Superman Day

Every June 12th is celebrated as National Superman Day.

You may recall I discussed this day back in 2019 when I showed off a super rare 1 of 1 autograph booklet letter patch card.  

I was never a huge fan of Superman compared to other superheroes.  I always liked the darker more angsty heroes like Wolverine, Green Arrow, or Batman or I liked the comical heroes like Flash or Deadpool.

I do respect Superman though.  He is an American icon.

Superman is also known as The Man of Steel.

Here are some other Men of Steel from my Andrew McCutchen Triple Threads collection

McTeammates

One thing that is synonymous with St Patrick's Day is McDonald's Shamrock shake.

The 2012 Pittsburgh Pirates had more members with a surname that began with Mc__ than any other team I have seen before.  

Above is my Pirates country wooden sign I got signed during Spring Training 2012.  Among the names on the sign,are former All-Stars: Andrew McCutchen, Josh Harrison, Pedro Alvarez, Jason Grilli, Starling Marte, Nate McLouth, and Evan Meek.

Also on the sign is Casey McGehee

 and Relief Pitcher Daniel McCutchen

Not on the sign, but eligible to be on it because he played for the 2012 Pirates is Catcher Michael McKenry, Utility Infielder John McDonald, Starting Pitcher James McDonald, and Pitcher Kyle McPherson. 

That's 8 Mcs

Shark Week

The 2013 Pittsburgh Pirates was my favorite team I rooted for. (EVER!!!)

They would go on to have their 1st winning season in 20 years.

The bullpen lead by Jason Grilli was dubbed the Shark Tank.  Grilli would even go as far to get the team a shark tank for the clubhouse.  They began to use a 3 headed back of bullpen (Watson-Melancon-Grilli) in the same way that many teams are using bullpens today.

Look up the ERAs of the core members of the Shark Tank in 2013 and you will see that when there was blood in the water, these sharks fed like a frenzy.

Yesterday I used a bible quote involving the fish in the sea trembling at His presence.

For the rest of this week I will look at some cardboard featuring Cutch with members of The Shark Tank and why batters trembled in their presence.

Let's begin with the mastermind behind the Shark Tank, Jason Grilli.  Nicknamed Grill Cheese he would lead the Pirates into the All Star game with over 20 consecutive saves converted.  He lead the NL in saves at the break and even was the cover athlete for Sports Illustrated highlighting the Pirates miraculous season.

Shortly after the SI article, Grilli would land on the DL (thanks Sports Illustrated curse) and hand the reigns of the closing role to Mark "The Shark" Melancon.

Cole in a Stocking?

Gerrit Cole, who grew up a Yankees fan, is rumored to be heading to New York.

For the past few weeks there have been lots of rumors going around about the former #1 overall pick being traded to the Yankees.  It seems that the Pirates are still trying to get top prospect Gleyber Torres in exchange for two years of the hard throwing righty.

I'm torn about the potential trade.

The team is significantly different than the 97 win 2015 club as the following players are no longer with the Pirates: Pedro Alvarez, Neil Walker, AJ Burnett, Francisco Liriano, Tony Watson, and Mark Melancon.

So far only the Melancon trade has yielded a positive impact to the future of the club as Felipe Rivero is a nasty arm out of the pen.

I don't have much confidence in the team "winning" a trade with the Yankees.

I would rather see Cole pitch every 5th day for the next two years even knowing that the Pirates have ZERO chance to extend him. I saw him make his MLB debut which I will never forget.

Here are some of my Cutch and Cole relic combo cards.

Gerrit has always been one of my favorites and I would hate to see him traded.

I remember meeting him in AAA and was able to get his attention when the Indianapolis Indians were playing the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs (Phillies AAA affiliate).  He signed maybe about a half dozen balls before the game.

When he turned to sign for me and I tossed the ball to him I asked if he could sign it on the sweet spot.  It never hurts to ask, right?

Cole laughed and said I don't think my agent would like that.

He tossed it back up to me.

I knew then that the Pirates had ZERO chance of signing him past his six years with the Bucs.

That's why I absolutely don't want to see him traded.  He is the Pirates best pitcher since the days of Doug Drabek.  He's consistent and has true top of rotation stuff.

I want Cole to stay with the Pirates for the next two years.

Don't give the Yankees another present this holiday season!

Welcome Steel McCutchen

As if Pirates fans (and Pittsburgh fans in general) couldn't love Andrew McCutchen enough, the star center fielder named his first born son, Steel.  News broke yesterday about Cutch's first born son.

He was born healthy at 8Lbs 15 ounces

Here's all my Triple Threads cards that reference Steel with images of Cutch.

Here's to a happy and healthy life for the newest McCutchen.

A New Contest: The Top 10 Cards in my PC

I am doing another contest.  Congrats to defgav on winning the last contest and dubbing "The Cardboard Insider" segment which I will spotlight next week.

This is going to be an easy and fun one.

Show off your 10 favorite cards of your favorite player and mention/link my blog in your post.  The contest will end May 30th.
Everyone that participates will get entered for a random.org selection.  The prizes are all very nice and will be displayed at the end of this post.  Additional rules will appear below also.

Without further ado, here's my top 10 in order.
#10 2013 Dual Relic/Dual Autograph Gerrit Cole and Andrew McCutchen
This card just doesn't pop up for sale very often although there is one on eBay right now in the $350 range.  2013 was a great season for the Pirates.  They broke the streak of 20 losing seasons and made the playoffs.  Cutch and Cole were a large part of the reason the team was so successful.  They were both going to be the future of the franchise as Cutch had just signed a very team friendly deal to stay in Pittsburgh through 2018 (if the options were picked up).  Gerrit Cole when pitching right is one of the best NL pitchers.  Together they are my favorite players of this millennium to wear a Buccos uniform.  I have other Cutch and Cole cards and some may be more expensive, but this is my favorite because of it's release date and the joys I had rooting for the Pirates during that 2013 season.

#9: 2013 Triple Threads Booklet
Ask any kid growing up in the 90s who their top 5 favorite baseball players are and Ken Griffey Jr is sure to be on that list.  No one disliked "the Kid." Cutch has stated in numerous interviews that Griffey was his favorite player growing up also.  Having 2 Hall of Famers, bats from Kemp and Bo, and 2 great looking patches for Bryce and Cutch make this booklet one of my favorites.  Only 3 exist and there are plenty of Harper, Griffey, and Bo fans that can be jealous that I own this one.

#8: Gypsy Queen Adam Jones and Andrew McCutchen Dual Button
I mentioned a few weeks ago that this card was easily in my top 10.  After looking at all my cool Cutch cards, I realized "I got a lot of cool Cutch cards."  Adam Jones is one of my nonPirates favorites so that definitely helps this card break the top 10.

#7: 2015 Topps Triple Threads All-Star Game Sleeve Patch 1/1
I realize this should be higher and maybe I am putting emotional significance on the top 5 higher, even though this card is just absolutely sick looking.  It's my list though and in terms of cards I would say that since each year Topps Triple Threads seem to do something like this, it doesn't hold the same WOW factor to me as it probably should.  It was Cutch's 4th All-Star Game.  He didn't win an MVP during that year (finished 3rd though).  It's a great looking card and looks incredible in the custom case I got for it, but the others mean more to me.

#6: 2009 Bowman Chrome Superfractor 1/1
There's going be nothing but 1/1s from here on.  When it comes to collecting Bowman cards, there's 2 kinds that people collect: a player's 1st Bowman Card (often found in Bowman Draft) and the player's Rookie Card.  The little RC logo adds a lot to the desirability of a player.  A 2005 Bowman Chrome Superfractor would be another Holy Grail card for me, but for now this Bowman Chrome beats all other 6 Superfractor in my collection for top parallel.

#5: 2012 Triple Threads All-Star Game Laundry Tag 1/1 booklet
Cutch's first All-Star Game was in 2011 at Arizona.  He was a replacement for Carlos Beltran.  He only got one plate appearance which was a check swing groundout to the pitcher.  Regardless of his performance in the game, this workout jersey is still from his 1st All-Star Game.

Note: I also have his laundry tag booklet card from 2015 Triple Threads for his 2014 All-Star Game (the first game he started)

#4 2005 Topps Chrome Cyan Printing Plate Autograph 1/1
I was able to grab this from someone that pulled it in 2014.  It was my 500th card of Cutch.  I am now near 1,700.  That shows how much of my collection has changed so that I could solely focus on Cutch.

#3: 2016 Immaculate Bat Knob 1/1
Unlicensed or not.  This was one of my favorite cards I got so far this year.  Featuring a bat knob that was PSA authenticated before Panini got it, it's a sense of relief to be able to verify the authenticity of the card.

#2:
It took awhile for my favorite product to get featured, but Allen & Ginter finally makes an appearance.  Combining a Cutch bat barrel nameplate and a Pedro Alvarez jersey nameplate, this 1/1 booklet was one of my first big cards I ever purchased.

#1: 2016 Allen & Ginter 1/1 Box Topper Nameplate
Quite literally one of the biggest cards I own, this massive and beautiful designed card shows the first part of McCutchen's nameplate from a home white jersey.

So there's my top 10 cards.
How do you like the way I ranked them? Would you rank them differently?

Honorable mentions (the just missed list):
Any of my 3 MLB Logoman cards

Any of my 3 Majestic Logo Cards

A pair of Autograph/Patch Booklets from Allen & Ginter that form the "P" on the alternate black uniform.

Any of these Superfractors could have earned a top spot, but the saying Chrome is King refers to Bowman, sorry random Topps products.

Triple Threads All-Star Game Patch cards /9 for each of Cutch's All-Star Games (so far)

How about this 1/1 Triple Threads Team Logo card with Jung Ho Kang and Gerrit Cole?  If it were not for Jung Ho's reckless behavior this card would have made the Top 10.  As more and more is becoming known about his character and actions, it is becoming harder for me to root for the guy.  Had this card been just Cutch and Cole it would have made the Top 10.  Need proof, go back to the top and see #10 for my reasons.

Now...onto the contest.

1)Leave a comment below with your link mentioning this contest and show off your 10 favorite cards of your favorite player.  They don't have to be mega hits.  You can like a card for it's photography, the joy of getting that card as a gift, whatever the reason...it's your list.

SHOW THEM OFF!!!!

2) All participants will receive tbeir blog entered into random.org as a result of participating.
Assuming there are at least 5 people who show off their top 10 here is the prize for the random.org result winner


1-A Craig Biggio Topps Dynasty autograph/patch card.

.
All other participants will receive one of the following cards

If less than 5 people participate, the Biggio will not be randomed off and I will just send you ONE of the above cards for participating.