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?

Cheating on my goals?

Last week I showed off a COMC mailday featuring some of my Pirates uniform cards I acquired in 2021 of Cutch.  I set a goal to acquire 50 new Cutch cards from his Pirates playing days (2005-2017) this year.  I wasn't going to count the COMC cards purchased as going towards the goal because I had technically bought all those cards last year, but it was COMCs slow processing that forced the cards to arrive several months after being ordered.  I never logged these cards into my spreadsheet and obviously didn't have a physical copy in hand to cross reference.

Above is just a sampling of some of the cards I got in that COMC package.

Getting 50 new Cutch Pirates cards this year is the goal.

That is basically 1 new card a week all year long.  

It doesn't sound like a lot to add 50 new cards of 1 player in a year, but keep in mind I have over 2,300 unique cards of Cutch in a Pirates uniform already.

Now before I get into today's post, I want to share with you some comments made on that COMC purchase post.

Both Chris and Brett Alan stated (and I will paraphrase) they believe a card produced in 2018 with a team designation of Pittsburgh should count as a Pirates playing days card because at the time of production of the product, Cutch was a member of the Pirates.  

I think with this interpretation, I should count my 2018 Donruss 1984 retro Artist Proof /10 card as a Pirates playing days card acquired in 2021.

The problem is that I already stated I'm not going to count any of those COMC cards delivered this year towards my total because they were purchased in 2020.

Well...as luck (or rather the lack of organization) would have it I can say that I acquired a 2018 Donruss 1984 retro Artist Proof in 2021.

This is may look very similar to the card I already showed in my COMC purchase 

And you would be correct

I got a 2nd copy (by accident) for a ridiculously cheap price.

I won it for under $2, which is a great price for a card limited to only 10 copies.

By my processing despite what others are suggesting, I don't know if I can qualify this as part of my Pirates playing days card goal.

He has a few releases in 2018 (and beyond) that feature him in a Pirates uniform, but I am only looking to add cards of Cutch from 2005-2017 in a Pirates uniform or Pittsburgh noted city affiliate. 

So is this cheating?

Should I count all cards I get in 2021 of Cutch in a Pirates uniform towards my 50 card goal?

If so, I could probably get half of that with just crossing off the 2020 Topps Update cards I need as he appeared in an insert card (with many parallels), a base card (with many more parallels), a retail exclusive Chrome card (with many parallels), and a Topps Update Chrome Sapphire (with more parallels).

I recently added the blue border Decades Best insert from 2020 Topps Update to my collection.

I also added a 2020 Topps Update Chrome Gold /50 and a 2020 Topps Update Walgreens Yellow Foil to the collection.

Both feature him in a Pirates uniform, but Cutch played the entire 2020 season with the Philadelphia Phillies. 

This post contains quite a few Cutch cards in a Pirates uniform that I received in 2021, but ZERO of which I think should count towards my 50 card goal because the product wasn't released during his Pirates playing years. 

Looking good in pinstripes

The New York Yankees have a tradition and a sense of pride for anyone that puts on the timeless pinstripes.

When Cutch became a member of the team he kept calling the experience surreal.

Juan Rosales has been accepting my commission requests for a few years now and always knocks out the cards to capture Cutch perfectly.

Juan sent me an artist proof he created for me of Cutch a few days after the official release and I absolutely love this one.

Not only did he manage to capture the reference photo perfectly (pictured below), but he also included the logo of the most successful aports franchise in the United States.  Oh and he added those famous pinstripes to the background at my request.

The sketch card even has that "hockey stick" design being used this year in Topps flagship.

Fricking awesome as always Juan!!!

I have a few other Juan sketch cards that I need to post.

Yes, I am still here

Life has run me to the point where I literally feel like all I am doing is just working and sleeping.  

I have a one way commute to work of roughly 70 minutes a day.  

Add in 10 hour days of work with an hour lunch break and another 70 minute commute back home (worse during the summer because of the jersey shore traffic).

Multiply that by 6 days a week.

Add in a few surgeries and too many doctor appointments to count for the LadyCollectingcutch.

And that basically leaves me just a few hours to vegg out before rinse and repeat.

I am looking forward to the end of school as my staff will almost double in size and the high school/college kids will be eager to get summer jobs and I can actually return to normalcy if that is even a thing still.

I do most of my blogging on my lunch break and try my best to read some of my favorite blogs during that time too.

If I haven't been commenting like I used to, I am still here and still very much enjoy the readings that you all provide me and other cardboard fans with.

Despite the lack of comments, I am still there....

Just like this card I am going to show below

2013 marked the return of the product known as Pinnacle.

As a kid I LOVED Pinnacle and all the inserts that came with it.

I don't remember Pinnacle being known for their parallels except the rare "dufex" technology for the museum proofs or whatever they were called.

2013 Pinnacle offered a bunch of tough to notice parallels though

Can you notice what makes this card different from the base?

No?
Well, you have to look really close because the manufacturer chose to use blue foil on a black background.

Now can you see it if I use the magic pen lens on my tablet?

The back is identical to the base.

A Pair of Artist Proofs

The Panini Artist Proof parallels don't make any sense to me. 

Are they supposed to be like Stadium Club Members Only or 1st Day Issues? 

The red proof isn't numbered and fairly easy to find.
The blue proof is numbered to 25 and fairly cheap to add to a collection.

I am happy to add these two new Giants San Francisco baseball club cards to my collection.  Over the weekend I will show off a few more filler cards I have picked up and next week I will show some more killer cards including an amazing 1/1 that I can't believe I was able to add to my collection.

No Better View Than PNC Park

When I looked at the four weeks I have for vacation this year, I knew I wanted to spend a few days going to Pittsburgh to see the Pirates play when Cutch returns to the city where he spent 9 seasons to launch his career.

One of the best views in baseball, PNC Park has a beautiful backdrop for baseball.

I am officially on the six hour drive to the Steel City.

I realized I never got around to showing off all my sketch cards I own so I thought I should showcase this Brad Utterstrom 2016 Topps Museum Artist Proof 1 of 1 to show off the gorgeous city skyline.

When I was in discussion with Brad regarding this sketch he really wanted to do this image of Cutch instead of others I was showing him as reference.  I got to say, even without his face being shown or having a bat in his hand, this is a truly amazing piece of art.  It captures the feelings of a player on deck and looking at the city like "this is my town".

Thanks to Brad for the super awesome sketch.

If you would like to commission a piece of original artwork by Brad visit his website here.  If you set up a commission with him let him know that you saw the Cutch cityscape artist proof he did for me.

Thanks and Let's Go Bucs!!!

Do The Humpty Hump...

It's Andrew McCutchen's job to make sure nothing falls.

It's my job to make sure all the Cutches fall into my collection.

All the king's men couldn't put Humpty back together again, but I was able to put together all these parallels from 2018 Donruss Diamond Kings subset so far.

(Season stat, Artist Proof, Press Proof)
(Base, Career Stat)
I have the blue Father's Day ribbon/49 along with the Gameday Stat /8 and blank back all coming my way.

I still need the retail holos, teal border /199, Gold Press Proof /99,  and Mother's Day /25.

If anyone can locate the Pink Mother's Day Ribbon /25 and it leads to me buying or trading for the card I will offer a reward!!!  I saw the jersey numbered 22/25 sell recently for under $7, but have not seen any others since and only 1 before.  I will need the pink for my annual Save The Boobies event I do in October.

Artist's Proof Addition

For a very small Abe Lincoln I grabbed my 1, 756 unique Andrew McCutchen card.

It's a blue Artist Proof from 2013 Pinnacle.

A New 1/1 For the PC

In the past month, I have added close to a dozen new 1/1s of Cutch to the PC. Some are high end patch cards.  Others, like this one, are parallels of unlicensed products that can be had for under $40.

 The black Artist Proof might not be one of the most exciting 1/1s but it does bring my 1/1 total of Cutch to 118 cards.

2016 Diamond Kings was a beautiful designed set (minus the logos) with lots of parallels to chase and some really nice hits.  Having Clemente as the cover athlete might make me a bit more biased.

I am still in search of some other parallels, but here are all the regular sized editions I have now.

The frame parallels are just awesome looking.  The base (obviously) and copper frame versions are not numbered. All others are.

I didn't set any goals for 2017, but I think increasing my 1/1 collection would be a good goal. What should I set it for?