We begin with these 2006 Fleer cards. I have quite a few cards from this set, but surprisingly, before I got these, I only had Emil Brown. I totally forgot Grudzielanek played for St. Louis before he came to Kansas City. I didn't know what to make of Runny when he was in KC, and still don't. He wasn't bad, but he wasn't great. The same could be said for Berrora, but he sometimes show sparks of greatness. For the record, I am not a fan of the grey jerseys they have sported in the past. I am fine with the black hats though.
I have two Larry Gura cards, but not this one. I like the 1985 Topps design, and I like this card. 1985 was the last year Larry played in the majors, and only pitched 4.1 innings in KC that year. He later pitched 20 innings as a Cub.
Tim Spehr had 3 stints with the Royals, and began and finished his career as a Royal. He wasn't a star player, but did a good enough job. I like this Stadium Club card.
Next is Kevin Seitzer. I always liked Seitz, maybe because his name was etched in my head after hearing Denny Matthews say his name on the radio all the time growing up. The Royals I think made a big mistake not renewing his contract as a hitting coach a couple years ago, and now he is the hitting coach for the Blue Jays. The card itself is a bit bland, if Score was going to go with color borders at least use team colors. Who collects purple cards?
Next up is Storm Davis. This Stadium Club card is okay, but I don't like it as much. I do like how they don't use borders and have a full photo though. Storm wasn't the greatest pitcher in KC, compiling a 10-19 record, though the teams weren't the best either. He pitched his final game the last day of the 1994 season (the night before the strike). I didn't have this card, so I'm happy I got it.
Next is Gregg Jefferies. He came to Kansas City in a trade that sent Bret Saberhagen to the Mets. Yeah, not the best trade. He wasn't bad, don't get me wrong, it just seemed the trade heavily favored the Mets. He lasted one year as a Royal before being traded to the Cardinals, and immediately became an all-star. I only had 2 Gregg cards from his stint in KC (there aren't too many to begin with), so I needed this one. I like the photo, and as I've stated, I'm a sucker for black borders.
The Ken Harvey card is a very nice card. Seeing many photos of Harvey, I can't tell if that is a painting of a photo of him. I was just reading info about him, and was surprised to see he was an All-Star in 2004. I guess everyone else on the team was abysmal so they needed someone. He had a decent year, but only lasted 4 years in the majors.
Now we have some current players. This Archive set I didn't like that much. The card seems incomplete without a border on the top. Otherwise it was okay, but I also thought it was a little too glossy too. I already had this card, but like his Hit it a Ton BBQ sauce, you can always have more.
Any time I can get a Salvador Perez card, I am happy. Gypsy Queen reminds me of A&G, so I don't collect too many, but am glad I have this card now. The Royals locked him down, and he could be the backbone of this team if he stays healthy.
Next we have this Mike Moustakas card. The scan doesn't show how nice it looks. I like almost everything about this card (maybe the logo could be a tad smaller), even down to the powder blue uniform. A nice addition to my collection, and now I should look into completing the team set.
Next is a pair of Jarrod Dyson cards. Dyson isn't a household name, but the hardcore Royals fan like myself know who he is. The first card is from the 2014 Topps set, and with this addition, I am closing in on the Blue set. I have all the base cards (with possible exception to the Update series), so this will likely be one of my next challenges. I like this Topps set better than the last two years. The second card is from Bowman. Both cards have nice action shots, but I like the Bowman shot a bit better. It shows more of his body, and actually shows the ball about to be hit. Plus its a rookie card, so that's not bad either.
The next card is of Sergio Nunez. Rarely going through Royals cards do I ask myself "who is this?" but I did on this occasion. After a bit of searching, he only had less than 20 cards, and he never even made it to the Majors. As a matter of fact he never made it out of AA. It it a nice looking card though, and since I do collect minor league cards of Royals, this is a nice addition.
Speaking of minor leaguers, here are a couple more. I don't know a lot about Sam Selman but have heard his name mentioned a few times. He made it to AAA this year, but spent most of his time in AA for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. He's only 23 years old, so he still has a couple years to move up to the majors before people question if he ever will.
Cody Reed I have heard a few things about as well. He is having trouble for the Lexington Legends of the single A Royals team, but at 21 he still has time to turn it around. I actually bought this card a couple months ago off COMC, but who knows, he could hit it big and I could make a killing on it.
The final card of the day is the 2013 Topps card of David Lough. 2013 was probably one of the first sets in a long time I tried to aggressively complete (besides the 2011 set). I already have this card, but I liked Lough so, an extra is always good. I was upset when the Royals traded him to Baltimore last winter, but grew to like the player we got in return, Danny Valencia, until we traded him to Toronto for Erik Kratz. The circle of life of a baseball player. A quick note- his last name is pronounced like LOW, not LOFF as MLB 2K14 says it.
That's it today, come back tomorrow for the final installment of the first package I got in the mail since starting this blogs, again thanks to Pat at Hot Corner Cards for the cards. Also thank you to everyone who is reading this.
That is some impressive collection you have there. I have been collecting baseball cards since the 1970's and still remember like it was yesterday when George Brett ran out of the dugout after his home run was reversed. I still have his baseball card from that year, as well as the following years right to his retirement. Love that package you received, I'm jealous!
ReplyDeleteKurt Bohling @ Philadelphia Mail Room