Gum Swag

A few weeks ago I showed off 3 Matthew Rosen "gum art cards."

I recently committed to buying a unique card back that utilizes imagery from the most talked about Andrew McCutchen card in years.  He made the "Swag" SP card into a gum stain on the back of Andrew McCutchen's 2019 Topps Archives card (1958 design).

For those unfamiliar with Matthew's art you can click here for his website.

He takes a card (must be before 1992 or a card design utilizing a design before 1992) and paints a pink "gum stain" on the back of the card. 

He has done everything from the Simpsons versions on the back of Griffey, Strawberry, or Mattingly cards to drawing a large fries on the back of a Mark McGwire card.

He's made moments found in the sitcom Seinfeld immortalized on the back of Jay Buhner and Ken Phelps ("How could you trade away Jay Buhner?") and has made some Keith Hernandez cards too ("Hey Pretty Boy")

After he has drawn the art on the back of the card he puts it in a One Touch magnetic case and seals it with his own sticker to preserve the card forever. 

His creative designs on these vintage style cards are awesome and I absolutely love the art he creates on the backs.

A complete checklist of his cards can be found here.

Do You Have Any More Gum For Me?

One of my favorite movies of my youthful early teen days is Billy Madison.

I loved all things Adam Sandler.

I have mentioned a few times about my love for Billy Madison on this blog.

I discussed the cursive Phil Rizzuto line here.
"Rizzuto's not a word.  He's a baseball player"
"Perhaps you'd like to try the word BUZZ?"

And I talked about the complexed egos of shampoo and conditioner here.
"I go on first and make the hair silky and smooth. Shampoo is better. Conditioner is better....stop looking at me swan"


The movie has so many over the top zany moments and unforgettable quotes.  Literally I wish I could come up with a week long post schedule trying to tie in the quotes to my Andrew McCutchen card collection like what I did with Elf last year when counting down to Christmas.  You can revisit those posts here if you forgot about them.

For inspiration of future posts, I will start things off with the closing lines of the impromptu song and dance number that saw a clown get resurrected, Veronica Vaughn asking Billy if she has a nice rack, and closing out with everyone asking

"Do you have any more gum?"

Well one guy who always has gum on his mind is Matthew Lee Rosen.
He has made an art of designing cards to look like they have gum stains in the shape of items associated with that player.

You can visit his page here or find him on Twitter @MatthewLeeRosen

I set up a commission with Matt to do a few Andrew McCutchen gum back cards and they came out unbelievably awesome.

I will show each card in detail in a future post as I have a plan to include these as part of my Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Month of posts which I am sure you are all very familar with.

The detail used in creating this "gum stain" creations on the back of vintage style cards is truly incredible.

Please check out Matthew's site.  He has a few of the Simpsons character cards from the famous Homer At The Bat episode.

Some of his other cards that are available are this Ryne Sandberg 1986 card with Save Ferris on the back an obvious reference to Ferris Bueller's Day Off which came out in 1986 and saw the lead character head to Wrigley Field while skipping school.

Once again, check out his Gum Art baseballcard.art.

If you set up a commission or buy one of his originals he's already created, let him know that Brian of Collecting Cutch sent you his way.




What are some of your favorite Billy Madison quotes?

What pop culture references would you want to see on the back of a baseball card?

Heritage Comparisons pt3: Clemente v Cutch

Over the years, Topps has used Heritage to bring the current stars of the game on designs from the past.

Cutch has appeared using the same numbering as Pirates Legend Roberto Clemente a handful of times.

I want to preface these segments and state that I do not believe that a single season of Cutch can take away from the greatness of Roberto Clemente's life or his baseball career.

Each of these Heritage comparisons will take a look at a card of Cutch and compare it to the design's original numbered card.

The 2016 Heritage card release is based on the 1967 design.

Cutch's 2016 Heritage card is numbered 400 the same as Pirates Legend and Hall of Famer, Roberto Clemente.

The back of Cutch's card even mentions The Great One, Roberto Clemente.

As will be customary for these Heritage Comparisons I will take a look at the standard counting stats typically found on the back of a baseball card for the players previous year.

Slash Lines
Clemente in 1966 went .317/.360/.536 for an .896 OPS
Cutch in 2015 went .292/.401/.488 for an .889OPS
slight Advantage Clemente

Plate Discipline
Clemente had His worse K:BB rate 2.37 (109:46) during his MVP season in 1966
Cutch's fourth consecutive top 5 MVP finish season showed some regressionwhen he had 1.35 K:BB (133:98)
Advantage Cutch

Extra Base Hits (XBH)
Clemente had 31 doubles, 11 triples, and 29 HR in 1966
Cutch had 36 doubles, 3 triples, and 23 round trippers
71 v 62
Advantage Clemente

Runs Scored and Runs Batted In
Runs scored and RBI are based on who hits in front of you and who hits behind you.
Clemente scored 105 runs and drove in 119 in 1966.
Cutch scored 91 runs and knocked in 96
Advantage Clemente

Hardware and awards
Clemente won his only MVP, 6th straight Gold Glove, and was elected an All-Star
Cutch was a top 5 MVP, his 4th straight Silver Slugger, and was elected an All-Star
Advantage Clemente


I hope you enjoyed the comparisons made based on the Heritage card and original design numbering.  I will continue to do these segments if there is enough interest in them.

As I have done in my previous Heritage Comparisons I will show off all the other parallels I have of Cutch's Heritage card I am spotlighting.

Up first are the red back and gum stain back

Now for the chromes

I need the Superfractor 1/1, Gold /5, and Refractor

Gum Damnit!

"There's gum on my seat. Gum."
Be the first to name that movie and get free cards.

I have only two Gum Stains cards.
I hope to add the others to my PC soon.

The front of the cards are identical to all other versions.

The only difference is "gum stains" on the back.  Any of us who collected cards in the 70s to early 90s remember getting gum in your packs and often times the last card in the pack would be stained with the gum residue.

Pictured above is the 2016 Topps Heritage gum stain back.

I also have the 2015 Heritage pictured below.

I have several Gum Stain needs which I will use to post in a future Needs list