Interrupt With An Important Announcement

If you have been following my blog for at least a year, you know we are approaching one of my favorite months of the year, October.  Each October I like to bring awareness to breast cancer, one of the leading causes of death in all females.  

While browsing Twitter today, I came across a message from Brandon Crawford and his wife with support from Andrew McCutchen and his wife.

Here is a link to the Catch A Cure Twitter with support from Brandon Crawford, Andrew McCutchen, Buster Posey, Greg Maddux, Eric Hosmer, and many others.

Taken directly from Tiny Turnips page where you can buy merchandise to support children with cancer is this message

"100% of Profits from the sale of items in the “Catch A Cure” Collection will benefit The Peckham Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Rady Children’s Hospital – San Diego.  The Peckham Center is home to a full range of specialized cancer treatments and hematology services, as well as psychosocial resources, life-after-cancer programs and pace-setting clinical research. As a not-for-profit hospital that ranks among the top pediatric hospitals in the country, Rady Children's relies on philanthropy to continue to provide world-class care to more than 250,000 children each year"

I know I ask for people to donate in October, but here is a chance to not only help benefit children fight cancer, but you can also get some neat swag too.

Personally, I'm going for one of those cool mugs and maybe a t-shirt with my name on the back.  I hope I can share the story about the organization to anyone that asks "What's Catch a Cure" mean?

MLB has recently began allowing players to wear a golden ribbon on their uniform in September.

Many of the 2019 Gypsy Queen autograph cards of Andrew McCutchen feature him wearing the gold ribbon to support Child Cancer Awareness.

I am still in need of the base autograph, but have the Bazooka Back, Fortune Tellers Mini, Rainbow Foil, and Black and White parallels.  

And here is a card that features 3 of the more famous players to support the Catch a Cure program.

It is my 2018 Triple Threads booklet card with some very large patches including a sleeve patch, the R in a San Francisco grey uniform and the G in a home Giants uniform.  

A few small additions

Back before the 4th of July and before the Cutch SP Frenzy and even before Memorial Day I purchased

Not 1

Not 2

Not 3

But 4

new additions to my Cutch PC and they all consisted of Allen & Ginter mini cards.

4 Small Additions that look standard on the front, but flip them over and you see the true awesomeness of these additions.

From left to right the new additions include
2010 Extended Number SP Photo Variant
2010 No Number
2015 Extended Number SP Photo Variant
2011 Bazooka Back numbered 23/25

Gypsy Queen 2019 Collection

I've been enjoying showing off my color runs and rainbows on here as it helps me to remember what cards I have already visually.

Here are my 2019 Gypsy Queen cards paged

Top row: base, retail green, bazooka back
Middle row:purple, red/10, bw/50
Bottom row:missing nameplate, logo swap, 42 Jackie Robinson Day photo variant

This doesn't include the autographs that I have.  I will be showing them off in a future post.

Serial History: 1925 Yankees

Today I will be looking at the year 1925 again as part of my Serial History.

Serial History is a segment I have done only a few times before.  You can see my others by clicking here.

I have already shown off a card of Cutch wearing a Pirates uniform and serial numbered 19/25.  That made me look at the World Series Champions of that year lead by guys like Pie Traynor.

Cutch
19/25 Bazooka back from 2019 Gypsy Queen featuring Cutch in a Yankees uniform

The 1925 Yankees

I have been seeking out autographs of those who wore a Pirates uniform and are inducted in the Hall of Fame.  Hoyt did play a few seasons with the Pirates between 1933 to 1937.  His best years were with the Yankees when he was selected to three All-Star games and lead the American League in Wins in 1923.

What is odd about this card is that it specifically says Yankees on the back.  Panini had already lost it's MLB license by 2011 so technically it couldn't shouldn't have used the team name without facing legal problems.  I am not sure if anything legally came from Panini's unauthorized use of the team name, but I find this cut auto to be kind of neat because of that.

The 1925 Yankees were not a good baseball team, which is surprising because just a few years later you see a lineup referred to as Murderer's Row and is often cited as one of the best lineups in baseball history.

The 1925 Yankees finished 30 games behind the Washington Senators.  The team finished in 7th place and well below .500 with a record of 69-85.  This season would be the last time the Yankees would finish below .500 for the next 40 years and it was only the second time in their 23 year history that they finished below .500.

The main reason for their failures to win games rested on Babe Ruth missing most of the season with an unknown illness that limited him to only 359 plate appearances.

Sam Jones was the team's featured starter, opening 43 games, but to a 4.63 ERA and a. 15-21 record while recording less than 100 strikeouts.

Lou Gehrig, in his first full season (126 games) began his long "Iron Horse" streak on June 1st 1925 and would go on to play in every regulation game until May 2nd 1939.  In 1925 as a 22 year old he swatted 20 homers, third only to Ruth and Bob Meusel, while batting a .295/.365/.561 line.

Bob Meusel lead the Team in homeruns (33) and RBI (134).  He also had a practically even strikeout (55) to walk (54) rate at the plate.  On the basepaths he finished second on the team with 13 stolen bases.  He finished second in WAR on the time (above Ruth and Gehrig).  The only player who collected a higher WAR was...

Another Hall of Famer Earle Combs.  Combs, like Gehrig, was playing in his first full season at the age of 26 years old.  He went on to score nearly 1,200 runs in his 12 year career, all with the Yankees.  His career total numbers don't appear great with less than 1,900 hits, only 58 homers, and less than 100 stolen bases in comparison to other centerfielder in the HOF.  Despite not having a single defining moment or duration, his peak and being atop those famous Yankees lineups no doubt got him voted in.  It should be,noted that he walked 670 times in his career, but only struck only 278 times.  That lead to his nearly .400 OBP career mark.

Bazooka!

Topps Heritage has been producing Bazooka theme cards in their line for the past few years.

Here's my collection of the past four years of Cutch bazookas.

As you can see 2014 to 2016 have VERY similar designs and sizing.  The 2017 design was much different.

Here's the backs.

Nothing too special, right?

Bazooka Joe makes me want to....

I recently grabbed this 2010 National Chicle variant (Bazooka Joe back).  It got me thinking, how many more variants do I need?

With over 1,700 unique Cutch cards in my collection I am still at less than 50% of cards produced.  Ever since Topps started producing 2+ additional copies of every card exclusive to their store (5x7s and Gold 5x7s and 16x20s) my goal of getting a complete collection of every non 1/1 Cutch card has become almost impossible.

I don't mind chasing different backs like the one seen above.
I don't mind chasing different borders and color parallels.

But Beckett is now saying if you want to Supercollect a player you have to have these 200+ 5x7 cards in your collection.

Fuuuuuuuuuugettabout it!
Me and Bazooka Joe say no no no!
I want simpler times.