Discount Queen

I was doing so well. I was really proud of myself for managing to resist making a lot of bad card purchases this year, but last month at the monthly card show I was struggling to find packs to open to fulfill my need for random thrills when I happened upon a $15 Gypsy Queen blaster. I am not collecting this set nor am I keeping any of these cards, so I ended up with this with nothing to show for it but a few trade bait items and those aforementioned "thrills". All of these cards are available for trades/claims.

Pack 1:

100 - Derek Jeter
16 - Eric Hosmer

239 - Juan Marichal (There's a nice retired-to-active player ratio in this set, I've noticed.)

187 - Brandon Beachy Mini (My scanner still hates minis indiscriminately. As a reminder, any minis shown on this blog with ridiculously poor cropping issues probably don't look that way in person!)

135 - Clayton Kershaw Variation (Like last year's set, there are lots of photo variations. Does anyone need this? Night Owl, perhaps? Or maybe someone who is always getting the short end of the Kershaw stick?)


Pack 2:
131 - Domonic Brown
139 - James Shields

45 - Madison Bumgarner (That's some kind of face on him.)
210 - Justin Upton
47 - Derek Holland Mini

MS-CG - Curtis Granderson Moonshots (Gypsy Queen has a lot of nice looking inserts. Really, I have nothing against this set, I just can't add anything else to my list of things to collect for a long time.)

Pack 3:
78 - Sergio Santos
163 - Brandon Phillips (As they say, if you don't have anything nice to say...)

32 - Michael Pineda (It will be interesting to see if the Yankees ever end up with the better end of the trade that saw Pineda head across the country from Seattle. While Pineda will spend the entire 2012 season the DL, Montero and Noesi, the guys that Seattle received, have been pretty dreadful.)
215 - Lonnie Chisenhall

96 - Alexi Ogando Straight Cut Mini (I can't keep up with all of the mini variations.)

FS-CK - Craig Kimbrel Future Stars (Kimbrel has rebounded nicely this year from a September swoon that blemished an otherwise perfect rookie season.)

Pack 4:
250 - Ken Griffey Jr.

259 - Dave Winfield
270 - Roberto Clemente

SS-AM - Andrew McCutchen Sliding Stars (As ridiculous of an idea as "Sliding Stars" might be for an insert set, this is a really nice looking card.)
54 - Mariano Rivera Mini

HH-FR - Frank Robinson Hallmark Heroes

Pack 5:
5 - Russell Martin

202 - Jason Motte (Woo!)
82 - David Wright
198 - Lucas Duda

168 - Ricky Romero Gypsy Queen Mini (Wow, that TORONTO lettering is way too large to be convincing.)

40 - Ichiro Variation (Here's one for the trade bait pile.)

Pack 6:
77 - J.P. Arencibia
277 - Vance Worley
108 - Guillermo Moscoso
287 - Daniel Hudson

33 - Ben Zobrist Green Mini (These minis have "back" parallels, photo variations and color parallels, I guess.)

MS-WM - Willie Mays Moonshots

Pack 7:

294 - Reggie Jackson
251 - Gary Carter
247 - Paul Molitor
246 - Willie McCovey (Four retired guys in a row.)
176 - Howie Kendrick Mini

FS-MM - Matt Moore Future Stars

Pack 8:
46 - Chad Billingsley
187 - Brandon Beachy

64 - Jason Kipnis (Kipnis has been very good so far in his first full season.)
169 - B.J. Upton
23 - Phil Hughes Mini

HH-EB - Ernie Banks Hallmark Heroes

As always, trade inquiries are welcome.