And Then There Was 1...

This week has been full of sh*tty news.

Yesterday the Pirates traded Starling Marte to the Arizona Diamondbacks.  That means that there is only one player left from the 2015 Pittsburgh Pirates who had the 2nd best record in the majors and finished with a 98-64 record.

That lone player is Gregory Polanco.  I wouldn't be too shocked if hegets traded midseason as well as the Pirates appear to be in full rebuild mode now under their new management team.

I am going to show my favorite 6 cards of #6, Starling Marte.

Up first is my only Logoman of Marte.  It is the Logoman to his 2011 Futures Game jersey.

Next up, one of my favorite Cutch pairings.  This Gypsy Queen captures the gold glove caliber outfield pairings of Marte and Cutch in their primes.

It's Heritage Red Ink.  Do you really need more explanation?

The only knock on this card is the sticker autograph.  An on card auto would have been much nicer.

Speaking of on card auographs, I sought out every silver ink Pirates auto I could get my hands on from 2011 to 2015.  This pre debut prospect of Marte is a great looking design.

This card I have shown off a lot in the past month.  It's very low numbered and features some of my favorite Pirates outfielders of All-Time.

Who likes buttons? BUTTON SHOW OFF POST

Who likes buttons?

I do.

I currently have 10 button cards of Cutch and scanned them in two lots.

5 are designed vertically

And 5 are designed horizontally

Sorry for the upside down scan of Marte dual button.  I didn't notice it until I had already begun this post.

The button cards range in rarity to /6 to 1/1s.

Here they are all individually.

Button Up! It's gonna be a Marte Partay

Last night in a night where the Pirates blew another save opportunity by giving up a run in the 9th inning, Starling Marte finally came through with a huge hit.  Marte had been batting just around .200 all season with only one homer.

In the 10th inning he hit a game winning homer to put the Pirates up 5-3.  

2014 Gypsy Queen offered the best grouping of relics from a Pirates viewpoint in recent years.

I have shown my dual button of Cutch with Adam Jones a few times over the years

I also have a really nice dual button of Francisco Liriano and Gerrit Cole.

The Cutch/Marte is fairly new to my collection, having gotten it a few months ago.  The other two I have had for a few years.

Trade Deadline Day: MVPs ON THE MOVE?

This afternoon marks the end of the nonwaiver trade deadline and we could see some big names get traded today.

Last night news broke that the Nationals are indeed willing to trade Bryce Harper.  Could one of the faces of the game be traded in the coming hours?

Harper is a 5 tool talent that is a true game changer when on the field.

We have seen some of the best 5 Tool talents in the game get traded before so it shouldn't come as a surprise if one of them gets moved.

The green swatch from the Harper in the above 2 Hits Memorabilia cards is actually from a St. Patrick's Day Spring Training game cap.

I have a few Harper relics ranging from single jersey swatches to hat swatches to patches.  One of my favorites though is this extremely tough to find triple jersey featuring All-Stars Andrew McCutchen, Joc Pederson, and of course Bryce.

I also like when I know when I can pinpoint where a jersey relic is from.  The red and black swatches were from the workout jerseys.


One name we likely won't see get traded is Adam Jones who already has used his 10-5 rights to veto a trade to Philadelphia.  I respect Adam's decision to want to stay in Baltimore because of his family and the amount of charity work he does in the city.  That shows that he is a greater person than ballplayer.

Adam Jones is a very consistent player that usually puts up an average in the .270 to .280 range with 25 HR and 80-90runs/RBI.

This octopatch booklet is just ridiculous.  It had 8 of the top outfielders at the time of the card's production (minus Mike Trout).

Injuries derailed Tulo from a HOF career.

This dual button is still one of my top 10 cards in my collection.

There he is!!!! Mike Trout!!!!  He likely won't be traded.

What former All-Stars will be traded today?

Former All-Star Zach Duke was traded yesterday to the Mariners as they hope to solidify the diversity in their bullpen.

Oh you didn't know that Zach Duke who has been a lefty reliever was at one time an All-Star? Well he was in 2009 when Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel added him as a late addition to the roster.  He was also a 2xRookie of the Month in 2005 (July and August).

There are reports that the Indians and Phillies are very interested in Cutch, while it also seems possible that the Yankees would look to acquire the former NL MVP

I can see Cutch going to the Indians as that would be a great fit and he will be available to play daily.

Philly and NY look to be a platoon position if they were to acquire him as their outfields are already pretty crowded.

A New Cornerstone in the Collection 1/1 Auto & Button

I love bad puns

Hits Memorabilia released one of their latest series, Cornerstones, and they have made some even more beautiful cards.

The latest 1/1 for my collection features a button from a 2016 Spring Training Game that he hit a HomeRun in addition to a Panini sticker autograph.

The card is encapsulated in a One touch for protection along with a tamper proof sticker on top.

There have been awesome looking Hits Memorabilia cards released with Cutch, but unfortunately like Topps they all feature the same image of Cutch's back to avoid copyright infringements.

Walk Off Hero: More Team USA cards

The past few days I have been showing off some pairings of Team USA teammates with Cutch.

I already showed a massive Quad jumbo jersey with Arenado, Stanton, Cutch, and Rizzo.

I have also shown some of my JHay cards paired with Cutch when it was announced the teammates would join Team USA.

Today I thought I would show off a few other of my Cutch pairings.

To start, I guess it makes sense to highlight Adam Jones.  Both players have had similar career paths so far, having both been to multiple All-Star appearances, playing Center field, similar career numbers, and helping to lead their teams back to being perenial postseason contenders.

Last night Adam Jones was key for the success of Team USA beating Columbia in extra innings.

As you can see I have a lot of combo cards of Cutch with Adam Jones.  The booklet you are about to see is one of my favorite booklets I own.

Next up could very well be this generation's greatest catcher.  Buster Posey is on a Hall of Fame career path having already won 3 World Series, an MVP, batting title, Rookie of the Year, and 4 time All-Star.  

The card above also features fellow USA teammate Giancarlo Stanton and Cutch on the back.  This card is an absolute monster.  The patches on this card are absolutely nasty too!!!!  And there's only 10 of them produced.

I have a few other Giancarlo pairings which can be seen below.

My final Team USA pairing with Cutch is Andrew Miller.
Miller became a recognizable name after last year's postseason as he mowed down his opponents while winning the ALCS MVP. 

Only 2 of these uncirculated dual autographs from Just Minors were produced.  I have seen the other pop up on eBay, but have no desire to grab it.

There are actually a bunch of Just Minors dual autos and triple autos of Cutch being sold by Stonersports that I need.  I just don't go after them very aggressively because they always seem to be available.