A post that is a day late and the last card Mays offend some people

Happy (belated) 90th Birthday Willie Mays!

Willie May will forever be one of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game.

Above is an unlicensed card from Hits Memorabilia featuring three of the top 25 centerfielders to ever play the game (at keast according to a 2018 poll where Mays was ranked 1st, Griffey 3rd, and McCutchen 22nd)

It is my only Willie Mays relic and was worn at an old timers game for the Mets.

I also have this 2015 Topps Heritage New Age Performers card that features a sweet image of Cutch on the front

and a nice writeup about Willie Mays on the back

Its hard to believe that it was only 6 years ago that Cutch was leading the league with a .952 OPS.  It feels like forever.

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My favorite Willie Mays card in my collection is a NL Leaders card that features 3 All Time Greats

I wrote about it on Chasing3000 way back in 2018.

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With it being Willie Mays birthday yesterday, Topps used that opportunity to showcase the newest Alex Pardee Project 70 card and it features none other than Willie Mays.

The odd thing is that he is featured as a werewolf.

Does anyone understand this?  I have never seen an image of Mays with any facial hair, let alone werewolf status.  

I understand that Pardee really dives into his love of comic books for his art, but if he wanted to make a werewolf for the project why not use someone like Bryce Harper or even Brian Wilson?  Both those guys are known to have some pretty intense facial hair.

I did buy the Pardee Mays card because I am collecting the Pardee and Jamieson artist sets to get the posters.  

Have you bought any Project 70 cards?

What is your favorite Willie Mays card in your collection?

Happy Belated Hammerin'

Hank Aaron recently celebrated his 86th birthday.  In addition to his birthday making National headlines he stated that any players involved in the 2017 Houston Astros cheating scandal should receive a lifetime ban from baseball.

This is a radical idea, but at the root of it falls in line with similar bans.  Chris Correa, former scouting director of the St. Louis Cardinals was permanently banned for having the scouting database of the Houston Astros.  That ban was deemed necessary because it ultimately jeapordized the integrity of the game.

Hank Aaron, the former Home Run King, was the league's first 3,000 hit and 500 HR member.  He was one of the greatest players of all-time.

I remember doing a project in 5th grade where I had to write about and present a person for Black History Month.  I chose Hank Aaron.

I will not go into his accomplishments as they are long and plentiful.

I've done a few Heritage Comparisons of the League Leaders cards you see on this post. They can be viewed here.

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.  

Mays, Griffey, and Cutch

There is currently a ranker which lists Mays as #1, Griffey as #3, and Cutch as #22.  You can view it by clicking link above.

I have shown off some Hits Memorabilia cards in the past, but this is my very first Cutch relic that is paired up with the great Willie Mays.

What is interesting about this card is the way all three players respect each other.

Many say Willie Mays is the greatest centerfielder of all time.
Ken Griffey Jr. grew up watching his dad play and wanting to be like him.  Its been said he got #24 because of Mays though.

Cutch grew up being a big fan of Griffey.

After Griffey retired he was asked who his favorite baseball player in game was.  His response....Andrew McCutchen.

A few days ago things came full circle when Cutch got a chance to meet the legendary 24.

Here's the interview Griffey had about Cutch.

Now time to show off the card.

The Mays relic is a pants relic from a New York Mets game.

The back, like all other Hits Memorabilia cards, is quite lackluster.

It may not be officially licensed, but this card features 3 of the most prominent African American centerfielders of each generation.  With the amount of Griffey and Mays collectors out there, I'm happy to add this /5 card to the collection.

Heritage Comparisons pt4

If you haven't seen my Heritage Comparisons before, I encourage you check them out.

Today I am going to be looking at the 2015 Heritage release which is based on the 1966 design.

Before we look at Cutch's solo card, let's first take note that he appeared on card #214 for being a League Leader in Batting Average.  It features Cutch as coming in 3rd place for the 2014 batting title. In 2014 former Pirate Justin Morneau won his 1st NL batting title ahead of Pirates All-Stars Josh Harrison and Andrew McCutchen.

Card #214 for the 1966 release shows the top three finishers of the 1965 batting title.  Pretty amazing card as it has three of the game's greatest National League outfielders of all time on the card.
In 1965 Roberto Clemente won his 3rd batting title ahead of Hank Aaron and Willie Mays.

The back of the card shows that 10 players hit above .300 in 1965 and only 7 hit above .300 in 2014.

Now to the breakdown for these Heritage Comparisons, the solo cards of Cutch.

The 2015 Heritage card for Cutch was #300, the same as (drumroll please......) Roberto Clemente in 1966 Topps.

Let's compare how Cutch's MVP followup season compared to Roberto Clemente's age 30 season when he won his 3rd Batting Title.

All stats provided by Baseball-Reference

As is the case for all the previous Heritage Comparisons I am not stating that Cutch is better or on the same path as the great Roberto Clemente.  I am merely comparing cardboard because Cutch's Heritage card appears with the same numbering as Roberto Clemente's original release.

Approach at the Plate:
In 1965 Clemente put up a triple slash line of .329/.378/.463 for an .842 OPS
Cutch's 2014 season slash line was .314/.410/.542 for a .952 OPS
Advantage Cutch
Despite the higher batting average and winning the batting title, I have to give the advantage to Cutch.  He drew more walks and hit for more power as you can see in the 45 Clemente XBH vs 69 Cutch XBH.

Baserunning
Never known as a burner or stolen base threat, Clemente swiped 7 bags compared to Cutch 18.
Advantage Cutch

Team Dependant Manufactured Runs
So much of Runs scored and Runs Batted In is based on who hits ahead and behind you.
Clemente had only 65 RBI with 91 Runs scored.
Cutch drove in 83 and scored 89 times.
Advantage Cutch


The winner of this Heritage Comparisons battle goes to Cutch.  His age 27 season was better than Clemente's age 30 season.

Here are my other parallels from 2015 Heritage

Color Swap, Gum Stain Back, Action Variant

Gold Refractor /5

Refractor, Chrome
Hot Pack Purple, Black Refractor

Cutch's Crew: Willie Mays

Arguably one of the game's greatest centerfielders, the Say Hey Kid is a legend.  But has Andtew McCutchen ever been compared to Willie Mays?

As a matter of fact, he has.

Thanks to the back of this 2015 Heritage New Age Performers we get a pretty admirable comparison to the great Mays