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.  :-)

Butlers, Lemons, and South Park

That's pretty much the best "Certified Auto" I've ever seen.  No, it's not actually from the 1987 set (I knew you were wondering).  It was on top of the latest trade package I received from Rosenort at the Condition Sensitive blog.  He had already posted the stuff I sent him.  However, everything he sent me wasn't just "Terrance and Phillip"-style Glamour Shots (unfortunately).  He also included some real cards, and they all hit my want-lists, too.  Among everything he sent me, I had a few favorites...

Like this.  These guys are Iowa State alumni.  That initial Skybox set was OUTSTANDING.  I remember those and the "computer generated backgrounds" so well.

This guys is an old, odd-looking, Royals manager!  Everything I am looking for!

1971 Topps Bob Lemon

A few miscellaneous cards for my burgeoning Brookens collection.

And the whole reason we kicked off the trade...the Billy Butler Gypsy Queen relic card. 

2012 Gypsy Queen Relic Jersey Card - Billy Butler

Thanks so much, Rosenort!!! 

Mutual Coincidence of Wants -- Platter Style

When I was taking economics in college, I remember the professor saying that money is important because it does not require you to trade items directly with another person, but allows you to sell something to one person and buy something from another.  Bartering or Trading, however, required a "mutual coincidence of wants."  That is, trading only works when you have something I would prefer to what I have, and I have something you would prefer to what you have. 

Luckily in the card community, the pseudo-random distribution in packs and boxes makes this scenario very likely.  When collectors prefer certain players, this becomes even easier.  Case in point, my recent trade with Spiegel at Nomo's Sushi Platter.  Obviously, his favorite player is Hideo Nomo.  My favorite player is David DeJesus.  When I have a stack of Nomos and he has a DDJ relic -- THAT is a mutual coincidence of wants! :-)

Here's what he sent me as the "meat" of this trade:

2012 Golden Moments Relic - David DeJesus - GMR-DDE

He also looked through my want-lists to see what else I was looking for.  I haven't bought much of anything from 2012, but have been cutting into those  Royals team sets piece-by-piece through trading.  Here's a few Ginters.

2012 Allen and Ginter - Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas

I like coach/manager cards...but I especially love GRUMPY manager cards.  Here are two that definitely fit the bill from Topps Heritage.

Finally, the fine mustachioed gentlemen of the past and present have come to pay us a visit.

Stan Wall is "so 1977" right there.  John Axford is a modern man, but looks like a swashbuckling, Spanish pirate....of which I completely approve.  :-)  He has the style of a true Canadian.

Thanks, Spiegel.  May our wants coincide again in the near future!

Engagement Pictures and Aquatic Exploration



1997 Fleer Metal Universe - #91 - Johnny Damon

Why is Johnny Damon being attacked?  By a MOLLUSK?!?!  The scan does not do this bad-boy justice.  This is a picture of JD with a diving helmet super-imposed over his head while the squid tries to take out his legs and drag him back to the sea.  Oh, Fleer Metal -- you were awesome. This (along with everything else in this post) came from Jaybarkerfan's last card draft. 

The main reason I had bought-into this draft was for this guy:

2002 Topps Gold Label - Frank White Relic - #ACR-FW

I was the #1 overall pick...and it was MINE!  Frank White in the baby blues.  It's a shame how the KC front-office has treated him lately.  He was always one of my favorites, and loved his commentary during the TV broadcasts. I used my next set of picks to get this one:

2004 SPx Autograph Relic - Justin Huisman - #183 - #/799

I could tell Huisman was a Royal, but I did not remember him AT ALL.  So I went to do a little research on him, and the first thing that came up were his engagement pictures:

She seems nice. 

Justin's MLB career consisted of 25 IP over 14 games back in 2004.  He's now the coach of the "Northwest Indiana Oilmen"...a collegiate team.

Ginter Minis - Rasputin, Robert E. Lee, Alex Gordon

I got 3 Ginter minis, including one of Rasputin -- Russia's greatest love machine.  I cannot make an adequate statement about the relative love machine greatness of Lee or Gordon.


1972 Topps Leo Durocher, 2002 Fleer Platinum Wheelhouse Ichiro

I picked the Durocher since he looked a little crabby.  I picked the Ichiro because it had gears on it.  Turns out that one is embossed, too.
Wes threw in some more goodies for me in addition to the formal picks.


2011 Topps Lineage - Billy Butler Mini and Base

Billy Butler was the ONLY Royal on the Lineage checklist last year, and now I've got his mini and his base card.  Sidebar Rant:  When people were doing Lineage group breaks last year, I asked a few of them how much it would be to get the Royals.  They said it was the same price as any other team.  I pointed out to them that it was only these cards, but they didn't budge.  Needless to say, they didn't sell the Royals because you would have to be an idiot to pay the same price for the Royals that you would for the Yankees or Dodgers.  Many people who run group breaks do a good job of varying the prices based on the team and the checklists of the boxes they are opening, but if you are running group breaks where you sell all single-team-slots for a flat price, you are severely under-charging some people and over-charging others.
  

1997 E-X 2000 - Jermaine Dye and Johnny Damon

Last but not least, these two are from the 1997 E-X2000 set.  The sky/clouds piece is a translucent plastic so that you see that part better when there is a light behind it.  These are super-fun.  I got the Barry Bonds from this set, too.  

I like the looks of these.  I only wonder how much more Fleer Metal could have improved these...maybe have a giant hawk in the sky shooting lasers at Jermaine?  Maybe have Johnny trying to hit a jet fighter with his bat?  Some sort of DRAGON?

I think more cards should have a dragon...or at least a leviathan.

Berroa, Thy Pants Aren't Argyle

Angel Berroa - Hot Materials Relic - Future Swatch

Back in January (yikes!), I made a trade with Greg Z. from Plaschke Thy Sweater Is Argyle.  He was the prompt-posting half of this trade...posting what I sent him in February.  I sent him a Poker auto + Dodgers + Phoenix Suns.  Here's what I got in return.  The Berroa card above Greg was HAPPY to part with, and I was happy to get it.  I figured it was a jersey/shirt relic...until I looked a little closer - "Spring Training Pants."  I like to think that the card company had him changing in and out of pants all morning so they could make more of these.

Run your sprints...change your pants.

Take some BP...change your pants.

Hustle down the line....


...Change your pants.

The other relic I got out of this trade was a nice blue Brandon Marshall relic from the Broncos.  Yeah, that was 2 teams ago for him, but it's still a nice card.  

Leaf Rookies and Stars Relic - Brandon Marshall

 I like the weird stuff, too.  One of my fun collections is "Grumpy Coaches."  Greg was more than happy to oblige me with some NBA guys, a Zen-free Phil Jackson, and old Tommy Lasorda. 

 We also got an example of some fine NBA fashion.  Rec Specs + KJ's Bow-Tie.  SWEEEEEEET.

So which of these is your favorite??

Thanks, Greg!

Not a DH to be found anywhere...

I just have a soft-spot for certain players.  I can't really explain it, but I like them.  One of those guys is Jeff Montgomery.  Recently I was considering going after some minor-league cards and saw one of his on COMC.

This card is great and I would love to add it to my collection.  I am making it "Most Wanted #6."  Jeff looks so young there.  I think what makes him look that way is.....WAIT A DOGGONE SECOND!  Why is he batting?  He's one of the greatest Royals relievers of all time!  He only had two MLB at-bats, both with Cincinnati in 1987 (and no hits).  Couldn't they find ANY pictures of him PITCHING?

It looks like fellow pitchers Bob Buchanan and Jerry Don Gleaton (Jerry Don!) suffered the same fate.

 

It must have been a new photographer.  His boss said "Go take pictures of these baseball guys.  And take this bat with you.  Make sure they all hold it!"

Al Hargesheimer thinks they are all idiots for holding the bat.  He brought his own glove so he would have a prop.

Manager Glenn Ezell is NOT AMUSED at these shenanigans.