2017 Topps Gypsy Queen

According to baseballcardpedia.com, Topps was trying a lower price point for Gypsy Queen this year. I paid $0.47/card this year for a blaster and a couple of packs, which is the same as I paid last year, and pretty much for every year of this product.

Topps did revamp the product. There are no mini cards in this set, which is OK by me. There are also very few insert sets (in fact only two) which aren't either parallels or autos/relics.

I've not been much of a fan of the Gypsy Queen designs over the years.

There are some nice design features this year. I like the lighter borders, the way the photo fades into the border, the curlycue things on either side of the city name, and the player name plate. I even like the fake age burn. But, the bottom part of the card is just horrible. I like the ornate Gypsy Queen logo on the back but it just takes up too much room on the front. There is also no team name on the front and no team logo anywhere, which I don't like.

Topps maintained, what I believe, is the main Gypsy Queen feature, the treatment of the photograph. This feature I've always liked, regardless the rest of the design.

I pulled two Astros (of 12 cards in the set) and two Phillies (also 12). I guess I'll buy the rest on eBay. Both teams are a bit over represented in the set.

There aren't a lot of cards featuring players in the field.

I guess this photo is from last year's All-Star game or it's a joke. In the back ground we can see various team caps (Mariners, Blue Jays, Indians, Phillies) and several team shirts (Brewers, Dodgers, Padres, or maybe it's the Nationals All-Star shirt). Even though the game was in the Padres park, the American League was the home team. Arenado was hitless in 3 ABs.

Randy Johnson rocking an Expos uni. Gypsy Queen always included a few retired players. This year they collected the retired players as cards 301-320 and made them short prints. The box proudly proclaims "1 Short Printed Base Card Guaranteed!".

I pulled two of the 10 different parallels. Can you spot the gimmick in this one?

It's apparently supposed to have been printed without the black printing plate. I don't know why the name plate is black however.

This one is a little easier.

Here are the 2 non-auto/relic inserts.

This is called the "Fortune Teller mini". It's as tall as a regular card but thinner.

Looks like 2009 Upper Deck Goudey, one of the creepiest issues of the past 20 years.