A Hand-Written Friendship Bracelet

When I was in 2nd grade, if you were buddies with someone you would give them a friendship bracelet. You'd get a couple of pieces of colored-string, braid them together, and BOOM -- instant friendship.  It was a personal gift that took some time and care, which is part of what made it mean something.

Now in the internet age, much is made of the "lost art of the hand-written letter."  With all the IMing, emailing, facebooking, and twittering, actually sitting down with a pen and paper and sending someone a personalized note counts as the height of graceful manners.

Relating this to the blogosphere...I'll admit that I am guilty of sending "impersonal" trade packages.  Maybe I'll just drop a team-bag into a bubble mailer and send it off.  If I'm lucky, I might offer a perfunctory "Thanks for trading!" on a slip of paper that I toss into the envelope.

So.....if the quality scale goes from short boilerplate email (bad) to hand-written letter plus friendship bracelet (very good), how can I possibly place a ranking on THIS?

Gene Mauch

This is by far one of the coolest things I have received from the card-blog world.  It's from TTG @ Friars on Cardboard.  It is a hand-collated pack of manager cards, wrapped in white paper, and then decorated with the cover art seen above.  If a hand-written item is notable...what can I say about a hand-drawn pack?  AWESOME is what I can say.  Keep in mind that this whole thing is the size of a regular baseball card and done in ink.  And this was a "Just Because" package...no trade was involved.

And with that preview...I was hoping the pack would contain that top card.  IT DID.

1987 Topps Gene Mauch

There were several other manager cards from TTG (many of them grumpy, per my preferences), but this was my favorite.  It's a double-dose of grumpitude.

Buck Showalter and Jim Fregosi

Although I didn't know it, not only do I collect grumpy manager cards, apparently I also collect grumpy manager STICKERS. 

2012 Triple Play Sticker - Screaming Manager - #8

Another package from TTG had several Royals I needed, including Jeff Conine jumping rope with the old crossover technique.  Thanks to 4th grade P.E. class, I can do that same trick.  Maybe I should send that teacher a hand-written note of thanks?

Speaking of elementary school, Sherman Corbett and I had the same glasses, apparently.

1989 Topps Sherman Corbett, 1990 Topps Mike Scott

This exceeded anything I could have hoped for, TTG.  Thank you so much.  Know that I appreciate it a ton -- This hand-written friendship bracelet of a pack.  :-)

I Don't Give a Hoot

...but Night Owl does.  I sent a pile of '77s his way, and he hooked me up with some offbeat recent stuff and a few oldies.  Here were my faves.

Jeff Francoeur with a mouthful of shiny dirt in the slide. 

2011 Topps Update Diamond Anniversary - Jeff Francoeur

Sean O'Sullivan with the liquorfractor...More like Sean O'Douls.

2011 Topps Update Cognac Refractor - Sean O'Sullivan

 I posted this Brayan Pena that I got awhile back...but here's the Wal-Mart version.  I don't have a Wal-Mart close enough to me to go there, so I like getting these parallels in trade.

2012 Topps Wal-Mart Blue Parallel - Brayan Pena

Cheslor Cuthbert was a big Latin American signing for the Royals two years ago.  He's still only 19 and is playing in High-A ball. 

Bret Saberhagen looks like he is making some Communist Vietnamese propaganda. Willie Wilson is just golden, baby.  Like Barry White's voice.

Thanks, Night Owl for another great trade.  But next time let's get Saberhagen saying U-S-A! U-S-A!

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.