You Don't Mess With The Zoltan

There is only one more day left in October after today's post.  Each year during the month of October, I show off only pink (and shades of pink like magenta, peach, etc) to help raise awareness of Breast Cancer, a leading cause of death for females in the United States.  For each (meaningful, non spam) comment left by those that follow the blog I donate a dollar to hopefully help at least one woman get a much needed mammogram (max $400).  Early detection is key!!!

If you want to make your own private donation please visit the National Breast Cancer Foundation.  There is a donate button on the main page and it only takes a minute of your time.  Every little bit helps.

I have focused primarily on cards that only feature Andrew McCutchen on the card, but in recent years have also featured cards with a cameo appearance (either being seen on the card or as a name cameo on the back of the card).  Last year I created Falco Files which discussed players that replaced (Shane Falco Replacements movie reference) on an active roster, number worn, or trade.  I will continue to utilize these styles of posts as we celebrate the 4th Collecting Cutch Save Second Base event (I am no longer counting my first run on the Pirates Treasure Room I did back in 2014.)

Today's focus is another favorite of mine

As Night Owl alluded to yesterday Emmanuelle Chriqui is in fact a Dodgers fan and has thrown out a first pitch (and looked amazing in that tank top, jeans, and Dodgers hat while doing it)

Dodgers fans celebrate!!!!!  

You just won the 2020 World Series!!!!

She is probably most known for her role on Entourage.

However, I first noticed her in the Nickelodeon movie, Snow Day

She plays the role of the cliche "hot girl at school" that just broke up with her boyfriend and is now available.

That same year she appeared in a movie called 100 Girls about a guy trying to figure out who he made out with during a blackout.

I can't believe both those movies are 20 years old now.  The movies are almost legal age to drink.

Then I became aware of her in the film Detroit Rock City where she plays a disco loving diva who is described by her best friend with "tits so big you'll feel like a baby sucking them" that gets chained to the side of a highway as her male friends are painted up in the rock band Kiss imagery.

She showed off her amazing body in the show Men at Work

And also showed some of her comedic personality too.

She starred in the Adam Sandler comedy Don't Mess With the Zohan

That contained some baseballesque scenes

That are worthy of slow motion and rewind

From Zohan to Zoltan...

In 2012 the Steel City adopted the symbol of Zoltan for their celebrations.

It is rumored that Neil Walker and Rod Barajas created the rally cry.  

Cutch even had a few cards that feature the Zoltan celebration symbol on it.

Emmanuelle was born in 1975 which is the design used for this 2011 Lineage throwback.

I have a few variations of this card, but this one is the plain white jersey relic.

Sometimes a plain white material looks good.

Winner of the Lou Brock card will be announced as part of my recap on Sunday.

Zoinks!

Please remember that all month long for October I am running multiple contests for some great prizes.

In addition I will be making a donation based on the number of comments left by my readers.  Comments made by myself are excluded.  So far we have raised only $47 after just over a week.  My goal is to get to $150 so we can have enough money for at least one woman to get a free mammogram.  It is going to be close.

Keep those comments coming.

Remember that 1 in 8 women will be,detected with breast cancer in their lifetime.  Think about 8 family members or coworkers or friends and picture one of them contacting this terrible disease.  We CAN make a difference.

Donate today!

I have most of the month mapped out with the cards I will be using this year.  Feel free to offer suggestions for who you may want to include.  Be aware though that if the person is just an Instagram THOT (look it up if you don't know what that means) I likely will not include them.

It's a lazy Saturday today and as a kid one of my favorite things to do as a kid was watch Saturday morning cartoons.  Let's look at who is getting the spotlight today and see if I can make another pink card connection...

Linda Cardellini

She has played a childhood favorite character of mine and

I first became aware of Linda on the 90s TV show Freaks and Geeks.  Her girl next door look was incredibly attractive.

She would then go on to star as Velma in the pair of live action Scooby Doo movies.

She is currently starring in the Netflix series Dead To Me.

She also went on to appear in Mad Men as well, although she wasn't quite as appealing as I remembered.  It was probably that vintage style hair cut that did nothing for me.

I prefer her as Velma though.   Maybe because I like tv shows based on the 1970s instead of 1930s. 

Speaking of the 70s...

Linda was born in 1975.

And is there any better set of the 70s than 1975?

The design can look like pink lemonade when it was used as a mini design for 2011 Lineage.

That two tone border is glorious tho.

The 70s gave us one of the greatest card designs ever.

It also gave us one of the greatest cartoon franchises in Scooby Doo.

Which Scooby Doo female character do you like more?

Let's go to my favorite cosplayer, Angie Griffin (who I showed off last year)

 Daphne -OR-

Velma

Much like given the choice of Linda or Sarah (Michelle Gellar)...I'm going with Velma.

Velma gif below is provided by Jess Nigri

Classic Cutch

Yesterday's post was very dark and pessimistic.  In all my years of being a Pirates fan in the Huntington era I always wanted to trust the process and believe in Neal.

I am still not sure what will happen come the last day of July, but announcer Joe Block reminded us fans yesterday that as recent as 2014, the Pirates had a sub .500 record of 7 games on this same date that year.  They would go on to have the 4th best record in the senior circuit and gain home field advantage for the Wild Card game.  Unfortunately, that was the year of Bumgarner's post season heroics and he would throw a complete game shutout.

I watched the Pirates game last night and came away with these three things.
1)Gerrit Cole is a freak and very under rated pitcher.  He could bring back a massive haul if traded.
2)Adam Frazier is a great leadoff hitter for this club and should find some way to be in the lineup every day.
3)Cutch looked like classic Cutch out there as he batted 2 for 4 with 2 RBI and 2 stolen bases.  His 2 outs were hard hits at 'em balls to third base and centerfield.  The hot shot to third looked like it could have been a double play off the bat, but Cutch was hustling down the line like he used to so he wouldn't get doubled up.  The last time Cutch stole 2 bags in the same game...2014.

Cutch has always been a slow starter each year.
Once the weather warms up though, WATCH OUT!

Could last night's game have triggered a hot streak for the Pirates?

Will Cutch return to MVP form now that the weather is warming up?

Tune in today
Saaaaaaaame Bat Channel (ROOT sports)

Neeeeeeew Bat Time (12:35pm)

Today I wanted to show off an older bat relic in my collection while making a reference to the 66 Batman.  I don't have many bat relics of Cutch, certainly none that tie into a 1966 Batman theme.  The 1975 mini from 2011 Lineage was the closest I could get.

Topps hasn't produced many bat relics over the years, but Panini certainly has.  Cutch has had bat relics in National Treasures, Diamond Kings, and Donruss releases in the past two years.

I am starting to branch out my super collection of Cutch to include HomeRun tickets.
Here's one from 6 years ago today.
It was Cutch's career HR #36.  It also happens to be a Charlie Morton complete game victory.

Currently these are the tickets I have of significant Cutch moments.

June 4, 2009 MLB Debut
August 1, 2009 3 HR Game vs Nationals (HRs 4,5,6)
April 17, 2011 HR @ Cincy (career #31)
April 29, 2011 HR @ Rockies (career #32)
April 30, 2011 HR @ Rockies (career #33)
May 18, 2011 HR @ Cincy (career #36)
Aug 29, 2011 HR @ Houston (career #47)

If anyone comes across McCutchen HR ticket stubs and wants to trade them to me, I am open to offers.