Researching the 5-8-7

Topps Luminaries has a very fun high end autograph product.  For those that are unfamilar with the product, it features on card autographs of some of the best hit, home run, and strikeout players of their respective eras.  There are of course low numbered parallels to chase (red, blue, black) and all feature a numerical stat about the player.  

Cutch had a card with the bold number 587 on the front.

This card represents the number of extra base hits that Cutch hit between 2010-2020.  

It's pretty impressive that Cutch accumulated 587 extra base hits in the 2010s.  He has hit 676 extra base hits in his career through September 10th, 2021.  42 of them have come in the 2021 season and 47 were in his 2009 rookie season.

I was honestly having a hard time figuring out who is ahead of him for extra base hits in the 2010s.

Some of the first names that came to mind were some of the big boppers like Stanton, Trout, and Harper that debuted in the early 2010s. And of course the future Hall of Fame veterans like Pujols, Beltre, Votto, and Cabrera came to mind.  It's likely that the younger guys to debut 2016 or later like Judge, Vlad Jr, Alonso wouldn't make the list so I didn't bother looking at them.

Let's look at their numbers from 2010 to 2020 since the 587 total doesn't include the 2021 season.

No doubt future Hall of Famers

Albert Pujols 580 (shocked that Pujols 2010 to 2020 numbers are less than Cutch)

Mike Trout 610

Miguel Cabrera 613

Adrian Beltre 527

Likely Hall of Famers

David Ortiz 382

Joey Votto 593

I also decided to look at the stars who had an incredible decade between 2010 to 2020 but were confirmed to be involved in some PED scandals. 

Confirmed PED Users

Robinson Cano 635

Nelson Cruz 650

Ryan Braun 583

Let's look at some HR season leaders of the 2010s along with other stars of the 2010s.

Nolan Arenado 523

Bryce Harper 489

Paul Goldschmidt 574

Jose Bautista 521

Matt Holliday 411

Giancarlo Stanton 569

Justin Upton 566

Freddie Freeman 605

Carlos Beltran 401

Anthony Rizzo 515

Evan Longoria 585

Adrian Gonzalez 469

Jay Bruce 583

Edwin Encarnacion 606

It took me forever to figure out Edwin.  

Edwin for the win

I would say that Cutch is in pretty good company and this further supports that he was one of the best hitters of the 2010s.

Knowing the answers already what players would you have thought would be the top 10 extra base hit leaders of the 2010s?  Are you shocked by any of these guys? 

Beating The Odds: Contest Winnings From PTown Tom

Tom of the blog Waiting Til Next Year held his annual Card of the Year contest AND I CAME IN LAST PLACE!!!

SWEEEEEEET!!!!

That earned me a blaster of 2019 Topps.

Tom included a nice note to say thank you for participating in his contest.

Blasters of Series 1 are a yearly tradition for me, but I haven't grabbed any 2019 Topps yet mainly because I went batsh*t crazy buying cards in December.

I really like the design of this year and from what I have seen the color parallels this year look really great.

My first 2019 Topps card is

A fantastic image using a throwback uniform of an American League team I can easily root for.

My first Pirates card of 2019 is a rookie card of Nick Burdi.  Burdi was selected in the 2018 Rule 5 draft by the Phillies then trad3d to the Pirates during the Winter Meetings.  He spent most of the year recovering from Tommy John surgery.  He will need to spend the entire year with the Pirates or they will lose him to waivers.  He will likely pitch out the pen this year.  If he fails the Pirates just resigned old friendly face Francisco Liriano to a minor league deal with incentives.

I could tell that there was something thick in the blaster pack.  I beat the odds by pulling a 1:44 relic of future Hall of Famer, Albert Pujols.

I love the look of these 1984 relics.  This would be a fun set to put together.

I got a few insert cards too.  Among them were a pair of Gleyber Torres highlight cards, an Eric Hosmer 1984 card, and a Mike Trout/Hank Aaron Greatness Returns card.

I got one parallel, an Alex Colome "150" parallel.

Here are a few of my other favorites from the pack.

The photography is great this year.  Lots of cards were shot on Tatoine.

Francisco Cervelli!!!!

I love the team cards this year. Great stadium shots!!!

Arizona Splits

So I recently purchased 2 Stadium Giveaways from the Arizona Fall League Bowman Series. These cards were 5x7 Bowman cards given out to attendees of last year's games.  I can't find a lot of information about them, but according to Beckett there is a 25 card set featuring some of the game's best players.  On average, individual cards have been selling for around $10 each.

My main gripe with the series is that the players are featured in their MLB team uniforms and not the teenage/early 20s versions when they played in the Fall League.

Cutch is card #4 and features a cool bit of trivia on the back.

The card shows the Phoenix Desert Dogs as team affiliation, but the team is currently the Glendale Desert Dogs.  It changed  to Glendale in 2013.

Since it was a 2 card lot and I don't have much need for Albert Pujols, I will hold a 2 day contest to get this card.  It makes sense to split up these AZ cards after the Pirates just split a series in AZ.

I have placed a 2017 Matt Joyce basecard next to it to show the size difference.  The card will be shipped in a 5x7 Top Loader.

Guess how many hits Andrew McCutchen will get on Tuesday's game against the Washington Nationals and the first person with the correct answer wins the card. If no one guesses correctly, I will add it to the pile for Top 10 PC contest winnings.  Keep in mind, Cutch is currently batting under .215 at the nearly quarter stretch mark.