Lough’d and Clear!

I have very few card collections given my limited resources and space, but I did decide some time ago to begin collecting on-card Royals autographs. It’s been a blast so far trying to track these things down and this is the latest addition to my collection. To view the cards currently in the collection, take a look at the Gallery. If you have any on-card Royals autos- especially one you don’t see in that gallery there- chances are I need them so don’t hesitate to drop me a line!

So, it turns out I’ve been pronouncing David Lough’s name incorrectly ever since I saw the first card of him. On a trip to Omaha this past summer, I got to hear the real live announcer say his name on the loudspeaker and it’s not pronounced like “loud” without the d. It’s pronounced “lo” like “low.” So this post should actually be titled something more like, “Lough and Slow, That Is the Tempo!” or “Vegetable Lough Mein” or “I Am Loughcutus of Borg.”

But old habits die hard, and Lough (as in, “When the Lough Breaks, the Baby Will Fall!”) presents an especially tough habit for me to break since he’s one of the first guys whose dread/beloved Bowman Chrome rainbow I began chasing.

It all started with this card, repeated below for posterity.

Also considered for a titlewere his name actually pronounced like I thought: "Taste the RainbLough."

A unassuming base card if ever there was one. Not quite as classic as Lance Berkman’s shot in front of his truck (a great interview with the photographer lives here, thanks to Bo of Baseball Cards Come To Life!), but a standard posed baseball card photo. I think I have one of myself from little league days. My stats were not on the back. Mercifully.

I chased the refractor of this for a long time and then ended up winning two from the same seller on eBay. Here’s what those look like.

Knee-be kay-be.

The oft-mocked Distant Look. Still classy after 100+ years.

Oh guess what. They look almost identical. Anyone have a preference for which one I should keep? Should I make a poll? Wait, let me poll myself to see if I should poll you guys about which of these to keep:

[ ] YES

[X] NO

Okay, better luck next time.

Speaking of next time, I also got the blue refractor which, as everyone knows, is the best kind of refractor especially if your team wears a shade of blue (not looking at you, old Marlins uniform- that mess is teal). Here’s what that looks like:

Bluuuuue shadows.... on the traaaaaail.

Blue border, blue uniform, blue auto? The boy’s a time bomb. (Reference video link, for those uninitiated in the fraternal order of ’90s punx).

At some point, I guess I got some liquid courage (Dr. Pepper) in me or something because back in May I went cray cray and got not one but TWO of the coveted (not so coveted) gold refractors. Here’s what those look like (still not gonna poll you):

Blah blah "Rookie card" toploader hate blah blah

Much better.

So, according to my calculations, I’ve got something close to a rainbow right? I mean, I can’t really afford to get any card #/ less than 50, so am I done here? But there’s an orange (#/25) and a red (#/5) that I could totally try to track down… Wait, did they sign purple ones? Are there x-fractors in this year? Ugh I hate Bowman.

Anyway, a quick pop over to BaseballCardPedia says that yes, I am technically done. A wee bit anticlimactic, but I’ll take it. Oh, and I’ll take those orange and red refractors if they’re cheap enough, too. I’ll let you know after Spring Training.

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