#tbt: Gray Hair?

You may recall that I had a chance to meet Andrew McCutchen last September.  I showed off the custom dreadlock card that Tanner Jones made for me.  Brad from Brad's (Phillies) Blog met up with me at the show and filmed the entire meeting which I pinned to my Twitter.  The whole interaction can be revisited here on my blog.

Well as weird as it is to have a piece of cardboard with a piece of dreadlock in it, I wasn't done.  I asked Tanner to make another custom for me so that I could send it off to another McCutchen collector who has sold me A LOT of low number Cutch cards over the years.  In addition to that custom I asked Tanner if he could create a t206 style dna relic card.

As a Pirates fan there is no more desirable card than a t206 Honus Wagner card.  It is a holy grail of anyone who collects sports cards.  It makes it more special for a Pirates fan though.  I will never own an original, but did have a chance to hold one at a Chantilly show a few years ago which I wrote about on my old blog here.

Back in 2002 Topps released a bat relic card inside a framed Honus Wagner mini that resembled the legendary t206 card.  It is one of my favorite cards in my collection.  I showed it way back in 2013 on the old Pirates Treasure Room blog.

I asked Tanner to recreate something similar using a strand of the dreadlock I gave him for the custom and he created an awesome Cutch card in that t206 style sporting a Homestead Grays uniform.

Here is what he came up with.  This card is fricking awesome!!!

Cutch is one of the premier black baseball players in the game today.  It may not be a coincidence that his prime years were with the Pirates, a team housed in Pittsburgh. 

For the better part of a decade, the Homestead Grays of Pittsburgh, dominated the Negro Leagues.  I have talked before about Hall of Famers and Negro League legends like Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, and Cool Papa Bell. 

A pitcher who played the twilight of his career with the Grays may have actually been the best pitcher in Negro League history though.  And in case you're wondering, his name isn't Satchel Paige.

" Smoky" Joe Williams was born in 1886 to an African American and Comoche Indian parents.  He began his baseball playing career in 1907 with the San Antonio Black Bronchos. 

Not much is known of his stats, but it has been said that he struck out 27 batters in a 12 inning game and that he threw a no hitter against the New York Giants in an exhibition match.  His barnstorming exhibition games had him defeating many Hall of Famers like Waite Hoyt andGrover Alexander.

In his only matchup versus Paige, Williams bested him 1-0 as a 43 year old while Paige was just breaking into his prime.

In 1952 the Pittsburgh Courier named Williams the greatest Negro Leagues pitcher.

Williams was finally elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.

It's Time I Reveal This Masterpiece

Tomorrow I will be on my way to the Philly Show. It is my first time attending the show.

Andrew McCutchen is one of the stars signing at the show and he is also doing a photo opp with fans.  I booked my tickets earlier in the week and have reached out to Brad from Brad's (Phillies) Blog about meeting up at the show.  This will be the first time I meet up with another blogger in person so it should be fun.

The main reason I am going is because of Andrew McCutchen. It has been a long time since I got a chance to do a photo opp with Cutch. (2010 to be specific)  I am really excited about having him sign a custom card I had made. 

Here is some backstory on the card...
As we all know, Andrew McCutchen cut his famous dreadlocks off for charity during Spring Training 2015.  Shortly after they were auctioned off via MLB charity auctions.  Only 12 were put up for auction.

Each dreadlock was included in a dual MLB authenticated Ziploc bag and an autograph baseball of Cutch.

I got #3.

I reached out to Tanner From TanManBaseballFan, Mouschi, and CansecoCollector fame to do a custom for me using the dreadlock.

This is what he came up with.  He took about 3 inches of the dreadlock and encapsulated it inside the cardboard.

The back of the card tells the story of how Cutch donated the locks to charity and includes one of the MLB authenticated stickers.

Here is the card in it's case. (Sorry for the bad scan)

Here is a video of Tanner producing the card.

My hope is that Andrew will sign the acetate tomorrow to complete this custom.

I had plans to get this image of JT Realmuto and Cutch signed as well, but couldn't get it to print properly.  It just wouldn't align correctly.

Showing off some customs

Occassionally I will come across some custom cards for sale that strike my fancy.  I'm not a huge supporter of these kinds of cards, but if it features an old Topps design I liked or a unique moment I usually pull the trigger.

Recently I came across this custom

I picked up his "team set" of Team USA.

I loved this year's WBC and rooting for Team USA.  I have to hand it to Jim Leyland for winning the tournament and sticking with his core guys.  I felt like the team lacked the "Superstar" and "Hobby star" names, but as a team they did an incredible job.

When you think of the big names in the card collecting world, who on Team USA draws the most attention?
Buster Posey, probably.
All their other guys play on small market teams.  Miami, Kansas City, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Colorado, Baltimore.  Most are low revenue teams.
Again kudos and Jim Leyland and the team.

I have also picked up a few other customs over the years.

This was a hand drawn sketch card that I thought looked really good so I had to pick it up.

These two were random impulse buys.

And to finish things off is this really sweet looking T206 Style Piedmont card.

The Mauer was a freebie the seller provided.
If anyone wants the Mauer let me know.