No Fun Friday!

For the second year in a row, Andrew McCutchen got the no text back from Topps.  Cutch will likely be appearing in Series 2 Topps as he was omitted from Series 1.

The Topps team sets gave us a sneak preview of what to expect for the former NL MVP.

He is wearing a throwback uniform on the front of the card.

The back however has no distinguishing facts about his previous accomplishments or even what he was able to do in a brief time in a Phillies uniform in 2019.

It could have mentioned his leadoff homer on Opening Day which only 2 other Phillies have done in their extended history.

It could have mentioned how he was leading the league in walks and second in runs scored at time of his injury.

It could have mentioned how he is one of only 3 players in history (along with Barry Bonds and Mike Schmidt) to walk 3 times, score 4 runs, homer, and drive in a pair of runs.  This statistic is mind blowing that only 3 people have done it and that is some REALLY GOOD company to be grouped with.

It could have mentioned his charity work he has done over the years.

It could have mentioned the team chemistry he tries to create no matter where he plays.

It could have mentioned something, anything.

But instead it just mentions his stats and his 1.5 WAR last year in only 59 games and his nearly 50 career WAR in his 11 year career thus far.

How do you feel about just stats on the back of a baseball card? Would you prefer some interesting fact or do you just want the stats? 

Building With Bricks

With the coronavirus making many people stay inside and not do much socially I have been binge watching a lot of TV.

I did away with actual cable last year and now just watch Hulu, Netflix, Disney+, and YouTube TV.

There is a weekly show that I can't watch until the day after it's airing date and I look forward to Thursdays more than any other day of the week.

The show is called Lego Masters and it airs Wednesday nights on Fox, but also plays on Hulu beginning Thursday mornings.  It is hosted by Will Arnett.

The show pits teams of two against each other in a reality TV show where they must build theme parks, race cars, cities, among many other things.

There are a few ladies on the show which could be prime choices for my annual Save Second Base Event.

That could be an inspiring post.

Now that I have talked about Lego Masters I thought it would be fun to show off my Oyo collection of Cutch figures.

Oyo is a line of Lego inspired sports figures depicting players, mascots, stadiums, etc.  They are all licensed products and have been in production since 2012.  The early figures command big money on the open market.

An Andrew McCutchen 2012 All-Star Game uniform has sold for over $50 loose.

There are MANY Oyo figures of Cutch that I still need including all variants in Phillies and Giants uniforms, his 2012 and 2015 All-Star Game figures, and the black alternate jersey figure, and yellow alternate jersey figure.  Loose or sealed, I hope to get them all one day.

Harpooned

With eBay items not popping up as often as they used to and COMC being in a hotbed of community spread of the virus, I made my 3rd Twitter purchase in a year and it just so happens to be another 1/1.

Before things got really crazy with dozens of new cases on a daily basis, I approached @nenunenu about a White Whale printing plate autograph/triple patch relic of Andrew McCutchen from 2011 Triple Threads.

The front of the plate features a sticker autograph og Cutch along with some road game used jersey swatches.

The Back features the white whale mark, but also discusses how good Cutch was when he first debuted for the Bucs.  To be in all time hostory in his first year is pretty remarkable.

Cardboard Cameos: Philly Philly

No countdown today because we don't know when Opening Day will be now that the season is suspended.

I picked up the insert set of Bryce Harper:Welcome to Philly cards because 1)I wanted to see if Cutch had any cameo appearances and 2)my girlfriend is a Phillies fan and likes the energy Harper plays with.

The 20 card set cost me $10 delivered so .50 a card which I found to be reasonable.

I didn't scan all the cards, but feel like Topps did a decent job of spotlighting some of Harper's 1st year Phillies moments.  From his MLB The Show cover appearance to walk off homers to record jersey sales and highlight reel catches Topps did a good job of capturing the moments.

Of the 20 cards there are 3 Cutch cameo appearances.

A pair of them make mention of Harper knocking Cutch in to score.

The third is a visual cameo which you need to look closely at.

Harper had a personal celebration with each member of the Phillies and behind the hands of Mikael Franco and Bryce Harper you can see Cutch's face and jersey.

With Topps producing more of these player specific insert sets who do you want to see get a 20 card set and what highlights do you want to see?

A Few Slashers

Today would have been the 13th day until Opening Day countdown, but with the season temporarily suspended it looks like I need to find other things to blog about.

It's also Friday the 13th.

When I think of the saying Friday the 13th I immediately think about Jason Voorhees, the slasher from Crystal Lake.

So with today being Friday the 13th, I thought I could show 13 various DIE CUT cards.  It seems fitting to discuss on such a day.

I have a lot more rare parallels like Gold Prizm and relic die cuts, but if anyone has ever attempted to put a die cut card into a penny sleeve or top loader, you know they are difficult to get the right angle without dinging one of the many potential "corners".

So with that being said here are some of my lower end die cuts.

2014 Elite Aspirations Inspirations

The design for this card looks like it could be a logo for a intergalactic space police force.


2014 Stadium Club Triumvirate

The beehive honeycomb background on these Triumvirate cards looks so awesome.

2015 Stadium Club Triumvirate

The die cut pieces of this insert interlock with other players to form a full image.  Mccutchen connects with Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco.  Above are the luminous and luminescent variants.  The Illuminator variant is an acetate version and is a case hit.

2015 Elite

There are So many different parallels for this set (including some that include sticker autographs).

2015 Prizm Diamond Marshal insert

I also have the gold parallel, but this card in particular is one of the toughest to sleeve without dinging that pointy bottom of the "badge" design.  The base and prizm (Refractor) have both been scanned.

2015 Topps Chrome

This design reminds me of when I used to make paper snowflakes around Christmas time.  We would take a coffee can to make a perfect circle then fold it a couple times.  Then start just slashing.  When the paper would get unfolded it would have a symmetrical design with just random pieces missing.

2014 Bowman Platinum Cutting Edge Stars

This Bowman Platinum card would look amazing with an autograph on it.

2014 Bowman Platinum 5 Tool

This Bowman Platinum diecut insert gives me the impression of just cut out anything that would have the black border be part of a design.  There are so many edges on this card.

2013 Bowman Platinum Cutting Edge Stars

Another Bowman Platinum insert.

2015 Allen & Ginter National

As a precursor To Ginter X Topps produced some die cut cards that were distributed at the National to get fans excited about the 10th Anniversary of the product.

2012 Topps Chrome Dynamic Die Cuts

Holy cow do the colors on this thing pop!!!


2013 Bowman Chrome Fit The Bill

This design clearly took a silhoute of Abraham Lincoln's favorite headgear and modernized it into a shiny baseball card.

2012 Faces of Franchise

This is my favorite "oddball" card I have of Andrew McCutchen.  The card was designed to be part of the autograph subject line, but Topps never put the stickers on the cards or foil stamped it.  It is believed that only 15 were produced and with no major markings besides the tiny print certified autograph issue it is very likely that the other 9 are somewhere in a quarter bin.

Is it really only 14?

With more states and cities becoming concerned over the Coronavirus scare, it remains questionable if Opening Day will actually start on March 26th as currently scheduled.

I chose this 2014 Breaking Out insert to represent today's countdown.

 It is number 14 in a 20 card set found in Topps Opening Day.

With more cases appearing daily and with other sports entertainment already deciding to suspend the rest of their season (NBA) or play in front of empty stadiums (NCAA March Madness Tournament, select NHL teams) how do you think MLB should handle their Opening Day plans?

1 more 1 of 1

Many athletes these days have unrecognizable signatures.  Often they will just do initials and even they can be questioned if those initials look like the player's actual initials. 

Cutch has a sweet looking autograph.
The A in Andrew is very obvious and rather than signing McCutchen he just signs Cutch, a portion of his name he has been known for since his debut.

Here's a 1 of 1 from 2017 Immaculate I have had for a few years, but never showed off.

It checks off two of my favorite parts of the Cutch collection

On Card Autograph ✔
1 of 1 ✔

This Immaculate Signature is number 15 in the set.

It's only 15 days until Opening Day.