Silver and Gold

I am trying to get into the Christmas spirit so in tribute to the Burl Ives song Silver and Gold from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer here are a pair of parallels from 2007 Just Minors Triple Autos.

The cards were not pack inserted, but have been slabbed by Beckett Grading Services. 

They feature sticker autos of Andrew McCutchen, Daniel Moskos, and Steve Pearce. 

The gold is limited to 10 copies and the silver is limited to 25 copies (mine is jersey numbered 22/25).

I may show off some more silver and gold parallels in the future.

What is your favorite claymation movie?

Joe Maddon, the Mad Scientist pt2

On Sunday Night, Joe Maddon had his Chicago Cubs team arrive in Houston wearing throwback basketball uniforms.  Since it's (Throwback) Thursday and the NBA Finals will kick off let's review what was worn.

We begin with Jon Lester sporting a Penny Hardaway pinstripe jersey and the old school Penny sneakers.

This may have been my personal favorite of the bunch considering that Penny was one of my three favorite basketball players growing up.  The others being Reggie Miller and Tim Hardaway.

I just showed off my Lester autograph last week when I questioned the impact prospects have on our hobby.

This wins best original concept award.  Cole Hamels as Jackie Moon sporting a Flint Tropics jersey made famous by Will Ferrell.  FANTASTIC CHOICE MR. HAMELS!

Here is another Just Minors dual signature card I have of Cutch, this time featuring Cole Hamels.

Also a printing plate featuring McCutchen and Hamels

Since it is Chicago, what kind of team would the Cubs be if they didn't support an All-Time Great and Chicago Bulls Legend, Michael Jordan?  Jason Heyward stepped up to the plate and he looks like he could actually ball.

Yet, another Just Minors dual auto card.

But wait, there's more...
Cutch, Heyward, another Maddon favorite, David Price

A dual History of Game card

And a printing plate from Just Minors

And a sexta jersey booklet

Want more basketball jerseys?  How about Albert Amora and Anthony Rizzo both sporting recently retired Dwayne Wade Miami Vice jerseys.

Plenty of Rizzo cards to go around which I've already shown off here.

And to wrap things up, the greatest act of all.  El Mago, the Magician Javy Baez, doing his checkups as the Doctor, Julius Erving.

And we finish with a sexta autograph booklet featuring autographs of Anthony Rendon, Javy Baez, Josh Bell, Ryan Zimmerman, Starlin Castro, and of course Cutch.

Who are you rooting for in the NBA Finals?

With the first pick of the NFL Draft...

There is speculation that the Arizona Cardinals may use the first overall pick to select former 1st Round Baseball prospect, Kyler Murray.  Kyler was selected 9th overall in the 2018 MLB Draft.  Unlike most other sports where the draft picks can make immediate impacts on their teams, baseball is a slower process.

It is because of that process that Murray ultimately chose to try his luck in football.

Another player who was drafted 9th overall was Bill Rowell in the 2006 draft.  Rowell looked like he would ascend through the minors tearing up the rookie league as a 17 year old batting .328/.415/.503 for an incredible and impressive .918 OPS.  The following year as an 18 year old he continued his success batting at a .273 clip.  When he approached A+ as a 19 year old he began to falter and was out of baseball by the time he was a 22 year old repeating the Gulf Coast League and AA.

Javy Baez has been the most recent success story to be selected 9th overall, but there is still hopes that Austin Meadows and Ian Happ could contribute long careers from that draft selection.

The all time top five WAR leaders to have been selected 9th overall are Kevin Appier  (54.7), Barry Zito (32.0), Geoff Jenkins (21.7), Mark Kotsay (21.3), and John Danks (20.2).

The position players listed above had a career earnings of roughly $48M with an average of a 15 year career and 3 years in the minors.  It is likely that if Murray gets selected 1st overall, he could top those earnings on his rookie contract.

Baseball contracts are guaranteed.
Football contracts are not.

Both sports require extreme levels of athleticism and commitments from the athletes involved. 

The draft ultimately comes down to scouting, player drive, and health.  For every Peyton Manning selected 1st Overall there is a Ryan Leaf.  The same can be said that for every Javier Baez selected 9th overall there is a Billy Rowell.

One thing that can't be said after this week is that for every Kyler Murray in baseball there is a Kyler Murray in football.  Some of the most famous two sport athletes before had never been drafted in 1st Round of multiple leagues.  Bo Jackson and John Elway, both famous for their football feats were selected in the second rounds of the MLB drafts by the New York Yankees.  Both players used their two sport capabilities to get drafted in football else where.  Jackson didn't want to play for the Bucaneers so he reentered the baseball and football drafts.  Elway didn't want to play for the Baltimore Colts and demanded a trade or else he would play for the Yankees.

Jackson would again be drafted in the forth round by the Royals a few years later after his success at Auburn.

Do you think Murray goes in the 1st Round of Thursday's draft?

Some TriStar parallels

I am having so much fun going back through and looking at all the cards I have in my collection as I am begining to sort and scan and eventually upload to my site.

I completely forgot how many base cards 2005 Topps Update cards I had of Cutch including 4 Golds!

Among all the Bowman Heritage and Topps cards I came across a few TriStar minor league cards.

Cutch was never one of the big hobby names while in the minors despite getting ranked as high as #13 on Baseball America's Top Prospect lists prior to 2007.  While in the minors "prospecters" were going crazy for Brandon Wood, Andy LaRoche, Justin Upton, Travis Snider, and Jay Bruce.  Guys like Cutch and Kershaw were largely ignored.

Back in the mid 2000s the Bowman prospecting craze with 18 different color parallels hadn't started yet.  There was no such thing as a bubble refractor or carbon fiber refractor 1st year Bowman card.

There was a draft pick card in Update, some Bowman Heritage draft pick cards, one Bowman card with only 4 different parallels,  Just Minor, and TriStar products.

More competition and less products.  What a simpler time it was....

I found two TriStar cards I own of Cutch while a member of the A ball affiliate Hickory Crawdads (more on them tomorrow).  They include the green parallel to 50 copies and the base.

I also own a trio of TriStar cards from his days with the Altoona Curve.

These include the Green (/25), Reflective (Foil Refractor not numbered), and base.

These make some pretty unique minor league cards of the player actually wearing their minor league uniform.   I always prefer minor league cards to airbrushed affiliate cards for players who haven't made their debut.

To put into perspective, Charlie Hayes' son Ke'Bryan Hayes, has reached AA Altoona Curve and currently has 409 different cards including 1/1s.  That is a little bit crazy....just a little.

The Learning Curve

I was so happy to read everyone's response and comments about my two most recent posts.  It helped solidify that I am doing the right thing.

There will be a learning curve as I begin to invest my heart and posts into God more on Sundays going forward, but I think the content will be better than just the show and tells I have mostly done since creating the blog.

This Wednesday I will be attending the AA Eastern League All-Star Game in Trenton, NJ.  I am looking forward to it and all the festivities that will be available to enjoy before the game.  Bernie Williams will be playing the National Anthem on his guitar and there is a meet and greet with the All-Stars before the game.  There are a pair of Hall of Famers whose sons were selected as All-Stars (Biggio and Guerrero). 

Cutch made it to AA before turning 20 years old.  This caused him to get ranked 13th best prospect in baseball entering the 2007 season. 

He wasn't selected as an All-Star while in AA because his time was too short there.  If he were selected he would have represented the Altoona Curve. 

I have shown off a few of my minor league cards of Cutch before.

These Are Not The Indians You Seek

As is my customary Wednesday function, I am going to the movies for a $6 matinee.  I might finally see Star Wars, hence the reference in title.

On a completely unrelated note, I am a bit disappointed to hear that Chief Wahoo will no longer be appearing on the Cleveland Indians in future years.  Not that I want to support a politically incorrect baseball cap, but Major League is one of the greatest baseball movies of all time and Chief Wahoo and Wild Thing go together so well.

I wonder if this will ultimately lead to teams changing their names too.  One other not as recognized team called the Indians is the Pirates AAA team who hail from Indianapolis.

The team was formed in 1902 and has served as the farm system for the Expos, Brewers, Reds, Pirates, White Sox, Phillies, Braves (Boston) and of course Indians.  The Pirates have held the rights to the club since 2005 and it was in 2009 that the team saw it's most prized prospect get promoted to the majors.

There's not a lot of Cutch cards with the Indians as he was there for only about 200 games.  Many criticize the Pirates for not promoting him until 2009 after he put up a triple slash line of .283./.372/.398 in 2008 as a 21 year old.  He also would go on to steal over 30 bags that season in AAA.

The reality that many forget is that the Pirates had an All-star centerfielder named Nate McLouth who was posting a .276/.356/.478 line while playing gold glove defense.  The next year Nate would be traded for Charlie Morton, Jeff Locke, and Gorkys Hernandez to make a spot available for Cutch.

Andrew sometimes gets credited as being Daniel McCutchen, the losing pitcher of the Jerry Meals July 26th 2011 game.

I believe that I may have shown the ones above off already, but here is the only other Cutch card I have with the Indians.

How do you all feel about Chief Wahoo being removed?
Do you think other Indians logos and maybe even names will be changed?

Memento starring that other (guy) Pearce

Have any of you watched the movie Memento starring Guy Pearce and Carrie Ann Moss?

I love that movie, but I feel that it is a movie you can't watch too often.  For instance the last time I saw it was probably about 7 or so years ago.

If you haven't seen it I highly encourage you to check it out.  It's a thriller which stars a man who can't make any new memories.  He uses Polaroids to try to piece together things that have happened in his life.

I began thinking about the movie when I got my latest Cutch card in hand the other day.

Why, you ask?

Well because it had a Steve Pearce autograph on it.  I bought the card fairly cheap for a Cutch autograph (under $20) and it was a card I didn't have so I felt inclined to add it to the collection.

The problem is like all Just Minors autographs there is no information about the players on the card.

Steve Pearce, I thought.

I remember him.

How?

The memories of a first basemen of the future began to surface through my brain as I remembered reading all about this prospect that rose 3 minor league levels in a single season and had 25+ HR pop with a strong hit tool that could cause him to be a .300 hitter.

In 2008 he was ranked the Pirates third best prospect below Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker.

Look at how he ranked for individual grades though.
Best hitter for average, best power hitter, and best strike zone discipline.  Those 3 tools should keep a first baseman in the majors for a very productive career.

But what happened to him?

Did we trade him before he reached his potential like we did with Jose Bautista?

No!  Delwyn Young happened.

Steve Pearce was finally healthy at the major league level and hitting really well (by 2010 Pirates standards) when DY through a ball so far away from the 1B bag that Pearce got injured trying to stop the throw from going into the visitor bleachers.  His bat never returned to be the same as he made adjustments to try and battle through more injuries over his career.

Steve Pearce like Guy Pearce in Memento probably goes through life now recollecting everything and trying to piece together what went wrong.  After 3 stints with the Orioles, 2 times with the Yankees, and many seasons of taking the bus from Indy to Pittsburgh, Steve caught on with Toronto last year and became the FIRST PLAYER in MLB history to hit 2 Walkoff Grand Slams in the same week.

Trouble with the Curve?

Congratulations to the Pirates AA team, Altoona Curve on their Eastern League Championship.  Top prospect Mitch Keller dominated the playoffs.

I wasn't able to see any of the playoffs games this year, but vividly remember the Curve winning the Championship in 2010.  I was in Trenton when they won the Championship lead by efforts of Justin Wilson, Rudy Owens, Josh Harrison, Chase d'Arnaud, and Andrew Lambo.

The young group of men playing for the Curve look like future big leaguers and should make the Pirates position depth very good beginning as early as next year and beyond.

Of all the players on the team I am pulling for the most is former 1st Round Pick, Cole Tucker.  If anyone has some Tucker cards they wouldn't mind giving up, I will happily take them off your hands.

I love to chase down early Cutch minor league cards.  I have quite a few and would like to add some more.

Above are all my Andrew McCutchen cards in an Altoona Curve outfit.

Here are a few of the Curve Stadium Give away figures and bobbleheads I have gotten over the years.

Out of this World Bobblehead

MVP bobblehead

OYO figure

There is one more Cutch Curve bobblehead that I need in a standard batting pose.

Here's a few others I have though

Tony "Elementary" Watson bobblehead

Starling "Martay Partay" bobblehead

The Shark Tank Bullpen (Hughes, Watson, Wilson)

The Curve's marketing department has really upped their game in terms of SGAs over the past few seasons.  Other notable figures include a Gerrit Cole Garden Gnome (on my desk at work)
Along with these that I don't own
 Jordy Mercer "Lloyd Christmas"
Jameson get your "Suit and Taillon"
Josh "Need more cow-" Bell
Gregory "El Coffee Barista" Polanco

All 125 Unique Cutch Autos in my Collection

Today is a wonderful day!!!

I've been driving a rental car for almost a month as I have been having extensive work done on my car.  Today I get my car back and am really looking forward to it.

To celebrate my auto coming home, I thought I would showcase all my Cutch autos.

Yup!!!!

All of them.
I have a few more hopefully on the way and maybe I can even work out a trade to acquire another that I need.

First up the 1/1 Printing Plates

Now to show them off by year begining with the most expensive autograph in the collection.

"2004"
This beautiful BGS graded 9.5 with 10 auto is extremely tough to find as it was a redemption program card.  The card technically wasn't produced until 2006, but is classified as a 2004 Bowman Chrome Aflac All American card.  The card is numbered to only 125 copies, but it's believed that not all 125 were redeemed.

2005
2005 was the year that Cutch was drafted and because of that he has several different autographs in Topps Chrome, Bowman Sterling, and Bowman Heritage.  Pictured on the Chrome side are a Base, Refractor, Black (/200), and Red XFractor (/25) along with a Cyan Printing Plate (1/1).  The Bowman Sterlings are again sticker autographs and also included are two jersey swatches.  The Black Refractor case is severely damaged but the card appears to be fine.  It'snumbered /25 copies.

Bowman Heritage offered the first On Card Autographs of Cutch in a Pirates uniform.  The Red Ink is hand numbered to 51 copies to celebrate the Bowman 51 release.

Amongst my other 2005 autographs are 5 Just Minors cards including a pair of Gio Gonzalez (/25 and /10 respectively), Cole Hamels (/25), Michael Bourn/Chris Nelson Triple (/3) and a base solo (/200). I also have a PSA authentic with Luke 14:11 inscription.

2006
2006 included a lot of buyback autographs along with some Just Minors autos.  The Stubbs Triple is /5 and the Andrew Miller is /2.

2007
A lil bit of Bowman and A LOT of Just Minors stickers autos.  The Golds are /10, Silvers /25, and Triple Black /5.

2008
Only Just Minors released autographs of Cutch in 08.  Silver Heyward /25, Triple Gold /10, and Triple Black /5.

2009
Cutch would make his MLB Debut this year.  By far my favorite of the group is the Go Bucs 22 inscription.  I believe it may be an unofficial 1/1 inscription.

2010
I have built many rainbows for 2010, but haven't completed any yet.  The Triple Threads and Bowman Platinum rainbows are awesome looking despite not being complete.  This would be the first Cutch booklet autos too (both /10 or less).

2011
This is a year that Cutch began being recognized as an elite talent.  He would be selected to his first All-Star game and appear in many releases with certified autographs.

I can not get the blue ink on the Marquee Frame auto to scan well.  It's a stunning signature though.  The Canary Lineage is /10 and the Gypsy Queen Auto/Relic is /25.

2012
This was the year that Cutch signed for many many different releases.  It also saw a sticker dump from Upper Deck.  Among some of the dual autographs to appear with Cutch this year would be Ralph Kiner, Gerrit Cole, Jay Bruce, George Springer, and Alex Presley.  This year also released the hexabook which I showed earlier this year.

2013
The National League MVP began getting fewer and fewer autographs in releases in 2013.  Arguably one of the game's top 5 tool talents he appeared in less than a handful releases with certified autographs in 2013.

2014
There weren't many options for Cutch autos in 2014.  Elite offered a few color parallels and Topps used some sticker autographs on previously released cards including the Photo Variant Zoltan sign (/5) and Power Players (/25).

2015
2015 saw even fewer autographs of Cutch hit the market.  Allen & Ginter booklets and All-Star Patch sticker autographs were the only releases.

2016
Were it not for National Treasures, Cutch would have had no new certified autographs in 2016.  Numbered to only 5 copies these booklets with sticker autographs were the only offerings.

2017
There have been a few Hits Memorabilia 1/1 autos released this year and I have one en route.  Immaculate just released a few autographs as well for 2017.  Is it possible we see more autographs from Topps soon?  I hope so.


So there they are all 125 unique Cutch autos in my collection.
Over half of them are numbered /50 and nearly 50% are numbered to /25 or less.