Archive for the ‘Kansas City Royals’ Tag
I’ll just throw it out there right away; I think I nailed this one. It’s odd that the look of certain years of cards are hard to pin down but I got 1964 Topps here. As always it is pretty much always about the picture. I wanted a good high quality head shot of Soria and to crop it tight. I found a nice picture with a bit of a scowl on his face. I know this is a very basic design but I still think it is one of the better re-creations that I have done. I might have to throw in a few Custom Card of the Day’s in the 1964 format since I like it so much and see if it translates well with other teams.
The design of 1964 is very simple and plain. The one distinct thing about it is that the players head breaks the border of the top of the picture. This helps give the card just enough life to keep it from being boring. In 1964 there were obviously no Royals cards so what I usually do is take a Dodgers card to get my color pallet. The Dodgers have been around forever and they have a similar color pallet as the Royals would have had.
Kansas City Royals placemats; left to right; Hal McRae, Paul Splittorff, Ed Rodriguez, Steve Braun, Darrell Porter, Pete LaCock, George Thorp
Kansas City Royals placemats; left to right; Steve Busby, George Brett, Jerry Terrell, Tom Poquette, Willie Wilson, Larry Gura, Marty Pattin
Kansas City Royals placemat; left to right; John Wathan, Dennis Leonard, Fred Patek, Amos Otis, UL Washington, Joe Zdeb, Al Hrabosky
So here is the first two placemats of the second and final series released. You can see that these are a little different visually. The big Royals crown is featured instead of simply the script “Royals” being the centerpiece. Once again these are by the same artist John Boyd Martin. This set’s pictures are also noticeably different. 3 of the 7 pictures on each placemat are headshots. This makes them clearly distinguishable from the first series of mats. Once again it was a set of four and the first two are here, I will post the final two tomorrow.
Kansas City Royals placemat; left to right; Rich Gale, Jamie Quirk, Clint Hurdle, Whitey Herzog, Frank White, Al Cowens, Steve Mingori
Kansas City Royals placemats; left to right; Al Cowens, Jim Colborn, Marty Pattin, Steve Mingori, Jerry Terrell, Clint Hurdle, Paul Splittorff
Royals Placemats; left to right; Amos Otis, Dennis Leonard, Tom Poquette, Doug Bird, Willie Wilson, Joe Zdeb, Andy Hassler
Kansas City Royals placemat: left to right: Steve Busby, UL Washington, Joe LaHoud, Larry Gura, John Wathan, Pete LaCock, George Brett
There are a couple things I failed to mention on my first post. First of all the measurements of these placemats are 17″ x 10 7/8″. They are coated with a nice thick matte laminate, this has really helped the condition of these to last over 30 years. The first mat I posted had 6 players but the other 7, including this one will have 7 players on each. This first set is all action shots, the next set is a little different which I will be posting in a couple days.
So as a huge Kansas City Royals fan and an enormous nerd I collect most Royals memorabilia. This includes the obvious, baseball cards but goes far beyond to magazines, programs, bats, autographs, posters and so on. One of the absolute coolest things I have stumbled across are dinner placemats from the late 1970’s.
These were the golden years of the Royals franchise, yeah there was 1985 but the late 70’s were the golden age. They featured usually 7 Royals players per placemat and they were given away once a week at Pizza Hut restaurants in 1978 and 1979. They had a plain ornate design on the back like you would normally see on a dinner placemat and the Royals players on the other side. Each year featured a set of 4 placemats, making a total of 8 placemats. The pictures of the Royals were drawings. They were done by acclaimed portrait artist John Boyd Martin. Martin has also done all of the Royals hall of fame plaques I believe. The hall of fame plaques are oil paintings, these Royals are more line drawings in full color and they are simply striking. They are extremely good. You can view Martin’s other artwork at his website here.
I have labored through garage sales, auctions and the halls of countless antique malls to put together a collection of these placemats. I am happy to say on October 14th I completed a full set of 8 of them for my brother. Now to work on my own set… but that is another subject. These were released before I was even born, so any information on them has been passed on to me. I have dug into the history of the Royals to seek these out and provide information on them.
The bottom line is that there is barely a sniff of these things on the entire internet. No pictures, no mentions, none available on ebay auctions, they are just damn hard to find. My goal is to rectify this. I am attempting to write a thorough article on them to provide a background on these endlessly cool pieces. I will post a good picture of each of the eight here on my site, the first of which is below. I will detail them providing any information that I can. I strongly encourage anybody with additional information to provide it to me so it will be publicly available.
Here is the first of the eight:
Kansas City Royals placemat: left to right: Frank White, Darrell Porter, Hal McRae, Al Hrabosky, Fred Patek, Whitey Herzog. All drawings by John Boyd Martin.
Royals rookie Tim Collins was very good for the Kansas City bullpen in his rookie season. He posted a sub 4.00 ERA easily was left handed, two very valuable attributes. He was key part of the Royals sending two very disposable pieces of their team to the Braves in 2010 and showed his worth already. Rick Ankiel and Kyle Farnsworth were sent to the Braves and Collins was the most valuable player the Royals got in return.
I will say he hasn’t shown the ability to be a lefty specialist thought. It seemed like he failed in that role and was timid to challenge hitters. He is likely a lock for the bullpen next year and if he can cut down on his walks he could be huge for the Royals in 2012.
As the baseball season clock runs out there is sure to be fewer and fewer posts on this site but I plan to try to keep it rolling with projects like these. The History of Joakim Soria has now covered about 30 years so I am over halfway done posting. Today’s victim is 1978 Topps. Like 1971 Topps it is one of the very first cards I ever re-created.
I like the design. It is simple and appealing. It has likely one of the largest areas for uninterrupted picture of any year of Topps. It seems plain in many ways but still looks good. I really like the position in the baseball too, it is a nice touch.
Mike Sweeney is a very beloved guy in Royals history. He was one of the “nice guys” in the game and the Kansas City fans embraced him during his years in Kansas City. His career is really one of those “What could’ve been…” stories however. Injuries plagued much of his career keeping him from becoming the superstar he was capable of being.
Sweeney put up what you could argue was the greatest season ever by a Royal at the plate. He batted .333 with 29 home runs and an amazing 144 RBI. He was one of the few players in recent history to were a “C” on his jersey every game representing “Captain.”
He bounced around a couple places after the Royals but never had any more great seasons for anyone else. One of his many injuries relegated him to strictly being a DH, determinately diminishing his value. In spring of 2011 he came back to the Royals to retire in a very cool act. He will always be a rare bright spot in a very dark era for the Kansas City Royals.
So this is my Royals report card. I realize that this is nothing original, The Kansas City Star does it every year I believe. This will be my perspective and it would be cool to measure up my grading against theirs. This is strictly subjective and I took into account expectations, performance, stats and even attitudes that I have noticed from my limited perspective. I am going to do this in 2 parts; pitchers and hitters. I’ll start with the offensive side of things(also accounting for defense of course.)
Matt Treanor – Catcher: Grade B
The Royals bought Treanor from the Rangers and have since sold him back. All things considered, Treanor did exactly what the Royals wanted him to do, he was a veteran catcher and provided some experience to a really young team. His offense was alright, defense was great. I hope Brayan Pena was paying attention.
Brayan Pena – Catcher: Grade D
Pena wasn’t paying attention. Pena solidified the perception that he can never be a starting catcher in the major leagues this year. He is below average offensively and defensively in my opinion. He is a stop-gap backup catcher and he shouldn’t be on the team next year. Royals fans will always remember his falure to get tags down that directly cost the team a couple games this year.
Manuel Pina – Catcher: Grade B-
Pina was a spark when Treanor went on the DL. He got a very short look while the team waited on Salvador Perez. Pina did nothing wrong but didn’t wow fans the way Perez has. He should be a solid backup for Perez.
Salvador Perez – Catcher: Grade A
How can you complain about Salvador Perez? He has a cannon arm and has showed it. He is also hitting a not-so-modest .333 at this point. He has showed great power the other way and the ability to hit at the major league level. Expect a drop offensively next year but not defensively.
Kila Ka’aihue – 1st Base: Grade D
Kila just didn’t cut in KC. He only had 23 games to strut his stuff and had a big walk-off home run but only hit .195. He was surpassed by Eric Hosmer’s performance in every aspect.
Billy Butler – 1st Base/DH: Grade B+
#CountryBreakfast can flat out rake. He had a slow first half but really kicked it up after the break. He has pushed over 90 RBI now (career high) and had a power surge in the early second half. He was pushed to strictly the DH role by Hosmer and has now embraced it.
Eric Hosmer – 1st Base: Grade A
Eric Hosmer has been nothing short of spectacular in his rookie season. He has hit for power, average and been a very good at first base (no matter what certain stats say.) He is a very strong rookie of the year candidate and in less than one season has become the face of the franchise.
Chris Getz – 2nd Base: Grade C-
Chris Getz has a lot of haters. He doesn’t hit for a high average or extra base hits. He is good defensively and very good on the basepaths but these thing don’t redeem his insecurities at the plate. The team would likely be better off with Navarro as a utilityman than having Getz on the roster in 2012.
Johnny Giavotella – 2nd Base: Grade C+
Hasn’t been great defensively and has been average at the plate. He has had a typical half rookie season.
Alcides Escobar – Shortstop: Grade A-
Escobar is great in the field. He makes fantastic plays that most shortstops don’t. After a couple seasons of Yuni at short for the Royals, Escobar is a godsend. He is a .250 hitter and doesn’t really project to be a whole lot better. He doesn’t have much power but that should improve. With his defense he could hit .250 for the remainder of his career and remain a starter.
Mike Aviles – 3rd Base: Grade F
Aviles was the Royals starting third baseman on opening day. This is hard to believe now. He was terrible in the field and at the plate. He then proceeded to whine about playing time after Moustakas’ callup. He has been good for the Red Sox but contributed almost nothing to the Royals in 2011.
Wilson Betimit – 3rd Base: Grade C+
Betimit was trade bait from opening day on. His value never really got any higher than that day either. He had an average year and didn’t fetch much in a trade.
Yamaico Navarro – 3rd Base: Grade B-
In my opinion a fantastic trade. Aviles was dead weight and couldn’t play the field. Yamaico hasn’t played much for Kansas City. Navarro isn’t great but should be a solid utility infielder for the team in 2012.
Mike Moustakas – 3rd Base: Grade B-
He was no Hosmer in 2011 but still ended up having a respectable rookie campaign. He got hot at the end of the season and raised his average about 50 points. He started driving the ball and stopped popping out to 3rd base. He showed many encouraging signs for 2012.
Alex Gordon – Left Field: Grade A
After a few years of being a borderline major league player he lived up to his immense talent and had a just-off MVP type season. He was great in left field, had a ton of assists and has an outside shot at a gold glove. He showed good power and the ability to drive in runs which was my biggest concern in the past for him.
Melky Cabrera – Center Field: Grade A
For what Melky was expected to do how could you possibly complain? 201 hits? Nobody would have guessed that, not even Melky. He hit for good power, stole bases, scored runs and was the exact type of player this team needed. I hated this signing but he proved me wrong.
Jarrod Dyson – Center Field: Grade C
Dyson is good and field and has amazing speed. He is a liability at the plate and until he can get on base consistently will contribute very little in the big leagues. He is super fast and is worth carrying as a pinch-runner but needs to hit.
Jeff Francouer – Right Feild: Grade A
Francoeur was another signing I didn’t like. He didn’t walk and would swing at anything. He resurrected his career this head and had an amazing season. He never failed to impress in right field and has a cannon. He didn’t swing at junk as much as the past and maintained a good average. He was a great clubhouse guy and showed he will be a great leader for this young team.
Mitch Maier – Outfield: Grade B-
Maier never got a lot of playing time because of A) no injuries and B) great outfielders ahead of him. When he got a spot start he did admirably but never really got a chance to impress this year.
Lorenzo Cain – Outfield: Grade B
Cain tore up AAA Omaha and never got to the Royals until the last week of the season. He is ready to go but has no place to play. He would be very good trade bait for a starting pitcher if packaged with another high-end prospect.
I’ll just throw it out there right away; I think I nailed this one. It’s odd that the look of certain years of cards are hard to pin down but I got 1964 Topps here. As always it is pretty much always about the picture. I wanted a good high quality head shot of Soria and to crop it tight. I found a nice picture with a bit of a scowl on his face. I know this is a very basic design but I still think it is one of the better re-creations that I have done. I might have to throw in a few Custom Card of the Day’s in the 1964 format since I like it so much and see if it translates well with other teams.
A Hair Off Square 