Any Royals Uniform Experts Out There?

I’ve been scanning eBay with some regularity looking for cards to add to my Royals On-Card Auto Collection and, to my surprise, I’m finding that I really dig the 2010 Topps Triple Threads cards that they managed to get on-card autos for. Of course, the area in which to sign is rather small, but that’s a minor gripe when one considers how starved I am for on-card autos these days. Not to mention that I’m getting annoyed at these products with mixed on-card and sticker autos, as it makes searching for my particularly particular collection rather difficult at times.

At any rate, I’ve been eying a few of the Billy Butler triple relic autos and came across this one:

(Thanks to eBay seller clmjmpgiants for unknowingly letting me rip his photo- the auction is completed but he’s got other cool stuff to look at!)

That piece in the middle is really confusing to me. For the life of me, I can’t find any info on a red piece of Royals jersey anywhere. Not an alternate, crazy throwback or anything. My first thought was that it was an All-Star jersey piece… but, to my slight surprise, Butler’s never been an All-Star. News of his extension on the Royals got me pretty excited about him and, as expected, my interest in the Royals as a team has grown exponentially since I started this collection and has all-around increased my interest both in the hobby and the sport. It’s weird being a fan of a team with a deep farm system that doesn’t trade away all their best young talent for an unnecessary starter and overpay sub-Mendoza hitters. Of course, my history with the Royals is very very short and I know there’s some horror stories in the years before my interest, but still.

Back the the topic at hand: is that swatch a mistake or a mystery? As Beardy pointed out a few days ago, Topps has its share of relic issues to work out. Obviously, this $15 Billy Butler card isn’t on the same order of magnitude and doesn’t deserve much fanfare, but isn’t it time some changes to the relic game got underway? No one likes not trusting that the relics are sourced properly, so why not develop a plan for more relic accountability. It wouldn’t be too terribly difficult and it would be well-received by the hobby… maybe even inject some life into the dying relic market. Any thoughts?

Oh, and if anyone has this Billy… trade him to me! I want to try for the rainbow!

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