A Return. A Rebirth.

Well, I’m back from vacation! And, in what will likely go down as the most hilarious day of my life, I woke up at 5AM and showed up at work the day of my flight only to be laid off about 2 hours in. I packed up my stuff and head home to help the lady pack and we were off to Vegas from Chicago at 8PM. Arriving in Vegas at 11ish local time, we hit the strip for a bit, making my day last a grand total of about 28 hours. So, In that 28 hours, I got fired, flew on two planes, taught my girlfriend how to play video poker, lost $20 playing video poker and discovered that Vegas is strangely bereft of late night eateries. 10 days of vacation in Vegas, Yosemite and Los Angeles have me feeling refreshed and ready to dive into some cards! So, in honor of my newfound unemployment, I’ve decided to start a new collection!

I got to thinking that my goal of getting all sorts of Cubs on-card autos was both too expensive and too competative. Oh, I’ll still take those on-card Cubbies if you’ve got ’em, but I’ll give up the ghost of that elusive Mark Prior rookie auto and move on to something a little less… predictable. So let’s take a ride on Andy’s Logic train, shall we?

– It has to be on-card autos. Until relics get more interesting or more awesome cards like the sweet Topps 2020 insert set from Series 2 this year (video break and review coming soon!), on-card autos are all that interest me.

– It can’t be a single player because I don’t like an affordable single player enough. I mean, I’d love something like this:

Photo courtesy of Brooksgonevtec on Photobucket

 But, sadly, it’s well out of my budget. So I’m looking for a team… well…

– National League teams are out because I can’t hope to pull an opponent of the Cubs.

– Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox and Orioles are out for obvious reasons (the former 3) and for Beardy’s sake (the latter).

– Rangers are out due to their association with both post-Cub SammySosa and post George Bush George Bush.

– Angels are out because their team name is ridiculous.

– Tampa Bayis out because there’s not enough history. Toronto because I’d rather collect Leafs cards than Blue Jays (though I do love their old logo:

Courtesy of Wikipedia and this awesome reimagining of it:Borrowed from ebaumsworld

That doesn’t leave much left I guess…

– Seattle is an option… I love me some Kurdt Kobane and all… but I don’t stand a chance against the Japanese Ichiro collectors.

– No, I need something a little closer to home… something with a  midwestern attitude of hard work and a pathetic patience for failure… Maybe somewhere close to the Cubs’ main rivals… a team with cool colors… and, oh, I dunno… maybe an awesome waterfall fountain in their stadium that I first learned about in RBI Baseball 95 or something… a team with a long and honored history of ruining prospects by bringing them up to the majors too soon… yes, my friends, I am speaking of none other than the American League Cubs….

Snagged from collectors.com

Your Kansas City Royals.

I remember driving past KC on a road trip. Right there along the highway, surrounded by factory smokestacks and old industrial buildings that gave me the sense the Kansas City is a place where shit just gets done, was a huge homage to their baseball team made entirely of flowers. For a team that produced one relatively flukey World Championship starring not one, but two sidearmers? For a team so blatantly scoffing at the tradition of retired numbers that they retire the number of a guy with a .255 career average and 160 homers in 18 seasons? Why? Because they liked the guy. Hal McRae is in their Hall of Fame, too. Got a problem with that? Well back off. This is the Royals you’re talking about. Not some group of overpaid steroid freaks or whiney “winners.” They’ve got a kickass logo. Their colors are awesome.

And this guy used to play for them.

Thanks, BadWax!

 So there you have it. My new collection of on-card Royals autographs starts today. In fact, our win of JD Cardz’ Olympic contest a couple months back gave me my start and I didn’t even know it!

ManuHelm!

 Everyone’s favorite AAA star! I figure I can pick up lots of Gordons, Greinkes, Meches and… who knows… maybe even a Grudzielanek (my 4th favorite Cubs 2nd baseman of all time… no joke)! Just wait for their future stars to self-destruct or for them to vulture some former semi-stars and they’re mine!

So who’s got some Royals to trade me? I’ve got pleeeeenty of time!

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