Who's To Blame pt1: Jacoby Ellsbury

When Andrew McCutchen debuted in the majors in 2009, he was given #22 as his uniform choice.  The number was previously worn by Xavier Nady.  Cutch has gone on record saying he would have liked to have number 24 as it was the number of his childhood hero, Ken Griffey Jr. At the time of Cutch's debut Tom Gorzelanny had been wearing #24 for three seasons. 

The number 22 hasn't been worn in Pittsburgh since 2017 when Cutch was traded to San Francisco prior to the start of the 2018 season. 

Cutch has become very associated with the number 22 and has it as part of his social media handles and sometimes will still sign ACutch22 while a member of the Brewers.  

I thought it may be fun to show off some cards I have featuring guys who have prevented Cutch from wearing #22 in a MLB uniform.  

After spending 9 seasons in Pittsburgh and collecting 4 SS, 5ASG, 1 GG, 1 MVP, the Roberto Clemente award, Baseball America's ROY, and bringing the Pirates back to the postseason for the first time in 20 years, Cutch was traded to San Francisco.  The Giants had #22 available for Cutch and it was announced during the 2018 season that #22 would be retired to honor Will Clark.  Cutch would be the last Giant to wear #22.  With the Giants slipping out of playoff contention and the Yankees having outfield injury concerns the two teams made a late August waver wire trade deadline and Cutch was sent to the clean shaven NY Yankees.

One of those outfielders who was injured was Jacoby Ellsbury, who took a monster 2011 season and a healthy 2013 season which he lead the AL in stolen bases and turned it into a 7 year $153 million contract with the Yankees to start the 2014 season.  

Jacoby debuted with the Boston Red Sox and had established himself as a high contact, high speed threat atop the Boston lineup.

He was becoming one of the young stars of the game by showing an ability to hit for high average (all his full seasons were .280+) while also leading the league in steals in 3 of his 4 full seasons. 

Injuries took their toll on Ellsbury in 2010 and he was limited to only 18 games. 

Ellsbury had a breakout season with the Red Sox in 2011 where he finished second in MVP voting along with winning the Comeback Player of the Year.

Ellsbury improved his power numbers by smashing 32 HR in 158 games.  His previous 4 seasons (2 full seasons) had only 20 HR combined.  

Ellsbury maintained his high batting average (.321) and high SB (39) in the 2011 season.

He would again suffer injuries in 2012 and that would limit him to only 74 games.

He bounced back in 2013 though, leading the American League in stolen bases yet again with 52 swipes and maintaining that .298 batting average.

After the season was over, he switched rivals going from Beantown to the Bronx.  

Ellsbury wouldn't reach 150 games played again in his career, coming closest in 2014 (149) and 2016 (148).  His batting average in NY would never reach the heights they were in Boston and his SBs while still very good would average only 24 a season, a far cry from the 50-70 range he was putting up in Boston.  

Ellsbury suffered injuries and his last game played was September 30th, 2017.  However because he was on the 40 man roster he still had to have a uniform number.  That uniform number was 22.

This prevented Cutch from getting #22 and Cutch was ultimately assigned #26.

Cutch would play 25 regular season games with the Yankees September 2018 and help the team get to 100 wins.  In that month long sample he had an .892 OPS and a 145 OPS+ 

When Cutch left NY for free agency in Philadelphia his #26 was assigned to DJ LeMahieu who has worn it since the 2019 season and has become a fan favorite among Yankees fans. 

Since Jacoby's #22 uniform became available after his 2019 release, two other players have worn the number not available to Andrew McCutchen.  They are Jordy Mercer and Greg Allen. 

What athletes look different wearing a number they're not usually wearing?

Do you think if Jacoby could have stayed healthy, he would have been in discussion for being a great of the 2010s?

National Sunglasses Day

Since breaking into the league in 2009, Cutch has always had a sense of joy and swag wherever he played.

Here are a few cards featuring Cutch wearing sunglasses.

First I am going to show off an original piece of artwork by the extremely talented artist Josh Trout

2022 has seen my favorite low budget insert in a long time. Check out those shades!

2021 had an insert set called Stars in Service showing athletes in the community.

It also had a base card featuring Cutch sliding to make a catch for his base card in Series 2.

2020 introduced the world to a worldwide pandemic and the coolest sports card ever produced.

2019 Stadium Club had a photo variant of Cutch 

2016 Topps Triple Threads featured images of Cutch at the 2015 All Star Game

This is an original art card by Brian Kong and was used to produce the Museum Canvas Collection reprints from this original artwork. 

2014 Topps Archives 

2013 Topps Archives All Stars

2013 had photo variants of the top stars sporting their sunglasses.  The most famous is the Yu Darvish card featuring a pair of sunglasses that should be sent back in time.

2012 had a photo variant of Cutch at the All Star Game

2011 Tier One had an autograph with Adam Jones where Cutch is sporting shades atop his cap.

2005 Bowman Heritage saw him sport a pair of shades on his cap for the base, mini, and mahogany parallels.  It is strange That the photo variant doesn't feature sunglasses on the cap as it was likely from the same photo shoot.

It also saw the 2005 Bowman Heritage Signs of Greatness autographs to feature the sunglasses on the hat.

2005 Topps Chrome saw Cutch wearing the shades atop his head.

Do you have any sunglasses cards to show off? We could do a blog bat around if so.

You Got Wash?

My girlfriend Danielle lost a significant member of her family yesterday as her grandmother passed away suddenly from complications with pneumonia and congestive heart failure.

Over the course of the summer her grandparents took us in while we battled the housing market trying to get a house we could call our own home.  

It wasn't easy as we had boxed up our entire lives into a pair of closets and a storage unit, but those few months gave us time to save up for this new house.  We worked hard to get there and are really excited for our new place.

Of course Danielle has many more memories of her grandmother than I will ever have because her grandparents practically help raise her after her parents divorced.  I spent several lunches talking to her grandmother and grandfather over this summer about how they always brought Danielle everywhere they went when she was much younger.  It was fun to hear these stories of what a little trouble maker she was especially with her cousin.

Gram had life down to a series of repetitions that made it easy for her to still do everything for herself and others in her late 80s.  She also had a series of phrases that her sweet caring voice echoed practically daily.

"Help yourself"

That was a phrase I heard six days a week before I left for work.  She would be watching TV, pause it to say goodbye to me and point from her same spot on the couch towards the garage area where she housed snacks and sodas.  There were always tiny bags of chips and a soda ready for me to take on the long hour and half commute before work each day.  Every day I was blessed with the care of a snack for the long road ahead.

I began working 3rd shifts this year for less aggravation at work so when it was 8am and she spotted me in the kitchen she would let out the tiniest little startled gasp "oh. What are you doing up? Don't you have to go to sleep soon?"  This also was almost a daily occurrence.  I would repeat to her the same thing every time. "I'm normally up until about 10 Gram, then I go to sleep. Do you need anything?" "Oh no no. I'm good".  

It wasn't one no.

It was two. 

She wanted me to be very much aware that she didn't need any help and not to disrupt her routine.

But my favorite nearly daily occurrence was the phrase "You got wash?"  I'll be the first to admit it, we got spoiled living there.  You see Gram liked to still be active around the house and that meant keeping a very clean organized house.  The washer and dryer were used daily.  I usually let it build up for a few days then do laundry.  Not Gram though.  She wanted laundry done every 24 hours it seemed.  48 or 72 hours?  That got her itchy to throw something of mine in the washer.  When I would attempt to do it myself she would say, just leave it to which I would reply "I can do it."  This was usually followed by her sense of sarcasm by saying "No no. The machine does all the work. Go go."  

Again, not one.

TWO nos

Stubborn and convincing

Caring and optimistic.

That was Gram.

Typing these words is incredibly hard as I know these memories that I have from briefly living there are just that now; Memories.

I will miss the simple routine she laid out for each day.  After a half mini Portuguese roll it was time to make the bed and watch the news.  I can't believe she's gone so suddenly.

I am blessed to have shared some of these moments with her and I am happy that we got a chance to show her our new house on Christmas Eve before we started moving things over.  She kept telling Danielle and myself "you guys are going to be really happy here" and proclaimed over and over how happy she was about us getting a home that checked off all the boxes for what we wanted in our first home together. 

I'm happy that we got to have Christmas dinner together and share in some laughs and fun times even though we couldn't save the green bean casserole from being an absolute disaster of a dish.

Most importantly I'm happy for the way she helped raise Danielle into being such an amazing and awesome companion that I get to go on this life journey with.  

We will miss you Gram.

I contemplated not showing any cards in this post and was typing up this testament to her just to keep my mind full of all these good memories, but my dad came over today to help paint some interior trim for us and I have to say, even if you aren't religious, God most definitely works in ways that just seem to show HIS presence.

After we closed on the house I said to myself that I wanted to treat myself to a key card for my collection and I had one eBay purchase shipped to my dad's house.  I did this because I wasn't sure if we would finally be moved in or not yet.  When he handed me the bubble mailer it came in and said "you got a package sent to my place yesterday" I had to chuckle when I opened it knowing what was inside.

Of course the first day of Gram being gone I get a package in the mail containing a 1/1 Andrew McCutchen Laundry Tag booklet card.

Yes Gram, I have wash. 

Holiday Triple Take

I have begun packing up all my base and serial numbers in anticipation of actually moving next week.  

I've had a lot of fun looking at all these cards hanging out in boxes and I can't wait to finally be able to properly display them all in the near future.  It's going to be awesome to have the Cutch Cave operational.

A pair of cards I came across were these 2020 Topps Triple Threads green (/275) and ruby red (1/1).

With nearly 300 1/1s in the collection, I knew I had some 1/1s in these boxes, but I was pleasantly surprised to find this ruby red as I don't even remember buying it.  

Do you have any green and red parallels in your collection?

Do you want to see more of my green and red parallels this month?

The Most Elite

Each year during the month of October, I show off only pink (and shades of pink like magenta, peach, etc) to help raise awareness of Breast Cancer, a leading cause of death for females in the United States.  

Due to my own financial situation this year I will not be able to make a donation for each (meaningful, non spam) comment left by those that follow the blog.  Once things settle down on the home front though I will be looking to make a donation in 2022 based on the comments left during this year's event.  Hopefully together we can help at least one woman get a much needed mammogram.  Early detection is key!!!

If you want to make your own private donation please visit the National Breast Cancer Foundation.  There is a donate button on the main page and it only takes a minute of your time.  Every little bit helps.

I have focused primarily on cards that only feature Andrew McCutchen on the card, but in recent years have also featured cards with a cameo appearance (either being seen on the card or as a name cameo on the back of the card).  In 2019, I created Falco Files which discussed players that replaced (Shane Falco Replacements movie reference) on an active roster, number worn, or trade.  I will also be showing some Cutch's Crew cards that show pink cards of players that have played with Cutch on multiple teams. I will continue to utilize these styles of posts as we celebrate the 5th Collecting Cutch Save Second Base event (I am no longer counting my first run on the Pirates Treasure Room I did back in 2014).

I am always looking for new ways to incorporate new celebrities into the event so today I am presenting

Zoe Saldana

She was born in New Jersey in 1978 and got her first acting role in 2000. 

By 2003 she was beginning one of the most impressive runs at landing in movies with huge ticket sales when she played the role of Anamaria, from Pirates of Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

She has been a huge part of many sci-fi movies over the past decade. 

In 2009 she starred in James Cameron's Avatar which was the highest grossing movie of all time.  Zoe helped to bring the world of Avatar to life by her stunning performance of Neytiri.

Avatar remained atop the highest selling movie of all time until a new Disney entry occurred in 2019.

That movie was Avengers:Endgame and thanks to a second release during the holiday season, it topped Avatar.

Zoe retained her role from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, playing the role of Thanos' step daughter, Gamorra.

If you want a top selling Sci-Fi movie in the 21st century go to Zoe Saladena.  She has been the most elite actress of the past decade.  By the end of 2019 she was the 2nd highest grossing actress of all time.

Above is a magenta printing white whale from 2020 Triple Threads.  It features an autograph and patch relics and bat relics.  The card spells out Decade Elite

The back discusses how elite Cutch was offensively during the 2010s. 

What was the last movie you saw in theatres?

Do you plan to see any movies in the near future?

Superman Day

Every June 12th is celebrated as National Superman Day.

You may recall I discussed this day back in 2019 when I showed off a super rare 1 of 1 autograph booklet letter patch card.  

I was never a huge fan of Superman compared to other superheroes.  I always liked the darker more angsty heroes like Wolverine, Green Arrow, or Batman or I liked the comical heroes like Flash or Deadpool.

I do respect Superman though.  He is an American icon.

Superman is also known as The Man of Steel.

Here are some other Men of Steel from my Andrew McCutchen Triple Threads collection

Last year of dreads, last year of prepurple

It was a week ago that Andrew McCutchen hit his 250th career homer.  I've shown off a few of my cards limited to 250 copies in celebration of this event.  

Today I will look at my 2014 cards limited to 250 copies.

2014 was the last year of Cutch having dreadlocks during a season and it would also be the last year before things were getting purply by Topps.

2014 Bowman Orange

2014 Triple Threads Emerald

2014 Bowman Chrome Blue refractor

I love that Homerun chart above.  I wish more cards had unique backs like that on a regular basis.

I have been dropping some trivia while looking at Cutch's career homeruns, but I think this next bit of trivia is awesome and really shows the power/speed combination that Cutch has shown over his 13 year career.

Since Cutch's 2009 debut there has only been 1 player in Baseball with 250 homeruns and 200 stolen bases.  His name is Mike Trout.  Cutch currently sits on 194 career stolen bases and 250 homers.  It is likely Cutch joins this generation's greatest player before the season is up. Granted Trout did all that before his 30th birthday, but who's keeping track of that?

Let The Purple Rain begin

I have been showing off some of my cards limited to only 250 copies in celebration of Andrew McCutchen's 250 career home runs.

Below you will see three more cards limited to 250 copies.  

They are all from 2015 and this year really put into place the purple parallel as being the standard limited to 250 copies.

2015 Topps Chrome Purple Refractor

2015 Bowman Purple

2015 Triple Threads Emerald

As stated, Cutch had hit his 250th career homer last Wednesday.  Of his 250 career homers here is a list of the players Cutch has launched off the most against

There are two pitchers that Cutch has hit 4 homers against: Mike Fiers and J.A. Happ.

Fiers of course is famous for bringing attention to the Astros cheating scandal and one of the most unique facial hair cuts ever. 4 of Cutch's 6 career hits versus Fiers have found themselves on the other side of the fence.

Cutch's brief Pirates teammate J.A. Happ has also surrendered the most homers to Cutch with four in 33 plate appearances.  Cutch has a .862 slugging percentage against the former Bucco.  His OPS is 1.347

As impressive as that OPS is, Cutch has actually fared better against another pitcher who briefly played with the Pirates (in spring training).  Clayton Richard, like Happ, is a journeyman southpaw. Cutch has reached base 63% of the time he has faced off Richard and has a career OPS of 1.625 with 3 homers in 17 plate appearances.  

In terms of pitchers who have surrendered multiple homers to Cutch with the fewest plate appearances the list starts with Jose Torres who has given up 2 longballs in 3 plate appearances.  

The most recent pitcher to surrender multiple homers to Cutch is Trevor Rodgers of the Miami Marlins who has given up 2 round trippers in 5 at bats.  With an additional walk and double to his credit versus the Marlins pitcher, Cutch has elevated himself into Barry Bonds territory with a 2.200 OPS.