Is it Christmas yet?

When I was younger my aunt in California would call us every Christmas Eve and ask "is it Christmas yet?"  This was usually late (8pm or so) and usually lead to the ultimate traditions of setting milk and cookies for Santa, ensuring the stockings were hung, leaving an apple and carrot outside for the reindeer, etc.

I don't have much interaction with my aunt anymore, but every year that it gets closer to Christmas I think of those old phone calls.  

This month I have been showing off some red and green cards and I have a few pairings that could knock your Christmas stockings off.

I want to show off these cards today because they remind me of a funny gift that I received one Christmas from an uncle who has spent his entire life collecting.

Back in the mid 2000s (2003-2005ish?) I was really into the toys from my childhood, specifically Thundercats.  Well, my uncle literally made me cry one year....from laughing at the zany gift he gave me.  

You may recall that I gave up on baseball because of the 1994 strike and that I hadn't attended a baseball game again until 2005.  I told my uncle that I wanted to get back into baseball again, but was so confused with all the card manufacturers and different parallels that were being made at that time.  Boy do those 2005 parallels seem simple compared to,what Topps and Panini are doing now. 

Well on Christmas day 2005 I got a small box with tissue paper and inside was a baseball with a "Lion-O" signature.  Yes, my uncle wrote Lion-O (leader of the 80s cartoon Thundercats) and drew a small paw print on the sweet spot.  Somewhere I think I still have that ball and when I eventually unbox everything from the move, I am sure I will find it again.  Hopefully the signature didn't fade from being in a box for 15 years. 

Card manufacturers have attenpted to make baseballs part of their releases from time to time, the most famous being Sweet Spot signatures. 

Panini used that concept for their 2020 Absolute Baseball product and Cutch was one of the featured signatures.

There were 3 parallels to chase

1/1 Red & Blue stitching

/6 Red

/5 Green

I missed out on the 1/1, but was able to grab both the red and green last year.

I guess it makes sense that the green stitches baseball (/5) would be lower numbered than the red (/6) as I have never seen a baseball with green stitches.

These cards look and feel very much like the Upper Deck Sweet Spot autographs. I have seen many horror stories of those cards fading over time.

What suggestions do you have for displaying the cards while preventing the signature from fading over time?

What are you looking forward to most for Christmas?

Do you have any baseball Christmas memories?

My favorite 20 in 2020

They say hindsight is 20/20 and all I can say is I am so glad 2020 is in the rearview.

I thought it would be fun to look back at my favorite 20 cards released of Cutch in 2020.  

Now let me first state that it's a little disappointing that Cutch wasn't included in sets like Topps Chrome (and the Ben Baller variant), Allen & Ginter (Allen & Ginter X and Allen & Ginter Chrome were exclusions also), Gypsy Queen, and Topps Archives, along with every Bowman product.

These were all upsetting exclusions for different reasons.  

Topps Chrome is king of licensed Chrome parallels.

Allen & Ginter is my favorite release each year and I really wanted to see a Chrome version.

Gypsy Queen has been stale the past few years, but including Nick Williams over Cutch as part of the Phillies team set is a headscratcher for sure.

Topps Archives is a fun retro designed inspire set and all the designs this year would have allowed me to add a bew Cutch on a vintage design....if only he was included.

So here are my favorite cards released in packs that I personally own in my collection from the year 2020.  

It should be noted that a lot of these cards have not appeared on the blog yet so you are seeing them for the first time today.

Call it biased, but Andrew McCutchen still looks best in a Pirates hat.  From the moment he made his MLB debut in 2009 he became my favorite athlete.  With the COVID shortened season, Topps had to modify their Update release since there weren't many Rookies to release in the set and there was obviously no All Star Game.  Topps promoted the Update Series by featuring recent fan favorites in their All Star Game uniforms of years past.  There was also an autograph/patch release similar to the All-Star Stitches we have seen in the past.  I have the /25 version, but that card just features a basic jersey swatch.  This /10 version has a nice chunky patch.

Did I mention I like Andrew McCutchen cards in a Pittsburgh uniform?  Well I do.  I also like autographs. And 1 of 1s.  And laundry tags.  This card covers a lot of my favorite things from a Cutch card.  Only thing missing is dreadlocks and an on card signature.

Chunky patches and autographs are pretty awesome.  They're less awesome in a Phillies jersey, but I can't complain about adding another Andrew McCutchen autograph to the PC.  

This card is cool.  The laundry tag patch says so.  The patch is colossal and it features yet another autograph.  Serially numbered to only 3 copies is fantastic!

I have a weird fascination for Topps Gold Label.  I lovethe different classes with the different images used for each class.  Often times in traditional cards of Cutch he is in a posed batting stance, not even an action shot.  I really like fielding cards of Cutch.  Gold Label Gold parallels are all numbered 1/1.  I try to get at least one of these each year. The Bret "The Hitman" Hart glasses he's wearing are a nice added touch of his on field swag.

Speaking of swag?  This card made a lot of top 10 lists for best sports card in 2020.  Do I need to talk about this anymore?

Cutch received another SSP in Series 2 featuring him tipping his cap to his wife after a Home Run, but the 2020 Update SP features him at his Phillies press conference.  There was a clear version available numbered to only 10 copies.  I took a picture instead of a scan so you can hopefully see the legs of the bobblehead behind it.  

The Topps UK release was produced with plans to only distribute it in the United Kingdom, but many of them were sold to US buyers.  The set in general is kind of boring as it just features the Union Jack under the Topps logo.  Of course there were parallels to chase, because well...it's 2020 and it's Topps. My favorite parallel is the Big Ben parallel because it brings the concept of the UK together.

2020 Stadium Club had a really nice design this year.  The base card had an image of Cutch running home, but the 2020 Stadium Club Chrome release had an action shot of Cutch diving to catch a fly ball.  Cutch has been criticized for his defense in recent years, but if you watch the games you can tell he still goes maximum effort on all plays.  There were many parallels for this set as well as my favorite is the wave refractor.  

Giant patch ✔

Limited print run ✔

Topps Museum ✔

There's a lot to like about this card

Red and Phillies go so well together so getting a 1/1 from Topps Triple Threads has been on the want list since he signed with the Phillies.  

Bryce Harper is either the most overrated or underrated player in the game depending who you ask.  Personally I think he gets a bad rap because he openly speaks his mind and in his first decade of playing in the majors hasn't broken every offensive and defensive record in the history books.  The amount of hype he got as a 16 year old is something the aport had never seen.  He may not be Mike Trout, but he is still one heck of a ballplayer and likely a future Hall of Famer.  The Cutch patch on this /9 Gold Triple Threads card is a nice touch.

Seeing Cutch back in a Pirates uniform in a 2020 release made me so happy.  I've picked up a few of the parallels and AJ sent me the base, but I'm going with the vintage logo/card stock parallel as my choice because Cutch in 2013 All-Star Game was vintage Cutch.  He won the MVP award and helped the Pirates to their first post season in 20 years.  

Red border parallels on cards with Phillies make for excellent pieces of cardboard, but that is not the reason I chose this card.  The United States was going through some rough racial times during the summer and tensions were at peak levels.  Baseball came through to properly honor the Negro Leagues and support Black Lives Matter.  Andrew McCutchen was at the forefront of it on Opening Day and on the day the MLB honored Negro Leagues by wearing patches or vintage uniforms, Cutch hit a homer.  This Topps Now card recognizes it.

1971 Topps is a gorgeous set with very tough grades.  Getting a modern player on such a classic design is something Topps Heritage has been doing for nearly two decades.  Cutch was a SP in the set.

I wasn't around in the hobby when Sweet Spot was all the rage, but Panini captured the essence of the idea with Absolute Baseball. This Cutch ink looks like it will fade in the future, but for now I am going to enjoy it as it is just one of six copies.

How nice is that patch?  1985 Topps is an awesome design.  Adding a massive patch to the card makes it pop!

This scan is terrible and I promise I will get a better scan for October when I show it off again.  It's a pink hyper plaid parallel from 2020 1986 design autograph.  Best of all it's number 2/2.

Year in and out, Cutch always gets a matching uniform swatch to the photo used on his Topps Definitive card releases.  I doubt it's intentional as many other players don't get the same treatment, but a double red pinstripe jumbo jersey relic makes my list of favorite 20 Cutch cards added to the PC in 2020.

If Topps used spell check or proof readers, they would be a really good company that produces nice cards.  The design of this 2020 Triple Threads Sapphire /3 is perfect.  The triple bats for three of the Pirates All time greatest hitters is a nice touch.  It's only blemish?  Andrew's name has a "d" in it.

So in no particular order, those are my 20 favorite 2020 Cutch cards I picked up in 2020.  

What are some of your favorite pickups of the past year?

A "Big" Addition to the PC

Sometimes I come across a card that really makes me say Wow!

Topps usually saves their "Big sick mojo grail hits" for their high end releases like Dynasty, Diamond Icons, Definitive, Triple Threads, and Museum.  

Rarely do you see large jumbo patches in their flagship releases. 

There is one exception to that though and that is Topps Update.  Topps Update usually has cards from the All-Star Game.  These traditionally feature a small swatch and the cards are called All-Star Stitches.  Occasionally you will get multiplayer relics from the All-Star Games and I have shown some of these pairings off in the past. 

But for many of the starters of the All-Star Game Topps releases big, chunky, jumbo patches and they're usually serially numbered to 6 copies or less.

I have shown off the 2011 All-Star Game jumbo patch here.  That game was Cutch's 1st All-Star Game and was played in Arizona.

In 2012 Cutch elevated his game to not only be the unanimous best player on the Pirates, but he became a top 5 player in the entire game, finishing 3rd in the NL MVP voting.  He not only played in the game and stole a base, but he also participated in the Home Run Derby.  

Look at this!

Not only does the card have a big prime patch from the National League workout jerseys, but it has a very jovial fun loving image of Cutch.  I think that Topps (and Panini) miss opportunities like this to show off the fun side of players and put them on cardboard.  

It's numbered to only 6 copies on the front of the card and clearly states what game, event, and season this relic is from.  That is something you don't see too often with Topps products these days.

I now have a jumbo patch from Topps Update for Cutch's 2011, 2012, and 2015 All Star Game appearances.  I'm still looking for a 2013 and 2014. 

Who likes buttons? BUTTON SHOW OFF POST

Who likes buttons?

I do.

I currently have 10 button cards of Cutch and scanned them in two lots.

5 are designed vertically

And 5 are designed horizontally

Sorry for the upside down scan of Marte dual button.  I didn't notice it until I had already begun this post.

The button cards range in rarity to /6 to 1/1s.

Here they are all individually.

Those Damn D'backs

The Pirates had been losing to the Diamondbacks a lot!!! Their last home victory at PNC Park dates back to 2017. Arizona already won 4 in Pittsburgh earlier this year and took the first game in Arizona this year.

Fortunately that streak came to an end last night when Josh Bell launched two home runs to seal a 6-3 victory for the Buccos.  His two homeruns traveled over 900 feet combined and his average is now up to .329.  He is looking like an early season All-Star.  It would be his first All-Star appearance if he were to get voted in.

Andrew McCutchen's first all-star appearance came in 2011, which was housed in Arizona.

This jumbo patch appears to be part of the I and O in National from Andrew's Pregame Workout Jersey

The jumbo patch is extremely limited as this one is numbered 4/6

All Star Game Thoughts

It is the 8th inning of the 2018 All Star Game and here are some things I am coming away with.

I miss seeing Cutch appear in all star games.

Charlie Morton, born in my hometown, is in line for the win. 

I still don't like the Brewers players.  Yelich loses ball in lights allowing a hit off Pirates closer Felipe Vazquez.  Then Yelich redeems himself by homering off my other PC player Charlie Morton.  National League is losing to the American League because of a Brewers pitcher giving up a 3 run homer to a former Brewers player.

It is good to see Shin Soo Choo continue his on base streak in an exhibition game.

Mannywood2.0?

Trout is a freak when on the national spotlight.


The card pictured above is my only autographed card of Cutch in an All Star uniform.  It is from 2015 Update and is numbered 5/6.  It has a massive patch containing the "L" in National. 

If Cutch doesn't appear in another ASG, his last at bat was a Homerun.