Joe Maddon, the Mad Scientist Pt3

Joe Maddon is often regarded for his unorthodox ways of managing.

According to 2018 Topps Heritage High Number, Maddon employed one of the craziest shifts ever when he recruited Andrew McCutchen to play three different infield positions for the Cubs in 2018.

This is what the error version looks like up close.  The front is identical to his traditional base card.

Unlike in the past where you had to look super close for the code in the bottom right hand corner of the card to identify if it is an error, Topps is making it "slightly" easier by placing the word error in the top left corner by the numbering.

Can you see it better?

Thanks for sparing our eyes Topps.


Now if anyone is wondering what the back cartoon was supposed to say, it should have looked like this...

Swap The Color

Topps Heritage has been known to pay tribute to their previous designs and history of cardboard in a way that many fans young and old enjoy.

Sometimes the number of parallel error and variations to chase may get annoying, but this is one card release I greatly enjoy the chase for all of them.

1969 had several known printing errors that caused variations to chase in their,release.  One of the more famous was the player name color swaps.

As you can see from the 1969 Topps Gaylord Perry card has two versions to chase.  Images supplied by TCDB.  The yellow last name is the corrected version, while the white version is the lesser available version.

The same can be said for many other players including Reggie Jackson.

Topps paid tribute to these color swaps by making a team name color swap in their 2018 Heritage High Number release.

Above you can see the white team name color swap version next to the base.

The back makes the color swap version known by placing an identifier of the parallel by the card number.

Clemente vs Cutch Heritage comparison Pt 1

Over the years, Topps has used Heritage to bring the current stars of the game on designs from the past.

Cutch has appeared using the same numbering as Pirates Legend Roberto Clemente a handful of times.

I want to preface these segments and state that I do not believe that a single season of Cutch can take away from the greatness of Roberto Clemente's life or his baseball career.

Each of these Heritage comparisons will take a look at a card of Cutch and compare it to the design's original numbered card.

I am going to start with the 2014 Heritage release because of all the parallels I have.
The 2014 Heritage card release is based on the 1965 design.

Cutch's 2014 Heritage card is numbered 160 the same as Pirates Legend and Hall of Famer, Roberto Clemente.

To pay homage to the original Clemente Topps even made a super short print error variant to recognize the misspelling of Pittsburgh (Pittsburfh) on the back.

As will be customary for these Heritage Comparisons I will take a look at the standard counting stats typically found on the back of a baseball card for the players previous year.

Slash Lines
Clemente in 1964 went .339/.388/.484 for an .872 OPS
Cutch in 2013 went .317/.404/.508 for .952 OPS
Advantage Cutch

Plate Discipline
Clemente had a 1.70 K:BB rate (87:51) during his 2nd batting title run in 1964
Cutch's MVP season showed one of his best career rates when he had 1.29 K:BB (101:78)
Advantage Cutch

Extra Base Hits (XBH)
Clemente had 40 doubles, 7 triples, and 12 HR in 1964
Cutch had 38 doubles, 5 triples, and 21 round trippers
59 v 64
Slight advantage Cutch

Runs Scored and Runs Batted In
Runs scored and RBI are based on who hits in front of you and who hits behind you.
Clemente scored 95 runs and drove in 87 in 1964.
Cutch scored 97 runs and knocked in 84.
It was almost a draw (182 v 181), but a
very slight Advantage goes to Clemente

Hardware and awards
Clemente won his 2nd Batting Title, 4th straight Gold Glove, and was elected an All-Star
Cutch won the MVP award, his 2nd straight Silver Slugger, and was elected an All-Star
Advantage Cutch


I hope you enjoyed the comparisons made based on the Heritage and original design numbering.  I will continue to do these segments if there is enough interest in them.

Now I will show off the parallels I have for all my 2014 Heritage cards.

First up are the black retail exclusive border with the black chrome /65 border below it.

Now from top row Base & Logo Variation
Middle Row Chrome & Purple Chrome
Bottom Row WalMart Blue & Pittsburfh back

The only variations I need are Superfractor 1/1, Gold Chrome /5, Refractor Chrome /565, and Topps Vault Blank Back 1/1,

Please let meknow what you think of these segments.  Are they are a cool and fun idea to look at cardboard?

An Unknown Error

The Pirates 2017 season began yesterday and sadly despite looking like a great pitching duel was about to occur at Fenway Park, the official score keepers saw things differently.

Gerrit Cole was cruising through the first four innings facing the minimum.

With two outs in the fifth inning, Jackie Bradley hit a ball to right field that should have been just a double but Cutch misplayed it and it became a triple.  That was followed by the Kung Fu Panda Pablo Sandoval hitting an infield "single."  Jordy didn't make a perfect throw and it was a difficult play, but well I digress.  Next up came a bunt against the shift that Cole couldn't quite handle cause he was rushing to make the throw.  His facial expressions clearly showed that he was getting frustrated with the defensive alignment and the shifts were causing him to have to throw extra pitches and his time on the mound would be shortened for his first Opening Day start.  A Pedroia single and Benintendi HomeRun later and the game was 5-0 thanks to some errors (physical and mental) that weren't accounted for.

Game 1 of 162 is in the books.
The Pirates are 1 games out of first.
They have the same record as the Cubs.

Today's card is an older card from 2013 with roots in the Red Sox and no one even knew it.

The front of the card features Gerrit Cole and Andrew McCutchen as Franchise Forerunners.

The back of the card was supposed to discuss what Gerrit Cole was supposed to mean to the Pirates and how Andrew McCutchen had changed the Pirates into a winning team again after 20 straight losing seasons.

Instead it discussed Pedro Martinez and Allen Webster, who was a highly regarded prospect for the Red Sox at the time.

WEBSTER UPDATE: After being traded to the Diamondbacks he was released and picked up by the Pirates for 21 days during the 2015 offseason.  He is currently signed to a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers.