I don't even really have a lot of players on the Dodgers I like.
I do collect Andrew McCutchen cameo cards and that has lead me to save "Austin Barnes 2019 Topps" as a favorite in my daily eBay searches.
I am starting to get a nice "mini collection" of Dodgers cards with a Cutch cameo going and this card is the best example of it.
It is literally a mini that I added.
This 2019 Topps Mini is the blue parallel. It is numbered to only 10 copies just under the Topps foil logo. Blue parallels and Dodgers cards go really well together.
I also have the pink mini in hand which I will save for my October Event I do annually.
I have also picked up the red parallel (numbered to only 5) but don't have it in hand yet due to all the COMC complications.
Do you have any PCs that involve a cameo of a player, team, logo? Leave a comment down below.
Each year Topps has done a different method of promoting their flagship cards.
This year the theme has been about the decades. With it being a new decade, Topps is focusing on previous decade best players and teams. Last year Topps focused on 150 years of baseball.
There have been "chasing" and "golden" events that Topps has promoted, but my favorite gimmick was in 2011.
2011 is kind of an iconic set now thanks to the great rookie class available in 2011 Update (Trout, Altuve, Goldschmidt, JD Martinez).
The theme that Topps used in 2011 was their Diamond Anniversary, 60 years of collecting.
Within the packs of flagship you could get a Diamond Card Giveaway code that was inserted 1 in every 4 packs. Once unlocked you could "dig for diamonds" and unlock cards from 1952-2009, die cut diamond cards (not numbered), die cut Black diamond cards (numbered to 60 copies), or the ultra rare 1/1 diamond embedded base card. (I will show mine off again in a few days so if you haven't seen it already, I will revisit that awesome card).
More details about the diamond card giveaway can be found here.
I was fortunate that I grabbed one of these black diamond cards a long time ago. They all have a protective layer on top of the card (that's the wrinkles you see on the card below) that can be peeled off to really make the card refract light better.
The black diamonds are the rarest among the diamond die cuts and can often cost $30-$100 depending on the player. Of course a Derek Jeter is listed on eBay at this moment for over $400 at this current time.
There is also a base diamond card available (pictured above next to the black diamond).
Wal Mart also has an exclusive blue diamond 30 card set. Pedro Alvarez represents the Pirates in that set.
The backs are colored appropriately on the border to match the diamond on the front.
Do you remember digging for diamonds in 2011 Topps?
I recently got a PWE from Alex of the blog Chavez Ravining. Alex hit me up on Twitter to see if I had this gold border 2019 Allen & Ginter card of Andrew McCutchen.
I did not.
So Alex sent it my way along with a few extra cards.
I have shown off a few of the 2019 Topps Austin Barnes card and yesterday I discussed the game that the card was from (arguably one of Cutch's greatest single game performances).
I am continuing to seek out any of the parallels for this card.
Yesterday I got a big one in the form of 2019 Sapphire purple.
The purple parallel is numbered to only 10 copies.
Last week I showed off an Andrew McCutchen cameo card on a 2019 Austin Barnes card. I never would have expected that Cutch who played for the Phillies in 2019 would be pictured on a 2019 Dodgers card while he served as a member of the Giants.
Funny thing about that card which looks like a popup to the catcher.
The image was taken on April 7th, 2018.
That sounds like a date I have talked about before on this blog.
Maybe because I have used that date as a This Day In Cutchstory for the past two years since his 6 hit night.
That's right! In case you don't remember, Cutch collected 6 hits in that April 7th 2018 game and it ended in a walk off homerun.
So how did Cutch do in the 4th inning that Austin Barnes card is based on?
Well on the 6th pitch of the at bat versus Rich Hill, Cutch laced a line drive single to center. He fouled two pitches off including the pop up out of play that was caught in the action shot of the 2019 Topps Austin Barnes card.
While it is pretty neat to see Cutch in a cameo card from that night, the reason why the game is so memorable for me is that walk off homer.
I've shown off a ticket stub I purchased shortly after the homer happened.
I've also shown a Topps Heritage Box Topper
Both were shown on a post on April 7, 2019 to celebrate the 1 year anniversary.
More recently I talked about that game when I showed off a 2019 Luminaries Home Run Kings On Card Autograph which spotlights Cutch with his 6 walkoff Homers.
I am always looking for anything relating to this game. I would love to add a program, scorecard, and any game used items to this impressive night of hitting.
It was a home game for the San Francisco Giants who were celebrating the team's 60th Anniversary.
The balls used that season look like the example you see above. As you may be aware, MLB Authentication Services will place a hologram on a baseball that can be looked up and verified on line.
The stickers look like the example you see there. Can you read the authentication sticker?
It says JB851938
Let's plug that into the MLB Authentication site.
Pitch 11 of the at bat versus Wilmer Font in the bottom of the 14th.
What happened on pitch 12?
The very next pitch after the foul ball I now own was a walk off homerun that capped off his career best 6 hit night.
If you're a fan of baseball and want to get inside the mind of a really great hitter from the past decade you should check out the below video.
In this episode of The Sequence, Trevor Plouffe walks through the 12 pitch sequence of Andrew's extra inning walk off homer. It's fun to see the ball that I now own be seen on camera.
Trevor and Andrew look at this sequence of pitches and Andrew gets pretty deep into analyzing what he was thinking as Wilmer Font and him battled that night.
I would love to get this blown up to an 8x10 and make it a part of a shelf on my bookcase. Talk about perseverance.
Do you have any game used memorabilia from a player you admire?
Here is a card with a piece of camo jersey worn by Cutch.
Memorial Day is often the kick start of the unofficial celebration to the summer, but it's true meaning rests in remembering those that lost their lives serving in the US Military.
Thank you to those that served and prayers to the families who lost someone in the call of duty.
The Pirates began wearing a camo jersey in the 2015 season to honor the military.
It is nice to see that the camo swatch (and the really nice home white jersey patch) are in fact game used jersey swatches.
Diamond Kings is a fantastic product and the way that art based products could be,done correctly. It is my favorite Panini product each year.
This particular dual jersey card is the blue foil parallel numbered 4/5.
Opening Day was supposed to have happened a few months ago. We should be talking about the All-Star game candidates at this point.
But.....
We're not....
There are some legal and financial issues that the MLB Owners and MLBPA will try to work out over the next few weeks as they target a July 1st Opening Day.
Since 2017, Topps has produced on demand Topps Now style cards called Road To Opening Day. Team lots are available and depending on how the team has done you can receive bonus cards to highlight no hitters, cycles, 1st place finishes, etc.
There are also autograph parallels that can be had if you purchase an autograph team set. Generally teams have 3 autograph subjects per team. By buying into the autograph subject team set you also get a color parallel of a member of the team.
I have had a long time relationship with eBay seller known as Twinsjake. I buy a lot of my online exclusive/on demand cards from him and messaged him about trying to get some of the color parallels of Cutch if he got any in his many shipments of the 2020 Road to Opening Day Phillies sets.
Fortunately for me Jake hit me up and offered me a pair of color McCutchen numbered to 5 (orange) and 10 (red) respectively.
I would still like to get the blue version numbered to 49 copies and of course the gold numbered to 1.
What are you most looking forward to if there is in fact a baseball season this year?
I am a sucker for Cutch Pirates cards I don't own.
This includes cards of all shapes and sizes. My number one card I want is a 5x7 Pepsi Refresh photo card given out at stadiums in 2010.
Other cards I am actively seeking are the early parallels of Cutch's flagship and Online Exclusive Topps Mini cards.
The gold parallel from 2012 Topps Mini was numbered to 61 copies. That would be the equivalebt of the 2012 Topps standard release Black parallels.
Here is a scan of the two golds next to each other. The standard size is numbered to the year (2012 in this case) while the mini is numbered to match the black flagship (61 in this case).
I will try and grab some more of these mini card parallels as they become available.
Of course in recent releases there are way more parallels to chase (blue, red, pink, platinum), but the older ones are getting pretty dried up and tough to find with each passing year.
I am so sick and tired of wearing a mask in public.
It feels like a lifetime ago that I could go food shopping without a mask. It feels even longer that I could go to a clothing store, shop at the mall, visit my local card/comic shop, or even get excited about gathering in a large group like a concert or sporting event.
I had plans for going to Disney, seeing a couple home openers, going to a MCR reunion concert, and so many other things this year before everything went into a complete world lockdown.
I am getting anxious and want to have some fun again.
Something that I used to do on a fairly regularly basis was go see a movie at the local theatre.
I was thinking about this the other day because of the Austin Barnes card I posted with the Cutch cameo. The reason I thought about that card and the movies is because I became aware of that card existing while I was waiting for The Joker to start. I was in the theatre with only maybe a handful of other people and was passing time reading other blogs. Once learning of the card, I immediately hit eBay looking for the pink parallel so I could squeeze it in for last year's SAVESECONDBASE event.
I recently found the mini version pink parallel from BrentandBecca and will show that off for this year's event, but will always associate that cameo card with the movie, The Joker.
As an origin story of the clown prince of crime, it was spectacular. I loved the movie, but think it is kind of cool that I can always associate that card to the movie.
There are a few other baseball cards that I can remember exactly where I was when I won it or pulled the card.
When I see those cards I instantly have memories of events that went along with the card.
Let's put a smile on that face.
This 2019 Kyle Crick card could use a smile on his face. Why, so serious?
There is an Andrew McCutchen name cameo on the back.
Do you ever think about a specific baseball card ties into something you did?
Chris from The Collector clued me into this card even existing back in August of last year. I was completely unaware of McCutchen appearing in a Giants uniform on a Dodgers card on a cardboard release the year that McCutchen played for the Phillies. I am forever grateful that he pointed it out.
I am VERY SLOWLY trying to put this rainbow together. I wanted to knock out my favorites first.
So I grabbed the pink and mini pink to use for my SaveSecondBase Event I do annually.
I am now going after the Chrome Sapphire cards because that shine is amazing.
This is the orange parallel of 2019 Topps Sapphire numbered to 25 copies.
Thank you again Chris for pointing out this cameo.
Current needs for this card include
Flagship: base, black, fathers day blue, independence day, gold, Montgomery Club, vintage stock, platinum
In case you haven't noticed prices on 1980s baseball cards have been going bonkers lately.
Evidently with people being stuck at home and no sports, people are going down the nostalgia road aboard the crazy train.
Ever since it was announced that there would be a documentary about Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, prices on all the key rookie cards (in high PSA grades) from the 80s have nearly doubled in the past two months.
While others are spending hundreds of their dollars on stars from the 80s and 90s I have been bargain hunting more McCutchen cards.
This white parallel 2005 Bowman 1st Year card in a PSA9 slab was picked up very cheaply.
Only 225 copies of this parallel exist.
Overall, I am pretty happy to add this slabbed draft parallel to the PC for $8.50
Yup, for less than a Chipotle burrito, I grabbed this early Cutch card.
I talked about some McCutchen rookies I got a few days ago for only 38 cents a piece.
Keep enjoying those 1987 Jose Canseco cards folks. I'm gonna keep grabbing cards like this while I can.
Now with all that said, I completely blew an opportunity to pick up a card I needed for my collection.
So about two weeks ago I mentioned that I was going to be grabbing a Mookie Betts lot that basically becomes an instant player collection jumpstart.
I am VERY certain my Betts collection will NEVER get to the point of my Cutch collection, but it is off to a good start with a variety of base, inserts, and parallels.
First though I am going to show off my favorite Mookie card I own.
2014 Five Star Silver Ink Auto numbered to 50 copies.
Here is the stack of Betts cards I picked up
That is almost 150 Mookie Betts cards.
Now let's dive into it to check out some of the cards I got.
In 5 full seasons, Mookie has won 4 gold glove awards. He also makes for some great cardboard with running catches.
This is an insert card I am already very familar with because Andrew McCutchen was part of the insert set too. I dissected the 5 images of Cutch's card and what other Topps cards use those images here.
This is a selection of some of my favorite horizontal cards.
But this Peak Performers card from Optic is my absolute favorite from the group.
I think Panini could put Topps out of business if they ever got an official license. Panini makes amazing cards.
I have fallen in love with 2018 Fire. The inserts and foil parallels are stunning!!!
Vintage designs of one of the game's best current players.
Overall there was 98 unique cards in the lot that I added to my instant collection of Mookie.
His Cutch lot that allowed me to negotiate for the Betts lot had only 8 new cards for my collection, but I'll still happily add them.
The foil Baseball Stars of the Game is the base card. I have a Transcendent 1/1 and two of the 5x7 size cards.
I had a couple of the parallels for the 2018 Big League Baseball, but not the base.
The silver pack 1984 mojo is awesome. I want to get more of that rainbow.
The 2018 Update is the foilboard parallel.
2019 A&G Mini!!!
Legends in the Making 2018 Update black parallel
The Salute card is another that I have multiple parallels and the 5x7 online exclusives, but not the base.
And finally the 2020 Heritage Short Print
You can revisit that post here if you want to see how many doubles I grabbed to get these 8 cards.
Again, it also helped me negotiate for this lot of Betts cards.
Topps t206 is coming back this year. The set hasn't been produced since 2010. I have always liked this set mainly for the ties it has to the infamous Honus Wagner card.
I have a few of Cutch's 2009 Topps t206 cards including the gold mini you see above.
Above are 3 of the different backs I have for the standard minis from Cutch's 2009 rookie year.
I also have 3 different backs from the 2010 minis. I will show all my different 2010 parallel colors and chromed and such in a future post.
These are the 3 different standard size cards I have of Cutch for 2009.
Base, Photo Variant, Bronze parallel.
I think Topps should do similar relaunches of Gypsy Queen where it is only available once every couple years.
