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?

Early Season Predictions

I have a bunch of cards featuring Cutch with postseason hardware.

Let's start off with the two most important awards in the league from a personal level.

The MVP Awards

Cutch win the National League MVP award in 2013 as the Pittsburgh Pirates pushed for their first winning season in twenty years.

The MVP Award card you see above is from 2017 Topps.

I am predicting Cutch's current teammate Bryce Harper to win the MVP award.  I know Rhys Hoskins looks like a good choice after the first game, but I think teams will start pitching to Bryce and he will live up to the money he is being paid (at least for this year).  The Phillies will make the postseason for the first time since 2011.

In the American League, I am predicting Mike Trout to win another MVP award because, well it's a safe pick.

As for Team MVP for the Pirates, I think Corey Dickerson will be the first half MVP of the team, but will be traded at the deadline.  I can see Gregory Polanco being the second half MVP for the team.

Rookie of the Year

Well, Cutch didn't win the award in 2009, finishing third to Tommy Hanson and Chris Coghlan.  Cutch was a representative for Topps All Rookie Team though.

Topps has used Cutch for their Rookie Cup and Rookie Trophy cards in recent sets.

National League Rookie of the Year
Fernando Tatis Jr
The fact that the Friars believed enough inbhis ability to be a game changer that they risked an extra year of control says how legit this defensive wiz can be.

American League is loaded with top prospects Vlad Jr, Eloy Jimenez, Kyle Tucker.  I think that Tucker will stand out among the others.

As for the Pirates Rookie of Year, I am going with Nick Burdi.  The Seinfeld Boys (Kevin Kramer and Kevin Newman) are both ranked above Burdi as is their top pitching prospect Mitch Keller.  However, I think that Newman and Kramer will be fighting for playing time with other middle infielders on the Pirates roster.  Keller likely will have to have at least five strong starts in the minors before being promoted.  There will also have to be epic failures by the back of rotation in order for Keller to get a call up.

Cy Young
In the NL, I think Mad Max Scherzer continue to carve up hitters an route to another stellar season.  Blue Eye will strike out 300 hitters for a second straight season.

American League
Cutch's former team mate Gerrit Cole will step up in a big way as he is looking for a monster contract as the top free agent following the 2019 season.

Billy Ripken made a bold prediction that Trevor Williams will be the Cy Young.  I think he will be the team's best starting pitcher for the 2019 season.

At Least It Wasn't $20,000 for These Cards

When I am browsing for Cutch needs I will occassionally search large lots of cards in hopes of finding a card I need.

I managed to find TWO Topps Black needs for the collection.

The problem, they were part of someone who was selling their entire collection for $20K.  Yup! $20,000!!!!  20 fricking thousand dollars.  As crazy as I am with trying to get Cutch cards I couldn't spend that kind of coin even though as an investment lot you could make your money back if you spent the time and effort to sell things individually and not flood the market.

I reached out to the seller to see if he would break up the collection to sell me the TWO cards I needed.

Not only was he willing to break up the lot he even took 33% off what I offered for the two cards.

For $20 each I was able to secure these two incredible cards for the PC.

The 2014 version commemorates Cutch for his 2013 NL MVP near unanimous victory.

The black alternative uniforms worn by the Pirates match the black borders of the Topps flagship cards perfectly.

I couldn't be happier to add these two tough cards to the collection after several years of searching for a good price to acquire them.

Now excuse me while I enjoy some Cinnamon Toast Crunch to bask in my victory.


On a completely unrelated note I went against the odds and predicted Cutch to hit a HR today as part of the HR Derby Challenge found in packs of 2018 Topps.