#tbt: Better Than a Dick

If that isn't an attention grabbing blog title, I don't know what is.

I have done Heritage Comparisons for a few years where I look at an Andrew McCutchen card on a vintage design and compare it to who was the original card number.

2018 Topps Archives gave Cutch TWO cards on a 1959 Topps design.  I previously showed off the Bashers of the Bay card that featured Cutch with Buster Posey.

His main card however, is card #5.

The same card numbering belonged to Dick Donovan in 1959.

Dick Donovan, who also wore the number 22 during his career, was a pitcher for the Chicago White Sox.

(Screenshot taken from eBay)

Donovan like McCutchen was a 5 time All-Star.  He pitched for the White Sox, Tigers, Indians, and two defunct teams (Washington Senators and Boston Braves).  He finished his career with 880 strikeouts  and a 3.67 ERA while amassing 122 victories in his big league career.  He served the Navy after World War 2.

Topps did a nice job with this year's Archives set by creating some more unique parallels that we haven't seen in prior Archives releases.  There was a sky blue, purple, silver, and gold parallel.  The gold is by far the rarest of the bunch.

I purchased the gold foil border numbered 1/1 to help complete my rainbow when eBay was running a 15% off cart purchase during the holiday season.

I will show off some other parallels in the future from the 2018 release.  One of them I am really excited to show off and have selected a date in April.

Juan More Sketch Card

If you have followed my blog for awhile you already know another of my hobby loves was comic book art and sketch cards.

Sketch card superstar Juan Rosales (click here for his official site) has done a handful of sketch cards for me in the past.  The others can be seen here.

This 2018 Series 2 artist proof was commissioned about a year ago and I have been holding off on showing it for too long.  Juan used this sketch card in his various social media platforms to discuss his work on the Topps sketch project.

Juan has been an absolute class act for all the sketch cards he has created for me (some of which I haven't shown off yet).  He is already at work creating another sketch for me of my main player collection wearung those pinstripes (Yankees and Phillies)

Thank you Juan for delivering such a unique sketch card to my collection.

Arg!

I stated a few months ago that I may have acquired the best Andrew McCutchen Giants card.

Well...

I may have out done myself when I snagged this one.  After continuous discussions to acquire this behemoth of a card and having to wait out a 7 day auction, I am super stoked that I am now the proud owner of a Brandon Crawford sleeve patch with a big ol' A on it.

Wait, what?
There's more to the card?

Buster Posey, letter "R" from San Francisco visitors jersey

Sweeeeeeeet! This is my first 1/1 Buster Posey too.

And to top it off, an Andrew McCutchen "G" from a home GIANTS jersey

THIS CARD IS AWESOME!!!

ARG!!!!!
Yup.  This may be a Giant card (literally on two fronts), but it definitely has some Pirates roots to it.

ARG!!!!

Thank you again to the father/son combo who ultimately decided to part with it to me.  It went to a good home.

It marked my 222nd Andrew McCutchen 1/1. That's a pretty sweet number.

The Blue Man who Bows

Bowman...

What if Bowman weren't a card release focusing on prospects and veterans, but it actually referred to a superhero?

Would Bowman be wearing one of these?

Or using one of these?

Or crazier yet, would he greet his enemies with one of these?

That's where the English language can get a little confusing I suppose.

Just like if I were to say I am feeling blue.

Does that mean I am depressed and bummed?

Or does it mean I am feeling like wearing nothing but the color blue.

Thank goodness this blog generally only focuses about baseball cards, eh?

We all know what Bowman means to the hobby.

And we all know a printing plate is called cyan, not blue.

Phew.

This is entry two in my week long devotion to only showing off Andrew McCutchen 1/1s in San Francisco Giants uniforms.

Scripture Sunday Roman 8:38-39

Roman 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ our Lord.

I chose this verse because I found out yesterday that my coworker (Bill)'s mother had passed away.  While I sometimes didn't enjoy working with Bill because of his negative attitude, I respected him and always felt sympathy for him.  For the past year as his mom was regressing health wise he would go to visit her and sit by her bed talking to her.  Bill and I also would discuss baseball cards and sports weekly.  He hasn't collected cards since the junk wax era and constantly would talk about how many 1990 Upper Deck Juan Gonzalez rookie cards he had and how he had wished he held onto them along with all his 85 Clemens cards.

All week long I will be showing off Andrew McCutchen 1/1 cards exclusively in Giants uniforms.

Today I chose an online exclusive Topps Mini Update Gold parallel.

My First Cutch Yankees Jersey

Andrew McCutchen has always worn #22 since becoming a big leaguer in 2009.  That was true until August 31st when he was traded to the New York Yankees who gave Cutch #26 because #22 was Jacoby Ellsbury and he continues to collect a massive paycheck despite not playing.

Once I acquired the 1/1 Superfractor, I wanted to search for cards numbered 26/XXX from 2018 Bowman Best.

This blue is my first.

I am thinking about doing a week of just 1/1s next week featuring Cutch in a Giants uniform. Is that something that people may be interested in?

I'm just trying to mix things up a bit.

Free Agent Jigsaw: Manny being Manny

The Orioles and Pirates have similar pasts.  Long runs of futility followed by brief periods of success.  Outstanding clubs in the 70s.  And two of the greatest shortstops to ever play the game.

They also had two of the premiere players in the game both heading into free agency after the 2018 season.  

The Pirates maximized their return on Cutch by bolstering their outfield depth by adding prospect Bryan Reynolds and getting a key back end of the bullpen arm in Kyle Crick.

The Orioles took one of the Dodgers top prospects in a July trade and look to be in full on rebuild mode.

The Pirates finished 3 games above .500.
The Orioles secured the worse record in baseball.

I don't have any cards of Manny Machado with Andrew McCutchen, but Cutch's greatest game in his Pirates career was against Manny's Orioles in Cutch's final Pittsburgh homestand back in 2017.

Cutch always had a flare for the dramatic.

His last All-Star at bat had him rounding 3rd base after he hit a homer and passing by Manny Machado too.

Again flare for drama.

One time Cutch slid aggressively into 3rd base and made Manny have to leave the game early.

Maybe they will be teammates in Philadelphia?

Time will tell...

Yankees Superfractor

My very first Yankees Superfractor is none other than Andrew McCutchen.  This is likely the only Cutch Yankees Superfractor that will be produced.

I have previously shown off the atomic refractor.

Forgot about Rickey?

In my haste to show off all my Cutch relic pairings with Hall of Famers, I forgot to show off my triple relic of Rickey Henderson with Cutch and Carl Crawford.

Museum Welcomings

Congratulations to the Hall of Fame Class of 2019.  The Hall finally has it's first unanimous selection in Mariano Rivera.

The Hall of Fame Museum now has the greatest closer and greatest designated hitter in the game. 

Since the Museum is getting bigger with more players elected, I thought I should show off my jumbo patch from 2017 Museum.

Numbered to only 5 copies

Hall of Fame Announcement

It will be revealed tomorrow who else will be joining Lee Smith and Harold Baines in the Hall of Fame.

I thought it might be cool to show off some Cutch cards I have featuring members already in the Hall of Fame.

Tris Speaker

Ralph Kiner

Willie Stargell

(The above also features HOF Reggie Jackson)

Roberto Clemente

Clemente and Stargell

(Ok so the above card doesn't feature Cutch, but darn is it a nice card)

Stargell and Kiner

Ken Griffey Jr (along with Willie Mays and Reggie Jackson making appearances too)

Not a bad mini PC to combine, right?

So here are the people I would vote in

1&2: Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens get my vote because I believe in the Chris Archer rule: never convicted, never admitted, and HOF careers prior to belived start dates.

3. Larry Walker
4.Edgar Martinez
5.Mariano Rivera
6.Roy Halladay
7.Roy Oswalt (needs to get 5% for future votes)
8.Mike Mussina
9.Todd Helton
10.Curt Schilling