Next Year, I'm Swinging For The Fences

I missed a month long opportunity to highlight some of my Negro League throwback cards to celebrate Black History Month.  

I promise I will swing for the fences next year.  In the meantime enjoy the whimsical short print from 2012 Topps featuring Cutch and the Pirate Parrot playing wiffleball in the old Homestead Grays uniforms made famous by guys like Josh Gibson, Judy Johnson, Cool Papa Bell, Smoky Joe Williams, and Buck Leonard.

You can revisit some posts I paid tribute to those guys by clicking on their name in the links above.

My 1st 2021 Cutch cards

When Topps Flagship 2021 came out a few weeks ago I was surprised to see three different insert sets that Cutch was included in.  I placed an order with Brentandbecca via eBay and got all three of my cards shortly there after.

You may recall earlier this week that I showed off a gold 5x7 card and stated I wanted to build a run of Cutch cards using each design of Topps Flagship 1952-2021.  

I have the standard size card in hand now so I will be getting that post ready to go some time next month to see how close/far away from that goal I am.  I think the mid 1990s to mid 2000s will be the hardest to accomplish.

This card looks awesome in person.  The blue background, yellow base, and red lettering all pop in a very prime way.

The back of the card focuses on the 1955 set.

Next up is the 1986 insert celebrating 35 years of Topps 1986.  I never noticed this on the original set, but there are way more triangles in the team logos than I remembered.  I thought that this was just Topps way to be cutesy and artsy following the success of Project2020, but I referenced some original 1986 cards and sure enough Michael Jack Schmidt had logos that looked identical.

I really like the throwback uniforms for the Phillies.  I also like this candid image of Cutch just joking and having fun.

The back is very reminiscing of the original 1986 design.  I LOVE the trivia bit at the bottom.  I remember that game when Cutch launched three homers in a game versus Washington.  It was so exciting to see the Pirates have a 22 year old rookie with a ceiling so high come up and impress not just Pittsburgh fans, but the nation as a whole.

It's not just the homers, the stolen bases, diving catches, and crazy on field swagger that drew me to like Andrew McCutchen as a fan though.  It was Cutch's humble nature and the way he constantly gives back to the community that made him such a fan favorite in Pittsburgh.

This image of Cutch in a suit signing for fans with shades and dreads is how I remember Cutch in the majors.  The dude is a class act all the way.  

I was honestly most excited to see Cutch get recognized for inclusion in this insert set.  Not only is it a unique idea for an insert set, it also features things that aren't baseball related and shows players in images they normally don't put on standard trading cards.  I am planning to collect the entire set of this insert series.

So those three cards are my first 2021 standard size cards of Cutch I have in hand.  I will be going after parallels of all of them so if you come across any, keep me in mind.

Have you gotten any 2021 cards?

What inserts have you been excited about this year?

Proof I'm not that special

Back in late 2016, early 2017 I was buying out another Cutch collector of his collection.  There were some really nice and rare items included in the cards I bought.

One of the most special cards I bought was this 2009 Upper Deck autograph with a rare inscription.  I initially thought this was a 1/1 type inscription and paid a premium to add it to my collection.  I think we settled on a bit over $100 for it.

The back looks identical to all other 2009 Upper Deck autographs

Here it is with my regular signature that is graded a BGS9.5.  Accompanying it are some other 2009 autographs.

Well, over the weekend someone has listed a similar card for sale for $1,500 or best offer...

Safe to say, I won't be buying a second copy at that price. 

Another Art Card of that Famous Swag SP

There is less than 24 hours left to purchase your Blake Jamieson Topps Project 70 card.

If you like Matt's artwork check him out on his other social media accounts.

Website mattstewartillustrations.com

Twitter @Archaeomatt

More Card Art

Yesterday I showed off a Blake Jamieson CardArt of the famous swag card.  Today I am following up on that with some more swag artworks in recognizing Blake's Project 70 card still available from Topps.com

The artist today is Daniel Kearsey who I discovered on Twitter.  His website is www.sixtyfirststreet.com and he offers really nice computer generated artworks printed and placed in a custom case.

Daniel used the famous image of Cutch and put it on a 1986 Topps design (Cutch's birth year).

The back features a signature and serial numbering to only 20 copies.  It also features some basic stats and Daniel's social media accounts.

So if you like the Cutch swag card head over to Daniel's website or Topps.com and grab yourself a copy.

Blake Delivers a Gem

Project 70 is an art project collector set that Topps is doing this year based on last year's success with Topps Project 2020.  This year the artists will all be doing their take on players of their choice to all 70 years of Topps Baseball cards.

Card number 10 which was made available on Topps.com is none other than Andrew McCutchen and it is drawn by Blake Jamieson.

Blake was one of the most popular artists on Project 2020 because of his super fan friendly personality and constant interaction with fans and artists alike.

I have a few Blake Jamieson splatter cards in my collection already, but the coolest one is this 2020 Topps Series 2 Photo Variant.

Blake offered it up for sale in September and I snatched it up immediately.  It features spray paint on the front of the card along with a gem 💎 stencil.  A beautiful blue paint pen auto is on card and it was encased in one of Blake's signature tamper proof foil stickers atop.

A certificate of authenticy was place with the card.

Will you be buying any of the Project 70 cards?  I already got the Mookie by Ben Baller and Fernando Tatis by Ermsy.

Not sure how many of these Cutch cards I'll grab. I'm thinking 10?

Golden Age of Parallels and Retro Designs

If you like vintage themed baseball cards, you're in luck.

Even before Topps Heritage became a yearly release, card companies would use modern players on retro designs.  I remember getting old issues of Tuff Stuff and inside would be retro designs of Then star players like Ken Griffey Jr and Frank Thomas.

Now there are at least 3 releases a year that focus on Flagship Topps designs.  Topps Heritage is about 50 years apart from the original design to current year.  This year Topps will be utilizing the 1972 design for the 2021 release.  

Topps has also be using a 35th anniversary since 2018 as an insert set in their main flagship release.  This year features the 1986 design.

Topps also releases their Archives brand that shows off 3-4 designs for active and retired players.   

Topps is celebrating their 70th anniversary this year and they have an insert set in Series 1 showing players on older designs.  One of my goals is to get Andrew McCutchen on a baseball card design from 1952 to his retirement.  

Topps has goofed this up for me by not including him in the 2020 Archives release and "doubling up" on older designs.

With Cutch being part of the 70 years of Topps Baseball insert and being shown on the 1955 design, I am one step closer to completing that goal.  You can revisit a post I made in 2017 about Cutch being on older designs from the 80s here.

Like everything Topps produces, there are parallels to chase too.  Below you will see the 5x7 Gold parallel numbered to only 10 copies.

I received this 5x7 before receiving the standard size card.

The back just discusses the original design and release information.

Above is the 5x7 pictured in scale with a standard trading card to give the magnitude of how big it is.

Do you like any large format cards?

Have you tried collecting a single player on other designs that weren't from their playing career days?

I am the Thanos of CollectingCutch

Remember when sports cards exploded shortly after The Last Dance during the initial month of COVID?  Something similar is going on in the nonsports card world with Marvel themed sets.  Sealed boxes of Series 1 from the early 90s used to be sold for $20 at flea markets as recent as last year.  Now, some of them are selling for $500+.  It is mind blowing what is going on with trading cards these days.  I only kept my Gambit, Daredevil, and Iron Fist themed cards from my nonsports collecting days.  I wish I kept more.

I'm sure some of my loyal readers have watched the Marvel Cinematic Universe and understand what it's like to put together the Infinity Stones.

Well, I am attempting a similar such feat.  For those that don't know, in the Marvel Universe there exists 6 gems that can control the universe.  These are the Mind, Power, Reality, Soul, Space, and Time stones.  

The 2015 Bowman Best release has only 1 more 1/1 that I am searching for and if I get it, I might hold all the power in the Collecting Cutch universe.  

Below is a scan of the card I am seeking.

I captured it from Worthpoint years ago and hasn't resurfaced since it was initially sold on eBay shortly after release.

It would go nicely with these other printing plate 1/1s

As you can see I have already captured all 4 of the printing plates.

I have also gotten 2 1/1 buyback autographs from 2018 Archives Active Player Signatures.  They can be seen below as the refractor and base.

So if you ever see the 2015 Bowman Best Superfractor surface, please make me aware of it.  I promise if I get it, I won't snap away half of existence.

This Card is Frame-ous, episode 1

I have been fortunate over the years of collecting my favorite athlete that Topps has produced some really nice metal framed cards.  

The first of these appeared in 2014 as an insert set available in Topps Series 2.  They were made to look like the original designs from Topps Gold Label 2000, but were limited to only 99 copies and had a gold metal frame around the card.  

They were EXTREMELY difficult to pull and landed on average 1 per case and the checklist consisted of 25 players (current and retired). 

Andrew McCutchen was coming off his MVP season and the Pittsburgh Pirates future looked extremely bright.  

The images on the front of this card were also used for other 2014 cards, but the combination of the sliding catch and the batting pose really look quite dynamic together.  You can tell that Cutch is at his Gold Glove defense level and is getting ready to run out a double in the gap. 

The back captures the original look of the 2000 Gold Label set and has the Class 1 designation.  (There were no other classes produced).  

If you're interested in seeing who else was part of the 25 player insert set, visit here.

I think that the success of this insert ultimately lead to the reintroduction of Gold Label as a yearly product.  

The product is produced now using traditional card stock with holofoil designs and the Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 rarities along with a few color parallels (black, blue, red) per class.  

The current production of Topps Gold Label uses frames for their autograph cards, which come on average 1 per box.  

Would you be interested in seeing framed cards once a month on a Friday? 

Do you have any metal framed cards?

Cheating on my goals?

Last week I showed off a COMC mailday featuring some of my Pirates uniform cards I acquired in 2021 of Cutch.  I set a goal to acquire 50 new Cutch cards from his Pirates playing days (2005-2017) this year.  I wasn't going to count the COMC cards purchased as going towards the goal because I had technically bought all those cards last year, but it was COMCs slow processing that forced the cards to arrive several months after being ordered.  I never logged these cards into my spreadsheet and obviously didn't have a physical copy in hand to cross reference.

Above is just a sampling of some of the cards I got in that COMC package.

Getting 50 new Cutch Pirates cards this year is the goal.

That is basically 1 new card a week all year long.  

It doesn't sound like a lot to add 50 new cards of 1 player in a year, but keep in mind I have over 2,300 unique cards of Cutch in a Pirates uniform already.

Now before I get into today's post, I want to share with you some comments made on that COMC purchase post.

Both Chris and Brett Alan stated (and I will paraphrase) they believe a card produced in 2018 with a team designation of Pittsburgh should count as a Pirates playing days card because at the time of production of the product, Cutch was a member of the Pirates.  

I think with this interpretation, I should count my 2018 Donruss 1984 retro Artist Proof /10 card as a Pirates playing days card acquired in 2021.

The problem is that I already stated I'm not going to count any of those COMC cards delivered this year towards my total because they were purchased in 2020.

Well...as luck (or rather the lack of organization) would have it I can say that I acquired a 2018 Donruss 1984 retro Artist Proof in 2021.

This is may look very similar to the card I already showed in my COMC purchase 

And you would be correct

I got a 2nd copy (by accident) for a ridiculously cheap price.

I won it for under $2, which is a great price for a card limited to only 10 copies.

By my processing despite what others are suggesting, I don't know if I can qualify this as part of my Pirates playing days card goal.

He has a few releases in 2018 (and beyond) that feature him in a Pirates uniform, but I am only looking to add cards of Cutch from 2005-2017 in a Pirates uniform or Pittsburgh noted city affiliate. 

So is this cheating?

Should I count all cards I get in 2021 of Cutch in a Pirates uniform towards my 50 card goal?

If so, I could probably get half of that with just crossing off the 2020 Topps Update cards I need as he appeared in an insert card (with many parallels), a base card (with many more parallels), a retail exclusive Chrome card (with many parallels), and a Topps Update Chrome Sapphire (with more parallels).

I recently added the blue border Decades Best insert from 2020 Topps Update to my collection.

I also added a 2020 Topps Update Chrome Gold /50 and a 2020 Topps Update Walgreens Yellow Foil to the collection.

Both feature him in a Pirates uniform, but Cutch played the entire 2020 season with the Philadelphia Phillies. 

This post contains quite a few Cutch cards in a Pirates uniform that I received in 2021, but ZERO of which I think should count towards my 50 card goal because the product wasn't released during his Pirates playing years. 

Stars aligned

As I mentioned last week I have a bunch of Cutch autographs sitting in a box that I never entered into my spreadsheet.  

Below is a pair of them.  

The odd thing about these booklets is the different relic types used and the window for the relic.  The jumbo camo jersey has a window that says Cutch 22, while the jumbo bat relic doesn't have any phrase.

The set number and card number are identical as well.

Did Panini make different booklets for each serial number?

Only time will tell if any others pop up for sale that I can,compare the numbers on. 

I F'd Up

Yesterday's post was loaded with errors.  

I am ashamed and actually laughed aloud at some of my stupid mistakes. 

Thank you all for pointing out the errors!

U.S. History is not one of my strengths.

I F'd Up.  Plain and simple

Here is a partial scan of one of my more unique cards to show how embarrassing it is to F*** up.

It is a 1/1 Game worn jersey logo patch from Hits Memorabilia Royalty release.  I showed it off last year when discussing Florida reopening many tourist attractions as the Coronavirus Pandemic was destroying the economy in the state. 

Unfortunately the card I am using to emphasize the letter F also has an error on it.

If you recognize the FL logo as being a sleeve patch from the Florida Grapefruit League, you are correct.  Grapefruit League games are played beginning in February and end in March.  Therefore it isn't possible that a Florida Spring Training patch would be worn on April 29th, 2016.

The card like my history knowledge is FLawed.

President's Day

Happy 3rd Monday in February everyone!!!!

Today our country is celebrating President's Day, which means that many people got a three day weekend.

Not me though.

The reason there is a President's day is because it falls in between Abraham Lincoln and George Washington's birthdays and they are often heralded as two of our country's greatest presidents.

Oddly enough when I think about these deceased presidents, I think of the Draft Kings commercial that depicted Abraham Lincoln and George Washington in more modern times.  

I want to keep this post free of politics and free of sports betting propaganda.

So in honor of President's Day, I thought I could show off some cards of Cutch that depict a former President.

Here are all my coin cards of Cutch

Let's begin with our 1st President, George Washington

This card should look familiar as I showed it off yesterday.  Nothing further needs to be said of it.

Thomas Jefferson was the 3rd United States President. He was also the country's 2nd Vice President.

Topps Heritage has been producing coin cards in their products almost since the product began being released.  Contained in this 2018 Heritage card is a 1969 nickel. 

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th US President

Lincoln is famous for abolishing slavery during the Civil War and being the first President to be assassinated.  This Gypsy Queen mini 1/1 was purchased from a fellow McCutchen collector.

Moving on is a card that appears similar to the first card depicted in this post.

Lincoln has been turned into a pop culture phenom with films like Lincoln in 2012, which won some Accademy Awards for Daniel Day-Lewis' portrayal.  That same year the film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was released.  It should have also won some awards.

Note: Franklin Roosevelt is on the dime, but for some very odd reason I thought it was Alexander Hamilton, which makes no sense whatsoever....

And to wrap up is a coin card featuring the only active person on a coin that was never a President, Alexander Hamilton

Hamilton served as part of the US Treasury under 1st President, George Washington.  He is a founding father of the United States and has been turned into a Broadway play.

For those that were off today, I hope you all enjoyed the day. 

Anyone know why these Presidents are depicted on the coins they represent?