He didn't miss it, he crushed it

Have you ever wanted to own a Home Run baseball from your favorite player?  

Well, I can say that I do.

It was authenticated by MLB and Hunt Auctions.

With the unfortunate COVID pandemic that plagued the world this year, no fans were permitted to watch a Philadelphia Phillies game in person.  Fortunately however, the Homerun baseballs were auctioned off for charity and I was able to acquire the 238th career homerun of Andrew McCutchen.  On September 1st, 2020 Cutch launched (and if you watch the video below, that may be an understatement) his 5th homer of the shortened year.  He would hit 5 more in the month of September to finish with double digit homerun totals for the 12 straight season joining a list of only 3 other active players to hit double digit round trippers since 2009.  The other three players are Nelson Cruz, Robinson Cano, and Edwin Encarnacion.

You can click here to see the video on YouTube or hopefully I was able to embed the source correctly from MLB below.

The games that never were

The 2020 baseball season looked like it would never happen, then it did happen.

I was planning on attending up to 6 Phillies games this year.  I work not too far from Philadelphia and have a bunch of friends that wanted to go to some of the games.

The first game that we were planning on attending was Opening Day

The Phillies would have kicked off their season on April 2nd against the Milwaukee Brewers if COVID-19 didn't happen.  

I hate the Brewers.

More recently they have become a team I actually like with Christian Yelich and Mike Moustakas both playing for the team in recent years.  But if you go back to the early 2010s with the teams that had Carlos Gomez, Ryan Braun, Rickie Weeks, and Nyjer Morgan? Yeah, I didn't have much respect for those teams.

Another group of games I was going to attend were the entire series of the Pirates coming to Philly in late August.

The Pirates were a complete mess last year as they finished in the bottom of every offensive and pitching category in the National League and Baseball in general.

Once the schedules were changed around so only East teams played East teams and Central v Central and West vs West, it became clear that for the first time in 130 years the Phillies and Pirates wouldn't be playing each other in a season.

The Phillies schedule was rewritten and on August 26th, they faced the Washington Nationals. 

The Phillies were triumphant in the game winning 3-2 over the defending Champions.  

Andrew McCutchen went 2 for 5 atop the Phillies lineup. 

I picked up this pair of tickets for the Cutch on a ticket collection.

Wave(ing) Goodbye To 2020

2020 is close to an end and I can't wait to wrap this year up.

From a personal level, the year sucked.

From a collecting perspective, the prices elevated to insane levels...which sucked.

From a new product release by Topps, wait...Topps produced some cool new products?

Ok so Stadium Club Chrome isn't exactly new.  It first appeared in the early 2000s, but then went on hiatus for nearly a few decades before being resurrected in 2018 Stadium Club as part of their parallels.

In 2020, Topps released a product using great photography of Stadium Club with the well known chrome technology and it was amazing!!!

Above is the wave parallel from 2020 Topps Stadium Club.  

It features a different picture than the traditional image used in Stadium Club.  The foil and etching on this product might be the nicest thing Topps produced all year and is very under the radar if you ask me.

The back features the same writeup as the standard Topps Stadium Club cards released earlier in the year.  Fun fact: the Phillies were 5 games above .500 when Cutch was batting leadoff before his season ending injury in 2019.  The team played 5 games below .500 without him, thus enduring their stretch of not having a winning season since 2011 (longest in majors).

Dropping A Lil Perspective

The past few days have been filled with the normal holiday relaxation, which is very much need after the way 2020 has treated me. 

I didn't get a chance to post this pair of red and green chrome cards on Christmas as intended.

So here it is, a few days late.

2016 Topps Chrome Perspectives took a cool idea for an insert set and chromed it out.  I still really like Topps Perspectives for the untraditional photography used, but really wished they had done something better with the font that didn't appear to be from an MS Paint application from the 90s.

The red and green are numbered to 5 and 99 copies respectively and this is one of a few complete rainbows I have from this year.  I also have the Superfractor too.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

🎄 Merry Belated Christmas Everyone 🎄

Jingle Bell Rock

Merry Christmas Eve

The Pirates just traded their most recognizable player, Josh Bell, to the Washington Nationals.

Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas is for the Pittsburgh Pirates not to be used as a farm system for the rest of baseball.

Love,

Brian

Optimism Among Optics

Donruss Optic came out for the first time in 2016.  It was basically a chrome version of Donruss similar to Topps Chrome compared to Topps Flagship.  

The basic Donruss set contained 150 cards, while the Optic set contained only 100 cards.  

Similar to other chromium technology products, this release has a dozen color parallels to chase after.  

The most interesting thing that Donruss did was reverse the color numbering for this chrome product compared to what Topps utilizes.  Topps Chrome traditionally will use a red parallel as a /5 card and a green parallel as a /99 card.

Panini/Donruss/Optic took that and said F it.  Meaning flip it.

The reds for this product are /99 and the greens are /5. 

This puts a different way to look at things in terms of rare parallels go.

I needed a different way to look at things over the past few weeks with the holiday stress at an all time high.

Personally, my favorite Christmas movie to reflect on looking at things in a different view (or optics if you will) is the film, It's A Wonderful Life.

This Jimmy Stewart lead film really looks at a person's life and makes you reflect on your own life.  The fact that it was a film from the 1940s and addressed such a controversial theme of suicide in it's day speaks for why this film has become such a classic.  

While the technology and some of the terms and politics from the film's era are dated now, it still has a strong core that can resonate with anyone.

I have never gotten that close to have wanted to commit suicide, but the thought has crossed my mind, more so in recent years.  I had lost my great grandfather on my dad's side of family to suicide before I was even a teenager.  I was only 10 years old when he passed away from the suicide and none of us saw it coming.  He was a pillar in the community.  He always gave the biggest hugs and was a giant teddy bear and usually would smile a lot.  I still think about the hoagie my mom and I gave him the night before he shot himself that summer and how happy he lead us to think he was for us visiting him that night.  The next day my mom, brother, and I went over and he was laying outside.  My mom didn't know at the time that he had shot himself and told me to run over and wake up Grampop. I won't go into every detail, but it is something I remember nearly every detail to this day almost 30 years later.  I have seen the devastation it can cause on a family and I don't want to put anyone else through that.  

With the holidays, stress can be at an all time high.  It's important to keep finding things that make one happy.  

Stay positive and share positive thoughts with others.  You never know the impact you may be having on someone.  Pay attention to any signs and most importantly listen to those that may be struggling.  

It truly is A Wonderful Life

Live it and love it!

Don't take a life, including your own

Exodus 20:13

You shall not murder

Bows, Bows, Bows

One thing that Christmas traditions have developed over the past century is more presents including bows on them.

I like the look of a bow being on a Christmas present, but I neither have the talent or patience to make an actual bow on a present.  

I have bought those cheap bags at a Dollar General type store to peel off the adhesive and stick the bow on it.

Continuing the theme of red and green parallels for the days leading up to Christmas are a pair of 2016 Bowman cards.

The red is numbered to 5 and the green to 99 copies.

The reason Christmas colors are red and green is the reason we celebrate the holiday in the first place.  

It is because of Jesus Christ that we "deck the halls" with red and green.

The green represents Christ's eternal life just as the evergreen trees remain green all winter long.  The red represents his blood shed during the crucifixion

The Finest Christmas

Topps Finest created the modern day refractor.  The 1993 set helped revolutionize the card industry using a new set of technology and the hobby reacted in a way that 27 years later we are still in love "with the shine".

2016 Topps Finest really pushed the colors forward in a bold direction.  The color parallels were bold and shined beautifully.

Matthew 5:16

Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Scripture Sunday

It's a Scripture Sunday on the blog, but I am continuing to show off red and green cards as we get closer to Christmas

Today's card is a 2017 Topps Inception red parallel numbered to 75 copies and a green parallel (not numbered)

The inception of Christmas colors being red and green is the Reason we celebrate the holiday in the first place.  

It is because of Jesus Christ that we "deck the halls" with red and green.

The green represents Christ's eternal life just as the evergreen trees remain green all winter long.  The red represents his blood shed during the crucifixion.

Romans 8:18

For I consider the sufferings at this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Christmas memories not associated with Christmas

Maybe this is just me, but when I think of Christmas there are often memories that pop up that (in most people's perception) have absolutely nothing to do with Christmas.

When I was in grade school during Christmas break my family never went on vacation.  My aunt's, uncles, grandparents all lived within 25 minutes of my home so I didn't even have to travel far for gatherings.  Oddly enough what I remember most about Christmas break from my preteen years were Chris Webber, Autobot Blaster (the Transformers boombox), and Disney animated movies.

Let's start with Chris Webber.  It was Christmas 1993 and my parents got me a full box of unopened packs, the first time I remember getting a full box.  The box was 1993-94 Topps Stadium Club.  In that box, I pulled a rookie card 1st Day Issue of Chris Webber. It was easily a $100 card at the time according to Tuff Stuff or Beckett Basketball.  Unfortunately I traded away all my 90s basketball cards for a piece of furniture about a decade ago.  

Transformers was one of my favorite cartoons growing up.  As an adult, I think the themes of Thundercats or Voltron were better, but as a kid seeing robots beat up other robots and transform into cars, jets, and boimboxes was MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE.  I know I had more Transformers as a kid, but there are only a few that resonate with me.  One toy I distinctly remember receiving was Blaster.  Blaster was a boombox that transformed into a massive robot using some mass changing property and battled the Decepticons.  He was my favorite of the Autobots.  

Fun fact: as a kid I couldn't pronounce Autobot.  I called them Ottobots.

I mentioned watching a lot of Disney movies above.  Well, there were two that I used to be able to recite word for word, albeit with a little boy New Jersey accent.  Both those movies were rooted in England literature heroes; King Arthur and Robin Hood.  

The Sword in the Stone is my favorite Disney movie ever.  Not far behind is the anthropomorphic telling of Robin Hood.  

There was a dog that Robin Hood tried to help out by giving money to Friar Tuck.  

I always liked the way the dog tried to swindle some money from King John by staging money in his foot casket.

That dog's name was Otto and oddly enough, according to Disney Wiki, he also appears in the best animated Christmas movie ever, Mickey's Christmas Carol.

The poor dog always plays the role of....a poor dog.

If you were sitting on a case of 2010 Bowman Platinum, you would not be a poor dog.  You would have the chance to get an autograph of some very good baseball players.  An average box of these cards sells for $1,100 now and guarantees 2 prospect autos (including a chance for Mike Trout) along with 1 relic autograph in every box.  I have completed the rainbow of the Andrew McCutchen relic/auto sans the Superfractor. 

Strangely enough, I don't call an autograph, a Ottograph.

This is today's pair of red and green parallels.  They are from 2010 Bowman Platinum.

Christmas is often associated with the colors red and green.  The theory of these two colors representing Christmas are because of the reason we celebrate the holiday in the first place.  

It is because of Jesus Christ that we "deck the halls" with red and green.

The green represents Christ's eternal life just as the evergreen trees remain green all winter long.  The red represents his blood shed during the crucifixion

What words do you know you pronounce wrong?

Are there any TV shows or movies you associate with Christmas for any reason?

Christmas is closer than you think...

It's official, Christmas is only a week away. 

Let's begin with the bible verse.

Luke 2:10

But the Angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people."

Christmas is often associated with the colors red and green.  The theory of these two colors representing Christmas are because of the reason we celebrate the holiday in the first place.  

It is because of Jesus Christ that we "deck the halls" with red and green.

The green represents Christ's eternal life just as the evergreen trees remain green all winter long.  The red represents his blood shed during the crucifixion

Now I will show off the green and red cards:

Today I am looking at the 2018 Bowman Holiday release.

I think I have shown them before, but if you are unfamilar with the set here is some quick information about it.

The 2018 Bowman Holiday cards were a hobby shop exclusive release.  Begining on November 16, 2018 collectors could go to their local shop and purchase $10 of Topps products to receive 1 pack of 2018 Bowman Holiday.  Not all hobby shops participated and those that did likely had extra packs left over that they ripped after the holiday to sell as singles.

Each pack contained 3 cards and a chance to get a Fall/Winter parallel inside.

There were Turkey (/35), Green Festive (/99), White Snow (/50), Red Festive (/10), and Gold Festive (1/1) parallels for the 100 card base set.  

Above you can see the Red and Green parallels respectively. 

The backs of the cards were numbered TH (Topps Holiday) along with the Player's initials.  

Similar to many other Bowman "flagship" releases there are resumes, skills, and up close snapshots of the player.  

The resume talks about how the player came to the team, awards, and personal accomplishments.

The skills is basically a scouting report.

The up close talks more about the personal side of the athlete.

Here are the cards perched in the tree.

Have you ever been fortunate to get these types of hobby shop exclusive card promotions at your local card shop?  

New York, New York

Well the snowstorm for my area was a complete dud.  We only got about 3 inches in Monmouth County.  Oddly enough, my brother who lives an hour away got about 10 inches of snow and AJ of the Lost Collector got about 14 inches.  New Jersey is a strange strange state.

One of my favorite Christmas activities is to walk around New York City during Christmas time.  Things are a bit different this year though so I haven't been able to get to New York and don't think that I will be.  With regulations and mandates, it just isn't worth the hassle to cross over the state borders.

I only have color parallels of Cutch in a Yankees uniform for one release, 2018 Bowman's Best.

The back of the card discusses Cutch's epic 6 hit walk off homerun in 2018.

Have you ever been to New York during Christmas?

A Platinum Christmas

Over the years I continued to make mix CDs of Christmas songs.  It all started in the late 90s with my ex-girlfriend and the MTV TRL era.  At the time I was listening to Nu-Metal bands like Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Deftones, but also had a small crush on Britney Spears.

In the year 2000 a mix compilation called Platinum Christmas was released containing many new songs by popular musical artists at that time.  I ended up using a bunch of the tracks from that CD to make my mix for that year.

Britney Spears My Only Wish (This Year) was used as a promotional single for the compilation.  Other artists on the CD were Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, TLC, Christina Aguilera, Whitney Houston, Dave Mathews Band, and so many more. 

Given the choice I wouldn't put any of those songs on a current mix except for Christina Aguilera's Silent Night.

For the 12 days leading up to Christmas I have been showing off a pair of red & green parallels.  

Today I looking at a pair of 2012 Bowman Platinum cards.

Unlike the current iteration of Bowman Platinum, there were only a few different color parallels to chase and none of them were serially numbered.  

They did have different rarities though.

The gold were found 1:5 packs

The emerald (green pictured above) were found 1:10 packs.

The ruby (red pictured above) were the rarest and could be found 1:20 packs.

The back of the card talks about Andrew's quick rise to being a superstar.

10 for 25 to start a career?  

Sounds pretty impressive

As I have been doing with the other Green and Red pairings for this countdown, I,am showing them on a Christmas tree.

Christmas is often associated with the colors red and green.  The theory of these two colors representing Christmas are because of the reason we celebrate the holiday in the first place.  

It is because of Jesus Christ that we "deck the halls" with red and green.

The green represents Christ's eternal life just as the evergreen trees remain green all winter long.  The red represents his blood shed during the crucifixion.

What are some of your favorite artists Christmas Song pairings?

I find myself listening to the My Chemical Romance (yay for NJ) cover of All I Want For Christmas a few times a week this holiday season.

The Christmas Countdown Continues

Christmas is only 11 days away.  

Because I am a big kid at heart I love to countdown with anticipation of Christmas morning.

Today I want to talk about 

2013 Topps Update

We all know how popular the 2011 Topps Update set is, but did you know that the 2013 Topps Update Gold serially numbered to 2013 copies is actually one of the harder color parallels to track down and when found can be worth north of over $100 easily?  I wrote about it here and here.

We are not looking at gold (or silver for that matter) today.

So if your name is Yukon Cornelius, you're out of luck.

No instead I am looking at the red and green parallels that set offered us, which ended this parallels pairing after this release. 

As discussed yesterday, Christmas is often associated with the colors red and green.  The theory of these two colors representing Christmas are because of the reason we celebrate the holiday in the first place.  

It is because of Jesus Christ that we "deck the halls" with red and green.

The green represents Christ's eternal life just as the evergreen trees remain green all winter long.  The red represents his blood shed during the crucifixion.

As we count down the days to Christmas (YES I know you're supposed to begin on the 25th and carry on for 12 days after) I will be looking at a pair of red and green color parallels I have of Cutch.

In 2013 Topps Flagship releases, the company decided to produce a new parallel called Emerald Foil.  It uses a technology design similar to previous years technology like Diamond Anniversary and Cognac parallels.  The Emerald Foil really pops on these cards and if I was an Oakland A's fan I would put the entire team set together.  Sadly, these emerald foils would not carry into their 2014 releases despite being a fan favorite parallel. 

The red represents the traditional Target exclusive cards that came to an end in 2014. 

So sadly this pairing of red borders and green foil was a 1 year option. 

Here are the cards perched on the tree

With a pending snowstorm on the horizon in New Jersey tomorrow, I thought I would share a popular verse that discusses snow in the bible.

Isaiah 1:18

Come now, and let us reason together saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they shall be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Red & Green Countdown : Christmas Chronicles

Christmas is only 12 days away.  

Because I am a big kid at heart I love to countdown with anticipation of Christmas morning.

Christmas is often associated with the colors red and green.  The theory of these two colors representing Christmas are because of the reason we celebrate the holiday in the first place.  

It is because of Jesus Christ that we "deck the halls" with red and green.

The green represents Christ's eternal life just as the evergreen trees remain green all winter long.  The red represents his blood shed during the crucifixion.

As we count down the days to Christmas (YES I know you're supposed to begin on the 25th and carry on for 12 days after) I will be looking at a pair of red and green color parallels I have of Cutch.

These are the 2020 Chronicles Spectra.  

The green has a more unique design and pops more despite a higher print run.  The red is basically a red superfractor design.

They are numbered to 49 and 25 copies respectively.

Here's the pair of Cards perched on the Christmas tree. 

I will probably watch The Christmas Chronicles tonight with Mrs CollectingCutch.  Each day we try to do something "Christmasy" in December.

Nehemiah 8:10

"Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

Oh Sheff!!!! That's A Lot of Cards

Greg, otherwise known as the famous Night Owl, sent me a message that he had some extra Gary Sheffield cards in Dodgers uniforms.

I've mentioned a few times that Sheff was one of my favorite players growing up.  The way he could swing the bat and battle off pitches was very impressive, especially with his raw power. 

Greg sent me 28 new Gary Sheffield cards for my collection!

28!

There were multiple companies included in the mix.  

It was really fun and refreshing to see cards not just by the Topps company, 

but to also see cards from brands like 

Pacific (the refracting light on this Prism card is amazing)

Multiple brands of Fleer products

Including a set of Fleer cards that looks like Topps cards

Many Upper Deck

Donruss

Even an oddball Topps cards brought to you by Post Cereal

Remember Skybox? Got one of them too

And the lone Sheff horizontal card is this awesome fielding shot

I had so much fun looking through these cards and remembering what it was like when there were multiple companies making baseball cards.  

The Evan Meek autograph card was a welcomed surprise too.  I considered super collecting him back in 2010 when he was the Pirates lone All-Star that year.

Thank you Greg

Falco Files: Getting Chilly, Check Out This Icy Foil

A few days ago I talked about a Bowman Platinum Sky Blue that was a fat pack exclusive from 2018.

I am going to continue that  just as a filler post before I count down the 12 days of Christmas.

Andrew McCutchen wasn't included in the 2020 set, but the player the Pirates received in the trade (Bryan Reynolds) was part of the 2020 Bowman Platinum set.

Above is the icy foil parallel from the set.  

The 2020 Bowman Platinum set is a Wal-Mart exclusive release.  The icy foils were found only in the hanger packs at 2 per pack.  

Join me tomorrow for my final post before I count down Christmas.