#tbt: Gray Hair?

You may recall that I had a chance to meet Andrew McCutchen last September.  I showed off the custom dreadlock card that Tanner Jones made for me.  Brad from Brad's (Phillies) Blog met up with me at the show and filmed the entire meeting which I pinned to my Twitter.  The whole interaction can be revisited here on my blog.

Well as weird as it is to have a piece of cardboard with a piece of dreadlock in it, I wasn't done.  I asked Tanner to make another custom for me so that I could send it off to another McCutchen collector who has sold me A LOT of low number Cutch cards over the years.  In addition to that custom I asked Tanner if he could create a t206 style dna relic card.

As a Pirates fan there is no more desirable card than a t206 Honus Wagner card.  It is a holy grail of anyone who collects sports cards.  It makes it more special for a Pirates fan though.  I will never own an original, but did have a chance to hold one at a Chantilly show a few years ago which I wrote about on my old blog here.

Back in 2002 Topps released a bat relic card inside a framed Honus Wagner mini that resembled the legendary t206 card.  It is one of my favorite cards in my collection.  I showed it way back in 2013 on the old Pirates Treasure Room blog.

I asked Tanner to recreate something similar using a strand of the dreadlock I gave him for the custom and he created an awesome Cutch card in that t206 style sporting a Homestead Grays uniform.

Here is what he came up with.  This card is fricking awesome!!!

Cutch is one of the premier black baseball players in the game today.  It may not be a coincidence that his prime years were with the Pirates, a team housed in Pittsburgh. 

For the better part of a decade, the Homestead Grays of Pittsburgh, dominated the Negro Leagues.  I have talked before about Hall of Famers and Negro League legends like Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, and Cool Papa Bell. 

A pitcher who played the twilight of his career with the Grays may have actually been the best pitcher in Negro League history though.  And in case you're wondering, his name isn't Satchel Paige.

" Smoky" Joe Williams was born in 1886 to an African American and Comoche Indian parents.  He began his baseball playing career in 1907 with the San Antonio Black Bronchos. 

Not much is known of his stats, but it has been said that he struck out 27 batters in a 12 inning game and that he threw a no hitter against the New York Giants in an exhibition match.  His barnstorming exhibition games had him defeating many Hall of Famers like Waite Hoyt andGrover Alexander.

In his only matchup versus Paige, Williams bested him 1-0 as a 43 year old while Paige was just breaking into his prime.

In 1952 the Pittsburgh Courier named Williams the greatest Negro Leagues pitcher.

Williams was finally elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.

The Philly Show Recap, Meeting Cutch

By now everyone who reads this blog should be aware that Andrew McCutchen is my favorite athlete of all time.  He could still be on the Hall of Fame track for his baseball accomplishments, but more importantly he is on his way to the Hall of Fame in life for everything he does off the field.

Cutch is an absolute class act.

He still contributes to the community and is still relevant in the Phillies clubhouse despite having undergone season ending surgery.

This is the first time I have gotten a chance to get his autograph in a formal setting since Pirates Fest 2010.  I have gotten his auto half a dozen times at games throughout the years though.

Even with as humble and kind that Cutch is to his fans, I can't lie I was a little nervous about asking him to sign a custom made baseball card with a piece of his hair in it.  If you say it aloud or even just quietly in your head, it sounds a little weird, right?

For those that follow me on Twitter you've already seen the end result and it is awesome.

He made it a little easier when I showed it to him and he made comments in a jovial manner that it was hilarious.

Cutch obliged to sign the card and it came out awesome.  A nice bold signature with the 22 inscription added (without charge or even asking for it.)

The back of the custom shows the MLB authentication

which you can verify on the MLB authentication site.

Here are my used ticket stubs from the autograph and photo opp tickets.  Unfortunately the photo studio ran out of paper (how does that happen?) and was unable to provide photos for those of us that paid for the photo.  We will have an online gallery built for us in the future.  Talk about disappointment.

Cutch wasn't the only person I was excited to see at the show though.  I also got a chance to meet up with Brad from Brad's Phillies Blog and his wife, Val. (Shame on me for not getting a pic of us at the show)

I made plans with Brad via email to meet up and got a small package of Phillies extras I acquired in my pursuit of Collecting Cutch to give to him.  Much to my surprise Brad hooked me up with some Cutch cards too.

These are duplicates, but that purple TRU exclusive is in WAAAAAAAAY better shape than the one I have.  Mine had all kinds of chipping on the corners.  Thank you so much for the cards Brad.

In my travels to kill time while waiting for Cutch's photo opp and autograph sessions I browsed the floor looking for some new cards to add.

I picked up some trade/giveaway cards from the modern bins, but also grabbed some cards for myself.

These were all acquired from the 10 cent bins.  The 2018 Gold Label Class 3 Black Parallel was a nice surprise of a Cutch card I didn't expect to find in a dime box.  The trio of Mitch Keller Minors Heritage was exciting too.  I still think Keller can become a top of the Pirates rotation guy.  Seeing Meadows in a Rays uniform is heart breaking.

I have the action variant and a few of the chrome parallels of Cutch from 2019 Heritage High Number, but I didn't have the SP Base.  Now I do.

This pickup was awesome...and it was free.  The dealer watched me tirelessly look through his stack of 2019 Archives (which weren't in any kind of order by the way).  After about 8 minutes I found it and held it up with a $1.00.  It was in a .25 bin.
He said "who were you looking for that whole time?"
I said "McCutchen".
"Just take it" he said.
"Awesome. Thank you very much" I replied.

I wasn't done yet though.  I found a pair of dealers who were selling those 5x7 Topps Online exclusives.  I managed to grab 10 of those that were Andrew McCutchen and 1 Stadium Signatures variant of Gregory Polanco.

The Stadium Club Gold in top left corner is numbered to only 10 copies. The others are all /49.

As you can see above the Polanco is a cameo of Cutch on the back.

Overall I had an awesome time meeting new people like Chuck who I waited in line with for an hour just to get into the show, Brad and Val, Debbie who I interacted with on Twitter but didn't get a chance to meet up with, the staff at The Philly Show, and of course Andrew McCutchen.

Once I get my official photo sent I will share it.  Unfortunately they ran out of paper mid afternoon Saturday and will need to mail it to me rather than having me pick it up at the show.

Smooooooooth Breakdowns

Cutch used to be so smooth and have so much swagger when he had his dreads.  He's still got a lot of swag, but he's not quite as smooth as he used to be.

Someone who is super smooth and hooks readers up with unexpected swag is Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown.

He didn't send an email or hint about this package I was about to receive.

I was floored though.

Inside were 2 customs he made of my main PC, Andrew McCutchen.  Smooooooth!

But that wasn't good enough to surprise me with.

He dropped a 1/1 Topps Mini Blank Back of eventual World Series Champion Charlie Morton on me.  Morton is getting very little cardboard love in Houston, but when he holds up the trophy for pitching all them scoreless innings, it won't matter.  He will be a Champion!!!

Gavin, thanks so much for hooking me up with these customs and the 1/1 Morton.  I only need 2 non 1/1 cards and you saved me the trouble of tracking down a 1/1 I needed.

You're the man!!!

Side note: I am predicting that Sports Illustrated predicted correctly and the Houston Astros will win the 2017 World Series.

On another note, Cutch hit a 2 run homer yesterday bringing his total to 199 career Home Runs.  Don't forget to join my contest for a chance to win a Bob Gibson autograph.  And don't forget that if you are a swag pimp you can win a Tim Raines autograph just by sharing the contest on your page.

In need of a custom card maker...

I am in need of someone to design a card and produce it of Aroldis Chapman's record throwing 106 mph fastball to Andrew McCutchen.  I realize that the speed of this fastball has been disputed, but I think it would be awesome to get a dual jumbo booklet of Chapman and Cutch commemorating this pitch.

I have 2 jumbo relics that can be chopped up if needed.

You can see them below.

If anyone has any design skills and would be willing to create this dual booklet for me, leave a comment so we can get this card going.

Thank you for any help that leads to making this card a reality.