Experiment 626

I've been posting a bunch of my Allen & Ginter cards on Instagram lately and decided that since many people on IG are celebrating 626 day, I would show off a family of Allen & Ginter cards. 

626 day is named after Experiment 626 aka Stitch from Disney's Lilo & Stitch.  

For those that have seen it, there's a phrase Ohana means Family.

Here's my family of 2015 Allen & Ginter cards. 

Multiple different sizes and some very rare cards can be pictured here.

Above you see the mini mini (/2), the mini, the base, and the box topper.

Here are some close ups of the more rare cards

This is a mini rip card /15.  These are EXTREMELY RARE to find still in tact.

Inside could be a rare mini mini card /2 or a redemption for a Mini relic complete set.

Speaking of mini minis

Yeah, these are pretty rare AND TINY!!!

Look how small it is in my hand

I showed off the wood 1/1 mini yesterday, but here it is again.

This is the extended short print

Have you ever watched Lilo & Stitch? 

Do you have any rare Allen & Ginter cards in your collection? 

Counting Stats?

I hate to say this, but my favorite athlete of all time is getting close to that retirement age.  Far too often we see players retire in their mid 30s.  Very few play until they're in their late 30s or early 40s.  Those that do are often legends and no doubt Hall of Famers.

Again I hate to say this, but I'm not sure there is enough on Cutch's resume to declare a no doubt Hall of Fame nod.

For every Lloyd Waner or Ralph Kiner in the Hall of Fame there are guys like Luis Gonzalez, Steve Garvey, Dale Murphy, Kenny Lofton, and Bernie Williams that never really came close to the Hall of Fame, but had really good career counting stats.

While Cutch certainly has had key moments in his career he never had that one career defining moment, that clutch postseason at bat or that spotlight on him.  Sure he's had the spotlight on him in his early part of his Pittsburgh career, but taking a franchise with 2 decades of losing records into the postseason three years in a row was basically just noticed by the fans of Pittsburgh.  I'm not sure the rest of the nation got a chance to see how special Andrew was to the franchise.  

He was one of the best hitters of the past decade, but largely goes undervalued and under appreciated by the casual fans.

Not to me though (obviously).  

Cutch was and is my favorite athlete ever.  I got back into baseball in 2005 when I attended a Pirates baseball game in Philadelphia.  It was the first time since the 1994 strike shortened season that I attended a baseball game.  

I fell back in love with the game and decided that I would start up a baseball card collection again and researched the Pirates future.  They had just drafted a teenager named Andrew McCutchen and I knew if he ever made it to the majors I would start collecting all of his cards.  I had no idea how difficult that task would become in the parallel era of collecting we are currently experiencing in the hobby.  I also had no idea how much the hobby had changed since 1994 when I gave up on collecting baseball cards.  There were so many rare low numbered cards that I never knew existed.  

I've been told that my player collection has helped inspire others to collect more heavily their favorite players and I'm honored that I have been able to do that.

Someone that inspires others can sometimes be called a luminary.

Andrew McCutchen helps inspire me.

Look closer at this 2021 Topps Luminaries autograph and you'll see why I am being inspired on a daily basis from my favorite baseball player.  

When it comes to my collection I have tried to keep pace with Cutch by having an equal amount of 1/1s to the number of Home Runs hit by Cutch.  They can be printing plates, Superfractors, color parallels (red for Big League Baseball, gold for Topps Now, etc), Logoman patches, sketch cards, etc etc etc...

This Luminaries card has a bold 243 on the front signifying that Cutch has hit 243 homeruns entering the 2021 season.

While this card isn't a 1/1 it does remind me of all the work I need to do to keep pace with Cutch.

Cutch had hit another 27 round trippers over the course of the 2021 season bringing his 270.  

Looks like I've got some serious work to do during the off season as I will need to add 18 more 1/1 cards to the PC prior to Cutch's 2022 debut as I am at 252 one of ones in the collection.

I'll show off one of my more recent 1/1 pickups tomorrow.

Do you keep track of your player collections compared to any of that player's numbers?  

Some examples could be 

Having an Ozzie Smith autograph collection equal to his Jersey number (1)

Having 355 Greg Maddux base cards equal to his career Win Total

Having 73 Barry Bonds insert cards (equal to the historic 2001 season

Having 1,271 Tino Martinez cards equal to his career RBI total 

Researching the 5-8-7

Topps Luminaries has a very fun high end autograph product.  For those that are unfamilar with the product, it features on card autographs of some of the best hit, home run, and strikeout players of their respective eras.  There are of course low numbered parallels to chase (red, blue, black) and all feature a numerical stat about the player.  

Cutch had a card with the bold number 587 on the front.

This card represents the number of extra base hits that Cutch hit between 2010-2020.  

It's pretty impressive that Cutch accumulated 587 extra base hits in the 2010s.  He has hit 676 extra base hits in his career through September 10th, 2021.  42 of them have come in the 2021 season and 47 were in his 2009 rookie season.

I was honestly having a hard time figuring out who is ahead of him for extra base hits in the 2010s.

Some of the first names that came to mind were some of the big boppers like Stanton, Trout, and Harper that debuted in the early 2010s. And of course the future Hall of Fame veterans like Pujols, Beltre, Votto, and Cabrera came to mind.  It's likely that the younger guys to debut 2016 or later like Judge, Vlad Jr, Alonso wouldn't make the list so I didn't bother looking at them.

Let's look at their numbers from 2010 to 2020 since the 587 total doesn't include the 2021 season.

No doubt future Hall of Famers

Albert Pujols 580 (shocked that Pujols 2010 to 2020 numbers are less than Cutch)

Mike Trout 610

Miguel Cabrera 613

Adrian Beltre 527

Likely Hall of Famers

David Ortiz 382

Joey Votto 593

I also decided to look at the stars who had an incredible decade between 2010 to 2020 but were confirmed to be involved in some PED scandals. 

Confirmed PED Users

Robinson Cano 635

Nelson Cruz 650

Ryan Braun 583

Let's look at some HR season leaders of the 2010s along with other stars of the 2010s.

Nolan Arenado 523

Bryce Harper 489

Paul Goldschmidt 574

Jose Bautista 521

Matt Holliday 411

Giancarlo Stanton 569

Justin Upton 566

Freddie Freeman 605

Carlos Beltran 401

Anthony Rizzo 515

Evan Longoria 585

Adrian Gonzalez 469

Jay Bruce 583

Edwin Encarnacion 606

It took me forever to figure out Edwin.  

Edwin for the win

I would say that Cutch is in pretty good company and this further supports that he was one of the best hitters of the 2010s.

Knowing the answers already what players would you have thought would be the top 10 extra base hit leaders of the 2010s?  Are you shocked by any of these guys? 

FLAWLESS VICTORY!!!!

You may recall that I ran a contest and had a blog post with this exact title just over two years ago. 

Well after watching the 2021 Mortal Kombat film on HBO Max last night, it's time to bring back the Flawless Victory!!!

Here are some of my favorite Panini Flawless cards in my collection

Team USA is represented from Cutch's 18U days.  These Flawless cards feature either on card signatures or actual gems (diamond, ruby, sapphire) inside.

Another pair of on card signatures, both limited to under 10 copies

A nice patch and on card autograph from his Pirates days

How about that sleeve patch of the Jolly Roger?!!!!

And these team up????

Starling and Cutch made for one of the best offensive/defensive outfields in baseball from 2012-2015.

No spoilers on the movie here, but the fact it was an R rated film really made this Mortal Kombat movie 10x better than the others.  I loved the introduction of so many familar Mortal Kombat faces.  

The battle of Scorpion and Sub Zero is epic.

Sonya Blade is a badass and hot!!!

Kano is a d**kbag just as you would expect.

The whole movie was great. It was a perfect video game movie.  There, I said it!

Did you ever play Mortal Kombat?  What were some of your favorite characters to play as?

President's Day

Happy 3rd Monday in February everyone!!!!

Today our country is celebrating President's Day, which means that many people got a three day weekend.

Not me though.

The reason there is a President's day is because it falls in between Abraham Lincoln and George Washington's birthdays and they are often heralded as two of our country's greatest presidents.

Oddly enough when I think about these deceased presidents, I think of the Draft Kings commercial that depicted Abraham Lincoln and George Washington in more modern times.  

I want to keep this post free of politics and free of sports betting propaganda.

So in honor of President's Day, I thought I could show off some cards of Cutch that depict a former President.

Here are all my coin cards of Cutch

Let's begin with our 1st President, George Washington

This card should look familiar as I showed it off yesterday.  Nothing further needs to be said of it.

Thomas Jefferson was the 3rd United States President. He was also the country's 2nd Vice President.

Topps Heritage has been producing coin cards in their products almost since the product began being released.  Contained in this 2018 Heritage card is a 1969 nickel. 

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th US President

Lincoln is famous for abolishing slavery during the Civil War and being the first President to be assassinated.  This Gypsy Queen mini 1/1 was purchased from a fellow McCutchen collector.

Moving on is a card that appears similar to the first card depicted in this post.

Lincoln has been turned into a pop culture phenom with films like Lincoln in 2012, which won some Accademy Awards for Daniel Day-Lewis' portrayal.  That same year the film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was released.  It should have also won some awards.

Note: Franklin Roosevelt is on the dime, but for some very odd reason I thought it was Alexander Hamilton, which makes no sense whatsoever....

And to wrap up is a coin card featuring the only active person on a coin that was never a President, Alexander Hamilton

Hamilton served as part of the US Treasury under 1st President, George Washington.  He is a founding father of the United States and has been turned into a Broadway play.

For those that were off today, I hope you all enjoyed the day. 

Anyone know why these Presidents are depicted on the coins they represent?

Let's Make This Card More Desirable

2020 Topps Museum used to be known as a high end product.  It has Museum in it's name for crying out loud.  That should be highest of quality.

Since Topps Museum debuted in 2013 there have been a number of releases that have eclipsed it as being a higher end.  

The most obvious is Transcendent which costs $26K a case.  Others include the 1 card per box products like Dynasty where you get a prime patch and on card autograph on a card sealed in a One-Touch.  Then there are other on card autograph products like Luminaries, Definitive, and even Five Star.

The short window Topps Museum had as being a top dog high end product are gone.  Nowadays it is upper middle class and that saddens me because I always liked the idea of a pack of Museum being a perfect lottery ticket.

You could get base cards (and parallels) which were perfect for set collectors. You had chances at 1/1 sketch cards or at least a reprint insert set inside every box.  There were guaranteed autographs (many of which were stars or rookies). And there were nasty patches to be had IN EVERY BOX!

Museum was a great product, but it has turned into being a Triple Threads boring younger brother. 

So let's take a Momentous Material Jumbo Patch of Cutch numbered to only 15 copies and discuss what would be needed to make this an even higher end release.

I love jumbo patch cards.  

Even if they contain sticker autos.

I think the card is awesome as is, but according to sales of 2020 autograph McCutchen cards it ranks below Triple Threads

As you can see cards like the ones below that are numbered to 18 or 25 copies sell for more money, which generally shows more demand and interest in those types of cards.

I prefer 1 jumbo patch than 3 smaller plain jerseys (or bats).

Would you rather have 1 jumbo patch of a player you collect OR 3 smaller plain relics (either bat or road grey jerseys)?

Is This Even a Baseball Card?

This post was partially inspired by Sport Card Collectors' box break of 1995 Topps Stadium club.

I love baseball cards.  I grew up collecting baseball cards and using all my allowance, birthday, and Christmas money from 1987-1993 on just baseball cards.  1993-1995 saw me add football, basketball, and comics to the group.

I remember getting 10-15 cards in a single pack of cards just enjoying looking for singles of my favorite players.

I lost focus on card collecting around 1996 until about 2009.  I still followed sports, but wasn't into collecting much anymore.

In 2010 I came back to the hobby and have been going strong ever since, but it wasn't until I was showing images of my Andrew McCutchen collection to a coworker that I got to thinking "Is this really a baseball card?"

Baseball cards (or any collectible cards) based on perception should be able to fit into a 9 pocket page and stuck in a binder.

Many of the hits these days can't do that.
Many of today's products wouldn't dare do something like that.

2020 Topps Definitive is on absolute fire 🔥 🔥 🔥 right now.  Individual boxes are selling for $1,600-$2,000 a box. 

Each box contains only 8 cards.  I plan to eventually get a McCutchen pinstripe Phillies relic from the release, but prices are super high for a plain white swatch numbered to 50 copies. 

The above green parallel is numbered to only 15 copies, features a great patch, features a Pirates jersey, and the color is bold.

When I show cards like that to non hobby people though, the consensus is "that's what a baseball card looks like now"?

Look at the thickness of this card compared to a standard flagship card.

Now look at the design of the card

It looks radically different than traditional cardboard. 

Hits like this don't even have set numbers. 

The landscape of trading cards has transformed drastically in the past 30 years. 

Where do you think the hobby will be 30 years from today?

Remembering John Kennedy

Today's black card for my Black History Month posts is this 2019 Gold Label black parallel frame autograph.

I have a few other of the parallels including base, red, and blue.

It's Presidents Weekend so I thought I would connect this card to a name similar to a former president.

John Kennedy, not the president, was the Phillies first black baseball player.

He appeared in only 5 games in his career and received only 2 At Bats.  He was primarily used as a pinch runner or shortstop defensive replacement in the 1957 season.  He didn't get a hit and scored only 1 run.

More of Kennedy's displacement in the Phillies organization can be found here.

The Phillies were one of the last three organizations to have a black baseball player on their team.  MLB put out an article in 2017 about the number of black players on each team.  That article can be,seen here.  It's sad that so few black athletes are playing baseball these days. 

In the 80s/90s they were plentiful with names like Gwynn, Henderson, Jackson, Griffey, Thomas, Sheffield, and Bonds. 

We are stronger together than we are alone...

As stated for my Black History month event I will highlight an impactful black athlete in professional football each Sunday for February.  

Today I have chosen a man who has an award named after him not only for contributions made on the football field, but for what is achieved in the community also.  

Today we will talk about Walter Payton

Payton played his entire 13 year NFL career with the Chicago Bears.  He was a member of the Super Bowl XX (20) Championship team.

He lead the league in rushing a few times and was a top 10 rusher every year making 9 Pro Bowl Selections.  

In 1999, the NFL Man of the Year Award was changed to the Walter Payton Man of Year Award.

Payton was diagnosed with a rare disease and in his final months leading to his death he began to publicly push for organ donations and made a few commercials avout the subject despite his cancer being too far for a transplant to actually take place.

In the final months leading to his death he published an autobiography called Never Die Easy.

His charity continues to work for Payton's vision by raising awareness of organ transplants and donations.  In addition to that his foundation works to provide toys to underprivileged children in the Chicago area. 

Many who receive the Walter Payton Award claim it is the greatest achievement a player can get.  (Arizona Cardinals Wide Receiver can be seen crying for receiving the Award in 2016)

Odd fact: When Cutch first started playimg for the Pirates he would be often miscast as Larry Fitzgerald who was a standout at University of Pittsburgh.  The two have become friends over the years.

Cutch received the Baseball Equivalent to it in 2015 when he got the Roberto Clemente Award.

The Andrew McCutchen black card I chose to showcase today is a 2014 Bowman Black Parallel.

The design of the card looks great, but the back is the reason I chose this card to discuss a football player today.

In the up close section you will see that Cutch is a fan of professional football.

Labels are stupid, but Gold Labels Are Awesome

Short on time today so I am just going to show off another autograph of Andrew McCutchen.  I haven't counted them in a long time, but I think I am getting close to 200 unique autographs of Cutch.

I like that there are more on card autographs of Cutch to chase in recent releases.  I wish that there were more dreadlock style Cutch cards with on card autographs, but beggars can't be choosers.

Keep the autos coming....

Since late 2017 Topps and Panini have been using Cutch as an autograph subject more frequently than during his MVP level seasons.  From 2012 to 2015, Cutch finished in top 5 voting all four years, winning the award in 2013. 

Whatever label you want to put on Cutch's career thus far one thing prior to his injury year in 2019 was consistency.  He was one of only 2 players to mash over 20HRs from 2011 to 2018.  Had his 2019 injury not occurred he likely would have kept that streak going into 2020 as he had 10 HRs in just about 2/3 of the season left to play.