When the Pirates were on the verge of being perennial contenders for 2013-2015 and had the 2nd best Winning Percentage in all baseball (Damn You St. Louis!!!) they essentially had two 5 tool players patrolling their outfield. When Gregory Polanco joined the team in 2014 after being a top 10 prospect in baseball the previous year, it was believed that RunPMC (Polanco, Marte, Cutch) would be filling the seats at PNC Park for at least half a decade.
Unfortunately that window was short lived and the "best outfield in baseball" lasted for only a few months before being surpassed by other teams.
In 2015 Cutch regressed to slightly below .300 hitter before having a career worse average in 2016. 2015 also saw Polanco struggle at the plate to a .256 average.
2017 saw Marte suspended for 80 games due to PED use. Polanco would spend multiple stints on the disabled list. Cutch returned to his former self and would win June Player of the Month for the National League.
2018 saw long time face of the franchise, Andrew McCutchen, traded to San Francisco. Gregory Polanco would suffer a season ending injury after multiple stints on the Injured List.
Even though the combination of Polanco, Marte, and Cutch didn't live up to expectations getting any cards of them combined are instant favorites of mine.
This Flawless Combo card lives up to it's name.
Shame RunPMC didn't have a longer run. I remember getting excited to see any cheap relics of them at shows. I picked up a few... but nothing quite like that Flawless. Beautiful card.
ReplyDeleteThat’s a fantastic looking card!
ReplyDeleteEven without the MLB license, Panini does a fabulous job with their high-end sets, especially by featuring multi-color patches.
ReplyDelete