Another Dance with the Queen

I recently picked up a value pack of Gypsy Queen, just to check it out. Much to my surprise, I found that I liked the design quite a bit more than in past years. I also like a few of the insert sets. So, when I found myself back at Target, I decided I'd give the product another spin. I picked up two more value packs even though it looked pretty obvious that they had been 'searched'. Well, either I was wrong, or I am fortunate enough that the pack searchers at my local Target aren't very good at it. Here's the goods.

I'll start with the six total retail exclusive white bordered cards.

I don't know about you, but I'll take these six if they'd been searched any day! Granted, the two that you'd be able to see if you tried were Napoli and Miller, but still. I love the faux-back on Matt Moore and I got the Captain(not to mention a Joc Pederson RC)! The three on top are up for grabs if anyone is interested. After seeing these come out of the exclusive packs, I wondered if my luck could hold up across the remaining packs.

As the base cards go, these were the highlights for me, though honestly, I'll probably only hold on to the Pederson RC(sorry Wade). I still think the design is way better than last year. Let's move on to the mini highlights.

I couldn't believe that I pulled a silver parallel mini from each value pack. Not too shabby! I could have done quite a bit worse than an RC and Adrian Beltre. They're numbered /199 and up for grabs. That's the first card of Andrew Miller in a Yankees uni and an addition to my small-but-growing Anthony Rendon collection in the middle there.

I almost struck out on the insert front, but this beauty saved me from the o-fer.

This is from one of the inserts I really like this year. It's a bonus that it features a former Durham Bull that I happen to collect. It's a double bonus that the pic was from a game at Yankee Stadium! Very cool, it could have only been beaten by one of the two Jeter cards that are in that checklist.

That's not a bad haul for a couple of value packs, huh? I agree, but fortunately the luck didn't stop there. In one of the packs from the first value pack I busted, I saw something shiny. I thought to myself that it was strange to see something shiny in Gypsy Queen...

Now, I am no fan of the Phillies, and that is a pretty boring white swatch, but pulling a relic from a retail pack is still pretty awesome! As is the case with a lot of the stuff in this post, this Hamels jersey is up for grabs if anyone wants it.

Well that definitely must be all, right? I would have thought so too, but there was one more awesome pull to come from the second value pack. As I was flipping through, I saw something shiny again. This time I thought there was no way I just pulled another relic from a retail pack...

Turns out I was right! My jaw dropped when I saw this autograph of 'the Hawk'! I had never seen any of his certified autos so I was quite impressed with how nice it looked. I was pretty darn happy with the haul. It was certainly in the top three retail purchases I've ever made. That was until I started flipping through the cards a second time. It was when I started taking the time to really look at the cards and read the backs that I found this.

The Dawson auto was limited to 25 copies! These two value packs that I thought were likely searched turned up the best collection of hits I've ever had the fortune of pulling from any retail purchase.

If you're interested in any of these, let me know. I'm sure we can work out a deal. Thanks for reading.