A Look Back to The Future

Turn on those flex compacitors and travel with me at a fast speed of 88mph cause we are going Back To The Future.

I've mentioned Back To The Future a few times on this blog before. Here. Here. Here.

Let's look back at what the future of the Pirates had to offer.

The Pirates transitioned out of their former management group in 2007 and hired Neal Huntington to be their General Manager for a rebuild in 2008.

The Pirates hadn't had a winning record since 1992, the last year they would make the playoffs too.

The team was focusing on drafting and developing their own players.

Their four previous draft picks prior to Huntington taking over were

(2004) Neil Walker, a switch hitting local product High School catcher in 2004.  He would later be turned into a utility player before settling in as a Silver Slugger second baseman.  He played in the majors with the Pirates from 2009 until 2015.  He was traded prior to the start of the 2016 season for Jon Norse.

(2005) Andrew McCutchen, a toolsy quick handed outfielder from high school in 2005.  He became the face of the franchise of the resurgent years for the Pirates.  He made 5 All-Star teams, won an MVP, won a Gold Glove award, 4 Silver Sluggers, and was the 2015 Roberto Clemente Award recipient for his charitable contributions and work with the community.  He will forever be an All-time Pirates great despite playing with the team for only 2009-2017.

(2006) Brad Lincoln, arguably one of the top college pitchers in the 2006 draft.  He made his debut with the team in 2010 after having multiple injuries in the minor leagues.  He started 22 games for the Pirates from 2010 to 2012 when he was eventually converted to a reliever.  Lincoln thrived in the bullpen for the Pirates that season, appearing as a late inning guy with a K/9 over 10 and an ERA under 2.25.  He was traded to Toronto for Travis Snider.  Pirates fans will forever be upset that Lincoln was selected in front of former Cy Young Winners Clayton Kershaw, Tim Lincecum, and Max Scherzer.

(2007) Daniel Moskos, a lefty college arm that the team thought could impact immediately at the professional levels in 2007.  This is arguably one of the most controversial picks in the history of the franchise because Matt Wieters, one of the most coveted catchers in recent memory, was available.

Just Minors is known to have produced A LOT of pairings of autograph subjects for minor league prospects.

This is just one of a dozen printing plates I have of Andrew McCutchen from a Just Minors product.  This pairing features Cutch, Jose Tabata, and Brad Lincoln.

My Favorite 80s Fictional Characters

I am running a contest which you can still enter here, but time is ticking away.  I am gearing up for my 4th Annual Save Second Base Event where I show off only pink (with some hues of magenta, peach, and maybe a light purple or light red shade) baseball cards relating to my favorite baseball player for an entire month.  Prior to each post about the card I give out some frightening information about a major disease that is effecting many woman in this country.  I also show off some beautiful women for why we should be looking for a cure and to Save Second Base.

The prize is this very limited (only 25 copies produced) of two players who debuted in the 1980s, Barry Larkin and Gary Sheffield. 

As someone who was born in the 1980s and because it is my birthday week, all week long I am showing off cards of Andrew McCutchen and how they relate to the 80s. 

Cutch is my favorite player born in the 80s. Who is yours? Enter the contest here.

Each post so far this week I have been talking about different things from the 80s I like, but today I am going to talk about my favorite fictional characters to debut in the 80s and show off a card relating to their debut year.

Up first is Marty Mcfly, played by Michael J. Fox.  If you haven't seen any of the Back to the Future trilogy I DEMAND you leave this blog and don't come back until you have.  This Sci-Fi comedy takes a look at how one event can cause a ripple effect that can cause the entire universe to change paths.  Had Lorraine, played by the very stunning Lea Thompson, not fallen in love with George McFly  then Marty and his siblings would never have been born which causes more chains in the universe to be broken etc. 

The character Marty Mcfly debuted in Back to the Future which premiered in 1985.

 Here is a trio of parallels of Cutch screaming as he rounds the bases, likely trying to leg out a triple or coming home to celebrate a walk off homer.  It is from 2013 Topps Archives.

Speaking of Homer, here is Homer Simpson, who made his animated debut in April of 1987.  

The Simpsons is the longest running TV show ever.  While early seasons had me liking Bart for his catch phrases like "Eat my shorts" or "Cowabunga", it wasn't until I was older that I realized Homer is the best character on the show.  

There are multiple options I could have used showing off Cutch using the 1987 cardboard design, but ultimately I went with a more plain option from the 1987 5x7 card line produced in 2015 as an online exclusive.  

Another animated favorite of mine was Bumblebee from the original Generation 1 Transformers.  He has changed his appearance A LOT since his 1984 VW Beetle days to his mid 2000s Camaro car mode, but the heart of the character remains the same.

I wish I had the other parallels of this card (gold/50, blue/150, Orange/25, red/5) to pair up with the black and green, but for now these 1984 Topps Chrome style cards will have to do.

This next character is actually a pair because quite honestly you can't discuss William S Preston (Bill) without talking about his best friend Theodore Logan (Ted).  Bill and Ted introduced a franchise that will see it's third installment finally get made this year, twenty years after the original.  AND I AM PUMPED FOR IT!!! I jist got done doing a totally gnarly wicked air guitar solo to show my enthusiasm duuuuude.  

Seriously. Tho. Bill and Ted!!!!

2 totally awesome characters that helped shape the end of the 80s in a most bodacious way. 

I have a new segment revolving around the awesomeness of Keanu Reeves which I will debut next week.  It will definitely be a fun one to show off.

The original Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventire came out in 1989.

I loved 1989 Topps. I think it gets a bad rap for being such an over produced set from the 80s.  The design lends itself so well to today's color parallels though.

These die cut minis were from 2014 and are most excellent finds in a pack of cards.

1986 marked the first time I watched a movie and thought of a girl as being pretty and not having cooties or being some stupid girl.  That girl was Sarah Williams, played by Jennifer Connely.  

My parents got me into all things Jim Henson as a kid. I wasn't a super fan and couldn't recite much of the movie, but I was drawn in by the wonderfully created bizarre world that Jareth lived in and Sarah stumbled into.  As I got older, I grew to appreciate the unique nature of this film even more.  It didn't hurt that Jennifer Connely got more beautiful as she got older.

1986 Topps was a series I had only a few packs of.  The following year my dad and I went full blown collector crazy.

The simple nature of this set is so fun.  I wonder how many of today's stars will still be playing in 16 years so they can get a Heritage design similar to this  2014 Topps Archives release.

This Day in Cutchstory: Where we're going we don't need roads

So yesterday was May 17th and I completely forgot to highlight one of those most important events in Cutchstory that can be found on cardboard.

Come with me BACK TO this post where I said in THE FUTURE, I would highlight this card.

Above is a 2018 Donruss 1984 Retro Game Day Stat Line card.  The game day stat lines are incredibly rare as they feature an extremely limited number produced based on a stat line for that game.  In this case, only 2 were produced to highlight Andrew McCutchen's 2 Stolen Bases that day.

I wrote about this great game by Cutch exactly a year ago which you can see here.

The significance of the 1984 design? Back to The Future was being filmed that year for a 1985 release date.

So now that we have traveled to the past and the future, hows the Delorean Doc?

From the back of the card I posted on May 7th 2018 referencing the events of May 17th 2017.

Hello McFly!!! Are you in there McFly?

I must be living in some new alternate timeline that Biff created when he took the Delorean back to 1955.  My memories of Pirates Superstar Centerfielder Andrew McCutchen had him winning the National League MVP award in 2013.

The back of this Topps National Baseball Card Day card says differently.

Topps did things differently this year in regards to their National Baseball Card Day promotion.  Each team got their own SGA packs with different fronts and different backs.  I showed off the Pirates here.

Here are the card shop giveaway and SGA side by side.

And here's the backs.

At least Topps used different images and backs for these, something that has been bothering me more than it should lately. Topps took it one step forward and made the SGA a horizontal back despite a vertical front.  Whaaaaat?