You're a teenager now!

I forgot to post these items a few days ago so here is a belated Happy Birthday for Cutch's 13th anniversary of his first HR.

This card is from 2015 Topps Tribute and features a ball used in the game for Cutch's first HR game.  

It is not the actual ball Cutch hit for his 1st HR, I believe that belongs to Cutch.

I also own the lineup card from Cutch's 1st HR

I won this in an auction a few years ago for only $100 (plus taxes and buyer's fee). 

It has been authenticated by JSA.

I also have a ticket stub from the game featuring a great image of Joe Mauer.

Target Acquired!!!!

Back in May I declared that I wanted to add more of the rare 2009 Andrew McCutchen cards to my collection as one of my main goals for the rest of the year.  You can revisit that post here.

Well, my friends...

That Target has been acquired

Quite literally actually

Before Topps started to make glossy backed vintage logo designs in hobby packs with serial numbers to 99 copies, Topps was making Throwback variants in Target exclusive Hanger boxes.  

These Target exclusive vintage "umbrella" design logo of Topps weren't numbered and had a very vintage cardboard look and feel to them, especially the backs.

These days not only can you not find packs of cards at Target, but are now associated with red parallels, made famous of course by the 2011 Topps Update Mike Trout.

Do you think Topps should make the throwbacks with the classic cardboard non glossy stock again?

I could have a quarter million dollars in inventory

It likely wasn't a 1990 Fleer Juan Uribe that started it all, but it is one of the most iconic cards that drew attention for selling at an insane hype level price.

Some sellers are still stuck in the mindset that "rare" baseball cards are worth tens of thousands of dollars.  

This is true for certain cards, but I am always reminded that something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

A rare buyback Andrew McCutchen card hit eBay the other day.

I of course was interested in it.

And I say rare in the sense that it was only available as a redemption and came encased in a BGS holder and marked with a 1/1 on the case.

The card has no markings on it and it is strictly just a buyback/over stock inventory that has been placed in a BGS holder.

In case you are unfamiliar with how to obtain one of these Topps 70 buyback cards they were available as redemptions in packs of Series 1 and Series 2.  

Below is an example of one of the redemptions

Topps is celebrating their 70th anniversary this year and is providing 1 of these cards to depict each year of the company's existence.  

2017 Topps is represented by the Aaron Judge rookie card and it sold for just over $100.

Yadier Molina, one of the best defensive catchers of all time, has his rookie card in 2004 as that set's chosen buyback.  It sold for $500.

Eddie Fricking Murray, one of the most underrated hitters of all time with over 3,000 hits and 500HR had his rookie represent the 1978 set.  It sold for $250.

So explain to me why this seller thinks that the Andrew McCutchen 2009 buyback is worth $10K?

I get that it's a "1/1" but c'mon....

I messaged the seller an offer of $150 along with the screenshots of the sold cards stating I was a super collector of McCutchen.

He countered with $10,000 saying it's the only one in existence and to offer something closer to the asking price.

Well Mr. eBay seller, thank you for saving me $150.  I don't know why I was even thinking of adding another to my collection for a price that is 20x the going rate.

I know mine aren't slabbed in a BGS holder with the Topps 70 logo, but I have the following quantities in raw form just hanging out in my binders.

31x base

3x Wal Mart black

2x Gold Border /2009

I also have a PSA10 and BGS 9.5 in storage.

Do you have any large quantities (10 or more) of a player's rookie card?

The Shadow Knows...

We all have those movies we loved when we were younger, but when you look at them as an adult they don't really stand the test of time. 

For every Goonies, Karate Kid, and Back to the Future I enjoyed watching, there is also a Bio-dome, 3 Ninjas, and Time Cop on my list.  

Another movie I really enjoyed a lot when I was younger was Dick Tracy.  I loved the star power in that film and the bright and bold colors.  

Sadly much like Karate Kid being the timeless classic and 3 Ninjas not, I can group together some pulp hero movies in the early 90s I was obsessed with.  

Well for every Dick Tracy, there exists a movie like The Shadow. 

Starring Alec Baldwin and based on the pulp comic series The Shadow, this film features less than good CGI effects and Baldwin's over the top acting.

One of the key lines and premise of the Shadow is 

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?"

The Shadow Knows

Below you will find my cards of Cutch that feature him with shadows

2009 Topps Red Hot Rookie Redemption (Rookie Card)

2009 Topps Update Base, Black, Gold

(Rookie Card) pictured as a collage

2010 Topps Turkey Red

2012 Bowman Orange

2020 Topps Series 2 SSP photo variant

2021 Topps Series 2 

Do you remember watching The Shadow film?

Do you have a favorite movie that followed the pulp comic craze of the early 90s (Rocketeer, Dick Tracy, The Shadow, The Phantom, etc)?

Are there any unique images you see on the shadows on these cards, much like a "Rorschach test" involving shadows?

This day in Cutchstory, 1st MLB HR

As you may be aware I own the lineup card from Cutch's 1st MLB HR

I have shown it off last year upon receipt from Goldin Auctions.  It is one of my favorite items in my collection.

Topps has supplied card collectors with a few insert sets over the years that discuss player's first MLB homers.  

Of course there were parallels to collect as well, which you can see above.

Have you witnessed any player's first MLB Homeruns in person at the ballpark?  

I was witness to Pedro Alvarez's 2nd career homerun (4th of July 2010), but can't think of anyone 1st HR.

A Top 10 List Part 2: Rookie Year cards

I promised that every 10th day or so, I would reveal one of ten categories I want to add to my Cutch collection.  These 10 posts will become a map for where I want my collection to go and help keep the collection focused.  

Over the years I have had a Pokemon "gotta catch em all" type mentality when it came to my Andrew McCutchen collection.

With the current baseball card market and Cutch not playing for my favorite team anymore, I am now looking towards the past to focus on the future of the collection.

Today, I am going to have this post focus on the "rookie year" Cutch.

He made his MLB debut in 2009.

I showed off a 2009 Upper Deck SP Authentic silver foil card limited to only 59 copies recently and it is one of my favorite pickups of the year.  I love that it is a rare rookie card of my favorite athlete and would love to grab some more rare rookie cards of Cutch.  

The majority of Cutch rookie debut cards I need are mostly limited to serial number cards /50 or less with the majority being 1/1s.  

Something about having those rare rookie year cards brings great joy to my collection.

Like the above 2009 Bowman Chrome Superfractor or the Orange /25

or the Logoman from the 2008 Futures Game Jersey found on the below 2009 Topps Unique 1/1

Here is a list of cards I need 

2009 Bowman Chrome #178

/50 Gold

/5 Red

1/1 Printing Plates: Cyan, Magenta, Black, Yellow

2009 Bowman Sterling #BS-AM

1/1 Printing Plates: Cyan, Magenta, Black

Need the base, have all color parallels

2009 Topps T206 #10

1/1 printing plates: cyan, magenta, black, yellow

2009 Topps T206 Mini #10

/99 Cycle Back

1/1 printing plates: cyan, magenta, black, yellow

1/1 Carolina Brights Back

2009 Topps Update

1/1 printing plates: black, cyan, yellow

1/1 platinum

Target Throwback Logo and back

2009 Topps Unique #196

1/1 unique

2009 Topps Unique Uniform #UU04

/25 Gold

1/1 Platinum

2009 Topps Chrome #213

1/1 printing plates: cyan, magenta, black, yellow

2009 Tristar Projections #74

/50 Green

/25 Yellow

/5 Orange

1/1 Purple

2009 Upper Deck SP Authentic #132

/19 Titanium

So there's a list of my 2009 McCutchen needs

Cutch was such a breath of fresh air for a team that was on the verge of two decades of losing records

#TBT: Topps Unique

It has been a few months since I showed off Cutch wearing some Throwback Uniforms from his Pirates days.  

I am going to show off a pretty unique (pun intended) and short lived release by Topps.

Today I am looking at the gold parallel from 2009 Topps Unique

Cutch is wearing a uniform reminiscent of the Honus Wagner days celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the World Series winners

As you can see the back of the card discusses when the unique throwback uniform was worn and what the occassions was for the throwback uniform.  

Cutch made his MLB debut just a week and half earlier and was starting to make people aware that he may be a Rookie of the Year despite such a late start to the year.  The Pirates hosted the Detroit Tigers on June 14, 2009 to honor the 100 Year World Series that saw the Honus Wagner Pirates defeat the The Cobb lead Detroit Tigers.  

I wish the back of the card also mentioned Cutch's stats for the game.  He went 2 for 3 with two walks, a stolen base, and 2 runs scored in the 6-3 Pirates victory.

A Rare Artifact Emerged

As a player collector, I am often looking for the rarest of items first rather than the more readily available items.

Yesterday I discussed passing up a grail item due to the large sum of money it went for.

For every 1,000 listings of 2020 and 2021 Topps Heritage cards (and all the parallels that coincide with it) there is maybe 5 listings for a 2009 Upper Deck SP Authentic card of Cutch.  

As of today there are ZERO base cards of the SP Authentic card available for sale via an eBay auction. 

ZERO!

The fairly recent release of 2021 Topps Heritage yields nearly 100 card listings for McCutchen.  

I don't have to spend my money and time searching for those right now, they'll be readily available for bulk purchase on COMC in the months to come. 

I would rather focus my efforts on the cards that don't pop up too often. 

Back in February one of the rarest Cutch rookies appeared for sale from a company no longer attached to baseball cards.

I pulled the trigger.

2009 Upper Deck SP Authentic offered a simple design with a limited number of parallels to chase for each card in the 200 card set.

Gold /299

Copper /99

Silver /59

Titanium /19

I already owned the base, gold, and copper versions of this card.  The next rarest was the silver limited to 59 copies.

I can cross that silver off the need list.

I am still messing around with the "scanner" on my camera phone as I threw out the old scanner as part of the temporary move.  

How do the images look with the camera phone scanner?

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. 

The Lineup Card from McCutchen's 1st HR

Today I am not going to show off a baseball card.  Instead it is a piece of game used memorabilia, but not just any boring item.  This is probably one of the coolest items I have added to my collection this year and I have already shown off some pretty awesome pieces to the collection like the foul ball Cutch hit before his 12 pitch walk off homer vs the Dodgers on April 7, 2018.

I've shown some nice cards over the years that discuss McCutchen's first homerun.

Topps produced a manurelic medallion for player's 1st Home Runs and an insert set (with three parallels to chase).  I showed those cards off back in 2017, which you can revisit by clicking here.

Last year I showed off a card that Topps produced for 2015 Topps Tribute called Milestone Materials.  In that post, I showed a card that includes a swatch of a baseball used in a game with historic significance.  The ball is from a game between the Twins and Pirates on June 17, 2009 when Andrew McCutchen hit his first homerun.  It is likely that the ball is just a ball thrown in the dirt by Francisco Liriano to Eric Hinske (who was DHing for the Pirates that day), but it is certified as a ball used in that game.  Pretty cool piece of cardboard if I must say  And only 10 were produced so that's even cooler.

But, what I am going to show off today takes that volume button and cranks it up to 11 (I'm sure some of you will get that reference)

Above is the actual lineup card used by John Russell for the Pirates visiting the Twins on June 17th, 2009.

I won it on the 2020 Spring Premium Goldin Auctions.  Here is the original listing.

It is certified by JSA on the back.

This is the same auction house that sold a Mike Trout Bowman Red auto for nearly a million dollars ($900K). That card made national headlines for selling for so much money.  The card was talked about a lot here locally here in NJ, but also was discussed on Good Morning America, MLB Network, ESPN, among others.  The auction house also sold NBA Finals memorabilia of Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan.

I can't roll with those types of auctions.

It may not make National Headlines, but this unique piece of memorabilia is perfect for my collection.

Even if it only earned 0.01% of the final price of THE BIG TICKET ITEM that made those headlines, I am very happy to have snagged this for $100.  I think the mistyped auction description (listed as 2019 in title instead of 2009) definitely helped.  The fact the 2009 Pirates were terrible and had an unknown manager like Russell helped too.

I plan to get it framed and am looking for a photo of the game to use with it.

If you had an item like this for your favorite player, how would you display it?

11 Years Ago Today...

In addition to having a unique card collection of Andrew McCutchen that is nearing 3,000 cards I have begun picking up ticket stubs from games that feature memorable moments in his career.

One of the first tickets I grabbed when I started this adventure towards ticket stub collecting was getting a ticket from his MLB debut.

Andrew made his MLB debut on June 4th, 2009 at home against the New York Mets.

There are currently no players on either team that were with the Pirates or the Mets during that game.

You can see how Cutch's debut went in the clip below

And here is a video recapping some of his rookie season highlights