Gypsy Queen Box #2

Following up on my post from yesterday, I have a second box of Gypsy Queen to share. I did pretty well in Heritage earlier this year, but this box may have topped it. 

For the past three weeks, I have been toiling away at finishing a couple research papers. The big academic conference in my field, AEJMC, has an April 1 deadline for paper submissions, so I was trying to get my papers in. I finished around 3 p.m. and decided to stop by my LCS to grab a box to "reward" myself for, essentially, doing my job.

I was beat, so I took my box back to my apartment to open rather than opening it in the shop. I got home and sat down at my desk to dig in.

Right of the top, I pulled a purple GlassWorks boxtopper of Nomar Mazara! These are numbered to 125 and they are absolutely stunning. Good start! More after the jump!

My box had four missing blackplate parallels:

These were the first three. Not too shabby, although I have no clue who Chad Pinder is. The Tanaka will be heading to The Lost Collector, but the other two are up for grabs.

My fourth missing blackplate parallel is also a variation. I know of an individual that would love to have this card:

It's the Corey Seager capless variation! I generally send these to one Argyle gentleman, but I'm going to hold this one hostage for a bit...at least until he makes an incredible offer for it!

I found two purple parallels in my box, also:

I can't remember if I read it on a blog or if I heard it in a break video, but these cards just scream "Easter." And I don't necessarily mean that in a positive way. They may be my only knock on GQ this year. 

I also pulled a black and white parallel:

Astros hot box!

In terms of variations (other than the Seager), I also pulled one of the no nameplate variety:

Mr. deGrom. Could be worse, right?

Again, my box had the two guaranteed autos:

I have heard of Wright, but I have no idea who Conley is. 

Those autos were kind of a letdown. But the box still had a surprise in store for me.

I got all the way to the very last pack in the box and noticed that it felt a little different. I honestly thought that the pack had too many cards in it. So I began to open it...

...when I noticed...

My very first booklet! Please be Mike Trout or Ivan Rodriguez!

Okay, so no Trout or Pudge. But Marcus Stroman! I'll happily take a booklet of the guy that essentially won us the WBC title a couple weeks ago! And what a beautiful patch! I get so accustomed to seeing a plain white or grey swatch, so something this substantial is awesome!

So the box redeems itself (in terms of autos). So awesome! Best pull of my life! I can't believe I have been able to say that twice this year!