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

A Hero Answers The Call

June 12th is National Superman Day

When I think about superheroes wearing capes, I immediately think of the DC Comics characters.  Heroes such as Batman, Superman, the Spectre, Shazam!, and many more of the Justice League/Justice Society wear capes.

However, when Stan Lee was cocreating the Marvel universe he used the idea of that and flipped it upside down. Stan wanted his villains to wear the capes to rival what DC had created.  So when characters like Loki, Magneto, and Doctor Doom were being created Stan was insisting they wear capes.  Stan's Marvel Heroes didn't wear capes except Thor. 

I have always been more of a Marvel fan than DC Comics fan, but when I think of caped characters it is the heroes that stand out.  Batman, Superman, and Spawn immediately come to mind before anyone else.

Heroes wear capes...

Back of this National Treasures 1/1 card discusses Cutch's heroic act on May 29th when he wore a cape to save the city of Pittsburgh from a loss against the Snakes.

Complete recap of the walkoff can be seen in the video below.

Cutch would strut into home with a lil extra swagger

With that HR he joined Hall of Famers Willie Stargell and Ralph Kiner as the only Pirates to have 6 walk off homers in their careers.

Cutch V Batman: Dorkness Recesses aka F**k Batman

San Diego Comic Con is in full effect at the time of typing this.  I had always wanted to attend it just once as I am a nerd deep inside.

Fans were previewed a trailer for the new Titans TV show exclusive to DC's streaming service.

The trailer begins with Robin saying "F*** Batman".  The DC Universe aka Zak Snyder's playground is always so dark.  When I think of the Titans I think more fun than brooding and morbid.  The show should have followed in Marvel's footsteps and did something similar to how the characters of Guardians of the Galaxy interact.  Instead we get "F*** Batman"

Let me clarify something, I am a big fan of Batman.

I am not a big fan of the Reds.  They historically have beaten my Pirates in all the important games.

Let's travel back to the year 2012.
With the Pirates on the cusp of finally breaking their 20 year losing streak they would have to face the Reds in the final home series and win out or risk losing their 82nd game and thus ensuring another losing season.  That year, like the previous year, the Pirates were in first place at the All Star break.  Like the previous year the team suffered a second half collapse.

On September 28th, 2012 the Pirates would face Homer Bailey.

Homer Bailey, who looks an awful lot like Christian Bale, made sure the Pirates would lose their 82nd game in a way only the Pirates and their faithful fans could bear witness too.  Bailey was masterful that day as he pitched a no hitter using 115 pitches over 9 innings.

His only blips were a walk to Andrew McCutchen and an infield error that Scott Rolen booted off a Clint Barmes one base error.

With Bailey having a terrible season, it seems appropriate to show off how well Cutch has hit Bailey over his career.

Oddly enough, the only year that Bailey contained Cutch was during Cutch's MVP 2013 season.

Following the 2013 season, Bailey met with new Reds manager Bryan Price and wanted to make sure the team was heading in a direction of winning divisions and competing for the postseason.  The Reds seemed determine to go deep in October and signed Bailey to a 6 year $105million extension in February 2014.  It is currently one of the worse contracts given out in the past few seasons only being outdone by the Chris Davis Orioles contract.

I took advantage of a 20% off coupon on eBay a few months ago and snagged this card that I had long desired.  While the price is still too high for a guy who has had a WHIP over 2 and ERA in the 6s the past few years, I wanted the card to remember the guy who secured the Pirates 82nd loss of the 2012 season as it would be the last time the Pirates would have a losing season for 3 years.

Oh and "F*** Batman" this is one of only 2 copies in world.

Batman vs. Superman

When it comes to super hero movies, I will forever be a Marvel guy.  Even the ones that got bad reviews (Daredevil, Punisher, Fantastic Four 1, Wolverine Origins) I still enjoyed because quite frankly I just like the characters more.

Now when it comes to DC movies, I never liked Superman.  I always feel that he had it too easy.  Batman though, yeah Batman is cool.

I bought 4 Bowman Chrome Mini Wave Refractors from a seller who has been selling off his collection to me slowly.

When I layed these cards out I thought of Batman vs Superman because of the color scheme.

They are numbered as following: red /5, black /25, gold /50, blue /99.

I guess the color scheme could also have been for Pirates vs Phillies.  Let's Go Bucs!!!