Pack War: 2016 Donruss Baseball Versus 2016 Gypsy Queen Baseball

I have not done a good old-fashioned pack war in a couple of months so I grabbed a couple of blaster boxes to get rid of the pack ripping itch.

The blasters I picked up are 2016 Donruss baseball, 7 packs with 6 cards each and either a relic or autograph, and 2016 Gypsy Queen baseball, 8 packs with 6 cards each and one limited edition mini. I will keep it simple, best pack wins. No difficult scoring and no replay, I am not basing it on design, inserts or subsets. The pack with the better players wins the round.

Now let’s get ready to rumble!!!

 

Pack 1:

Donruss
#57 Bryce Harper
#113 Eddie Rosario
#185 Carl Yastrzemski

Top Prospects #TP6 Dansby Swanson
1982 Design #D82-24 Miguel Cabrera

Gypsy Queen

#89 Anthony Rizzo
#95 Aaron Nola

#146 Dallas Keuchel

#206 Delino DeShields Jr.

#238 Mark Canha

MVP Mini #MVP-WM Willie Mays

Pack 1 Winner- Donruss

Donruss started out bad missing a card, 5 instead of 6, but with Harper, Yaz, Cabrera ’82 and a solid Swanson prospect easily overpowers GQ’s underwhelming pack, even the Mays MVP mini can not overcome Keuchel’s implosion.

Pack 2:

Donruss
#66 Nolan Arenado
#74 Brandon Crawford
#81 Lorenzo Cain

#119 Kyle Seager

Rated Rookie #44 Henry Ownes

1982 #D82-29 Eric Hosmer 

Gypsy Queen

#81 Matt Duffy
#110 Yovani Gallardo
#173 Kenley Jansen
#248 Christian Colon

Glove Stories #GS-5 Kevin Pillar

Mini #247 Chi Chi Gonzalez

 

Pack 2 Winner- Gypsy Queen

This one was almost a wash with nobody really taking control but when you take in to consideration Kenley Jansen is leading the league in saves I had to go with GQ.

 

Pack 3:

Donruss
#87 Anthony Rizzo

#92 Kendrys Morales

#126 Carlos Carrasco

#134 Hirashi Iwakuma

Diamond Kings #5 Jake Arrieta
1982 #D82-34 AJ Pollock 

Gypsy Queen

#66 Zack Greinke
#72 Gary Sanchez
#166 Evan Longoria
#207 Eddie Rosario
#218 Ryan Howard

Mini #213 Koji Uehara purple parallel #/250 

 

Pack 3 Winner- Donruss

Another couple packs of “meh” but the Arrieta Diamond King is definitely the shining star even topping the Purple Uehara mini.

 

Pack 4:

Donruss
#96 Gerrit Cole
#99 Jacob DeGrom
#143 Troy Tulowitzki
#170 David Wright
#174 Justin Upton
#193 Checklist

1982 #D82-41 Cal Ripken Jr. 

Gypsy Queen

#55 Andrelton Simmons
#179 Jonathan Lucroy
#232 Didi Gregorius
#251 David Robertson
#342 Eddie Murray High Number SP

Mini i#169 Jay Bruce

Pack 4 Winner- Gypsy Queen

Now this was a proper Pack War.

 Donruss came on strong with one extra card in the pack plus teammates DeGrom and Wright and closing out with a 1982 Cal Ripken Jr. How do you beat that? Easy, the nearly unhittable closer David Robertson, Jonathan Lucroy’s .327 BA and a short printed High Number Eddie Murray, that’s how you beat that.

Heading in to the 5^th Inning and the score is tied 2-2

 

Pack 5:

Donruss
#48 Robinson Cano
#129 Adrian Beltre
#138 CC Sabathia

Studio Cyan Test Proof #S4 Miguel Sano #/49

USA Collegiate National Team #USA-13 Corey Ray
1982 #D82-43 George Brett 

Gypsy Queen

#7 Corey Seager
#41 Garrett Richards
#124 Jon Lester
#201 Cody Anderson
#219 Shin-Soo Choo

Mini #285 Adam Eaton 

Pack 5 Winner- Donruss

Donruss came out angry after bringing it in Pack 4 and still losing. Donruss was not going to repeat and went big (At least as big as Donruss can go in a blaster box). Start with a Mariner and AL Player of the Week Cano, toss in former Mariner Beltre a Studio Cyan Test Proof and George Brett. GQ never had a chance

Pack 6:

Donruss
#53 Clayton Kershaw
#63 Prince Fielder
#178 Kirby Puckett

Diamond Kings #15 Joes Fernandez Season Stat Line parallel #/292
New Breed Autograph #NB-YR Yorman Rodriguez
1982 #D82-46 Pete Rose 

Gypsy Queen

#14 Marcus Stroman
#165 Yoenis Cespedes
#190 Devon Travis
#237 Kevin Gausman

Walk Off Winners #GWO-2 Manny Machado
Mini #29 Eric Hosmer 

 

Pack 6 Winner- Donruss

This win should have been beautiful for Donruss but ended up winning ugly. Starting with three top stars for base cards and a Pete Rose 1982 design, toss in a parallel and autograph and this should have been like Griffey playing slow pitch softball, a home run with each card.

While Jose Fernandez is a decent pitcher, does anyone actually collect Miami cards?

I will never poo-poo an autograph but come on Panini… Yorman Rodriguez a “New Breed”? A new breed of what, lifetime minor leaguers? He has been in the league for 7 seasons and has a grand total of 11 games in the big league. Toss in that he has been on the DL since March with a hamstring pull, this has got to be the worst hamstring pull ever to keep him out for two months. This is Panini filling an autograph checklist just to fill a checklist.

 

Pack 7:

Donruss
#72 Manny Machado
#181 Cal Ripken Jr
#186 Don Mattingly

#73 Kevin Kiermaier Career Stat Line #/432
1982 #D82-10 Yadier Molina Pink parallel
1982 #D82-50 Steve Carlton  

Gypsy Queen

#18 Robinson Cano
#38 Justin Upton
#178 James Shields
#220 Trayce Thompson
#225 Aaron Altherr

Mini #322 Goose Gossage Foil High Number SP 

Pack 7 Winner- Donruss

Pack 7 was good again for Donruss with three top notch base cards, toss in the pink Molina and the stat line Kiermaier and it was an easy win. Does anyone else feel like Topps just gave up beginning with Pack 5? The only redeeming value for GQ here is Cano and the high number short print foil Goose Gossage mini.

The Pack War Winner- Donruss with 5 packs to 2 packs.

Here is GQ’s 8^th pack for those who are wondering what the final pack held

#33 Jose Fernandez
#154 Joey Votto
#162 Shelby Miller
#226 Alcides Escobar

Power Alley #PA-16 Lou Gehrig

Mini #275 J.T. Realmuto 

That’s right, more Marlins. Not a super pack but between the Lou Gehrig Power Alley and the Realmuto mini it probably would have beaten out Donruss on Pack 1 or Pack 3