, Sam Thompson was still a young player by any baseball standards.  In 1886, Thompson played his first full season for the Detroit Wolverines of the National League (a team that would eventually disband).  “Big Sam” showed a lot of promise, hitting .310 and scoring over 100 runs.  His 1887 season was historic – he knocked over 200 hits, including 23 triples, while batting .372.  All those totals led the league, but his 166 RBI set an all-time single season record that lasted for 34 years before Babe Ruth broke it.  Thompson was the only player in the 19th century with over 150 RBI in a season, and he did it twice (165 in 1895 for Philadelphia).  He retired as the active leader in RBI and was 2nd all-time in home runs.  Thompson would certainly have been the National League MVP had the award existed in 1887 – just as Joey Votto earned the award for the Reds last year.

2012

Man.  If you are a big baseball fan, you know that Votto solidified his status as the one of the best in the game last year.  But he wasn’t quite as good in 2011 as in his 2010 MVP year.  Kind of weird – he had a great year last year, but his numbers were slightly less, so I think he wasn’t viewed quite as the best in the game.  But, I can tell you – as a Reds fan – the other team pitches around him every time they are able.  Jay Bruce has 9 homers right now because he has this awesome dude 2 spots in front of him who gets 1 or 2 acceptable pitches per at bat.  I’m sticking with Votto here.  The other player who would fit is B.J. Upton, but Votto still is, at this point, what Sam Thompson was in 1887.

The Workhorse

2011

Charles Radbourn.  Otherwise known as “Old Hoss”.  When I was young, my mom used to make my brother and I stay in for an hour every summer and read right after lunch.  It was to keep us intelligent, and probably to keep us from being in the sun in the middle of the day.  So what I often read was the baseball encyclopedia – and I was always enthralled by the season Old Hoss had in 1884, when he set the standard with some records that will clearly never be broken.  Radbourn started his career pitching for the Providence Grays in 1881.  The rules were different then – and teams generally went with a two-man rotation.  Often the better of the two pitchers would pitch back-to-back games.  Radbourn was becoming the best pitcher in baseball – and he started 70% of the Grays games in 1883.  That year he set a single-season record that year with 48 wins – but the Grays were beat out by teams that used their 2nd pitcher a bit more.  The next season Radbourn had a truly great year.  The Grays had signed and developed a young pitcher named Charles Sweeney, and began using him more at the start of the 1884 season.  Sweeney struck out 19 batters in one game early in the season, and was being used more frequently, taking some starts away from Radbourn.  However, Sweeney was kicked off the team for insubordination in the middle of the season, and Radbourn started almost every game from July on.  ”Old Hoss” finished the season with 678 innings pitched – the 2nd most all-time.  But he didn’t just pitch a lot – he was almost un-hittable.  Over all those innings, he had an ERA of 1.38, winning 59 games and Completing 73 of the 75 games he started.  Some sources credited him with 60 wins due to differences in official scoring rules from the time.  The best-of-3 World Series was played at the Polo Grounds against the New York Metropolitans, champions of the American Association.  Radbourn won all 3 games (they played the 3rd game even though Providence had clinched) without giving up an earned run.  Radbourn pitched for 11 seasons, winning 209 games up against 194 losses, and was eventually elected to the Hall of Fame.

CC Sabathia best represents the “Workhorse” pitcher in today’s game.  Its nothing like Radbourn’s stats in a very different game – but CC has never pitched less than 180 innings, even in his 2001 Rookie Year.  He had 157 wins at the end of last season, and is well-known for pitching effectively on 3 days’ rest when needed.  In 2008 when he was traded to Milwaukee, CC basically pitched them into the playoffs doing this.  He is the only pitcher with double digits in complete games in any season since the start of the decade.  Since the start of his career in 2001, he is tied with Roy Halladay with 162 wins and has more innings than all but 2 pitchers.

2012

Ummm – Sabathia is still probably the answer here.  But, I could also go Verlander.  Because nobody was a workhorse, or the best pitcher like Old Hoss – quite like Verlander.  But Justin hasn’t done it quite like CC!  So – I’ll show both!

Best Pitcher on a Losing team

2011

Last post I looked at “Old Hoss” Radbourn – who had the best season of any pitcher in the 1800′s.  Radbourn had two unmatched seasons and was one of the best pitchers from the 19th century, but the best pitcher from a full career perspective was Pud Galvin.  He started his career with Buffalo of the International Association – and joined the National League when his team did a few years later.  He pitched for Buffalo and later Pittsburgh of the NL, and for the first 10 years of his career had an ERA under 3.00 all but one season.  Galvin was the first 300-game winner in baseball history; his 363 wins are tied for 6th behind only Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson and Pete Alexander.  This is particularly amazing considering the fact that he pitched 3 years for Buffalo before they joined the National League – at this time, the National League wasn’t undisputed as the only major league. So his actual win total could very possibly be around that of Johnson.  Plus, he never pitched for a great team – neither his Buffalo or Pittsburgh squads ever won a pennant.

Felix Hernandez for seattle jumps to mind here.  He may not be the best pitcher in the game – that has to be Roy Halladay – but he’s certainly in the top 5.  Halladay, Sabathia, Lincecum, and Cliff Lee are the other guys in that argument.  What do those 4 have in common?  They’ve all been significant keys to a deep postseason run, while Seattle has only had 2 winning seasons with Hernandez there; they’ve only once finished as high as 2nd.  He won last year’s Cy Young and has been the best AL pitcher, along with CC, over the past 2 years.

2012

OK, Felix is again the easy choice here.  Here’s his SP variation from 2012 – mini style.

Owners

2011

Let me start by saying I preferred to have Charles Comiskey as my highlighted 1887 card here.  Before becoming the infamous owner who was so cheap his players fixed the 1919 World Series,  Comiskey played for 13 seasons, as a First Baseman and manager for the St. Louis Browns of the American Association.  He amassed over 1500 hits and played in 4 of the early World’s Series as the Browns won 4 straight AA championships.  Everything I’ve seen says that he has a card in the Gypsy Queen set.  This would be most appropriate – a card of a future owner, just like Nolan Ryan.

But I couldn’t find a picture of it, so I went with a card of Comiskey’s owner during his days with the Browns.  Chris von der Ahe bought the Browns in 1882 and moved them to the newly formed American Association.  Like Comiskey and Bill Veeck after him, von der Ahe was the first owner who was as much the story as his players.  He was an innovator, setting ticket prices lower than the NL games, in hopes that he’d make up on beer and food sales.  When the Browns won the American Association for the first time, he decided to erect a statue outside Sportsman’s Park.  He didn’t pick a statue of one of his star players; instead he built one of himself.   Von der Ahe’s fall coincided with that of the American Association. After the Association folded in 1892, he signed on for the team to join the National League and changed their name to the Cardinals.  But his manager, Comiskey, had gone and the team was regularly in last place.  Around the turn of the century, mounting losses forced him to sell the team.

Nolan Ryan is the easy choice here – after 5700+ strikeouts and over 300 wins, he’s the one guy in this set who went on to be a team owner.  And, he’s pictured in uniform for the team he would buy.  Oh, and I did find a Comiskey card from the Old Judge Set.  The Gypsy Queen card he has is likely of the same picture.

2012

In honor of his being awesome, I put both the 2011 and 2012 Ryan Gypsy cards below.  He won a World Series.  He won a few ERA titles.  If you didn’t notice, he won a few strikeout titles.  Nolan Ryan, in fact, did count to infinity… twice!  He can slam a revolving door, and he knows the last digit of ∏.  So he gets the special treatment of me putting both cards below!

2012 New vs. old Gypsy Queen comparisons

Last year I did some comparisons of certain players from the current Gypsy Queen set to the tobacco set from 1887.  I’m going to do that again – but I don’t want to spend quite as much time.  So I’m copying the same comparisons – but I’ll modify where appropriate .  I did 10 last year, so I’ll do 10 again this year – but in 3 or 4 posts instead of 10 (I’m betting 4, but we’ll see – the later ones are longer and might take more time for me).  The first 3 are today, the next 7 are over the next few days. 

What I’ll do here – copy what I said last year for each item, then update for what I think is the appropriate comparison here.  Enjoy!

The Best Player in Baseball

2011

In today’s game – hands down this is first baseman Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals.  In the mid-late 1880′s, this could have been one of three players – Dan Brouthers, Roger Connor or Cap Anson.  Anson doesn’t have a Gypsy Queen card, and I’ll use Connor for another comparison.  Pujols just led his team to a disappointing 2nd place finish in 2011 – the Detroit team for which Brouthers played finished just out of first in the National League in 1886, though they would go on to win the pennant and take the World’s Series over the AA Champion in 1887.  Brouthers was a 5-time batting champion who won all 3 triple crown categories at various stages of his career – but never all at once.  He briefly held the career HR record.  Pujols has also won all 3 triple crown categories over his career, and he could very well hold the career HR record that was once that of Brouthers.  Of note: the St. Louis Browns club that won the 1886 World’s Series is the same Cardinals franchise that Pujols plays for today (well, at least for this season).

2012

Wow.  I’ve done the “Best Player in Baseball” across my whole lifetime Topps thing.  It’s always been based on, not just who is hot.  Not just who is hot this year.  But, who is, as of now – as of the last 3 or 5 years – the best player in the game.  This will probably lead, when I get to it – to an incredible range by Barry Bonds.  And, with Albert Pujols, he’s had such a great run.  But as of right now, it’s hard to argue, based on the last 3 years, that anyone other than this guy…

is the best player in baseball.  If Pujols had not been quite so bad to start 2012.  And if Kemp hadn’t been quite so good in 2011, or 2010, or even 2009.  Well, none of that is applicable.  Matt Kemp.  Your new – BEST PLAYER IN THE GAME!

**********

All Time Home Run Kings

2011

If Dan Brouthers (from my last post) wasn’t the best player in baseball, it was probably Roger Connor of the New York Giants.  Connor was the best slugger in pre-1900 baseball.  He retired with the career triples and home run record.  His 138 home runs would last as the career record until the end of the dead ball era, when another New York slugger obliterated his record.  That same New Yorker would change the game, start the success of a franchise that was unparalleled in American Sports.  Like Pujols and Brouthers from the first post, both Connor and Babe Ruth won all 3 “jewels” of the triple crown, but never in the same season.  Connor’s Giants featured a number of Hall of Famers, but for most of the 1880′s, they could never get past Chicago or Detroit in the National League.  They finally broke though, winning consecutive NL Pennants and the Dauvray Cup of the World’s Series in both 1888 and 1889.  Ruth came to the Yankees in 1920, but wasn’t able to secure a World Series title until 1923.

Ruth held the single season home run record for 42 years.  He hit 29 in 1919, then broke his own record 3 more times before finally setting the standard at the magical 60.  This record stood until 1961, when Roger Maris famously broke this record.  Maris’s Gypsy Queen card appears to capture the swing that smashed #61.  Back to Ruth’s 29 – this broke the record of 27 set by Ned Williamson in 1884.  Williamson had set the doubles record the year before – both records were primarily attributable to the short dimensions at Chicago’s Lakeshore Park, which was about 200 feet down the line.  Prior to 1884, balls hit over the wall were considered doubles, but for one season in 1884, they were counted as home runs.  Of Williamson’s 27 home runs, 25 were hit at home that year.  Before this year, only one National League player had ever hit over 10 home runs.  In 1883, future Hall of Famer Buck Ewing, the catcher and teammate of Brouthers on the New York Giants passed the double-digit barrier to lead the National League.  This was the only time Ewing ever reached double digits in Home Runs in his Hall of Fame career.

2012

Well – the single-season home run record is still the same.  And it isn’t Maris or Ruth.  It’s held by the same guy, but he wasn’t in the 2011 or the 2012 set.  But – both Ruth and Maris were, so here’s their cards!

The Highest Paid and Most Controversial Star

2011

Next, the most  famous athlete of the era.  Mike “King” Kelly was a future Hall-of-Famer who had been the best player in baseball, but was a few years past his prime in 1886 and 1887.  He played a large part of his career for the Chicago White Stockings (the Cubs’ franchise), the “evil empire” of the National League in early baseball.  Kelly was the highest paid player in the game; he was sold from Chicago to Boston for an exorbitant sum, earning the nickname “$10,000 Kelly”. He wasn’t just a ballplayer, he was a celebrity.  After the deal to Boston, he had a brief career as an actor, he was the basis for the first pop song in American culture, “Slide Kelly Slide”, and is believed by some to be the subject for “Casey at the Bat”.  Finally, he was known for skipping second base when the lone umpire wasn’t looking.  Who is he most like in this set?  My wife actually guessed this one correctly!  The highest paid player in today’s game arrived in Pinstripes via a blockbuster deal.  He was once the best player in the game, but his best years are a little behind him.  After dating Kate Hudson and Cameron Diaz, he’s become a little bit of a celebrity himself.  And finally, he has been known to cause a stir for skipping second base.

2012

Hard to argue anyone has taken over A-Rod for weirdness.  He’d done the Super Bowl, grapes-with-Cameron-Diaz-thing already at the time last year.  But… it’s not like some other baseball players has done anything more to become more like King Kelly.  And, he’s still the highest paid player – $30 million for that .433 slugging percentage*!  So Alex, you still get the 2012 play here.  I actually don’t have A-Rod’s card for 2012 Gypsy, so I had to gank it from the interweb.

*For comparison purposes – King Kelly had .488 slugging percentage in 1887 – during the dead-ball era where 10-15 home runs would lead the league.

Gypsy Queen – retired players only in 1 of the 2 years

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

In the 350-card set from 2012, there are 297 current players and 53 retired players.  Of those 53 retired players, however, 8 are “duplicates” (see below) – so there’s only 45 different retired players.

Of those retired players, 26 were in both sets.

That leaves 19 players who only have cards in the 2011 set.  Hammerin’ Hank, Campy, Double-X, the Rajah, the Big Train, Matty, the Big Cat (the first Big Cat!!), Tugboat, Murph, Master Melvin, Cakes, Harold Reese, Albert Fred Schoendienst, Gorgeous George, the Wizard of Oz, the Grey Eagle, the Flying Dutchman, Denton True Young, and Super Kid.

Out of those, I’m easily most surprised about Aaron not coming back in 2012.  No clue why Topps left him out of the base set – he’s actually in the product, as he’s part of the autograph set.  And his that auto is pictured in their promos!  I wonder sometimes – I think that almost has to be an oversight, right?  There can’t be someone at Topps who said “let’s put all these retired players in Gypsy Queen.  And let’s put in Albert Belle – but not Hank Aaron”.  Right?

Also – as much as I hate the Cardinals, that Ozzie Smith picture is freaking awesome!

This leaves 8 players with 2nd cards in the set – these are the “lesser known” uniforms for these guys.  Mize (Giants), Jimmie Foxx (Red Sox), Hornsby (Cubs), Sisler (Braves), Speaker (Red Sox), Frank Robinson (Reds), Cobb (A’s), Ruth (Red Sox).

I’ll admit – Mize was kind of tough.  He had a Hall of Fame career where he’s just as easily associated with the Giants or the Cardinals, and the Yankees are a close third.  The Hall took the easy way out – they didn’t put a distinction on his cap.

For 2012, which I admittedly don’t have all of the cards for yet, there are 28 more retired players who weren’t in the 2011 set:

Aparacio, Banks, Belle, Berra, Boggs, Carew, Cepeda, Clemente, DiMaggio, Doby, Feller, Fisk, Gooden, Griffey, Catfish, Marichal, Mathews, Mays, Molitor, Schmidt, Smoltz, Spahn, Stargell, Strawberry, McCovey, Kiner, Murray and Brock.

I have a lot of thoughts on these.  A bunch of notable names here.  The two biggest are Griffey and Mays, plus Clemente and DiMaggio (in that order).  I can’t overstate the hobby significance of Griffey being in a Topps product after he retired.  For Topps to sign the guy most associated with Upper Deck’s inception – that’s a big deal.  Mays is also a recent signee.  So are the Yankee Clipper and Clemente – but I’m not sure why they weren’t there before, as Topps has had cards of those guys in the past.

I also think it’s really cool that Topps put a guy like Larry Doby in there.  I know his significance in the baseball world – he’s the first African American player in the American League.  But I had to look it up – he is a Hall of Famer.  Ralph Kiner is a great addition to this set.  Gooden and Straw, plus the fact they put Gary Carter in as a Met – makes for a pretty cool part of Gypsy Queen 2012.

2012 Gypsies – retired players with 2011 Gypsies

OK, on to show some posts of actual Gypsy Queen cards.  Gypsy Queen, like some of Topps’ other offerings, combines current players with retired players.  I decided to start off, I’d take a look at the retired players in this set.  I had to use minis in some places, and I had to use internet pics in others.

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

In the 350-card set from 2012, there are 297 current players and 53 retired players.  Of those 53 retired players, however, 8 are “duplicates” (see below) – so there’s only 45 different retired players.

Of those retired players, 26 are in both sets.  Most of those are on the same team, but Andre Dawson, Gary Carter, Dave Winfield, Reggie Jackson, and Nolan Ryan are all shown on different teams across the two years.

The other 21 are all shown on the same team.  You’ve got Ripken, both Robinson’s from Baltimore, Yaz, Jackie Robinson, Snider, Sandberg, Frank Thomas, Cobb, Kaline, Koufax, Ruth, Maris, Mantle, Seaver, Fingers, Musial, Gibson, Bench, Gehrig, and Gwynn.

Topps has one “oops” in here – Seaver is the same photo in both years.  Other than that, I particularly like the two Thomas cards next to each other.  One is a very early Big Hurt, while the other is a later 90′s shot.

Tomorrow I’ll show the cards of retired players that were only in one set or the other.

Completed insert set – 2011 Gypsy Queen Sticky Fingers

Before I get started on some of my more detailed review of 2012 Gypsy Quee, I’ll look back at an insert set I completed from last year’s product.  The fifth “standard” baseball insert set I’ve completed from 2011 Gypsy Queen is the last baseball insert set and the 2nd retail only set – Sticky Fingers.

Info about the set:

Set description:  15 current infielders with photos showing off their defense.  The standard “Gypsy Queen” lettering is at the top with ”Sticky Fingers” written just below it.  The border is made to look like a honeycomb with “sticky” honey, and you will find a buzzing bee here or there – but no Winnie the Pooh!  The back references a specific play the player made, but the picture on the front doesn’t necessarily match.

Set composition: 15 cards, 1:4 retail odds

Hall of Famers:  None – these are all current players.

How I put the set together:

11 cards from trades

1 card from a Card Show

3 cards from Sportlots

Thoughts on the set:

I like whenever they have insert sets with legitimate themes better than just anything to get good players in the set.  The hobby inserts sort of have themes – but this one is much more specific, and I like the fact that it’s different.  Like Wall Climbers, the insects are kind of creepy!

Card that completed my set: #SF8 – Ivan Rodriguez

Pudge was one of 3 cards from a massive Sportlots purchase back in January.

Highest book value:  #SF1 – Derek Jeter

Best card (my opinion): #SF9 – Brandon Phillips

My Favorite Reds card:  #SF9 – Brandon Phillips

Just like the Wall Climbers cards, these have really good attention to detail.  The Phillips card shows this very well – from his uniform, to his gold Oakleys being upside down on the top of his head, to the World Series champion logo on the outfield wall in the background – this card shows all of that well.  And he’s a Red, so it beats out the Pudge card with him decked out in catcher’s gear making a play.  My scan below probably doesn’t even do it perfect justice since it’s a horizontal card (number 9), but I’m not pulling it out of the sheet just for that!

Completed insert set – 2011 Gypsy Queen Wall Climbers

The fourth “standard” baseball insert set I’ve completed from 2011 Gypsy Queen is a retail only set – Wall Climbers.

Info about the set:

Set description:  10 current outfielders with photos showing off their defense past the warning track.  The standard “Gypsy Queen” lettering is at the top with ”Wall Climbers” written just below it.  The gray-ish border has cob webs throughout.

Set composition: 10 cards, 1:4 retail odds

Hall of Famers:  None – these are all current players.

How I put the set together:

1 card from a retail value pack

9 cards from trades

Thoughts on the set: 

I like whenever they have insert sets with legitimate themes better than just anything to get good players in the set.  The hobby inserts sort of have themes – but this one is much more specific, and I like the fact that it’s different.  The spider webs are kind of creepy, but so are gypsies!

Card that completed my set: #WC8 – Michael Brantley

I got this card in a trade with a reader of the blog.

Highest book value:  #WC6 – Ichiro

Best card (my opinion): #WC8 – Ichiro

These cards have really good detail.  The Torii Hunter you can see the rocks in Anaheim’s outfield in the background.  On the Nick Swisher, you can see a jumbo cup placed on the wall by a fan.  On the Ichiro – there’s a chain link fence and you can see a Seattle reliever looking on.  He’s right in the middle of his leap – it’s a cool card.

My Favorite Reds card:  They really should have put Jay Bruce in here.  He’s had a few great catches – and there’s one from late  in the 2010 season in the corner at Great American would definitely qualify.

Completed insert set – 2011 Gypsy Queen Great Ones

Merry Christmas to everyone!

The third and final “standard” baseball insert sets I’ve completed from 2011 Gypsy Queen is the Great Ones set.  I’m still working on the actual Gypsies insert set and have just a little to go on the base set, too.

Info about the set:

Set description: “Honoring 30 legends who have led the league in a statistical category”.  Another fairly broad description, but I still like what they’re doing by giving the set some parameters.  The cards have a maroon border with some fancy siding.  The Gypsy Queen script is at the top, with a banner with “Great Ones” just below that.

Set composition: 30 cards, 1:4 odds

Hall of Famers: 26. Everyone but Thurman Munson is enshrined in Cooperstown.

Also, the last 3 cards feature players on their second card in the set, but with a different team from the earlier card - Babe Ruth (Yankees), Frank Robinson (Reds), Nolan Ryan (Rangers).

How I put the set together:

8 cards from 2 wax boxes

2 cards from retail looseys

2 cards from a retail value pack

11 cards from trades

5 cards from Sportlots

2 cards from Check Out My Cards

Thoughts on the set:  I like what Topps did with their 3 regular insert sets.  This one is a full retired players set, Home Run Heroes was mixed, and Future Stars was all current players.  This is the middle one as far as my favorite.  I like that they gave it parameters – but I don’t like that they put 2 cards of players in the set.

Card that completed my set: #GO21 – Thurman Munson

One of 2 cards (the other being the Mick) that I got from Check Out My Cards in the beginning of December.

Highest book value: #GO15 – Mickey Mantle

Same answer as the Home Run Heroes sets.  When it comes to Beckett book value – the Mick is king.

Best card (my opinion): #GO10 – Jimmie Foxx

Double-X with an old school catcher’s mitt.  I’d have never known it, but Foxx did play over 100 games at catcher in his career.

This narrowly beats out the Mantle card.  The photo for the Mantle(well, for Gypsy Queen – the painting), is actually the same as an early 90′s card from Score of the Commerce Comet.  The shot is clearly set up – hard to tell in the GQ card, but for the Score card, it’s easy to tell it’s not during a game.  Either way, the flying dirt looks great.

My Favorite Reds card: #GO12 – Johnny Bench

This beats out the Frank Robinson for a couple of reasons.  It’s his first card, and like I said, I don’t like having multiple cards of the same player in a 30-card insert set.  Plus, the Bench photo is just cooler – and the Robinson photo is the same one as his Reds base set card.

Here’s the league-leading statistic each player is selected for:

• GO1 - Andre Dawson: 189 Hits in 1983
• GO2 - Babe Ruth: 1.75 ERA in 1916
• GO3 - Bob Gibson: 13 Shut Outs and 1.12 ERA in 1968
• GO4 - Brooks Robinson: 118 RBI in 1964
• GO5 - Christy Mathewson: 37 Wins in 1908
• GO6 - Frank Robinson: 122 RBI in 1966
• GO7 - George Sisler: 51 SB and .420 AVG in 1922
• GO8 - Jackie Robinson: .342 AVG in 1949
• GO9 - Jim Palmer: 22 Wins in 1976
• GO10 - Jimmie Foxx: .749 SLG in 1932
• GO11 – Johnny Mize: 39 Doubles in 1941
• GO12 – Johnny Bench: 129 RBI in 1974
• GO13 – Lou Gehrig: .363 AVG in 1934
• GO14 – Mel Ott: 135 RBI in 1934
• GO15 – Mickey Mantle: 130 RBI in 1956
• GO16 – Nolan Ryan: 1.69 ERA in 1981
• GO17 – Pee Wee Reese: 30 SB in 1950
• GO18 – Robin Yount: 11 Triples in 1988
• GO19 – Rogers Hornsby: 250 Hits and 42 HR in 1922
• GO20 – Rollie Fingers: 28 Saves in 1981
• GO21 – Thurman Munson: 151 Singles in 1975
• GO22 – Tom Seaver: 18 CG and 2.08 ERA in 1973
• GO23 – Tris Speaker: 193 Hits, 46 Doubles and 287 TB in 1914
• GO24 – Ty Cobb: 83 SB in 1911
• GO25 – Walter Johnson: 313 K in 1910 and 303 K in 1912
• GO26 – Honus Wagner: .423 OBP in 1904
• GO27 – Cy Young: 1.62 ERA in 1901
• GO28 – Babe Ruth: .732 SLG in 1930
• GO29 – Frank Robinson: 134 Runs in 1962
• GO30 – Nolan Ryan: 1.006 WHIP in 1991 (at age 44)