Debate: Why 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen Could Be Cool.

Once again, it appears that the Baseball Card Blogs have their collective panties in a bunch over Topps' latest announcement:  2011 Topps Gypsy Queen.  Now, I must say that Chris' video made me laugh multiple times; so it's worth a view - but is it an accurate representation of Topps?  Or, perhaps more importantly for the customers, is Chris' video an accurate representation of collectors' opinion and collective view of the Topps corporation and product lines?

Let's examine a few facts, plus a whole lot of opinion:

Photo from:  http://www.sportscardradio.com

First, this is what we know about the new set (stolen verbatim from Cardboard Connection):

Release Date: Late April 2011

Box Configuration: 24 packs + 1 ten card mini box

What's In The Box:

• 2 Autographs

• 2 Relics

Product Highlights/Details:

• Modeled after the 1887 N174 Gypsy Queen baseball card set.

• Massive 450 card base set featuring 50 short prints and a mix of veterans, rookies, legends and possibly odd balls.

• 7 base cards and 3 parallels in every pack.

• All 450 base cards will feature a stamp relic parallel relating to the player's city or country of origin numbered to 10 each.

• In addition there will be framed paper parallels numbered to 999 seeded one per box.

• Gold parallels seeded one per pack.

• 1 mini parallel per pack. Mini's come in hobby-only leather versions limited to 10.

• Other mini parallels include: Sepia numbered to 10, back variants and black-bordered back variants.

Description:

Gypsy Queen Baseball is a first year baseball card offering modeled after the 1887 N174 set with the same name. From early pictures and details, Gypsy Queen is built in the mold of Topps' franchise flashback product Allen & Ginter, rather than other old tyme offerings like Heritage and T206. 2010 Topps Gypsy Queen is set to hit hobby store shelves in late April of next year featuring 4 hits and plenty of oddities per 24-pack hobby box.

Ok.  So, judging by the description it's a souped up Allen & Ginter with a little less oddity and (apparently) much more difficult to complete as a set given all the variations and minis.  There's still a bunch of weird stuff (gems in cards, seriously?) but the base set appears to mostly baseball.  

Now, what does all that corporate spin above actually mean?

To most collectors, it appears that Gypsy Queen has indeed been labeled Ginter 2.0 (or perhaps more appropriately, Ginter -1.0).   (And yes, that's a negative - math humor you know.)  Comments on Stale Gum mostly seem to imply that Topps mailed it in thanks to their monopoly and that the set is basically a bunch of crap worthy of nothing more than a flush.

But is that fair?  Is that really what Topps did?  Is Topps willing to screw their fan base figuring that collectors have no where else to go?  Do the head honchos at Topps really think of collectors as a bunch of card junkies waiting for their next "hit" - junkies so crazed that they'll take a hit from the same drainage pipe year in and year out?

In a word, my answer is no.

I don't believe that Topps mailed it in with the set.  Let's try and look at this set through a different set of lenses, shall we?

What do collectors clamor for?

Well, we know that everyone collects different things, but I think a short list of things most people would be happy with would be the following:

• Good card design
• Chance of getting a big hit
• Value per box
• On card autographs
• Collectible set

If you agree with the above list, let's see how Topps responded to each of those ideas:

Good Card Design:

This is tough to judge until I am able to actually hold a card from the set.  If the card stock is adequately firm - and if the final design looks like the Albert Pujols card at the top of this post, I'd say Topps has at least a "B" in card design.

Chance of Getting a Big Hit:

Take a look at the checklist below courtesy of Sports Card Radio:

TAR-LWR Evan Longoria/David Wright/Brooks Robinson

TAR-DMG Adam Dunn/Kendry Morales/Adrian Gonzalez

TAR-PVH Albert Pujols/Joey Votto/Ryan Howard

TAR-CPK Robinson Cano/Dustin Pedroia/Ian Kinsler

TAR-HYK Josh Hamilton/Michael Young/Ian Kinsler

TAR-PMS Buster Posey/Brian McCann/Carlos Santana

TAR-SLL Curt Schilling/Jon Lester/John Lackey

TAR-DSW Ike Davis/Tom Seaver/David Wright

TAR-HBP Matt Holliday/Ryan Braun/Hunter Pence

TAR-RVB Frank Robinson/Joey Votto/Johnny Bench

I'd say there are some big hits in there.  Seriously, that last card would be an awesome addition to my collection - it's great (for me) to see some Reds as part of the "big" hits in a product.  I'm sure these will be extremely rare pulls - but Allen & Ginter has similar things that end up selling for big bucks.  I'll give Topps another "B" for big hits.

Value Per Box:

Another slightly tricky thing to judge without opening a box or two, but the value per box appears to be there.  Each box has 24 packs plus a ten-card mini box.  Each box promises two relics and two autographs as well as a framed paper parallel (one per box).  That means if you buy a single pack at a hobby store your basically have better than 1:4 shot at getting a hit in your pack.  That's certainly nice for collectors on a budget!  The mini cards and parallels seem to be a bit too numerous, but three per pack means you have instant trade bait at least.  I think this is a solid B+ for Topps, possibly an A- depending on price per pack.

On Card Autographs:

With every set that comes out, the first question invariable seems to be "are the autos on card or not"?  Topps listened and (presumably) has ALL autographs on card.  I'm sure there will be a fair number of redemptions that take six months or more to arrive, but still, on card is on card.  A+ for that Topps.

Collectible Set:

Another tricky topic, but based on the numbers this set appears to be rather collectible.  One of the only things I don't like about the Allen & Ginter set is that if you bust a case of the product you'll likely come close to completing three or four base sets but only one full set if you count the 50 short prints.  Since Gypsy Queen will have the same 50 short prints that A&G does but will also have an extra 100 more base cards, each Gyspy Queen base card will have more comparative value than an Allen & Ginter base card.  That's a  good thing.  And, again assuming short prints are seeded similar to A&G, 50 short prints is probably enough to make set collecting a challenge but not too many to make set collecting impossible (or too financially draining like Heritage is now).  I'll give Topps a B+ again, but that could be an A- or even A depending on insertion rates.

So, by my count, there are five things that collectors want and I've given Topps a B, B, B+, A+, and B+.  I'm guessing a lot of people out there would have been happy to have a report card that looked like that!  

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That's me playing devil's advocate - mostly because I'm not sure Gypsy Queen will be as bad as every is making it out to be.  That said, it's certainly possible the set will bomb because:

• We have had a lot of retro themed sets lately.
• Collectors do love Allen & Ginter, yet seem to shy away from sets that appear to "copy" A&G regardless of brand.
• The Topps monopoly has seemed to stifle creativity.
• Gems in cards is simply stupid.

I guess all we can do is wait and see - but I'm impatient, so I want to know:  

What do you think of 2011 Gypsy Queen set?  What do you plan to do in terms of possible purchases?  Will you buy Gypsy Queen?  If so, will it replace your spending on other cards (such as Heritage, A&G, or base Topps)?  If you don't plan on buying Gypsy Queen, why not?  

Make your voice heard, and who knows, maybe Topps will actually read them.  (And if, by chance, Topps does end up on my blog - here's my request:  Please fix your website Topps to make it actually useful for your customers).