Happy St Patrick's Day

Stay safe!

Don't drink and drive!

Wear your green proudly

I'm not going to show all my green Cutch cards this year like I did last year.

From One Supercollector to Another

The baseball season is officially underway.  The best image from Opening Day was Miguel Cabrera after his sliding into second base then slow trot around the bases for a homerun in the middle of a snowstorm.  What a fun moment for baseball.  A complete breakdown of that at bat can be found on the always entertaining Jomboy's YouTube page.

Topps did make a Topps Now card and it is amazing!!!

I bring up Miguel Cabrera because my friend and fellow supercollector JT is a Miguel Cabrera supercollector.  He has various social media that you can follow him regarding triplecrown24, but he also has an online eBay store that sells sports cards and will even do consignment for collections.  

I recently made a purchase of over 20 cards from him and among them was this Andrew McCutchen 2017 Optic Prizm.

The Optic Prizms are Panini's answer to Topps Chrome Refractors.  Topps being the flagship and Topps Chrome being the chrome version are exactly like Donruss being flagship and Optic being the chrome versions.  Much like Topps Chrome refractors, Panini puts out a "silver" prizm technology that really makes the cards pop especially with Panini's use of etching in their products.  I got this delivered by JT for just about $2 and am stoked that I can cross another card off the want list.  Plus it helps get me closer to my 2021 goal of adding 50 new Pirates playing year cards to the collection.

Notice the Prizm marking in the bottom right corner, similar to Topps putting refractor on the back of their cards.

You can purchase cards from his eBay page itstriplecrown. Let him know CollectingCutch sent you to his page.

I have shown off some of my other Miggy cards and cards that JT has sent me here and here.

Have you been watching any baseball games yet this year?

The COMC Pirates Package

I recently received a package in the mail containing over 100 cards for my player collections of Andrew McCutchen, Gary Sheffield, and various Pirates players I like to collect. 

While the package arrived in 2021, I am not going to count it towards my 50 card goal because they were all purchased in 2020.  It is only because of COMCs slow shipping that forced me to receive the cards many months after requesting shipment.

Let's dive into some of the highlights of the package...

This card is extremely difficult to find.  

And I mean extremely difficult.

If you travel with me into the way back machine to 2011, the hobby wasn't as strong as it is now.  

Not only could you find retail packs at retail establishments, but many collectors were doing just that...collecting.

Topps wasn't producing factory sets with multiple parallels encouraging people to open their retail factory sets.  Granted there was 1 (yes only 1) pack inside every sealed factory set containing a handful of cards with a unique color border parallel.  

These were often red or orange.  

Trying to find one of these 10 years later of your player?  Good luck!

They are numbered to 245 copies on the back and I suspect many of them are still sealed away in factory sets.

So remember what I just said about 2011 Topps Factory red parallels?

The same is even harder for the 2010 Factory red parallels.

There is another McCutchen that has been looking for one of these for a few years.  I'm hoping to use this as trade bait to help me acquire a card of his that I have been after.

If you've followed the blog for a bit, you probably know that I love the 2015 Topps Strata set.  It is the first set that Topps produced featuring an MLB authenticated sticker on every relic used in the set.  My goal is to collect as many of these of possible.  I added 3 more of the plain grey swatches to the collection.

They will go nicely with all these patches I already had from the set

Next up is a 2016 Optic Teal parallel numbered to 50 copies.  This helps get me closer to completing this rainbow.

Speaking of 2016, here is a 2016 Diamond Kings silver Artist Proof.  It's not numbered, but rare to come across 5 years later.  I really like the design of this year's Diamond Kings release.

This 2016 Bowman Platinum would be a perfect card to show off next month for St. Patrick's Day.  The green parallel, numbered to only 99 copies, really pops in the background.

Here is a card I was surprised I didn't have.  It's a 2013 Topps Heritage Chrome Refractor.  I have the black Refractor, the base chrome, and the purple chrome, but never got the refractor...until now. It's numbered to only 564 copies and is based on the 1964 Topps design.

Ok. This one is kind of a cheating card.  It features Cutch in a Pittsburgh uniform, but is from 2018.  Cutch was traded prior to the start of the 2018 season and this technically doesn't count as a Pirates playing days card because he didn't play for them in 2018.

What do you think?  Should a 2018 card that features Cutch playing for the Pirates count as a Pirates playing days card even though his last game played was for the Bucs in 2017?

Here is the first Panini relic card I picked up that I needed.  I've shown the dual relic off of this card, but not the single relic.  It's from 2014 and is a nice designed card.

Here is one of those cards that I knew existed, but a few things prevented me from adding this to my collection over the past decade:

It is a Topps Heritage card so Master Set collectors are always looking for this.

It is a rare card (only 62 copies) from a set 10 years old.

It features the Baltimore Orioles, who in my eyes have a very loyal collecting fan base.

It features a former MVP in his early career.

It is a stamp set so there are stamp collectors who also collect things like this.

What an awesome looking card.

And to finish up its another pajama party card.  Despite no logos, this early Donruss release is a much needed Press Proof parallel.  The silver proof is numbered to only 199 copies.

That wraps up my Cutch Pirates cards from my COMC pickups from the 2nd half of 2020 (except one notable card).  I'll show off some others in the future.  They will include my Giants, Yankees, and Phillies Cutch pickups. 

Behold the power of a green dragon

We are living in a hobby collecting world of parallels and variants.  Topps and Panini are trying to outpace each other by coming up with new and different parallels to chase after.

In 2020 Panini introduced Dragon Scale parallels (red and green color variants) in their Optic release.

Dragon scales?

We have seen green dragons appear in entertainment before.  The eternal dragon in Dragon Ball Z is green.

The original Green Power Ranger summons a Dragonzord

In the Marvel Universe, Fing Fang Foom is a giant green dragon creature that likes to cause chaos for the Marvel heroes.

But why a green dragon scale for baseball cards?

Why not? Is the best answer I can come up with.

Dragon scales parallels are awesome looking. If I were an Oakland A's fan, I would be sure to chase something like this parallel.

What are your thoughts on this parallel?

Who is your most memorable dragon (doesn't have to be green)?

Optimism Among Optics

Donruss Optic came out for the first time in 2016.  It was basically a chrome version of Donruss similar to Topps Chrome compared to Topps Flagship.  

The basic Donruss set contained 150 cards, while the Optic set contained only 100 cards.  

Similar to other chromium technology products, this release has a dozen color parallels to chase after.  

The most interesting thing that Donruss did was reverse the color numbering for this chrome product compared to what Topps utilizes.  Topps Chrome traditionally will use a red parallel as a /5 card and a green parallel as a /99 card.

Panini/Donruss/Optic took that and said F it.  Meaning flip it.

The reds for this product are /99 and the greens are /5. 

This puts a different way to look at things in terms of rare parallels go.

I needed a different way to look at things over the past few weeks with the holiday stress at an all time high.

Personally, my favorite Christmas movie to reflect on looking at things in a different view (or optics if you will) is the film, It's A Wonderful Life.

This Jimmy Stewart lead film really looks at a person's life and makes you reflect on your own life.  The fact that it was a film from the 1940s and addressed such a controversial theme of suicide in it's day speaks for why this film has become such a classic.  

While the technology and some of the terms and politics from the film's era are dated now, it still has a strong core that can resonate with anyone.

I have never gotten that close to have wanted to commit suicide, but the thought has crossed my mind, more so in recent years.  I had lost my great grandfather on my dad's side of family to suicide before I was even a teenager.  I was only 10 years old when he passed away from the suicide and none of us saw it coming.  He was a pillar in the community.  He always gave the biggest hugs and was a giant teddy bear and usually would smile a lot.  I still think about the hoagie my mom and I gave him the night before he shot himself that summer and how happy he lead us to think he was for us visiting him that night.  The next day my mom, brother, and I went over and he was laying outside.  My mom didn't know at the time that he had shot himself and told me to run over and wake up Grampop. I won't go into every detail, but it is something I remember nearly every detail to this day almost 30 years later.  I have seen the devastation it can cause on a family and I don't want to put anyone else through that.  

With the holidays, stress can be at an all time high.  It's important to keep finding things that make one happy.  

Stay positive and share positive thoughts with others.  You never know the impact you may be having on someone.  Pay attention to any signs and most importantly listen to those that may be struggling.  

It truly is A Wonderful Life

Live it and love it!

Don't take a life, including your own

Exodus 20:13

You shall not murder

A Most Excellent Collecting Adventure

A few days ago the official trailer came out for Bill & Ted: Face The Music.

You can see the trailer below

I talked about my excitement for this movie last year as part of my 80s week.

To say I am excited for this movie is a huge understatement.

Bill & Ted debuted in 1989 in Bill & Ted: Excellent Adventure.

I have shown off some of these 1989 inspired Topps cards in the past.

In 2014, Bowman officially announced they were back (did they ever really go away?) With a "diamond refractor" card inspired by 1989 Bowman.  The image used is from the 2013 All-Star game.

The insert set was officially dubbed Bowman is Back and featured a card back in a style similar to those oversized 1989 Bowman cards.


1987 Topps was the first set I ever put together with my dad, but 1989 is when I considered myself a kid who collected baseball cards.  I loved that set and think that Topps should show it more love.

2014 Topps Chrome released a chrome version of Cutch using a 1989 design.

This is where things get fun.

Where there's Chrome, there's usually Superfractors.

And I have it!
I wrote about it over 2 years ago.

As a kid who opened probably a case of 1989 Topps, I never thought there would be pieces of jersey or bats used by my favorite players embedded in the cards.

Look at how awesome that looks.
These rarely pop up for sale these days and are all numbered to only 25 copies or less.

And to wrap up my collecting adventure is a pair of 2014 Topps mini diecuts that were available in Series 1 and Series 2 packs.

 I love these mini cards.

Kudos to Topps for actually doing a different writeup on the back.


Topps isn't the only manufacturer that recognizes that fans cling to nostalgia.
Panini released a 1989 Donruss MVP inspired subset in their 2019 Optic release.  Some players had base versions and some players had autograph only versions.

Cutch got the autograph only treatment and all the different parallels feature on card signatures.

Many of these are numbered to 3 or less copies.

The set featured a pretty diverse group of signers from Keith Hernandez, Willie McGhee, Kevin Mitchell, and Jose Canseco to legendary players like Ken Griffey Jr, Brooks Robinson, Ryne Sandberg, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, and Frank Thomas.  There are also fan favorites like Steve Garvey, Dale Murphy and Cutch.  The hit king, Pete Rose, has an auto in it as well.

The sequel to Bill & Ted came in 1991 with the release of Bill & Ted: Bogus Journey.

I have a few 1991 cards featuring Cutch thanks to a 2016 Topps Archives release that used the 1991 design as one of the 3 designs that year.

The nice thing about Cutch appearing on the 1991 design for 2016 Archives is that there is an Operation Desert Shield SSP variant to go with the blue and red border parallels.

The black border 1/1 is stunning with the black alternate jersey

The back shows Cutch's impressive run as the leader in the National League in many offensive categories.

Topps began to really start pushing their 5x7 cards in 2016 and I was fortunate to grab a gold parallel numbered to 10 copies.

Panini got into the nostalgia throwback game as well when they released a 1991 Donruss Studio inspired card as part of their Father's Day release.

Above is the black and white test proof (/5 copies), Base, and Lava flow parallel.

The back discusses Cutch's enjoyment of the Discovery Chanel and dubstep music.

Getting multiple 1/1s of Cutch in 1989 and 1991 designs has been both a most excellent adventure and a totally bogus journey.

With a career heading towards a twilight and it looking more and more like there won't be a baseball season this year, it is time to Face The Music that new releases of Cutch will likely become less available.

Strange(r) Things are Afoot at the Spectra

And with today's post we have reached the finish line for the 4th Annual Save Second Base Event.

Thank you for all the comments and participating in all the contests I ran this month.  Cards will all ship the first week of November.  Please link back to my blog and The National Breast Cancer Foundation.  It's important to share awareness all year long.

So with today's post, allow me to introduce...

Fricking Winona Ryder!!!!

Winona Fricking Ryder!!!

Anyone remember that scene from Heathers?

Winona is a treat at award shows

She is immortal in Hollywood

She's played the bad girl

And the good girl

And she has one of the best cinematic bounces in history.

She has a long history with Keanu Reeves.

Haven't I seen her wear that outfit before?

She barely aged in almost 30 years.


She isn't ever type casted, but often times she appears in supernatural movies/shows of some sort.

When it comes to a supernatural or unusual mind, very few outpace the mind of Tim Burton.  It is for that reason that on Halloween I will discuss how she has appeared in a trio of Tim Burton movies.

Her first feature lead role was in Beetlejuice

She would later pair up with Burton again in the Johnny Depp star performance, Edward Scissorhands.

She then lent her voice in the animated feature Frankenweenie.

That is a Triple T(h)reat and all are acceptable to watch for Halloween purposes.

No tricks here. This 2017 Chronicles Spectra triple relic Triple Threat card contains pieces that are guaranteed by Panini to have been game used.