Falco Files: A New Segment and Another Preview Contest...

Football is back!!!! Let's talk about it.

One of my favorite sports movies is The Replacements.  The comedy and drama keep me entertained from start to finish.  For those not familar with the movie it stars Keanu Reeves as Shane Falco who was a highly touted quarterback that could never step up in the big games.  After the professional football league players for the Sentinels all strike, the owner decides they are going to seek out replacement players for the closing season.

Shane Falco is one of those replacement players and this new segment will be used to highlight any post Andrew McCutchen news and cardboard of the players who replaced Cutch.

I have been starting a modest PC of Bryan Reynolds because he has quickly become one of my favorite players and was part of the 2018 Andrew McCutchen trade.  He is on the verge of winning a batting title in his rookie season.

Whenever I have a Falco Files post I will show off cards of guys who have worn Cutch's jersey number after him, players he was traded for, etc.

I will show off my very modest Bryan Reynolds PC in a future post, but I also want to announce my next contest for the Save Second Base Event. More on that contest at the end of this post

I will give a little preview of what you can expect for the event by introducing

Brooke Langton

She was the sexy cheerleader captain in the aforementioned theatrical masterpiece known as The Replacements.

She also appeared in a famous TV show from the 90s.  Perhaps you've heard of it? Melrose Place

She also replaced Sandra Bullock for the only season of the Net.  The 1998 TV series is based on the movie version of The Net.

Langton always seems to be replacing other characters in all her roles.

A similar thing can be said about Austin Meadows, who the Pirates used the 9th overall pick in the 2013 draft as a "replacement" for failing to sign their 8th overall pick, Mark Appel, in the 2012 draft.

Meadows was drafted as a centerfielder and was long thought to be a replacement eventually for Andrew McCutchen as the face of the franchise.  Due to injuries, his "quick road to the majors" turned into a 5 year minor league injury plagued career first.

His debut earned him Rookie of the Month for May 2018.

With the Pirates surging at the 2018 trade deadline having won 11 straight they made a bold blockbuster move for 2 time All Star and cost controlled Chris Archer from the Rays.  He quickly filled in as a fan favorite for the Pirates when he said he wouldn't wear his traditional number 22 for Pittsburgh to show his respect for Andrew McCutchen.  Archer went on to say that number 22 should one day be retired by the Pirates.  He didn't want to replace Cutch's number.

Instead he wore number 24, previously worn by Tyler Glasnow who Archer had replaced on the team's pitching staff when Glasnow was also a part of the trade with Meadows to Tampa Bay.

That's a lot of replacements.

NOW FOR THE CONTEST

Wanna K Cancer?
Want to win a pink baseball card of

Here's how:
Make a blog post about one of your favorite sports movies and connect it to some baseball (or other trading) cards in your collection. 

The rules:
1)Must be a follower of the blog or my twitter account (@CollectingCutch)
2)Must post a comment ON THIS POST with your entry and a link
2a)Card will be randomed twice
3)USA residents only
4)Contest closes 8am September 25th.

Let's check in on the National League Doubles Leaders for the Tulo auto I am giving away.

It is going to be a fun next few weeks to determine who is the National League doubles leader at regular season's end.

And now it's time to reveal the winner of the Larkin/Sheffield pink Donruss card.

 I entered everyone in twice for showing a pink card in their favorite player born in the 80s.

After the first random, Nachos was on top. He should be extremely excited about that as he put out a notice to anyone that wins it that he wanted it known he wants this card for his Larkin collection.

However, the rules stated I would random twice...

And AJ from The Lost Collector is the winner.

Thank you all for participating.  The next contest leading up to my 4th Annual Save Second Base Event ends in a few weeks.

What once was Lost (Collector's)

The always awesome AJ, author of the Lost Collector sent me a bodacious gnarly package that really was fresh.

You might have read that first sentence and thought you entered a time loop back to the 80s.

Well, AJ being the bomb dope fresh friend that he is sent me this 1983 Andrew McCutchen insert using the 1983 design.

It's bad to the bone.

Well the back is actually bad...

You see there's a tiny little lie on the back.

Andrew didn't hit a Grand Slam against the Giants on July 24th.  He hit a 3 run homer and drove in another run. No Grand Salami tho.

AJ didn't stop with the 80s theme with just Cutch though, he sent Clemente cards from 1982

And 2 from 1987

That's 3 pieces of cardboard over 30 years old!!!  The dude has lost his mind.  I about had a cow when I saw those...

Ok, if you want to learn about all the fun words we said in the 80s, click here.  It's a fun trip down memory lane.

AJ also sent a smorgasbord of Tyler Glasgow cards.  If the Pirates are to be a respectable competitive franchise for the next few years, Glasnow must emerge as a top of rotation talent that he was predicted to be.

To wrap things up, AJ sent me some more Cutch cards I needed for the PC.  The Opening Day insert and Blue Legends in the Making are both new additions to go with the 1983 that he sent me.

AJ thank you so much.  You should be gettin a care package your way next week.

Brad's Blog Bombing

Brad is a Philadelphia fan and for that I feel bad for him.  Him and I have sent each other just because packages over the past several years without expecting anything in return.

What Brad sent me a few days before Christmas absolutely blew me away.

Let's cut to the chase.

This 1/1 Andrew McCutchen 2015 Magenta Mini SSP printing plate was wedged between a stack of 14 Buccos and 13 Buccos.

This framed mini is absolutely fantastic!!!!  It also brings my total to 179 one of ones!!!!

Let's look at what else this fine gent sent my way.

A trio of minis including a purple Josh Harrison /250 from 2016 Gypsy Queen.  The always respected Roberto Clemente is next to the exiled Jung Ho Kang.

Rotation Ace Gerrit Cole is joined by veteran Ivan Nova and the fresh faces Jameson Taillon and Tyler Glasnow who both debuted in 2016.  Last year the Pirates staff for the most part (excluding Jameson's cancer battle) stayed healthy as they only used 7 different pitchers to start games.  I liked what Trevor Williams showed down the stretch.  If the Pirates are to improve their record this year they will need Cole Taillon and Nova to return to their highest potential and the development of Glasnow, Kuhl, and Williams will have to improve.

Who called for a Marte Partay?  These cards scanned crooked.  Hmmmm....crooked? Marte?  Probably just a coincidence...moving on....

JHay looks like he wants to party

Here's a few guys no longer invited to party in Pittsburgh.

Confined to wear a mask because of his majestic look is Ryan Doumit!!!!!!  I wish I had PCed him more.

Jung Ho, get your $#@& together!

Kevin Newman is an interesting prospect.  When he was drafted Keith Law exclaimed the Pirates got the best player in the draft and ranked him very highly.  After a few seasons in the minors he has shown very little offensively besides being a slap hitter.  He gets on base at a decent clip but has very little power at this point his career.  He may become a super utility infielder like Josh Harrison depending on how the development of Adam Frazier, Cole Tucker, and Kevin Kramer go.

Speaking of JHay, there he is again looking fresh on a 1983 inspired Archives card.

I'm looking at these two cards of Gregory Polanco and wow, he changed a lot in a year...oh wait Topps screwed up.  That's not Polanco on the Gypsy Queen....that's Aramis Ramirez.  Shame on you Topps!

Let's finish with some Hall of Famer.

Nothing is better than that.

Oh and this is Andrew McCutchen, I'm sure you've seen me talk about him on this blog before.

Thank you so much Brad!!!
I am going to work on getting something to you in return.