Just some filler on the schedule

I have a lot of really nice cards to show off and am in the process of doing a month long event for February to celebrate Black History Month.  Last year I did four posts on the four Thursdays in February to discuss Judy Johnson, Cool Papa Bell, Satchel Paige, and Josh Gibson.  While watching the HBO original Soul of the Game and the recent passing of Kobe Bryant, I came up with a fun way to remember the impact that African Americans have had on today's culture.  I know that the MLB Network does a daily feature celebrating a black player during Black History Month and I intend to do that as well.

With that series of posts taking up all of the February slots (minus my yearly Wear Red post celebrated the first Friday every February) it will be some time before I can show off all these great cards I want to talk about.  Some of them are pink too so you know that they won't be shown until October.

With that being said there might be some posts that are just filler.  They won't go into anything relating to current events nor will they be very exciting in terms of SUPER SICK MOJONESS.  They are all still cards I've acquired to bring my collection closer to 2,700 unique cards of Andrew McCutchen.

So please keep reading daily as I try to pump out daily posts.  There will be fun history trivia, a new month long event, some cardboard connections to cards from the 50s-70s, and of course some sick mojo hits.

In the meantime, here is a pair of pocket schedules I have featuring Cutch.

The 2015 Pittsburgh Pirates had a legitimate shot at going deep into the playoffs with one of the top 5 pitching staffs in the league lead by a trio of All-Stars (AJ Burnett, Mark Melancon, and Gerrit Cole) with a solid back of rotation (Francisco Liriano and Charlie Morton) including one of the leagues best bullpens (Tony Watson, Joe Blanton, Vance Worley, and Joakim Soria).  The team also boasted a top 5 offense lead again by perennial MVP candidate Andrew McCutchen with exceeding performances by guys like Neil Walker, Pedro Alvarez, Jung Ho Kang, Gregory Polanco, Starling Marte, and Francisco Cervelli.  The 2015 Pirates had the most depth at each position than any previous playoff bound team the Pirates put together.  It all came to a halt in the 1 game Wild Card though when Jake Arrieta shut the Pirates out ending their magical 98 win season.

Some of the building blocks for that 98 win team were actually a part of the 2009 Indianapolis Indians team, the Pirates AAA affiliate.  The cover of the pocket schedule shows Cutch who was ranked the 12th best prospect on MLB.com top 50 list.

The following players played at least one game for the Indianapolis Indians in 2009 and were a part of a winning Postseason team with the Pirates (2013-2015):
Andrew McCutchen
Neil Walker
Jose Tabata
Charlie Morton
Garrett Jones


In addition to that group there were a few players who were traded to other teams who would go on to have lengthy Pirates tenures.
Brad Lincoln, the 4th overall selection in the 2006 MLB draft (ahead of Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Andrew Miller, and Tim Lincecum) pitched 12 games for the Indianapolis Indians to a 4.70ERA.  He would go on to make his MLB debut the following year and would eventually get traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in 2012 in a one for one trade of "failed prospects" for Travis Snider.  Travis Snider would go on to be a 4th outfielder for all three of the postseason teams before he eventually got traded to the Baltimore Orioles for Steven Brault and Stephen Tarpley.

In his time with Pittsburgh, Snider made one of the best catches I have ever seen in person when he channeled his inner Spider-Man at Citi Field against the Mets.

Another pitcher for the 2009 AAA affiliate was Tom Gorzellany who was traded along with John Grabow for Josh Harrison (who was actually the throw in lottery ticket of the trade), Kevin Hart (the pitcher, not comedian), and Jose Ascanio.  "Gorzo"  started 15 games for Indy that season before being traded and had a 2.48ERA with 83K in 85 innings.  He looked to be a building block for the Pirates pitching staff.

Josh Harrison as we know became the modern super utility player that all teams currently try to get on their roster.  He played every infield position except catcher and first base and played all three outfield positions.  Yes he even pitched two thirds of shutout baseball.  He was a two time All-Star and in 2014 was a top 10 finalist for NL MVP.

Everyone knows about Javy Baez and his magic acts of avoiding tags, but let me remind everyone that the Pirates had a pretty good magical act in Josh Harrison at his prime.