Murphys, Bailey's, and Guiness

There are three drinks that come to mind when I think of Irish beer: Murphy's, Baileys, and Guiness.

Let's run through that list and see if there are any McCutchen references hidden in my collection.

When I think of Murphy and baseball, I immediately think of Dale Murphy.

Being a supercollector I have come across many other player collectors over the years.  While many have bigger collections of certain players, no other collector has more artistic talent than Daniel Jacob Horine and his popflypopshop 

Daniel is a big time Dale Murphy collector and recently released another limited Dale Murphy art print based on the reverse negative Upper Deck card.

I've talked about his work in the past and tried to get you all on board for his extremely affordable and limited prints back when I was doing my Cobra Kai week and discussing the Dave Parker print he did.  He currently has a fantastic Billy Ripken "F face" print available. 

He has also done a limited gold sticker print run (only 50) of the Andrew McCutchen 2 cups swag image.  You can revisit my post about this here.

I also think of Dropkick Murphy, a Boston band, that requested former Red Sox closer not to use their song, Shipping up to Boston, when Jonathan Papelbon left Boston to join the Philadelphia Phillies for the 2012 season. 

In 4 career plate appearances, Cutch went 0 for 3 with a walk versus Papelbon.

I don't have any Cutch related items, but Papelbon's 2014 Bowman card is taken from a game that he got Andrew McCutchen to pop out to the catcher and eventually recorded the save when he got Pedro Alvarez to strike out looking.

No for the best option of the Irish drinks: Baileys

The 2009 AL Rookie of Year, Andrew Bailey faced Andrew McCutchen only one time in his career and Cutch went 0 for 1.

Homer Bailey

Because of the rivalry between the Reds and Pirates, Cutch has faced Homer Bailey more than just a small sample size.  

Bailey does have the rare feat of throwing a no hitter against the Pirates.  It occurred on September 28th, 2012.  The only base runner that was Bailey's doing was a walk to Andrew McCutchen.

In 54 at bats, Cutch managed to get 16 hits while also piling on 11 walks.  While not getting many extra base hits, Cutch was still able to get on base at a .424 clip versus the Christian Bale doppelganger. 

While on base, Cutch also swiped four bags. 

Guiness...

Well I got nothing, but think if there was a category for Guiness record for most Andrew McCutchen items, I might be in the discussion for holding that record.

Cutch V Batman: Dorkness Recesses aka F**k Batman

San Diego Comic Con is in full effect at the time of typing this.  I had always wanted to attend it just once as I am a nerd deep inside.

Fans were previewed a trailer for the new Titans TV show exclusive to DC's streaming service.

The trailer begins with Robin saying "F*** Batman".  The DC Universe aka Zak Snyder's playground is always so dark.  When I think of the Titans I think more fun than brooding and morbid.  The show should have followed in Marvel's footsteps and did something similar to how the characters of Guardians of the Galaxy interact.  Instead we get "F*** Batman"

Let me clarify something, I am a big fan of Batman.

I am not a big fan of the Reds.  They historically have beaten my Pirates in all the important games.

Let's travel back to the year 2012.
With the Pirates on the cusp of finally breaking their 20 year losing streak they would have to face the Reds in the final home series and win out or risk losing their 82nd game and thus ensuring another losing season.  That year, like the previous year, the Pirates were in first place at the All Star break.  Like the previous year the team suffered a second half collapse.

On September 28th, 2012 the Pirates would face Homer Bailey.

Homer Bailey, who looks an awful lot like Christian Bale, made sure the Pirates would lose their 82nd game in a way only the Pirates and their faithful fans could bear witness too.  Bailey was masterful that day as he pitched a no hitter using 115 pitches over 9 innings.

His only blips were a walk to Andrew McCutchen and an infield error that Scott Rolen booted off a Clint Barmes one base error.

With Bailey having a terrible season, it seems appropriate to show off how well Cutch has hit Bailey over his career.

Oddly enough, the only year that Bailey contained Cutch was during Cutch's MVP 2013 season.

Following the 2013 season, Bailey met with new Reds manager Bryan Price and wanted to make sure the team was heading in a direction of winning divisions and competing for the postseason.  The Reds seemed determine to go deep in October and signed Bailey to a 6 year $105million extension in February 2014.  It is currently one of the worse contracts given out in the past few seasons only being outdone by the Chris Davis Orioles contract.

I took advantage of a 20% off coupon on eBay a few months ago and snagged this card that I had long desired.  While the price is still too high for a guy who has had a WHIP over 2 and ERA in the 6s the past few years, I wanted the card to remember the guy who secured the Pirates 82nd loss of the 2012 season as it would be the last time the Pirates would have a losing season for 3 years.

Oh and "F*** Batman" this is one of only 2 copies in world.