Falco Files: The Man

Sorry for all the delays with this year's event.  We are continuing to move forward with the purchase of the house.  I can't wait to show you all the new Cutch cave basement once we finally settle in next month. 

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

Rebecca Quin

She is best known as her WWE personality, Becky Lynch and is the current WWE Raw Women title holder

She was born in Limerick, Ireland in 1987 and began wrestling professionally in 2002 as a teenager. 

She has become one of the most popular female wrestlers in the history of professional wrestling.

In 2021 she married fellow WWE superstar Seth Rollins who she has a child with

Becky Lynch has a nickname of The Man that she got in 2018 thanks to a feud with The Queen, Charlotte Flair.

Bryan Reynolds, acquired in the 2018 Andrew McCutchen trade, has become the best player on the Pirates.  Elected to his first All Star Game in 2021, he was the first Pirate to start an All Star Game since Andrew McCutchen in 2015.

He was named a finalist for a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger. 

This 2020 Topps Finest The Man insert is a callback to the 1998 Topps Finest set featuring a neon pink The Man logo on front

It features an Andrew McCutchen name cameo on the back in addition to that bright pink border on side

Do you have a favorite wrestler (past or present)?

Who is "The Man" on your favorite baseball team currently?

Belated Star Trek Day

Star Trek

To boldly go where no man hs gone before...

Even if that means going back a day from the future.

Yup, I forgot to tie in a Star Trek Day post yesterday because quite frankly I had no idea such a thing existed. 

Star Trek Day is celebrated every September 8th in memory of it's original airing on September 8th, 1966.

I was never a big Star Trek fan.  

Star Wars was more my thing.

Truth be told though the Alien and Predator film franchises are my true Sci-Fi loves.

To celebrate (a day late) Star Trek Day I thought I would look at some Andrew McCutchen cards in my collection that tie into the Star Trek Mythos.

Let's get started with an actress I have neglected from including as part of my SaveSecondBase event.  I am talking about Jeri Ryan who plays the Borg drone character, 7 of 9 on the show Star Trek: Voyager.

7 of 9

You may recall that a few years ago I attempted to make a Frankenset of Andrew McCutchen cards numbered to 9 copies as part of Daniel's 9 year blogging anniversary contest.  I couldn't quite fulfil that request because I was missing a 7/9.

That all changed when one follower on Twitter hit me up that he had pulled a Cutch 2020 Triple Threads gold parallel numbered...

7 of 9.

Speaking of 9, there was a series called Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that ran for 3 seasons from 1993 to 1995.

This September 8, 2014 issue of Sports Illustrated features Cutch on the cover and the main article is called Andrew McCutchen Goes Deep.

Star Trek debuted in 1966 and Cutch has been featured on several 1966 Topps designed cards.

The 2015 Topps Heritage design used the 1966 Topps design and pictured above is a 3 card advertising panel found in the box toppers.

Star Trek: The Next Generation followed up the success of the original Star Trek and it debuted September 1987.  Now I could easily show off some of the 1987 designed cards I have, but I'm going to boldly go beyond and show off one of my favorite Superfractors in my collection.

Above are the 2015 Topps Finest Generations red parallel /5 and Superfractor 1/1.  These cards pop!!!!

So there are some of my Cutch cards and magazine article that I could tie into some Star Trek items.

What is your favorite Sci-Fi franchise?

Do you like Star Trek?

ICYMI : The Magic of 250

In case you missed it, Andrew McCutchen hit his 250th Career Home Run on Wednesday night.  

Here is a breakdown of his 250 HR by team

203 Pirates

15 Giants

5 Yankees

27 Phillies

I wanted to show off a few of my cards that were serial numbered to only 250 copies and decided to start with 2016 and 2017.  

My reason for those years?

Well, that's around the time I changed my focus from collecting all things Pittsburgh to be mostly just CollectingCutch

So without further ado, here are a few of my serially numbered cards to 250 copies

Now I should warn you all that if you have allergic reactions to the color purple, it is best to change the general direction of your eye gazing.

Let's begin with the year 2017

Bowman Platinum purple holofoil

Bowman's Best purple refractor

Topps Gallery 1951 Bowman Heritage green

Gypsy Queen purple border

⚾ ⚾ ⚾ 

Now we will travel back to 2016

Bowman Chrome purple Refractor

Bowman purple

Bowman Platinum purple

Bowman's Best Blue

Topps Finest purple

Gypsy Queen purple

Triple Threads Emerald

I do plan to make more posts celebrating Cutch's 250th career Homerun and will be taking a deeper dive into his homers.

Don't forget to head over to topps.com and purchase yourself a copy of the Topps Now card. I secured myself a copy of the base and the red parallel autograph limited to 10 copies.

Back in Black

One of my 2021 Goals is to add 50 NEW Cutch cards to the collection from his Pirates playing days (2005-2017).  That equates to roughly 1 new pre 2018 Cutch card each week.  I have been (barely) keeping pace with that strategy for much of this year.

The card you see below was my first purchase of 2021.  Because it was shipped via PWE there was no tracking on it and it took almost 9 weeks to be delivered.

This 2014 Topps Finest Black Refractor is Numbered 42/99.  I have a love/hate relationship with 2014 Topps Finest.  I both love and hate the design. 

Fun fact: Cutch hit a 5th walk-off homer for the Pirates in 2015. 

I can finally leave feedback for this January 1st purchase.

What is the longest you have had to wait for a card to arrive during this crazy times we are living in now?

The Finest Christmas

Topps Finest created the modern day refractor.  The 1993 set helped revolutionize the card industry using a new set of technology and the hobby reacted in a way that 27 years later we are still in love "with the shine".

2016 Topps Finest really pushed the colors forward in a bold direction.  The color parallels were bold and shined beautifully.

Matthew 5:16

Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

I got BUCKing Lucky

I was going through a stack of cards to mail out last week and came across a card that I had never put away for my PC.  

I bought this green parallel for only $1 with free shipping.

Cutch SP Challenge Day 2

I got some more packages in the mail Friday and they all relate to the 2020 SP Frenzy Challenge.

I said I wouldn't go after the SP and pay $275 for one card that on average could be available 1 in every 7 packs.

Nope.

Not gonna do it!

I did grab a foilboard parallel from 2020 Big League release though.

It cost me $3.25

Did you know that only 100 of these Foilboard cards exist? Only 3 have sold.

Did you know that there is likely 2,000+ of the McCutchen SP out there?  87 have already sold on eBay

Which one should have the ridiculous premium attached to it?

I also grabbed the 2020 Topps Finest Bryan Reynolds "The Man" insert.  This insert card has a nice layer of pink which I think could come in handy for October.

It has an Andrew McCutchen cameo on the back.

And...it only cost $2.65 shipped.

I also snagged another 2020 parallel I needed.

This is the gold parallel numbered to 2,020 copies (similar print run as the SP everyone is chasing)

This card cost me only $1.99

Yesterday's mail day cost only $7.89.  I feel like I got better value out of these cards than the father's day and vintage stock from Wednesday.

That brings the total to $44.89 for these 5 cards.  Not great, but the two best cards will really bring the prices down for the wntire project.

24 Day Countdown With Nothing But the Finest

Knock knock
Whos there?
Orange
Orange who?
Orange you glad we have another countdown card today...

This 2014 is the orange parallel numbered to 25 copies.

This one is serially numbered to 24 (/ 25) which helps with the countdown recognizing it is only 24 days to Opening Day.

The 2014 Topps Finest consisted of 100 cards.

McCutchen was number 24.
Again helping to recognize it's only 24 days until Opening Day.

Oh and in case you're wondering I have a pair of 1/1 printing plates for the base card as well.

They're obviously numbered 24 as well