World Series champs Kansas City Royals

I wouldn't have thought Christian Colon would get the opportunity to come through and get game-winning hit to lead the Kansas City Royals to their first championship since 1985 - even though Colon had been obscured as a utility guy, I guess it should be no surprise since he's just another valuable cog the Royals were able to trot out.

Though I probably wanted the New York Mets to stretch out the World Series to at least a Game 6 - the Royals were relentless and were not going to be denied, while the Mets kind of just ran out of magic.

Though I take no particular interest with the Royals, in the aftermath of their accomplishments in 2015 - it's kind of fun searching for what was written in the last five years when it came mocking and/or deriding the organization's apparent non-commitment to building a winning franchise.

Maybe with the Royals getting to the World Series in 2014, some of the doubt from the baseball pundits kind of went by the wayside - however it's much more interesting to read some of the doom and gloom now, with the Royals actually winning a championship, rather than when they fell short of their run last year.

2011 Bowman Platinum Value Pack recap

2011 Bowman Platinum value pack [$8.99 each at a Target] - I was looking for a cardboard fix, so I tried another 2011 Bowman Platinum value pack.

Pack one - the cards are facing from the back.
#66 Dustin Pedroia
#58 Clayton Kershaw
#BPP 71 Johermyn Chavez - x-fractor
Filler card
#2 of 2 Checklist

Pack two
#55 Michael Pineda

#45 Torii Hunter
#BPP 55 David Cooper
Filler card
#64 Hunter Pence

Pack three
#53 David Ortiz

#65 Albert Pujols
#BPP 96 Christian Colon - x-fractor
Filler card
#17 Ryan Braun
#2 of 2 Checklist

Purple refractor pack
#BPP 18 Zack Cox
#BPP 28 Shaeffer Hall

#BPP 91 Kaleb Cowart

2011 Bowman Platinum Value Pack recap #2

Value pack two

Pack one
#59 Justin Morneau
#73 Ryan Zimmerman
#BPP 17 Kolbin Vitek - x-fractor
Filler card
#49 Joe Mauer
Retail checklist 2 of 2

Pack two
#86 Chipper Jones
#27 Jake McGee
#BPP 18 Zack Cox
Filler card
#53 David Ortiz

Pack three
#42 Ubaldo Jimenez
#72 Tim Lincecum
#BPP 95 Matt Lipka - x-fractor
Filler card
#33 Madison Bumgarner
Retail checklist 2 of 2

Purple refractor pack - more dusty white substance on the cards.
#BPP 81 Cesar Puello
#BPP 11 Kyle Seager
#BPP 75 Sean Coyle

2011 Bowman Platinum Value Pack recap #1

2011 Bowman Platinum Value Pack [$8.98 x2 purchased at Walmart] - four cards in a pack/three packs and a bonus pack of three Platinum Purple refractors in a 'rack.'

I like Bowman Platinum because it is a MLB licensed trading card product with prospect cards - like what I said last year, it gives me some options besides the typical Bowman / Bowman Chrome / Bowman Draft offerings from Topps.

Compared to last year's Bowman Platinum - the 2011 version seems so much nicer looking in hand.

Bowman Platinum might not ever be confused for a super premium product like Bowman Sterling, but the Bowman Platinum cards stand out on their own - with a shiny and have a refractor finish, this year's cards almost reminds me of 2002 Topps Gold Label cards, except the design is a little cleaner.

Value pack one - I'll have the recap from my second 'rack' in another post.

Pack one - the cards are facing from the back.
#64 Hunter Pence
#75 Josh Hamilton
#BPP 81 Cesar Puello
Filler card
#95 Kyle Drabek

Pack two
#47 Cory Luebke
#91 Troy Tulowitzki - green foil?
#BPP 32 Dustin Ackley
Filler card

#56 Jered Weaver

Pack three
#37 Josh Johnson

#9 Derek Jeter - red foil?
#BPP 41 Delino Deshields [Jr.]
Filler card
#30 Felix Hernandez

Purple refractor pack - these cards had a dusty white substance all over them; maybe Topps wanted these to help out autograph collectors and degloss these cards.

#BPP 78 Brad Holt

#BPP 23 Josh Zeid
#BPP 86 Tim Beckham