Would You Rather?

While I don't collect Wade Boggs cards to a supercollector status, I have been fascinated by some of the Wade Boggs Supercollectors because they share a similar mindset for how I go about CollectingCutch.  I discussed the other Wade Boggs collectors on a post last year during Shark Week.

One of the "Boggs trust" members, John aka WadeBoggsFan (his birthday was yesterday btw) on YouTube published a video where he took 2 pitchers and 2 hitters and without revealing their names asked based solely on the stats which pitcher or hitter would you rather have to build a franchise around.

I thought it would be fun to do a similar thing here looking at a random player from the early 2000s, Andrew McCutchen, and Wade Boggs.  

So here are some stats through age 25 season (keeping simple stats and slash lines)

Player A

328 hits

10 HR

4 SB

.356/.426/.469

151 Runs/118 RBI

0 ASG

Player B

753 Hits

111 HR

117 SB

.272/.353/.592

479 Runs/349 RBI

3 ASG, 2 GG

Player C

629 Hits

82 HR

98 SB

.290/.365/.483

362 Runs/295 RBI

2 ASG, 1 GG

By those stats most people who look at Player B would say he is clearly on a Hall of Fame path.  As a matter of fact according to his Baseball Reference page his closest similarity scores for ages 22-26 are Duke Snider, Mookie Betts, and Barry Bonds.  Player A has a lot of ground to catch up and Player C is just slightly behind Player B in regards to simple counting stats.

Let's move on to their stats through their  Age 33 seasons now using the same 3 players as before

Player A

1,965 Hits

78 HR

15 SB

.345/.430/.471

1,005 Runs/637 RBI

7 ASG

Player B

1,098 Hits

150 HR

143 SB

.265/.349/.457

660 Runs/518 RBI

3 ASG, 2 GG

Player C

1,719 Hits

243 HR

191 SB

.285/.376/.478

974 Runs/853 RBI

5 ASG, 1 GG, 1 MVP

As you can see above Player A has been racking up a ton of hits over the 8 seasons that followed the initial look through age 25 season.  Player B, originally lumped into "Future Hall of Famer" talks has completely fallen off and retired from baseball at age 32.  Player C is a model of consistency keeping up with a steady stream of hits, walks, homers, despite declining stolen bases over later seasons.

I found this to be a very fun excercise and think it can shed some light on why investing in sports cards can sometimes become a huge risk.  Player B was one of the hottest names in the sport in the mid 2000s, but injuries derailed his career and his autograph can now be had for about $5.  He finished his career in Tampa Bay and retired after his age 32 season.  

Player A got a late start to his career, but went on to join the 3,000 hit club as a member of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.  He joined the Hall of Fame in 2005, the same year Player B had his first full season in the majors and the same year Player C got drafted.

The book is still open on Player C as he enters the 2021 season at age 34 and only has one year guaranteed on his contract.

While I haven't been buying many cards lately, I did manage to pick up this fold up poster from Lids that features Andrew McCutchen along with some of the bigger names in the sport at the time it was produced.  The names of players on this poster would make some interesting Would You Rather posts. With a lack of cards to buy, I am looking towards finding more things like this for the collection.  

Can you match up the 3 players in this exercise knowing two of them are Boggs and Cutch? 

(Belated) Congrats LA Dodgers Fans

I know it's a week late, but every November 2nd post is filled with these as I always continue my Save Second Base uninterrupted then do a recap.

In case you didn't know already the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Tampa Bay Rays to win the 2020 World Series.  

Today I will show cards of Andrew McCutchen with players of the Dodgers. 

Let's begin with the legendary pitcher and longest tenured Dodger, Clayton Kershaw.

In 39 at bats, Cutch owns a .282/.317/.436 slash line against the 3 time Cy Young winner.  He does have 1HR against Kershaw.

These Face 2 Face inserts are pretty neat even for an unlicensed product. 

Above is a Boxtopper from 2015 Topps Heritage.  It is based on the 1966 Topps design.

This is a nice quad relic card of some former MVP winners all on one card.  

Above is an even nicer relic featuring 9 of the best players at each position for the past decade.  It features Kershaw, Posey, Abreu, Cano, Cabrera, Tulowitzki, Stanton, McCutchen, and Trout.  I think it's a little silly that they put Cabrera at 3B because around the year this card was made that's where he was playing for a season due to Prince Fielder playing 1B for the Tigers.

Now I will show off some former Dodgers and how they impacted the current World Series Champs.

Safe to say the Mookie Betts trade to Los Angeles finally helped push LA into winning the World Series?  Well the former AL MVP Betts, came to the Dodgers from Boston along with David Price in a trade that sent Alex Vertigo and Jeter Downs to Boston. 

Price didn't play the 2020 season, but I think it was his large salary that helped make the trade of Betts possible as it allowed the Red Sox to reset the luxury tax cap hit.  Price is still technically a part of the 2020 World Series Champions.

But how did Jeter Downs, a former Cincinnati Reds prospect end up in the Dodgers organization to begin with?  Well, the Dodgers got Downs, Josiah Gray, and Homer Bailey from the Reds in exchange for long time tenured Dodgers mainstays Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp.  I have a lot of Kemp and Puig cards paired up with Cutch.

Let's first look at Kemp.

I always liked Matt Kemp and his early 2010s skill set.

He possessed a fun energy with a rare power speed combo in the early 2010s. 

This made him a Perennial All-Star.

I also have the 1/1 booklet.

Greg of the blog  Night Owl wrote of these Team Pinnacle cards when I gifted them to him as part of his Secret Santa gift a few years back.

Hey Shane Victorino was a Dodger at one point too.

And now, the Wild Horse, Yasiel Puig.

The only type of cards I have of Puig with Cutch are the 2014 Topps Update All Star Stitches triple jersey cards all numbered to 25 copies.

In addition to Cutch and Puig appearing on all three of these cards there are appearances of Carlos Gomez, Josh Harrison, and Giancarlo Stanton as well.

Were it not for the trade of Puig and Kemp to the Reds, the Dodgers wouldn't have had Jeter Downs in their system.  The Dodgers may have been able to still work out a deal to acquire Mookie Betts and David Price from Boston.  History was written with the Dodgers getting Betts and history tells us the trade of Puig and Kemp to the Reds helped make it happen. 

Another long tenured Dodgers player that finally got a ring is Joc Pederson.  You may recall the Dodgers tried to ship him off in the off-season, but the deal that saw him become a member of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim was ultimately reversed.  Joc stayed with the Dodgers and hit a memorable homer in Game 5 of the World Series (his fifth career World Series Homerun).  In limited play in the World Series, Joc went 4 for 10 at the plate.  His team mates all commented on how he elevates his game when on the biggest stage.

In 2015, he was on a pretty big stage too as he had made it to the Home Run Derby Finals as a rookie.  He also made his first All-Star Game that year.  Topps, as you can see above, captured the outfield of Bryce Harper, Joc Pederson, and Andrew McCutchen on an All-Star Stitches Tandem card.

To finish up, let's look at the man who started the Dodgers rally in Game 6 of the World Series.  Tampa Bay Rays starter Blake Snell was cruising with a 1 hit shutout until he gave up a single to Dodgers catcher, Austin Barnes.  We know what happened next as the Rays couldn't Cash in to preserve their 1-0 lead.

You may recall seeing these pink cards from my Save Second Base events of 2019 and 2020 as I have shown off both the flagship (/50) and mini (/25) in the past two years.

I don't think I have shown all of these off though.  

2019 Topps Sapphire Orange (/25), Purple (/10), Red (/5)

2019 Topps Flagship Meijer Purple, Father's Day Blue (/50), and 2019 Topps Mini blue (/10)

I think that covers all my pairings I have of Cutch with players who (somehow) impacted the 2020 World Series Roster.

23 All-Star Appearances on 1 Card

I have been counting down predominately using serial numbers or card numbers.

Today would be the 17th day before Opening Day.  I am certainly excited for that.

I am more excited to announce that in 23 days I am heading west for the Pirates home opener vs the Reds.

Here is a 1/1 card from 2010 Triple Threads highlighting 6 players that Topps thought would be Perennial All-Stars in the National League.

The players depicted on the card is a who's who of upcoming outfielders patrolling the National League at the time.

Justin Upton has been a 4x All-Star (2009, 2011, 2015, and 2017).

Ryan Braun leads the group with 6 All-Star appearances, but some of those numbers may be tainted as we later learned.  From 2008-2012 he was an All-Star.  He also represented the Brewers in 2015.

Hunter Pence had a comeback season last year and made his 4th All-Star appearance joining his resume for the 2009, 2011, and 2014 seasons.

Matt Kemp (who,was robbed of the 2011 MVP) was an All-Star in 2011 and 2012 and had a resurgent year in 2018 giving him 3 total All-Star Games.

Cutch represented the Pirates in 2011-2015 making 5 All-Star games and finishing in the top 5 for MVP in 2012 through 2015.  He won a player of month award in June 2017 and had better numbers than Josh Harrison at the time of the All-Star Game, but Cubs manager who was representing the National League liked Josh Harrison's versatility for the exhibition game more.

Jason Heyward had an incredible rookie season in 2010.  He hasn't made an All-Star game since.

 This 1/1 is the Platinum version.  I also have one of these booklets in the Emerald format (/18).  There are also Sepia, Sapphire, and Gold parallels of this book to chase.

Steel McCutchen impresses a Hall of Famer

Andrew McCutchen posted a video on his Instagram a few days ago of his son, Steel, hitting off a tee.

It was enough to impress, McCutchen's childhood idol, Ken Griffey Jr, to reply.

There has been many articles written about how Cutch grew up watching Griffey play and how Griffey thinks that McCutchen is the best player in the game today that resembles how he played the game.

I thought it would be appropriate to show off the few relic cards I have of both Griffey and Cutch.

Up first is this triple jersey of Griffey, Cutch, and Willie Mays.

This is the only Willie Mays relic I own and unfortunately it is the pants from a 1978 Mets uniform.

Like all of Hits Memorabilia cards, there is an online database that you can cross reference the material used for all their cards. 

This was the jersey used for the production of the card above and the following card below.

This is a super awesome card featuring 4 former MVP winners.  Lots of cool laundry tags and different looking swatches on this including the inner lining of a Harper hat and a Trout batting glove.

I know a lot of people love Bo Jackson and he was an outstanding athlete, but honestly I don't view him as that good of a baseball player.  Call it blasphemous, but through his age 27 season with the Kansas City Royals he posted only a career .787 OPS to that point.  Furthermore he struck out at a whopping 34.7% of his at bats. These were all BEFORE his football injury.  Stanton and Judge both have lower totals in their careers and they are the poster children for striking out in the current game. 

As for the 2 Hall of Famers on the card: Reggie Jackson and Griffey; yeah, that's pretty cool.  

Future Hall of Famers, A Look Back From the Future

Back in 2013, CBS wrote a story about several players under the age of 26 and their likelihood of achieving baseball immortality in Cooperstown.

The link can be found HERE.

Many appear to still be borderline candidates, but it is crazy to look back at how much has changed in only 5 years.

Names like Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw will have done enough once they meet the 10 year minimum to be first ballot consideration.

According to them names like Jason Heyward and Starlin Castro were already on the right path.

As Adrian Beltre recently proved though, you may not appreciate how great a player was until their career is over.

Maybe Justin Upton, Andrew McCutchen, and Matt Kemp will go on to play until theyre 40 and 10 years from now we will look back and realize "these guys were always pretty good."

But is "pretty good" over 20 years worthy enough to get you in the Hall of Fame?

Adrian Beltre may prove that longevity and consistency is more important than having 10 great years and that is basically it. 

Only 17 3rd Baseman have been enshrined in Cooperstown for the Hall of Fame.  And yet here we sit on the week of Beltre announcing his retirement and it seems almost unanimously that most talk radio shows, sports writers, and the like think he will make it to the Hall of Fame.  At any point though was he the best 3rd baseman in the game?  Would you rather have had Beltre or a guy named Wright, Rodriguez, Rolen, Machado, Donaldson manning the hot corner if you starting a franchise?  Most wouldn't say Beltre is my guess. 

I am in no way saying Beltre doesn't belong in the Hall. I am merely pointing out that we should recognize greatness as it is happening and not after it is gone.

Good luck to Mr. Beltre on his post baseball career.  You were fun to watch.

All My Cutch Cards Featuring the Astros

I didn't have a chance to show these off during October because of the Save The Boobies event I was running (all pink cards while showing off some nice looking chests).w

Because the Astros are no longer a division rival and have been inclining while the Pirates have been declining there haven't been many cards of Cutch with members of the Astros.

That's not to say there aren't any though.

Here are a few of the ones I have.

Up first is my oldest card of Cutch with a member of the current Astros team and the cover athlete to Sports Illustrated bold prediction, George Springer.

Next up is the unsigned insert card.

Now for the (expected) AL MVP, Jose Altuve.
I have two different parallels to this quad relic.

Topps Heritage has been producing ad panels as box toppers in recent years.  The 2016 Pitt Power card is paired with Astros bullpen arm Collin McHugh.

Come with me on the way back machine as I take a look at my Cutch cards with Hunter Pence.  Pence was a long time member of the Astros before being traded to the Phillies in 2011.  The trade package included Jon Singleton, Jarred Cosart, Domingo Santana, and Josh Zeid.  While none of those players contributed to the 2017 Astros in a positive way, Cosart being traded to Miami for Jake Marisnick, Colin Moran, and Francis Martes who all played for the Astros in 2017.

Also pictured on this printing plate is former Astros Colby Rasmus.  Rasmus set a MLB record by recording an extra base hit in his first 6 career postseason games.  He was on the verge of a breakout campaign and likely could have been an All-Star for the Rays in 2017 before deciding he needed to take a step away from major league baseball.

Congratulations to the Houston Astros!