Going Postal 8: Break-Dancing, or, It's Mojo, Baby, Yeah!

Maybe it's the timing, or maybe it's because there really are that many breaks every month, but between the time I left for LA and this Monday I received four different group break packages in the mail. The two received on Monday are shown below. But first, an eBay pickup:

The Austin Powers series ranks very high on my favorite movies list, and I like most Mike Myers movies. Now, yes, Goldmember wasn't anywhere near as good as the second Austin Powers (let alone the first), but this represents the actor for the series in my mind.

The first break I'm showing is Colbey's Cardboard Collections break of some great cheaper stuff. I had two teams: the White Sox and the Giants. First, the White Sox:

Most of the cards I received came from '94 Leaf Series 2. I had plenty of base cards, and one of the Frank Thomas Power Brokers cards from the hot pack! I like the '94 Leaf design, with the flowing curve. The backs feature a background image taken from outside the stadium. From 1996 Leaf Limited, there were a couple Big Hurts, two Ray Durhams, and a Robin Ventura. Limited was "special" for its use of foil board, and honestly I was never impressed with it. Of course, it was also limited in production, so that certainly helped it back when it was released. You can also see my two White Sox cards from 1996 Topps Laser Series 1, which I wrote on earlier this week. I will be putting this set together at some point. I'll trade for inserts if you've got any you don't want, and perhaps some of the base too! I didn't get any Denny's Holograms. If you have any Grand Slam or Grand Slam Artist Proofs (I need one of each, players don't matter), I'm interested. Colbey tossed in a few random cards, including the Molten Metal Thomas, an OPC card, and some of those fun '80s Fleer boxed set cards.

My Giants turned up much better in terms of quantity.

First, WAY too many '94 Leaf! I count 22 cards, for crying out loud! Plus, two of the Power Brokers inserts of Barry Bonds. That box certainly rocked the Giants for me! I also received a few Giants in the Limited box, including a couple Bonds cards. Again, no Denny's, and as you see there were plenty of extras as well from Colbey! I remember when the Fleer sticker cards were garbage, but now they seem to have value. The giant Giants logo is a blank-back, but the Giants-Rangers card has a nice artist drawing of a Royals logo. Eventually those sticker backs may end up being sets I collect. And don't think I didn't notice the significance of the Giants and Rangers being paired together on this card. There were three of the MLB Showdown cards, and I love 3D cards like that UC3. Eventually I may collect some 3D sets too. Argh! Too much cool stuff to collect!

Wait, you say, where are your 1996 Laser cards of the Giants? Well, they're in a different scan:

There were a couple Barry Bonds, and plenty of others. You can see that the laser cut template was used on multiple cards. Colbey was very kind to include several cards from the unclaimed teams, which will go towards that full set I want to put together.

Yet another great break from Colbey!

And now, the other break. This one came from The Daily Dimwit, and covered two Gypsy Queen boxes and some other bonus boxes! I was in on the Giants for this break. First, the bonus boxes:

Most of the cards came from Upper Deck MVP. You can see the two Barry Bonds cards I pulled (because I know everyone loves Barry, that's why I'm showing him so much). But you see I also got one of the first hits of the break, a Jeff Kent jersey! The Cubs definitely cleaned up in this break with three hits, but I'm glad I got one. I also had a couple Ovation cards - I like the Ovation series, though this year (2006) isn't my favorite. I only had one card (Jason Schmidt) from 2006 Artifacts, but The Dimwit tossed in several extras (three '06 Ultra cards and that cool Topps 2020 insert). I mentioned earlier that I like 3D cards, and this set seems to keep showing up in trades and breaks. I may be able to start putting it together now!

Okay, so what about the new hotness, the Gypsy Queen? From two boxes, I got nine different base cards:

That includes the Mel Ott retired card (top right). These cards look even better in person than in the preview images. I didn't have any parallels or different-back cards if there are any.

I had two minis, both of the standard edition:

The Posey card looks much better as a mini than full-size, because he's cropped better in the frame. I also had one insert, of a retired power hitter:

Interesting that they put him with the Giants. He spent more of his career with the Cardinals and I think of him as a Cardinal. He grew up in Demorest, GA, where I earned my Masters Degree. The college baseball field is named after him and I believe there's a small museum/exhibit/display case or something devoted to him.

I like Gypsy Queen. I knew that I would. I do have one problem, though, it's on the card backs.

The back is really nicely designed, even though there's a LOT of empty white space. Of course, the left and right white space disappears when the card is moved to mini form, and everything gets more condensed. One-third of the mini backs are taken up by Topps, MLB, and MLBPA logos and copyright and tracking information. But I guess I can overlook that. I don't spend too much time looking at the backs. But I had a problem sorting these cards, because the card number is at least 1/4 of the way down the card back, centered in the middle. Collating this set will be a nightmare. But that's an interesting tidbit 

I am/was involved in the Nachos Grande break for Gypsy Queen, and should be posting that break next week. I selected the Tigers and Dodgers for that one, and I'm hoping to have some samples of the other insert sets I don't have yet, hopefully an autograph or relic while we're at it!