A Murder of Crows

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 or the other posts in this series. I’m working on getting a legit want list together on my trade page but, in the meantime, if you have any on-card Royals autos that it looks like I don’t have, don’t hesitate to drop me a line!

Let me hear that BASE!

Some players are easier to collect than others. For whatever reason, a rookie reliever who makes the 2011 All-Star roster in his first season in the bigs doesn’t garner much interest. Oh wait. “Reliever” is the only important word there.

Refracka tack tack.

The 2011 Topps Chrome Aaron Crow RC autograph is, as far as I can tell, his first licensed auto. That’s rare in the world of Bowman pre-RCs and prospect card nonsense. So I guess it’s pretty cool I got in on the ground floor and cleaned up with these guys.

You're my boy, blue! (Surely, I've used that one before, right?)

None of these were difficult or expensive to acquire, including the blue refractor up there. The Blue Refractor: The Best Refractor.

Sepia tone for the painfully alone.

I hate this sepia nonsense. But I got this one and, somehow, still can’t find myself a black refractor which is numbered to (infuriatingly) 100 while this one is /99. Surely the one extra of the black version would make it easier to find!

The golden child.

The gold refractor is simply where I draw the line. Numbered to 50 is the number at which I will collect a card. #/49 is right out!

Red Dead Not-a-Redemption

Whoops. This is #/5 and has no place in my collection. But I won it on accident and cheap. I hate to let it go because it looks pretty sweet, but damn if I just plain don’t need it. Plus, it arrived in one of those thick magnetic holders which really messes with the feng shui of my stack of cards on a shelf that passes as my “collection.” So off he goes. Another casualty of the Great Card Purge of 2012. Anyone want him?

Mr. Green Jeans

This is more like it. Cool and green- a complimentary opposite to the hot burning red and more my style at a calm and collected #/199. Plus whoever this guy is has no beard. So that’s… something. Topps Finest is definitely over-the-top when it comes to design. But hey, it’s on-card which means it stays in my stack.

Orange you glad I didn't make a joke here?

The orange ones are even more silly. A few of the cards in this set look like Eastern European Christian idols. What with all those rays and whatnot.

People once believed, that when someone dies, a crow carries their soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes, something so bad happens, that a terrible sadness is carried with it and the soul can't rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes the crow could bring that soul back to put the wrong things right.

Speaking of idols, it’s the holy grails of chrome-y cards: the gold refractor. Unfortunately Topps, in their infinite wisdom, chose to number this to 75 not the usual 50, confusing the hell out of me. Also, Topps totally dropped the ball by not having a blue refractor version of these. Woulda looked sweet!

So there you have it. Certainly the most picture-heavy Aaron Crow blog post that will ever be written. He’s having an incredible 2012 so far (though he may miss the All-Star game due to the fact people are remembering that he’s a reliever) and, while he may never get another auto in a Topps set, I’ve damn close to a complete rainbow under the terms and conditions of my collection. Who says this is a thankless hobby?*