The Great Rookie (and Cup) Debate

Topps rookie cup/trophy cards have been around for a long time.

Over the course of that time, Topps has made a few errors.  In recent years we have seen players have a rookie cup logo in addition to a rookie card logo on the same card because Topps has chosen to release the player's rookie card after the player's actual rookie season.  We saw it happen in 2020 with Yordan Alvarez, 2021 with Alec Bohm (although the year 2020 was a strange year for distribution, player debuts, shortened seasons, etc due to the worldwide pandemic), and 2022 with Wander Franco. 

As much as people get upset (myself included) for Topps not releasing a rookie card during a player's rookie season we have seen this happen many times in the past including HOF guys like Willie Mccovey and Eddie Murray.  Their Rookie Cup cards aknowleding the tremendous performance as a rookie got placed on their cards for their true 2nd year in the big leagues, but they are considered rookies because they didn't get a rookie card when they were actually rookies.

Many of us believe that in the earlier 2010s Topps seemed better at applying the correct RC logos on players and those good enough to make the Rookie Cup award get their 2nd year card to adorn the Rookie Cup. I'm going to prove that theory wrong too.

With the Pirates deep in nearly two decades of losing seasons, Andrew McCutchen's debut in 2009 gave the fans hope of better things to come.  Cutch won the Baseball America Rookie of Year, finished in 3rd for Baseball Writers NL ROY, and was announced as a Topps Rookie Cup winner for his debut season in 2009.

Cutch got a RC logo on his 2009 Topps Update card during his rookie season. 

Cutch's performance as a rookie lead to Topps producing cards of Cutch in 2010 with the Rookie Cup/Trophy logo for Topps Flagship and Heritage releases.

Good things were definitely on the horizon for Pirates fans as it saw the team promote their top 3 positional prospects (Pedro Alvarez, Jose Tabata, and Neil Walker) in 2010. 

Both Neil and Jose received a RC in 2010 due to their early season debuts.

Pedro Alvarez was called up later in the season and didn't appear in 2010 products except Pro Debut (a prospect filled minor league set).  He did not receive a RC in 2011 like what we have seen recently with other top prospects like Wander Franco, Yordan Alvarez, Alec Bohm. However as you can see below Topps didn't put a RC logo on Pedro's 2011 Topps release.

The 2010 Topps Rookie Team can be found here.  As you can see from that list, Pirates 2B Neil Walker was named a Rookie Cup winner.

This meant that Walker would have his Topps Flagship and Topps Heritage cards feature the rookie cup.

One name missing from that list is Jose Tabata, who was good enough to receive one rookie of the year vote in 2010 for his performance.

He slashed .299/.346/.400 with 19 stolen bases in 26 attempts.  After the 2010 season, he was believed to be atop the Pirates lineup for the future for his above average speed and hitting approach. He also provided outstanding defense in left field. 

Tabata had a good rookie season in 2010, but in comparison to Jason Heyward, Mike (Giancarlo) Stanton, and Austin Jackson it just wasn't good enough to receive the cup/trophy honor for his 2011 Topps flagship cards.

However, Topps Heritage did produce a 2011 Topps Heritage card featuring the All Star Rookie trophy for Tabata.

The back mentions Tabata having the second most stolen bases on the Pirates.  Andrew McCutchen lead the club with 33 SB that season. 

This means that Topps produced 4 outfield rookie cup cards for Topps Heritage.

But oddly enough, Giancarlo Stanton was rejected the All Star Rookie Trophy for all parallels while Tabata maintained the logo.

A more recent mistake by Topps was including Ke'Bryan Hayes in the 2021 All Rookie Cup product highlighting players who have earned the distinction of Topps Rookie Teams for the past 70 years.

The problem with that is Alec Bohm was announced as the 3B for the 2020 All Rookie Topps Team, not Ke'Bryan. Again due to the odd year that 2020 was, I am willing to forgive RC mistakes on 2020 products and having them all have to be included in 2021 products, but there's no excuse for putting someone on the checklist for a set called Topps Rookie Cup for a guy that didn't get nominated by Topps as a Rookie Cup winner for the 2020 season. 

Do you pay attention to the rookie cups and rookie card logos on flagship or Heritage releases?

Do you think there should be a clear deadline for Topps to release rookie cards of players so a Rookie Cup and Rookie Card logo don't appear on the same card?

Are you aware of any Rookie Cup logos being added or subtracted in error for Flagship or Heritage products?

 

1,178 Home Runs!!!!

I have been so extremely busy preparing for our closing date of moving into our new house.  

It has been an absolute roller coaster of emotions.  From the fun moments of looking at houses to putting in offers and the anticipating of knowing if the offer would be accepted to all other things this process has been extremely stressful and taxing mentally and physically.  Hopefully we will have everything finalized early in December and I can show off the new Cutch Cave early next year.

About 2 months ago I showed off a box of relics that I never logged or showed off.  I haven't had much time to go through all my boxes still as I prepare for the move, but did come across this nice card from 2015 Topps Museum.

What a beauty of a card!

The Cutch and Josh Donaldson patches are really nice!  I love the tiny sliver of silver from the Stanton patch too.

It's unfortunate that the Trout relic is just a boring grey jersey relic.  

Fun fact, this card has 1,178 career Home Runs between the 4 players featured on it.

Giancarlo Stanton leads the pack with 347 career homers.  He hit 35 last year leading the four featured players in 2021.  He won the NL MVP in 2017 and finished second in 2014.

Mike Trout has the second most career round trippers, but hit only 8 last year due to injuries.  He has 9 seasons of top 5 MVP votes.  He has played only 9 full seasons in the majors, winning the award three times.  He is this generation's greatest ball player.

Cutch has 270 career homers and hit the second most in the 2021 season among the four with 27. He has finished in the top 5 MVP votes in 4 consecutive seasons (2012-2015), winning it in 2013.

Josh Donaldson has 251 home runs and hit 26 in 2021.  He was the AL MVP for the 2015 season and has finished in the top 5 three times. 

Overall these are extremely impressive numbers for the four players featured on the card.  

How many of these guys do you think will be immortalized in the Hall of Fame one day? 

Researching the 5-8-7

Topps Luminaries has a very fun high end autograph product.  For those that are unfamilar with the product, it features on card autographs of some of the best hit, home run, and strikeout players of their respective eras.  There are of course low numbered parallels to chase (red, blue, black) and all feature a numerical stat about the player.  

Cutch had a card with the bold number 587 on the front.

This card represents the number of extra base hits that Cutch hit between 2010-2020.  

It's pretty impressive that Cutch accumulated 587 extra base hits in the 2010s.  He has hit 676 extra base hits in his career through September 10th, 2021.  42 of them have come in the 2021 season and 47 were in his 2009 rookie season.

I was honestly having a hard time figuring out who is ahead of him for extra base hits in the 2010s.

Some of the first names that came to mind were some of the big boppers like Stanton, Trout, and Harper that debuted in the early 2010s. And of course the future Hall of Fame veterans like Pujols, Beltre, Votto, and Cabrera came to mind.  It's likely that the younger guys to debut 2016 or later like Judge, Vlad Jr, Alonso wouldn't make the list so I didn't bother looking at them.

Let's look at their numbers from 2010 to 2020 since the 587 total doesn't include the 2021 season.

No doubt future Hall of Famers

Albert Pujols 580 (shocked that Pujols 2010 to 2020 numbers are less than Cutch)

Mike Trout 610

Miguel Cabrera 613

Adrian Beltre 527

Likely Hall of Famers

David Ortiz 382

Joey Votto 593

I also decided to look at the stars who had an incredible decade between 2010 to 2020 but were confirmed to be involved in some PED scandals. 

Confirmed PED Users

Robinson Cano 635

Nelson Cruz 650

Ryan Braun 583

Let's look at some HR season leaders of the 2010s along with other stars of the 2010s.

Nolan Arenado 523

Bryce Harper 489

Paul Goldschmidt 574

Jose Bautista 521

Matt Holliday 411

Giancarlo Stanton 569

Justin Upton 566

Freddie Freeman 605

Carlos Beltran 401

Anthony Rizzo 515

Evan Longoria 585

Adrian Gonzalez 469

Jay Bruce 583

Edwin Encarnacion 606

It took me forever to figure out Edwin.  

Edwin for the win

I would say that Cutch is in pretty good company and this further supports that he was one of the best hitters of the 2010s.

Knowing the answers already what players would you have thought would be the top 10 extra base hit leaders of the 2010s?  Are you shocked by any of these guys? 

So, you're a Trade-er?

Today is the trade deadline so I thought it would be appropriate to discuss one of the more surprising trades that has happened.  The Scherzer/Turner to LA is a topic for another day, but I really want to discuss Anthony Rizzo, long time face of the Cubs and the player who owns the ball which ended the 100+ year World Series drought has been traded to the New York Yankees.  This came just one day after Joey Gallo was traded to the Yankees.  Rizzo has the face and personality to win over New York Yankees fans immediately, but I am sad to see him leave Chicago.  I know he was drafted by the Red Sox and played briefly as a rookie for the Padres, but I will always associate Rizzo with the Cubs and their complete rebuild which ultimately lead to a championship.  Rizzo was the Cubs, through and through.  

I've shown off some of my Cutch and Rizzo cards in the past including the one in today's post.

One of my favorite booklet cards I own is a quad patch card of Nolan Arenado, Anthony Rizzo, Andrew McCutchen, and Giancarlo Stanton.  

It's an impressive piece of oversized cardboard, containing massive chunky jersey cards from

Nolan Arenado

3xTop5 NL MVP

6x All Star

4x Silver Slugger

8x Gold Glove

43.1 WAR (career)

⚾ ⚾ ⚾ ⚾

Anthony Rizzo

1x World Series Champion (2016)

2x Top 5MVP

3x All Star

1x Silver Slugger

3x Gold Glove

36.6 WAR (career)

⚾ ⚾ ⚾ ⚾

Andrew McCutchen

2013 NL MVP (4xTop5 MVP)

5xAll Star

4xSilver Slugger

1xGold Glove

46.1 WAR (career)

⚾ ⚾ ⚾ ⚾

Giancarlo Stanton

2017 NL MVP (2x Top 5)

4x All Star

2x Silver Slugger

42.1 WAR (career)

All players on this card have been traded since they signed their contract extensions.

3 of these players have been traded to the Yankees (McCutchen, Rizzo, Stanton).

All four players signed contract extensions for 6-10+ years with the teams depicted on this massive booklet.  

Many fans of these franchises were hoping these players would all finish their careers with the Rockies, Cubs, Pirates, and Marlins respectively.

It seems that 1 team franchise players will long be a thing of the past.  The days of Cal Ripken Jr, Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones, and Todd Helton type players appear to be gone.  I love the extensions given to Tatis and Acuna, but feel they will one day be traded as well.  

What active player do you think has a chance at staying with one franchise for his entire career?  Can you see Clayton Kershaw or Jacob Degrom pitching for another team?  Will Freddie Freeman test free agency next year and sign with another team? 

I'm back

5 days without a post?

That is the longest stretch I've had on the blog without a post.

Things have been wild and crazy as I worked 73.5 hours this week and that doesn't count the 2 hours driving to and from daily. 

But things should start to settle down.

With news breaking yesterday that Nolan Arenado had been acquired by the Cardinals, I thought it was a good time to show off this behemoth of a booklet.  

Talk about an impressive group of players.

17 All Star Games

1,019 HR

13 Gold Gloves

13 Silver Sluggers

2 MVP

2 Roberto Clemente Award Winners

Three members of 2017 Team USA gold medalists (only Rizzo wasn't on team)

Nolan Arenado is a future Hall of Famer with the projection of his career.  

In his still short career of only 8 seasons, he has finished in top 10 MVP 5 times.  He has gotten the gold glove in every year of his career.  He is also a 4 time Silver Slugger and has lead the National League in Home Runs three years.  

He is signed through the 2026 season and looks to be a problem the Pirates pitching staff will have to face more often for many years to come.

Congrats Cardinals fans!

Sweet 16!!!

If the regular season starts on time and isn't delayed because of the Coronavirus scare, there will be two former MVPs and former Yankees/Team USA teammates that will be on the injured list.

Giancarlo Stanton suffered a calf strain and is expected to miss Opening Day.

Andrew McCutchen tore his ACL last June and is also expecting to miss Opening Day.

 Here is a dual laundry tag 1 of 1 I never showed off.

It pairs well with this  dual patch numbered to 10 copies I also never showed off.

Which pairs nicely with this dual relic I have shown off a few times.

It is numbered 16/49.

The card number for the set is also 16.

They look pretty good together.

The MLB season is supposed to kick off in 16 days.

Trade Deadline: What We Know So Far...

At 4pm today, MLB will have it's official trade deadline.  Unlike prior years where teams had until August 30th to add talent to their playoff push with a waiver deadline, this is the last chance for teams to modify their rosters from other teams.

With so many National League teams looking to make a push for a Wild Card spot there is likely to be some more names traded today.

The trades started a few days ago when the Mets stunned everyone by trading for Marcus Stroman, one of the most coveted pitchers on the market this deadline.

(Josh Harrison can be seen on this card to the right of Stroman. No idea where Cutch was in the celebration.)


Last night while watching the Pirates v Reds game I learned of Yasiel Puig being traded toto the Indians as part of a 3 team trade that involved the Padres getting top prospect Taylor Trammel and the Reds getting Trevor Bauer.

Oddly enough, Puig stayed in the game once traded. Moments after Amir Garrett gave up a 3 run homer to the Pirates, Garrett stormed off the mound heading towards the Pirates dugout.

 Puig naturally had to get involved and will no doubt have to serve a suspension for being involved.

Who could be on the move today?
There's lots of rumors of Felipe Vazquez going to the Dodgers.  If the Pirates don't get Alex Verdugo OR Gavin Lux plus a few other prospects I see no reason to make that trade.

By the way, if you missed yesterday's post about all my Cutch Yankees cards please go check it out.

Rizzo Remembers

Anthony Rizzo is an absolute class act.

He has won the Roberto Clemente award for his role in the community.

Last year around this time, Parkland High School had a tragic incident where 17 people were murdered by gunfire in a school shooting.

A year ago to this day, Anthony Rizzo made an appearance for the vigil the community had.  Details can be found here.

I have shown all but one of my Anthony Rizzo cards on this blog before.

Here is a card I got last summer that I never got around to showing off.  It's too big for my scanner bed to pick up the entire card.

It goes nicely with the other quad booklet I have featuring Rizzo, Arenado, Cutch, and Stanton.  The patch version is numbered to 5 where as the jumbo jersey is numbered to 15.

To see my other Rizzo cards click here.

Missing 7 of 9: A Contest Response

Daniel is holding a contest for his 9th year blogging.  If you aren't already reading It's Like Having My own Card Shop you surely are missing out.  It is a fantastic read and he has so many different kinds of collections.

Originally I thought I could use my Triple Threads cards to show off cards numbered to 9 and highlight my favorite card from each  specific numbering.

The problem?

Well....you will see later.

1/9

Let's get this thing started, shall we?  Here we have a standard jumbo patch numbered 1/9.  No big deal, right?  The patch is from the 22 on the front of Cutch's jersey.

2/9

I had a few options for number two, but ultimately decided on this 2017 WBC Team USA triple relic.  I loved the WBC tournament so much and think I might try to see a game in person in 2021.

3/9

If there is one thing you should notice from all these cards I am going to be posting is that Cutch is a jovial fella and enjoys playing the game of baseball.  2015 Triple Threads was the last year Topps ran the patches in a straight horizontal line.  That means that the 2015 ASG would be represented on 2016 Triple Threads different as you can see above.  While the design isn't terrible I much rather see the patches line up.

4/9

The patches on this ASG workout jersey aren't the greatest as there is only one super unique patch (the star) in window 3.  I love the photo though as it is directly from Cutch's Home Run Derby appearance.  Cutch lost to eventual champion Prince Fielder in the first round.

5/9

This card is both awesome and bittersweet at the same time.  Following the 2013 season it looked like the Pirates were going to be set for success for a long time.  They had a perenial MVP in Andrew McCutchen, a budding star and constant Gold Glove caliber player in Starling Marte, and a top 10 prospect in Gregory Polanco.  #RunPMC never developed into the outfield the way Pirates fans had hoped and the Marlins, Red Sox, and Yankees outfields overcame them as the best outfields in baseball the past few seasons.  With Austin Meadows breaking out at the MLB level it looks like we will never see Cutch come back to the Steel City as a permanent fixture patrolling the outfield.

Another good 5/9 I have is a triple relic of Joey Bats, Cespedes, and Cutch.  The relics are meh and the saying is PURE GLOVE?  Huh?

6/9

I went all in on acquiring Cutch Triple Threads cards in 2015 for his 2014 ASG appearance.  The design for this year is my least favorite as it doesn't reflect much of the city the game was played in very well.

7/9
I don't have a 7 of 9

So I will just show this Unity relics from PNC Park that Matt from BobWalkThePlank traded me as our most epic trade we completed last year.  All three cards are numbered to 9.  It was part of 5 cards Matt sent me in exchange for these cards I sent him which you can see here, here, here, here, along with about half a dozen of "super rare" buyback Bob Walks I sent him to set the stage for the trade.

8/9

Boring jersey swatch, but at least it matches the subject's jersey color.  Oh and did you notice Cutch is wearing a Jackie Robinson jersey for the card? Can't go wrong with that.  The card also represents Cutch being selected to Topps All-Rookie team for the 2009 season.

9/9

The design for the 2014 Triple Threads celebrating the 2013 ASG is the best of all the ASG patch cards Cutch has appeared on.  The NY skyline in the background complete with a backwards capped dreaded Cutch and 3 unique patch windows make this card have more flav and swag than all the others.

So while i am missing a 7 of 9, how about if I show off another card numbered to 9 just to close thimgs out.

The above 2014 Triple Threads is numbered 8/9 and features patches of Cutch, Pedro Alvarez, and Gerrit Cole.  I miss these guys all being on the same team. 

So I tried to show off 9 cards numbered to 9, but failed.
Guess it is back to the drawing board tomorrow.

TEAM USA RELICS!

It's Memorial Day weekend and to celebrate I will be showing off some cards that represent the holiday in my eyes.

Up first is a blue parallel from 2017 Triple Threads numbered 3/3 (eBay 1/1)

I have previously shown off some of the other parallels on this blog, but the blue (sapphire) parallel really brings home the Americana feel to the cardboard.

Gold numbered 2/9

Emerald numbered 4/18


I still need the ruby 1/1 along with the /27 and /36 parallels for this particular rainbow.

Did something happen yesterday?

Yesterday news broke that the Yankees had acquired Giancarlo Stanton from Derek Jeter's Miami Marlins.

I completely understand what Jeter and company are trying to do by shedding the massive contract.  I think that Marlins fans that are upset by the deal should recognize that the organization can't be sustainable over the course of time unless they build a winning foundation beginning in the minors and it transcends to the major league level.

As great as Stanton can be perceived as being here's some fun facts about the quarter billion dollars the Marlins got rid of from their payroll over the next 10 years.
He has only appeared in 150 games TWICE in his career. (2011 and 2017)
His strikeout to walk rate is 2.34:1 over his 8 year career.
He has never played for a winning team since his 2010 debut.

Having 267 career homeruns by age 27 season and then joining the Yankees for 10 years should put him on the Hall of Fame path.

Stanton is a great player, but he's not great for a new ownership in Miami.  He needed to be traded for the Marlins ownership to move forward with their plan and vision.

What are your thoughts on the Stanton to Yankees move?

Happy for the player to finally join a winning culture?
Mad at the Marlins front office for trading the face of the franchise?

I will leave you with all my Cutch and Giancarlo pairings (many of which I showed off during the 2017 WBC).

First though I will show off the two cards that haven't been featured on here yet.

I made a post about Probstein last week and how some of their auctions get shilled and go for more than what they should because they are a consigner.

This card was won for what I consider a fair price.  It's a triple relic of three members of the World Baseball Classic 2017 Team USA gold medalist (Adam Jones, Andrew McCutchen, and Giancarlo Stanton).  I have added quite a number of green Triple Threads cards this year so I am looking forward to showing them off next Saint Patrick's Day.

I don't know how many of you watched that tournament, but I had a blast rooting for Team USA.  Of course it helped that my favorite player was playing right field during the tournament.

Here's the rarer and "patchier" Gold version numbered to 9.

And here are the cards I have previously shown
This National Treasures quad booklet is awesome!  It features 3 of my favorite current big leaguers (Arenado, Rizzo, and Cutch)

 There's a few different parallels to chase for Immaculate.  I just have the standard bat relic for Stanton.  There is a patch version of both players available too which I believe is numbered to 10.

 The game's best pitcher (Kershaw) and the game's best hitter (Trout) are featured with the Stanton Cutch partnership.

 That bum who always sticks his tongue out, Yasiel Puig, joins Cutch and Bigfoot

 This card is just ridiculous.  It has 9 of the best players at each position from 2014 on it.  All patches or bat relics.  I only showed the back below, but the front also has Clayton Kershaw, Buster Posey, Jose Abreu, Robinson Cano, and Miguel Cabrera (he was playing 3B because of the Prince Fielder signing).