Queening.

      I am not a big fan of the Gypsy Queen set.  My biggest gripe is that it is redundant.  Topps already made a perfect faux-vintage tobacco set in Allen and Ginter, why do another?  Topps often falls into the "more is more" trap and this one has it by the short hairs...just another Topps example of going to the well way too many times.  My other issue is the one most other people have with it, that the base design is just way too busy, and frankly, down right ugly.  Gypsy Queen looks like a set that stoned Upper Deck executives would have rejected and the computer generated old-timey look just doesn't work.  I am proud that I have bought exactly zero packs of this product.  That said, I have seen many write ups on the Gypsy Queen and I did find a couple of insert sets that I did like.  Thanks to eBay, I didn't have to slog through pack after pack to get the cards I wanted, I just found a lot of the cards I liked and skipped the ugly base card middle man.

This year features a subset called Moonshots:

I like the term Moonshot.  I like the song "We Didn't Start the Fire" which features the term.  I like Wally Moon, who is the impetus of the term.  I like the Apollo space program.  I like the color purple (I am indifferent to the film, though).  So, even if I am not big on Gypsy Queen, I like this particular insert set fine.

Last year's set had a few cool inserts, but the one I adore most by far is the Wall Climbers:

Look at that, outfielders making catches at the wall, which is one of my favorite photos for a baseball card.  There are 10 total in this set, so I broke down and bought the whole thing on eBay.  Poor Rajai Davis lost out on this 9-card page, his green on green picture just didn't do it for me.  But in the end, this page is ten kinds of awesome and this insert set might be one of my favorites of all time.  So what is the moral of this story?  Even if you hate a particular release, there might be something redeeming about it hiding in the inserts.

***

Post script.  One other thing the mention of this set does is get this song stuck in my head, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the last thing I need is more going on in my subconscious.  Plus, if you know the movie, then you have Tina Turner dancing about going on as well.  My head is a strange place.