Serial History, The Zombie Connection from NJ to Pittsburgh

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

Lauren Cohan

She is a model and actress

She is known for her fit body and roles in sci-fi pop culture 

Her most well known role is playing Maggie Grace on the zombie series The Walking Dead

Born in Cherry Hill, New Jersey January 7th 1980, the zombie killer seems perfect to finish out this year's event

Remember how I mentioned Lauren was born on 1/7?

Here is a 2021 Topps Now Turn Back the Clock Cherry parallel serially numbered 1/7.  Fun connection points for the Cherry parallel for someone born in Cherry Hill.

The card talks about rookie Pittsburgh star Andrew McCutchen hitting 3 homers in front of the hometown Pittsburgh crowd.

Fun fact, Night of the Living Dead was filmed at the Monroeville Mall and the zombie Hall of Fame was featured at the mall

Happy Halloween everyone

The Cherry on Top

So yesterday I went to visit my dad just to catch up on things and see the damage that was done around his house from the tornadoes that hit NJ Wednesday night. 

To my surprise there was a package from Topps there waiting for me.  I am still having my eBay purchases and Topps deliveries shipped to his house while Ms CollectingCutch and I continue to move and temporarily live with the in laws. 

After catching up on things I decided to open up the mail that was lingering around.

This is quite literally the cherry on top.

When Topps revealed at the National that Andrew McCutchen would be the Topps Now Turn Back The Clock subject for August 1st, I knew I would be buying a nice brick of these cards.  I picked up a 20 pack in hopes of landing one of the cherry (7 card print run) or ash (3 card print run).

I am very pleased that I have been hitting on my Andrew McCutchen print to order style cards.  I also hit a bonus foil card for the Dock Ellis Matt Taylor Project 70 card, but chose to sell that on eBay. 

Thanks for the surprise hits Topps!

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?

Cyber Monday Buyback

It's Cyber Monday so I thought I should show off an extremely rare card recognizing Cyber Monday.

Two very important things become obvious after scanning this card.

1)My scanner bed is filthy

2)My scanner doesn't pick up foil cards very well

I decided to take a picture instead

This card is a limited buyback from 2015's Panini Cyber Monday exclusive packs.
Details of the set can be found here.

Memorial Day

Millions and millions of Americans will celebrate Memorial Day today.

Sadly, the true meaning of the National holiday has been forgotten and it has unofficially become the start of the summer.  For me it means relaxing by a pool or the shore and/or watching a baseball game while drinking beers and grilling some hotdogs and burgers.

Here are a pair of 2018 Flawless National Team USA cards I have.  Cutch didn't receive the Ruby parallel.  He is only listed for the Gold and Blue as seen in the picture above along with a black (never seen it available)

The back discusses how Cutch lead Team USA 18 under squad with the most walks and scored the second most runs for the team.  These traits remain active as he leads all National League players in walks, hits, and runs scored since his 2009 MLB debut.

What are some of your Memorial Day traditions?

I'm Bad At Gambling

With sports betting now being legal in NJ, I think I should come clean with something.

I am bad at gambling.

I have incorrectly used 9 Home Run challenges cards of Andrew McCutchen on days he failed to hit a homerun including all 3 games he played in his return to Pittsburgh.

The cards cost me $3 to $5 each so that was roughly $40 wasted.


Fortunately, there was still hope.  I negotiated and over paid to get one of only 7 of the cards that people correctly guessed when Cutch hit one of his three homers in April.

These cards are incredibly sharp looking in hand.

The seller provided the card in the Topps Now packaging.

So after having a feeling that Cutch would hit a HR in his last 3 games played and missing on each one, what do you think happened yesterday?

Cutch went yard of course.