ALDS Trading Cards

A few posts back I mentioned a love/hate relationship with the internet.  I love the fact I can find pictures and news at the click of a mouse.  However, I hate how it has essentially tried many times to kill print media.  I also hate paywalls for online media (why pay for a news story I can find for free elsewhere?) but sometimes find ways around it.  I much prefer to have print in my hand than digging it up online.  I guess that is why I still prefer to have complete stats on the back of trading cards.

Having said all that,  it has been a fun ride watching my team rise from a laughingstock into something respectable.  After the Wild Card game, I decided to try my hand at making some baseball cards to represent the game.  After  the ALDS, I did the same.  I thought I would show the results and discuss them.

The Nori Aoki card was tough because besides finding the perfest shot, he had many pictures to choose from.  This to me was an odd play in game one.  He was running to the wall, then suddenly took a hard right and basically ran along the warning track and caught the ball.  It was an impressive play, but if he went straight to the ball, it wouldn't be quite as impressive.

The Billy Butler card is from Game Three.  I'm sure to 90% of the fans outside of KC, it wasn't a huge deal, but to Royals fans it was a WOW moment.  Billy had trouble making it to first base, much less doubles.  After he stole the base, KC twitter sparked with a very sarcastic "That's what speed do!" (It was a saying the speedsters on the team coined last year).  Butler here is shown doing a dance that Jarrod Dyson (I think it was at least) did after taking third earlier in the series.  Since all the games have been close, if Butler would get a late inning hit, Ned Yost would substitute Terrance Gore in to run for Billy.  I mentioned on twitter that this was Billy's way of saying "I got this!"

The Cause and Effect card was something I wanted to test out.  I tried to sequence the events from game two where Lorenzo Cain made a crazy catch, then managed to get the ball to Mike Moustakas at third to tag the advancing runner out for the double play.  I don't know if three images work well for this design, maybe I should have stuck to two.  The last photo isn't really needed.

A time to celebrate works a little bit better, though it still isn't great to me.  I didn't want to make individual cards for each of these pictures, but wanted to showcase them.  The Butler pic is from his Twitter page late after the game.  He tweeted that in celebration of stealing second base, after the game he decided to literally take second base.  Something nice to have I must say.

Salvador Perez is in the top right photo.  Salvy is the funny guy on the team, and I'm sure it didn't take much for the fans to persuade him to jump on the dugout and hoist a broom in the air.  A nice way to celebrate a sweep of the team with the best record in baseball.

The bottom photo is of Jarrod Dyson.  He didn multiple backflips after the game, this was the best one I found.  I guess he was channeling Ozzie Smith.  Good thing he didn't sprain an ankle, or he'd be useless this rest of the playoffs, as he is mainly used for speed.

Eric Hosmer was the hero of game two.  He deserved some Gatorade after the game, and Salvador Perez was more than happy to accommodate.  The other Hosmer card (which I stretched badly), was moments after hittng the game winning home run in game two.

The next cards are the pitchers from the series.  Holland closes games almost better than anyone today.  James Shields I heard today may be offered a huge contract from the Royals,  I am really shocked but really happy at the same time.

Jason Frasor made it into the set just because I found a picture of him.  No other real reason. I suppose that's how he'd make it into most card sets.   Jason Vargas has surprised me this year, as I thought he'd stink.  He had another impressive performance in game two.

The next two cards are of Lorenzo Cain.  If there was a MVP of the ALDS, Cain would have to be a top contender.  While he doesn't have power, he has speed, and his speed helped score major runs, and his speed to make amazing catches may have started to make him a household name.

Here are some more Royals cards I made.  As you can see, I made many more than from the Wild Card game.  I will likely make some of the ALCS, and possibly the World Series (even if KC isn't in it).  I would consider doing it for the NL, but my current location doesn't have Fox Sports 1 or MLB network so I can't watch the games.

 








A few more cards to show off.  You may have noticed the Post logo at the top left.  When I initially decided on making the cards, I was going to use the old Post Cereal design of the early 90's.  After I found the updated logo and put it on there, I changed the design.  While some can see the similarities, I changed it much more than I wanted to.  I still have no idea of future designs, but they will be simple designs.  I do like how I was able to put the ALDS logo on all the cards and most should be all the same size.

I saved this last card for last for a reason.  By now, you have read all about how this team has brought back enthusiasm and excitement to Kansas City and you know most of their names (maybe you do at least).  At one of the games (I think it was game two), two famous former Royals were at the game.  Not just any two either (I'm not counting George Brett, who is always there), in the top left are former pitchers Bret Saberhagen and Mark Gubicza.  These two pitchers were on the 1985 squad who brought home the World Series trophy.  I think any former Royals player would be proud of this team and all they have done this year.

The metro Kansas City area has had a lot of success in sports in the last year.  Besides the Royals magical playoff run, the Chiefs made the playoffs last year.  This after a fan revolt after a horrible few years.  Kansas City also had success in soccer.  Last Fall, Sporting KC won the MLS title.  FC Kansas City earlier this year won the NWSL Soccer Championship.  This Women's Soccer League is starting to take off, and hopes to become even more popular.

Overall, its not as bad to be a sports fan in Kansas CIty after all.  Thank you for reading and have a great day.