Cutch Scratch Fever

Back in 2018, Topps introduced collectors to the Home Run challenge game.  The game was fairly simple.  It took some of the top home run hitters from the 2017 season and allowed fans and collectors to scratch off a code for a chance to guess when the player on the front would hit a home run.

These cards were essentially a lottery ticket to get a limited print run card.  The cards fell roughly 1 per box (24 to 36 packs) depending on the brand purchased.  Complete details of the program can be found here.

Based on actual results of winning challenge cards entered, here are the print runs by month

March/April: /7

May: /0 (no HR hit in month)

June: /19

July: /17

August: /30

September: /68

As you can see the print run in March/April was extremely limited with only 7 cards redeemed by correctly guessing a Cutch homer in that period.  

To see what the final cards look like you can revisit this post from October when I described the design to look like the Tardis from Doctor Who and I spotlighted Jenna Coleman as that day's subject with the pink themed card.

The interesting thing I noticed while going through some doubles in my collection was there were different designs of the scratch off surfaces.

I pictured them below.

I don't recall if any of my attempted challenge cards had the larger surface used in the left image, but the other 6 unscratched cards I still own have the wavy backs.

Get Aboard the Tardis

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month.  Visit the official site here.

Breast Cancer will be detected in one of eight women in the US each year.

It is the second leading cause of cancer death among women each year.

On average every 2 minutes a woman will be diagnosed with breast cancer and every 13 minutes one person will die from breast cancer.
There are currently 33 million breast cancer survivors in the USA.

It's important to support the research for cancer.  Breast Cancer is often associated with the color pink so I will be showing off some pink Cutch cards.

In addition, you can expect to see some boobs with each post.  Who doesn't love boobs?

So let's start with what we're hoping to save!

Jenna Louise Coleman

Strangely enough like so many other of the lovely featured this month, there is very few pictures of Coleman showing massive signs of cleavage.

She appears to be a classy lady.

As so many of these pictures show.

When it comes to British TV shows, the only one I could consistently watch was Doctor Who.

Something about that Police Box aka Tardis just seems so cool to me.

Coleman is a British actress best known for her role in Doctor Who.

The design for the 2018 Home Run Challenge cards remind me of a promotion ad for Doctor Who with the Tardis traveling through time and space in the background.

The July winners were rose colored. McCutchen's copy was numbered to only 17 copies.  I predicted my date of July 31st which was a bold move considering all the trade rumors surrounding Cutch at the non waiver deadline.

Do any of you watch Doctor Who?

Shelby coming round the mountain

I attempted 14 failed HR challenge cards this year until I finally got one right.  During the month of June I used several codes and always missed by a day.  If I predicted a HR on Tuesday, he would hit it Wednesday.

Finally on the last day of the month, Cutch hit an opposite field solo shot off struggling Shelby Miller.

I liked the matchup as Cutch has seen Shelby many times in his career as they were division rivals when Cutch was with the Pirates and Shelby was with the Cardinals.

There were only 19 winners for the month of June.

So far I have an April redemption (black) and June redemption (blue).  Cutch failed to hit a HR in May which is a damn shame because that redemption was pink and would have been perfect for the Save The Boobies event I do each year.

On The Eve of Opening Day Comes a Contest

Normally I'm not one for ruining my baseball cards, but the idea of these Home Run Challenge cards is so alluring to me I can't pass them up.

These are selling for $3-$6each so if I can grab a copy for under $5 I am going to grab them and gamble what day Cutch might hit a HR.  Cutch has averaged 24 HR/season over his career.

I have no idea what the prizes will be from Topps, but so far I have picked up 5 of these.  I'm going to a card show next week and hopefully can grab a few more. 

One will be kept in tact so these 4 will definitely be scratched. 

The first four people to select a date that Cutch hits a HR will automatically have their dates entered into Topps site.  (Please use sound judgement and select a date the Giants play a game)  If you aren't one of the first four you can still take a guess and as I acquire more (because I'm sure I will) I will enter those codes.

If I win a prize from Topps, you win a prize from me.

Good luck!