National High Five Day

Did you know there was a day dedicated to the art of high fiving?

Me neither.

While it doesn't get the Hallmark treatment of other nationally celebrated days, it is a tradition baseball fans should all celebrate.

During the summer of 1977 Dodgers slugger Dusty Baker celebrated with his teammate Glenn Burke after crushing a homerun.

Today many players have done away with the traditional high five for more show worthy celebrations.

Bryce Harper actually has a different celebration for each of his Phillies teammates.  Harper's celebration with Cutch is much different than this high five he gave him at the 2015 All-Star Game.

Hopefully Topps can release a high end card of Cutch and Harper celebrating post Home run.

I need something to take the place of this 2011 Diamond 1/1 celebration of Cutch, Ryan Doumit, and Garrett Jones.

The card is awesome, but man 2010 was terrible year for the Pirates.  Need proof? Look at the back.

105 losses!!!!
The pitcher with the most strikeouts was Paul Maholm with 102 punchouts.
I'm surprised there was anything worthy of celebration that year.

Let's Play a Game!

I never watched a single Saw movie...
Until this week.

When being snowed in, what better way to pass the time then watching a crazy horror flick?

I wasn't that interested in it though.

I would much rather learn how to play this game.
APBA

I picked up the 2009 Pirates team set to go with my 2016 team set of the Buccos.

Above are some of my favorite players from that team.  While Matt Capps wasn't necessarily a favorite, I was pissed that we released him only for the Nationals to pick him up and trade him to the Twins for 6 years control of Wilson Ramos.

If you've read my blog at any point you probably already are aware of my Charlie Morton super collection and my fandom for both Garrett Jones and Ryan Doumit.

Last week I lost the 2010 team set, which I was really bummed about because for as bad as they were, that was a team I enjoyed watching develop.

Thankful for FujiSan

Everyone else has already posted about their packages received by Fuji over the past few weeks.

This dude flat out destroyed people's PC needs and wants.  

Fuji, your kindness to all of us is greatly appreciated and I am thankful to call you a hobby friend.

With Thanksgiving being just a week ago, I wanted to begin thanking Fuji for all he has done for the blogging card collectors.

Here's what he sent

Ryan Fricking Doumit!!!!

If you followed my old blog, Pirates Treasure Room you know that I was a big fan of Ryan Doumit.  He wasn't the best player even on the very bad Pirates teams, but he was a guy that was extremely easy to root for.

His entrance song was Mother by Danzig.

Mother by Danzig \m/

Fuji also hooked me up with a smorgasbord of Cutch cards

including this SP photo variant which I may turn into a custom using a  game issued wrist band in the center of photo.

But also this 2013 Bowman Gold which surprisingly I didn't own

The best cards though?
These two Kellogg's 3-D SuperStars of the Pirates Zooteam.
Mad Dog and the Cobra!!!!

David Gene Parker never looked so good!!!

Thank you so much Fuji.  You are truly a legend among our blogging community.

I am very thankful and grateful for your kindness.

Diamond In The Rough

I was recently asked by my girlfriend what my favorite Disney movie.  It was an easy no thought answer.

Aladdin.

The story of a poor boy falling in love with a princess to become a prince, having a talking monkey for a best friend, and a magical carpet as your ride of choice?  Sign me up!

I bring this story up because today's card ties in perfectly with Aladdin.

The Diamond in the Rough

It's numbered 1/1 and features an actual diamond in the card.
While it is not technically an Andrew McCutchen, it does feature Cutch, Ryan Doumit, and Garrett Jones.

The back of the card features the Pirates team leaders of the 2010 season.  A look at their leaders will quickly show why they were granted the 1st overall pick in 2011.

The Pirates best pitcher was Paul Maholm who won 9 games, had an ERA of 5.10 and barely struck out over 100 batters.