These are not the racks you are looking for

I missed an opportunity to highlight women this month so with only a day left in Women's History Month I present to you the history of the celebs I have had a crush on since my childhood. 

A top 10 if you will... (Listed in alphabetical order by first name)

Alexandra Daddario

Alison Brie

Evangeline Lilly

Jennifer Love Hewitt

Jessica Alba

Jessica Biel

Kat Dennings

Kate Upton

Milana Vayntrub

Olivia Taylor Dudley

Now with all those great images of those beautiful women with the assets only slightly showing, but mostly sealed I thought I could show a recent sealed pack of cards with Andrew McCutchen on the cover.

Since rack packs don't exist in the traditional sense anymore, this is the closest I can come up with.

Above is the 2006 sealed set of Altoona Curve featuring Andrew McCutchen on the front and

Neil Walker on the back.

Do you miss rack packs?  Would the current hobby craze make rack packs impossible to keep sealed if Tatis, Acuna, or Trout were on the cover?

Some TriStar parallels

I am having so much fun going back through and looking at all the cards I have in my collection as I am begining to sort and scan and eventually upload to my site.

I completely forgot how many base cards 2005 Topps Update cards I had of Cutch including 4 Golds!

Among all the Bowman Heritage and Topps cards I came across a few TriStar minor league cards.

Cutch was never one of the big hobby names while in the minors despite getting ranked as high as #13 on Baseball America's Top Prospect lists prior to 2007.  While in the minors "prospecters" were going crazy for Brandon Wood, Andy LaRoche, Justin Upton, Travis Snider, and Jay Bruce.  Guys like Cutch and Kershaw were largely ignored.

Back in the mid 2000s the Bowman prospecting craze with 18 different color parallels hadn't started yet.  There was no such thing as a bubble refractor or carbon fiber refractor 1st year Bowman card.

There was a draft pick card in Update, some Bowman Heritage draft pick cards, one Bowman card with only 4 different parallels,  Just Minor, and TriStar products.

More competition and less products.  What a simpler time it was....

I found two TriStar cards I own of Cutch while a member of the A ball affiliate Hickory Crawdads (more on them tomorrow).  They include the green parallel to 50 copies and the base.

I also own a trio of TriStar cards from his days with the Altoona Curve.

These include the Green (/25), Reflective (Foil Refractor not numbered), and base.

These make some pretty unique minor league cards of the player actually wearing their minor league uniform.   I always prefer minor league cards to airbrushed affiliate cards for players who haven't made their debut.

To put into perspective, Charlie Hayes' son Ke'Bryan Hayes, has reached AA Altoona Curve and currently has 409 different cards including 1/1s.  That is a little bit crazy....just a little.

A Class Act

I was picking up a pair of minor league releases of Cutch via eBay and got the most welcomed surprise when the cards arrived.

Inside was a not saying "Brian-We had a mistake in listing. 2008 International Top Prospecting listing showed a picture of 2008 International All Star (a common Ebay malfunction).  To avoid a problem, I included both cards."

Upon scanning the cards and getting ready to file them, I realized I actually needed both.  My minor league release cards now appear closer to being complete.  I was amazed at the generosity and will always support JS Sports Cards for any minor league releases I may need in the future.  If you are in search of some cardboard check out JS Sports Cards

Here's my Cutch minor league releases (excluding all the Just Minors cards as I am saving them for a future post).

Starting off with the Low A affiliate, Williamsport Crosscutters

Then High A, Hickory Crawdads

AA Altoona Curve

And a Top Prospect for AAA, Indianapolis Indians

I will show off my Tristar and Just Minors cards in a future post, but I believe my Minor League card collection to be almost complete.
There is a 2006 Hickory Crawdad card available at Stadiums for a team set release that I am still looking to add.  There is currently one listed on eBay for $75, but I am determined to find one under $20.  That card is Cutch's first team issued card.