Most Wanted List - Now with Kids!

Certain cards catch my eye for various reasons.  Sometimes it is a great design or color scheme.  Other times it is the photography or a funny pose.  But I will always take a second look at a card with a kid in it. 

Even though kids play sports, watch sports, love sports, buy cards, trade cards, and collect cards you don't see too many kids ON sports cards.  Those precious square inches on the front of a piece of cardboard are reserved for the MEN -- the modern-day warriors who perform at the highest level in the games that they play and entertain millions with their skill.  Since their on-field personas can be so tough, it is easy to forget that many of these guys are family men with a "real life" off-the-field. 

All that brings me to this card:

2010 Allen and Ginter #287 Drew Brees

I love this card because it captures a moment that I remember so well.  The picture for this card is from the celebration after the New Orleans Saints won Super Bowl XLIV over the Indianapolis Colts.  The Saints had scored 15 points in the 4th quarter to win the game.  As the confetti rained down, all the players were celebrating and a big crowd was gathered on the field. 

When I saw this happen on that Sunday, I was first drawn in because the little tiny kid was wearing gigantic earphones (who doesn't love ridiculous proportions, right?).  However, a second look at that really touched me.  Here was Drew Brees, the winning QB -- He could celebrate with anyone, and who does he do it with?  His one-year-old son, Baylen.  Wow. 

My first son had been born three months earlier, so while he was new I definitely knew what it was like to have that fatherly-love.  It humanized Brees to me in a way that otherwise I never would have seen.  At that moment he was just like any other daddy who was done with work and wanted to see his family at the end of a long day. 

That's why I love this card.  Well, besides the giant headphones, of course.  :-)  However, I still don't have it!  Therefore, I am putting it as card #1 on my newly-christened "Most Wanted" List (see the bar at the top).  If anyone has this one for trade, please let me know.  I will be steadily adding more cards to this list over the next few weeks. 

For another article about that moment:
http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/a-quarterback-and-his-boy/

For a gallery of Baylen/Drew Brees pics from that day:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/07/drew-brees-son-baylen-cel_n_452946.html?slidenumber=hCi%2B1CLIcwQ%3D&slideshow#slide_image

Zistle Trade Success!

As I mentioned in my sidebar.....---------------->

I have been using Zistle.com to organize my collection.  One of the features of that site is that it compares your want-list with the trade-list of another member to see if there are any matches.  If there are, you can make a trade offer, accept/reject/counter, and then complete the trade privately offline.

I had made several offers on the site before this week, but hadn't even heard back from those.  Then Friday I made an offer to a member who had some KC Royals 2010 Chicle cards for trade.  He is an Eddie Murray collector, so I offered him 5 Murrays for 4 Chicles....and a deal was reached!   I'm so excited that we were able to work something out.  I will have to say Goodbye to my Eddie Murray Sportflics, though.  :-)

1987 Sportflics #6 Eddie Murray

He's not a blogger, (EDIT: He blogs over at hopefulchase.blogspot.com) so I never would have found this deal without using the site.  It's another tool in the card-trader's arsenal.

(Scan courtesy of checkoutmycards.com)

Tools of the Trade - New Scanner

It's kind of hard to start a card blog without featuring any, you know, CARDS!  And the only ways to show cards are:

1. Scan them yourself.
2. Take pictures with a digital camera.
3. Steal scans from someone else.

My posts so far exclusively used #3.  However, the box from Amazon just arrived.

Did I buy a scanner just so I could start a blog about the Royals and guys with big glasses?  You bet I did.  :-)

It was only $55 from Amazon.  I'll let you all know how it works later this weekend.

Baby Steps - My First Trade

Trading.  The concept is not foreign to me.  As a youngster I traded items from my lunch for more desirable ones that my classmate had.  As a grown-up, I routinely trade my leisure time for money (working), then trade that money for goods and services. 

However, I had never traded cards on the internet until very recently.  A few weeks ago, Wes at Jaybarkerfan's Junk made a post that he was starting a Gary Redus super-collection.  I thought it was an interesting goal, but only vaguely remembered Redus.  I put it out of my mind.  Later that night, I was sorting a random pile that I had bought in a craigslist lot.  What did I find in there, but THIS GUY:

1992 Leaf #223 Gary Redus

I sent Wes a quick email letting him know that I had a Redus card, and that I would give it to him if he wanted it.  He responded that he still needed it and gave his address.  He asked if I collected anything, and I told him that I liked the Royals.  I fired Mr. Redus off in a toploader and PWE the next day.  

A few days later, I opened my mailbox and found an envelope from Wes.  It had this guy in it!

2011 Allen and Ginter #329 Alex Gordon

That may not look like much to you, but it was a welcome sight to me.  I hadn't purchased any Ginter this year, so that was my first one.  It's a great looking card.

I didn't go into that expecting to get something out of it, but I did, so I'm calling that my first trade.  It was a 1-for-1...not the most efficient way to do things, but very exciting for me nonetheless.

If any of you see anything in my trade-list that you want, please let me know and I'm sure we'll be able to work out a deal.  I just bought another box of mid-'70s cards that I will discuss in a later post, so be on the lookout for that. Most of those will be up for trade.

The First Post - What is this Blog? Who is this Guy?

Hi all -- welcome to my blog.  This is the first post (obviously).  So...what is this blog going to be about?  I think I can best sum it up with one card:

 1991 Upper Deck #435 - Bret Saberhagen

The main subjects of this blog will be:

1. Cards of the Kansas City Royals
2. Crazy stuff and any other cards that happen to suit my fancy (really specific, right?).

Hence the name, "Royals and Randoms."  Looking at Mr. Saberhagen above, he clearly satisfies condition #1.  However, the fact that his baseball card picture also features him wearing some sweet shades and eating a sucker gets definite bonus points in my book.  I go for anything oddball on cards...something more than the traditional posed or action shots you normally see on cards.  Cards with kids, animals, vehicles, goofy outfits, grumpy managers, mustaches, big glasses, bizarre designs, hilarious uniforms, crazy hair, and (evidently) lollipops will feature prominently around here.  I love that stuff.  All sports will be welcome, as will some of the more interesting non-sports cards I come across.

I'll show pictures of the cards I buy, group-break results, and trade results, of course.   I'll link to articles by other bloggers and promote their contests, too.  Maybe even have a contest of my own one of these days.  :-)

What I Collect
Royals.  There, that was easy.  Well....I do collect more than that (check the lists to the right, as well as my collection on Zistle.com), but Royals cards are the only thing I am actively pursuing.  I would be happy to make trades for any KC cards that I don't yet have (and there's a lot of them).  Almost all of my non-Royals are for trade.  Feel free to email me (joshDOTdenhartogATgmailDOTcom) with any proposals.  I have already started trading with other bloggers and enjoy seeing the results show up in the mail.

Who I am
I collected from 1987-1994 during my youth, much like many of you.  After that, all my money went to buying CDs and gas for my car.  Cards fell by the wayside.  I kept following baseball and the other sports, but didn't buy the cards.  Then last fall I was wandering through Target and saw a 99-cent pack of Score Football.  I bought it, opened it, and found a serial-numbered card of Cadillac Williams.  I asked "Why is it serial-numbered?"  Much googling and reading later, I was finding the various card blogs and learning all the card industry's new-fangled stuff that had happened in the last 15 years (What's a blaster?  What is mojo and why does everyone want it?  Are regular cards really $3/pack now?).  That ignited a flame in me to get back into the hobby, and I am really enjoying myself.

I am also what you might term a "small-time" collector.  I like cheap cards.  Condition is not super-important to me.  These are not an "investment."  I like bulk lots from garage sales and Craigslist that I can get for a song, then sort and trade them.  You probably won't see me opening a case of anything high-end, or even a Gint-A-Cuffs box.  I like base cards and don't chase the hits (but am happy to accept them if they really want to come my way).  :-)

Please feel free to leave a comment or send an email anytime.  I'd love to hear from you and look forward to being a part of this whole card community.