The Landis MVP Debate

Because of the 100 year celebration of the Negro Leagues on Monday, I spent a lot of time yesterday watching some great movies with ties to the Negro Leagues.


One of my favorite baseball movies is Soul of the Game.  It was a mid 90s made for HBO movie that starred Delroy Lindo as Satchel Paige.  It also featured notable Negro league players like Jackie Robinson and Josh Gibson.

Below is a clip from the movie where Josh and Satchel are trash talking each other and Satchel had the other fielders behind him walk off the field due to his confidence in getting Josh Gibson, the black Babe Ruth, out with no help from anyone else.

The story follows the history that lead to Jackie Robinson being the 1st black player to join a major league franchise.

There were a few quotes in the movie about teams trying to sign Satchel but Commissioner Landis wouldn't sign off on it.  In the opening credits it even has newspaper articles printed that Judge Landis banned Negro players from playing in the majors.

Another movie I watched yesterday was 42 starring the Black Panther himself, Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson.  It wasn't until after Landis' death did baseball move forward with integration.


Yesterday there was an article that came out where former MVP winners were wishing to remove Judge Kennesaw Landis name and face from the award.  Barry Larkin, Terry Pendleton, and Joe Morgan, both black former MVP winners spoke up about it.  You can read the article here.

Above is a card with a manufactured relic designed to look like the MVP award.  It appeared in packs of 2017 Topps Update and shows the full name of Landis along with a picture of the first commissioner of baseball.

For a sport that has writers so involved in the history and preserving of the game, do you think that baseball will rename the MVP award and remove the Landis name from it?

11 Years Ago Today...

In addition to having a unique card collection of Andrew McCutchen that is nearing 3,000 cards I have begun picking up ticket stubs from games that feature memorable moments in his career.

One of the first tickets I grabbed when I started this adventure towards ticket stub collecting was getting a ticket from his MLB debut.

Andrew made his MLB debut on June 4th, 2009 at home against the New York Mets.

There are currently no players on either team that were with the Pirates or the Mets during that game.

You can see how Cutch's debut went in the clip below

And here is a video recapping some of his rookie season highlights

June 4th: This Day in Cutchstory

It's no surprise that Andrew McCutchen's MLB Debut would get some cardboard blogging love as part of my This Day In Cutchstory segments.

To start things off, here is a ticket from Andrew's MLB debut game.

Now let's take a look at some cards that look at Cutch's MLB Debut.

Topps Unique was a set released in 2009 that was sold as a high end set.  Each base card was numbered.
Did you read Cutch's Unique Rookie Moment?  I bet you didn't know that prior to today.

Topps made an insert set last year to pay tribute to some of the best.  The cards were available in different color parallels (of course), a medallion coin, and a relic version also.

The color variations may be difficult to see, but this is the bronze and silver editions.

The back mentions his unique stat.

The relic is from a Homestead Grays throwback Negro League uniform.

The medallion makes for a very heavy card.

Today Cutch faced the same team he debuted against.  The only player still with the Mets organization that played with the Mets June 4, 2009 is David Wright.  On the 8th Anniversary of his debut, Cutch went 3 for 5 with 3 RBI, 3 Runs scored and his 9th HR of the season.  Even though he is having another down year he is still leading the Pirates in Homeruns and RBI.