Alter Egos

Each year during the month of October, I show off only pink (and shades of pink like magenta, peach, etc) to help raise awareness of Breast Cancer, a leading cause of death for females in the United States.  

Due to my own financial situation this year I will not be able to make a donation for each (meaningful, non spam) comment left by those that follow the blog.  Once things settle down on the home front though I will be looking to make a donation in 2022 based on the comments left during this year's event.  Hopefully together we can help at least one woman get a much needed mammogram.  Early detection is key!!!

If you want to make your own private donation please visit the National Breast Cancer Foundation.  There is a donate button on the main page and it only takes a minute of your time.  Every little bit helps.

I have focused primarily on cards that only feature Andrew McCutchen on the card, but in recent years have also featured cards with a cameo appearance (either being seen on the card or as a name cameo on the back of the card).  In 2019, I created Falco Files which discussed players that replaced (Shane Falco Replacements movie reference) on an active roster, number worn, or trade.  I will also be showing some Cutch's Crew cards that show pink cards of players that have played with Cutch on multiple teams. I will continue to utilize these styles of posts as we celebrate the 5th Collecting Cutch Save Second Base event (I am no longer counting my first run on the Pirates Treasure Room I did back in 2014).

With New York Comic Con wrapping up over this past weekend, it seems appropriate to show off

Valerie Perez

If you have ever been to a big comic book convention, you have likely come across Valerie Perez and her incredible cosplay as Wonder Woman, Zatanna, or Paula Peril.

Valerie embraces the geek culture and all things pop culture as she travels from San Diego to New York to WonderCon and all the stops in between.

She has even been a special guest at Heroes Con and has had her likeness portrayed on many comic books.

The most common likeness is Paula Peril

which Valerie also acts as the main character in the feature length movies and episodes.

Paula Peril is an underground reporter that will go to any extreme to get the news, but also finds herself often getting put into rather distressed situations.

Many of the movies and episodes are available to stream on Amazon Prime

They harken back to some film noir style storylines.

So while Valerie Perez now has an alternate identity of Paula Peril, Andrew McCutchen has gotten an alter ego too.

During the 1st Spring Training 2020 (pre pandemic) a Philadelphia reporter referred to Andrew McCutchen as Larry McCutcheon (former NFL running back).  Andrew took it and made the article into an alter ego "Uncle Larry."

The back of this pink 2020 Spectra talks about Andrew's Uncle Larry debut

The card is numbered 10/75

Uncle Larry got an official card in this year's Project 70 by Chuck Styles and also received cards in 2021 Allen & Ginter.

The Uncle in Ginter

I've been slowly trying to pick up the Andrew McCutchen Uncle Larry cards from 2021 Allen & Ginter, but I have also been doing it while staying in budget.  

When the cards were first starting to show up the prices were very high for the buy it nows on eBay. I maintained my diligence and patience and have been able to snag four cards so far.

Here are a few of the cards I have grabbed thus far.

Abive is the black border mini

This is the short print framed autograph limited to 25 copies.  When Topps announced Uncle Larry would be a part of the checklist and would have autograph cards I was hoping that he would have an unique signature for Uncle Larry instead of his standard ACutch auto.

Above is the hot box foil

And finally a relic card of Cutch featuring Uncle Larry

Have you ripped any Allen & Ginter this year? 

The Art of Chuck Styles

Uncle Larry is Andrew McCutchen's alter ego.  He created the character when a Philadelphia reporter sited Andrew McCutchen, but called him Larry McCutcheon, the former running back from the NFL.  

Andrew did play football in high school, but he was a receiver.  During the pandemic, Andrew began posting videos and introduced the world to Uncle Larry, an old school no BS comedic personality.

Fans loved the character and Chuck Styles decided to make the first official Uncle Larry Project 70 Topps card.  

Like many of the Topps Project artists, Chuck Styles offered a limited number of autographed cards through his website for purchase.

The version I chose was the blue signature version numbered to 6 copies.  Chuck signed it right above the Uncle Larry name in a powder blue paint pen.  He also provided a new sticker atop the one touch magnetic holder replacing the traditional Project 70 sticker.

Came with an autographed box

The box was numbered in addition to the card

Mine is 2/6

Super Collectors Helping Out

By large I consider myself a player collector more than anything else when it comes to this hobby.  I feel like I have always been a "player collector" since taking up hobbies as an adult.

I've talked before about my collections I have had over the years from 80s toys to comics to sports cards.  

In looking back though I was always a player collector and super collector in the mindset.

The weird thing is I was never invested in the upper tier of collecting.

When I was collecting 80s toys I was focused on Voltron and Thundercats.  Neither of those toy lines had the sports player mindset, but I was obsessed with getting everything that had Voltron on it.  If it had 5 robot lions on some licensed merchandise I needed it for my collection.  Children sneakers in size 3?  Yup I was buying them.  Pencil pouches and folders for my school supplies at age 25?  Yup...I needed them.  

Voltron and Thundercats both had loyal fan bases, but they fall into the second tier of great 80s cartoons behind things like Transformers, G.I. Joe, Masters of the Universe, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Fast forward to my comic book collections.  Growing up my introduction to comic books was the 1992 X-Men cartoon and my two favorite characters were the mutant couple Gambit & Rogue.  Once I got into reading comic books I was hooked on the Flash and Daredevil.  I began buying every comic that featured those characters.

Again, great characters but definitely not top tier like Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Hulk, or Wolverine. 

In 2005 I attended a baseball game for the first time in a decade and decided I was going to root for the Pittsburgh Pirates and began following the career of that year's draft pick, Andrew McCutchen.

For a three year run, many could argue that Cutch was top tier in the league as he was basically the National League version of Mike Trout.  Unfortunately he didn't sustain that level of success for decades like some of the all time greats like Pujols, Jeter, Griffey, etc.

My Cutch collection has been my longest tenured collection in any hobby I have ever been a part of.  It has outlasted everything I ever collected and in the span of over a decade and half of collecting his cards I have made some pretty awesome online friends because of the collection.  

About a month ago I received an awesome random act of kindness from another player collector via Twitter.  

As many of you may be aware Blake Jamieson kicked off his Project 70 checklist with a Cutch card.  Well dmoose8 on Twitter received a signed black ink (not numbered) autograph from Blake and he chose to send it to me.  I've had a few interactions with him and his dad on Twitter over the years.  He collects Erik Moustakas cards to the supercollector level and his dad has a fully finished Man Cave of Steal dedicated to Rickey Henderson.

This hobby is awesome!

I love seeing these super collections and being known for my Cutch collection.

More Art Cards

I am building up my collection of Uncle Larry inspired baseball art cards.

I came across this custom card maker through his Twitter @IceCatCards and visited his etsy store IceCatCards

He currently makes limited signed printed cards for under $10 shipped in two categories.

Double Take looks at some of the game's greatest players and their short time in uniforms normally not associated with that player.  These include Dale Murphy with the Rockies, Ken Griffey Jr trade to the White Sox, Jim Thome 17 at bats with the Dodgers, Pedro Martinez World Series run with the Phillies among others.

His other series is Born to be Legends which looks at some of the best players born in a year and uses the Topps designs for that card.

Andrew McCutchen was part of the Born To Be Legends selection for 1986 so he received a revamped 1986 card design with that now famous image from the dugout wearing the zip up Phillies throwback uniform.

Below is the back

And he sent a letter

Overall I am happy with this purchase. 

If you choose to make a purchase from IceCatCards, let him know that CollectingCutch sent you.

Josh Trout > Mike Trout

Mike Trout may be a generational baseball player, but Josh Trout is a generational sketch artist.

Let me set the stage

Behold the box it was shipped in

I carefully removed the outside band holding the package card inside.

Above is the very unique box that acts as a perfect compliment to the card itself.  I love the rookie cup design stating it is a Topps Artist and officially licensed.

Inside was a very nice hand written note on one of Josh's business cards.  It just so happens to feature that other Trout guy too.

Once I removed the business card I had this beautifully drawn absolutely stunning card of the Keystone State Legend that is Andrew McCutchen.

Thank you Josh!

Frickin Jackpot Foil Friday!!!

I did it!!!

I beat the odds!!!

Now before I reveal my amazing card, let me give you some back story on why I am so excited about this card.

Many people aren't in love with the Project 70 art cards and I completely get it.  Many of them I am scratching my head on as well.  

With such a broad range for this project I knew there would be some cards I really liked and some cards that just didn't appeal to me at all.  When the project first hit I said I would get any of the Andrew McCutchen and Roberto Clemente cards that were released.  If something struck my fancy I would pick them up as well.  If a collector committed to an artist's entire run through Topps they could qualify for a free print at the end of the project that depicted that artist's entire run.

Well, Cutch was one of the first cards to appear in the set as he was Blake Jamieson's first card of the set.  In addition to Cutch and Clemente I was also going to add any cards that Blake Jamieson produced.  

Early on in the set, Alex Pardee, another artist released a Ronald Acuna Jr card that looked like it had crossed paths with a Venom symbiote.  Being a big comic book fan I grabbed the Pardee Acuna and had to add Pardee to the list of cards I would always buy during the 70 hour ordering window.

Now my list consisted of anything Cutch, anything Clemente, anything Blake Jamieson, and anything Alex Pardee.  

At $19.99 per card this was going to get expensive.

Then Ermsy (one of my favorite artists from last year's Project 2020) created a tripped out Dock Ellis.

I'm a Pirates fan and love the no hitter that Dock threw while supposedly on LSD.  I grabbed that card as well.

Then other artists started making more cards of Dock Ellis.  At one point Dock had more cards than Mike Trout in the set.  

I hit the reset button and got back to basics.

Cutch

Clemente

Blake

Pardee

Nothing else unless it really catches my eye.

Then a funny thing happened.

Blake Jamieson, who is one of the most awesome people on this Earth, released a card of rookie Jarred Kelenic of the Seattle Mariners.

I like Blake as a person and really want to get a print of Blake at the end of the project, but do I want to spend $20 on a Jarred Kelenic card?  

I literally waited until the final hour before I pulled the trigger and ultimately got it.  One more player I don't care about and I'm not going to continue this though.

A few more Clementes were released.

Then Blake released a Randy Arozarena card.  I don't care about the Tampa Bay Rays.  I have no extra love for 1968 Topps.  As a matter of fact, I hate 1968 Topps.  Despite wanting that print because of the Cutch appearance I was dropping Blake's cards from my list.  I just didn't want to spend $20 for a guy who was potentially involved in a domestic abuse case on a team I don't care for on a set design that is easily in my personal list of top 5 worse Topps designs pre2000. 

Sorry Blake.

But then just a few days later, something amazing happened.

Andrew McCutchen was getting another card in Project70 and it was by Chuck Styles, a Philadelphia artist with strong ties to Black Lives Matter.  What a perfect match!!!!

And the card depicted Andrew's alter ego, Uncle Larry.

Perfect!!!!

And then Pardee started his mustache guys cards.

I loved the Randy Johnson with the screaming ball and the dove.  

The Dennis Eckersley and Rollie Fingers were also great.

But then there was a Polar Bear for Pete Alonso.  It's a great nickname and it actually made sense for Alex to draw Pete as a scary bear, but quite honestly....it seemed to obvious.  I loved Alex's weird interpretations he had done.  

I was out on Pardee.

I was out on Jamieson.

I was only in for Clemente and McCutchen cards again, which is what I originally set out for.

Then something crazy happened.

I picked up another batch of mail and noticed this invoice with 3 Project 70 cards inside from Topps

Ok, I knew I bought an artist proof (and discussed hoping to hit a foil when I revealed the card back on this post a month ago), but there was three cards inside this package and according to the invoice numbering it looks like I was getting something special inside.

Artist Proof with silver frame limited to 51 copies

Base

Foil!!!! Limited to 70 copies

Put on those sunglasses

😎 😎 😎

Holy foilboard Batman!!!

I am super stoked about getting this card.

Needless to say I could turn my $20 investment into $150+, but honestly I would rather keep the McCutchen in my collection than pocket the extra $130+ profit I could make.

With all the hype around sports cards in the past 18 months have you chosen to hold onto cards that you know you could flip for an easy profit, but instead chose to hold onto them because they mean more to you than some extra dollars?

Have you ever felt like you hit a cardboard lottery?

Uncle Larry debut!

Topps Project 70 had Andrew McCutchen debut with card number 10 by Blake Jamieson.  The always fan favorite and charismatic McCutchen was left without another card in the Project 70 run until yesterday.  Philadelphia artist Chuck Styles just created a card featuring Cutch's Uncle Larry persona.

Of course I had to pick one up and you should too.  Just head over to Topps.com and grab your copy.  

I of course will be on the lookout for foils when they surface, but did preorder one of the artist proof cards limited to 51 copies also.  

The card design is loosely based on the 1976 Topps design, a design that Cutch hasn't appeared on yet.  Instead of a cartoon ballplayer in the corner, we have a drinking cup (made famous by that swag dugout photo)

I love everything about this card and will be possibly picking up a 10 pack prior to the 70 hour window closing.  At the very least I have a base and artist proof coming my way.

Hopefully other artists like Alex Pardee, distortedd, efdot, and Ermsy join Blake Jamieson and Chuck Styles in making more Cutch cards.  

What are your thoughts on the Chuck Styles Uncle Larry card? 

When Comic Books Come To Life

In case you missed it, the new Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage trailer is out.

I'm excited for it.

Way back in the mid 2000s I was collecting comic books more than anything relating to sports.  I became friends with the artists and writers as I began to take the convention circuit with many of them from New York to Philadelphia to Orlando (MegaCon) to Chicago.  I never made it out to San Diego and got out of the comic book scene around 2009 (basically when Marvel was beginning their cinematic universe).  I wrote about the origin story of how I became CollectingCutch here and I discussed my love of comic books several times over the duration of this blog.  There are several comic book characters that I have always enjoyed, but Gambit, The Flash, and Daredevil will always be my top favorites.  

I had long boxes filled with near complete runs of all those characters, but sold everything about 10 years ago.  

The joy of original comic art is still a collecting itch I get from time to time, but I haven't done a whole lot about scratching it other than an occasional sketch card of Andrew McCutchen here and there. 

The comic book style has never been married to my sports card collection until now.  

When it comes to iconic comic book covers there are a few that stand out above the rest.  I think of many silver age comic covers and a few bronze age covers when I think of all time greatest covers.

One of the most iconic is Amazing Spider-Man #50 by the great John Romita Sr.

The issue was originally published by Marvel Comics July 1967 with a cover price of 12 cents.  It saw Peter Parker walk away from being Spider-Man and also introduces readers to the 1st Appearance of Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin.  Fisk is the crimelord of the underworld, taking on the role of a seedy mobster type background.

You may be familar with Kingpin from the Netflix series, Daredevil.  He was played by Vincent D'Onforio

Kingpin was also played by Michael Clarke Duncan in the 2003 Daredevil film starring Ben Affleck. 

Despite Kingpin being my favorite villain in comic books, he actually doesn't appear on the cover of his first appearance.  That doesn't stop this comic from being one of my favorite comics I ever owned in my collection and I think it is the cover art that I always enjoyed about this historic comic issue. 

So a few months ago, I got a crazy idea to merge my 2 favorite hobbies into some new wall art.  I looked over some of my favorite comic book covers to figure out how to do it and who I might be able to make it a reality.  I noticed that one of the artists that drew a single issue of Gambit from his first ongoing series was taking commissions via eBay.  He is more well known for his work on Spider-Man, then it hit me.  Amazing Spider-Man #50, the first issue to feature my favorite villain and one of the greatest Spider-Man stories ever told. Perfect!!!

I contacted Joe St Pierre to do a comic cover homage, but make it Andrew McCutchen centralized.

I knew there would have to be homages made to the original Amazing Spider-Man #50 so here are some things that I requested

First and foremost I wanted the title to say Andrew McCutchen instead of The Amazing Spider-Man

You may also notice that I had the Spidey image in the box corner art to be modified to the Uncle Larry persona that Cutch created last year, made famous on his Series 2 short print swagger card.

Speaking of box corner art, here's a look at some other changes I requested

Rather than 12 cents I asked for it to say 22 cents (a reference to Cutch's jersey number).  And instead of the issue number and month of publication I requested 13 MVP to identify the year Cutch won the NL MVP. 

Now for the main image of Spider-Man I wanted a fully dreaded version of Cutch in his Pirates black alternate jersey turning his head similar to the way Spidey is turning.

In the foreground of the comic is a very somber Peter Parker walking head down towards the reader.  I wanted a different look for Cutch to represent the Peter Parker side of him.

I requested Joe to put Cutch in the fist clinching excited moment of his walk off homer in the 14th inning against the Dodgers while in his 1st week with the San Francisco Giants.  In case you forget that moment here is the video.  What an epic at bat!!!!

I think it's safe to say all us Pirates fans wanted Cutch to stay a Pirate for life, but when he was traded to the Giants prior to the 2018 season he was forever a Pirate in our hearts, but a Pirate No More on the field.

Cutch will forever be my favorite athlete regardless of what team he plays for.  

So I think I've hinted around the final drawing enough.

Above is the result of a truly talented artist taking my love of comic books and baseball and perfectly blending them together.

Joe sent me pictures along the way and even made a revision after seeing the initial black and white image he sent.  I thought it would be cooler to get Cutch in a Giants uniform instead of Phillies uniform so Joe was gracious enough to do it for me.

How fricking awesome is that?

This has definitely made a new thing for me to collect.  

Here are some other covers I am thinking about turning into Cutch themed covers

Joe Mad! is one of my favorite comic artists and Gambit is a favorite character of mine.  I need to figure out a way to have a deadlocked Cutch holding baseball cards.

The Cutch of 2 cities.  Classic Pittsburgh Cutch and the Cutch of Philadelphia both coming to save someone.

The Phillies have basically brought back the same team as the past 2 years and are still thought to be favorites in the NL East.  This might be a fun one with JT, Bryce, and Rhys with Cutch in the corner box art or maybe go with Cutch, AJ Burnett, and Russel Martin as the team that brought the Pirates back to the playoffs.  I'll have to give this Jim Lee cover some more thoughts

I think getting something with Cutch and the Uncle Larry persona would be fun in this homage to Incredible Hulk #1.

We'll have to see if I progress forward with any of these ideas or if they just stay buried in my head.

What do you think of my first Andrew McCutchen comic cover homage?  

Should I proceed with another and if so what cover would you suggest?  Are there any comic book covers you can think of as being iconic that might lend themselves to getting a baseball update?

Please give Joe a follow on Twitter or view his website

joestpierre.bigcartel.com

Twitter @Joe_StPierre