Monsters of Baseball?

I was going through some old articles I had bookmarked just in case there were ever a need to show off some cards relating to it and stumbled across a little gem about the Philadelphia Phillies.

Wow, have things changed a lot in 5 years.

Look at this article from 2016.

It discusses how the Phillies will again become a juggernaut in Major League Baseball with a monster payroll supporting home grown stars like Mikael Franco, Odubel Herrera, Jerad Eickoff, Vince Velasquez, and Aaron Nola.  

Well they were right about Nola.

It also mentioned the Phillies flexibility to add talent to the "historic free agent class" of 2018 when guys like Matt Harvey and Jose Fernandez will be available along with Bryce Harper and Manny Machado.

The article goes on to talk about their farm system and the expectation of JP Crawford "becoming a star" and Cornelius Randolph being the best prep bat in the previous year's draft.  

It wasn't too long ago that I did a post about the Pirates fall from success and how only 1 player remains with the team that won 98 games in 2015 (Gregory Polanco) and many of their top prospects coming out of that season have all been traded and are no longer a part of the organization (Josh Bell, Jameson Taillon, Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows, Harold Ramirez, Reese McGuire, Nick Kingham).

Monsters of baseball?

I think not.

Good start to the 2021 season for the Phillies by sweeping by the Braves?  

Yes I think so.

I really like the Bryce Harper card above from 2020 Topps.  I may seek out some of it's parallels to chase.  

To wrap things up I will show 3 cards of Cutch in a Phillies uniform.

2019 Topps Fire Dual Auto with Rhys Hoskins limited to 20 copies

2019 Allen & Ginter Double Rip with Rhys Hoskins limited to 25 copies

2019 Topps Museum bat barrel nameplate 1/1

Each Phillies sweep this year will be followed up with a post featuring Cutch in Phillies gear.  Among the cards posted will be at least 1/1 during each sweep. 

Elf Week: Francisco, that's fun to say

Today's line is "Francisco, that's fun to say. Francisco"

As Brad pointed out when he left the comment, Cutch played in San Francisco for half a season.

I could show off ALL my McCutchen Giants cards, but trust me when I say that would be a huge undertaking.  Remember when I showed that massive post of Cutch only in Yankees uniform?

It would be a Game Changer to highlight almost 250+ cards in one post, though.

Cutch is a pretty special player, but I'm not sure I am prepared for showing off all those cards in one post.  There's so many cards of Cutch in a San Francisco uniform worthy of their own post.

I could show off a bunch of cards that feature him in a Giants uniform that picture only jersey relic cards that feature the famous Golden Gate bridge found on the San Francisco Giants 60th anniversary sleeve patch like you see above (which is part of the card below)

Awhile back I showed off a few cards of Cutch that show him wearing the number 22 for the San Francisco Giants.  You can revisit that post here. The San Francisco Giants will retire #22 for Will Clark next year which means Cutch is the last player to wear the number 22 for San Francisco before it is retired.

I could even just show a few cards that represent Cutch wearing a road jersey that specifically says San Francisco

Or I could only show Panini cards that represent him as a member of the San Francisco baseball club.

I have some nice ones of those...

But that's a lot of cards to show off as well, many of which deserve their own post that I've been drafting since August 2019

How about a card that features Francisco Cervelli on the front and Andrew McCutchen on the back?

I showed off this card  during my Save Second Base Event that featured Jennifer Love Hewitt.  You can revisit it here.

Or there is this 2015 Topps Heritage team card that shows what I believe to be both Cutch and Francisco Liriano in the right corner.

It's a better cameo of both them than this hidden cameo on Wandy Rodriguez' 2014 Topps card.

Oh you don't see Francisco?

That's because Topps cropped him from the right corner and McCutchen from the left.

Francisco, that truly is fun to say...

My First Twitter Purchase

I have only been on Twitter for one week and have already made a super sweet purchase AND received it in hand.

This Twitter thing might work out nicely.

Above is a 1/1 Jumbo Bat Nameplate of Cutch from 2019 Topps Museum.  In terms of hits of Cutch in that product, this is THE grail to own for Phillies cards thus far.

This is only my second bat barrel nameplate of Cutch I own.

Thanks to @Gravytrain61 for selling it to me.

I will be running a contest next week to announce my Twitter arrival.

Be sure to follow me @CollectingCutch

A New Contest: The Top 10 Cards in my PC

I am doing another contest.  Congrats to defgav on winning the last contest and dubbing "The Cardboard Insider" segment which I will spotlight next week.

This is going to be an easy and fun one.

Show off your 10 favorite cards of your favorite player and mention/link my blog in your post.  The contest will end May 30th.
Everyone that participates will get entered for a random.org selection.  The prizes are all very nice and will be displayed at the end of this post.  Additional rules will appear below also.

Without further ado, here's my top 10 in order.
#10 2013 Dual Relic/Dual Autograph Gerrit Cole and Andrew McCutchen
This card just doesn't pop up for sale very often although there is one on eBay right now in the $350 range.  2013 was a great season for the Pirates.  They broke the streak of 20 losing seasons and made the playoffs.  Cutch and Cole were a large part of the reason the team was so successful.  They were both going to be the future of the franchise as Cutch had just signed a very team friendly deal to stay in Pittsburgh through 2018 (if the options were picked up).  Gerrit Cole when pitching right is one of the best NL pitchers.  Together they are my favorite players of this millennium to wear a Buccos uniform.  I have other Cutch and Cole cards and some may be more expensive, but this is my favorite because of it's release date and the joys I had rooting for the Pirates during that 2013 season.

#9: 2013 Triple Threads Booklet
Ask any kid growing up in the 90s who their top 5 favorite baseball players are and Ken Griffey Jr is sure to be on that list.  No one disliked "the Kid." Cutch has stated in numerous interviews that Griffey was his favorite player growing up also.  Having 2 Hall of Famers, bats from Kemp and Bo, and 2 great looking patches for Bryce and Cutch make this booklet one of my favorites.  Only 3 exist and there are plenty of Harper, Griffey, and Bo fans that can be jealous that I own this one.

#8: Gypsy Queen Adam Jones and Andrew McCutchen Dual Button
I mentioned a few weeks ago that this card was easily in my top 10.  After looking at all my cool Cutch cards, I realized "I got a lot of cool Cutch cards."  Adam Jones is one of my nonPirates favorites so that definitely helps this card break the top 10.

#7: 2015 Topps Triple Threads All-Star Game Sleeve Patch 1/1
I realize this should be higher and maybe I am putting emotional significance on the top 5 higher, even though this card is just absolutely sick looking.  It's my list though and in terms of cards I would say that since each year Topps Triple Threads seem to do something like this, it doesn't hold the same WOW factor to me as it probably should.  It was Cutch's 4th All-Star Game.  He didn't win an MVP during that year (finished 3rd though).  It's a great looking card and looks incredible in the custom case I got for it, but the others mean more to me.

#6: 2009 Bowman Chrome Superfractor 1/1
There's going be nothing but 1/1s from here on.  When it comes to collecting Bowman cards, there's 2 kinds that people collect: a player's 1st Bowman Card (often found in Bowman Draft) and the player's Rookie Card.  The little RC logo adds a lot to the desirability of a player.  A 2005 Bowman Chrome Superfractor would be another Holy Grail card for me, but for now this Bowman Chrome beats all other 6 Superfractor in my collection for top parallel.

#5: 2012 Triple Threads All-Star Game Laundry Tag 1/1 booklet
Cutch's first All-Star Game was in 2011 at Arizona.  He was a replacement for Carlos Beltran.  He only got one plate appearance which was a check swing groundout to the pitcher.  Regardless of his performance in the game, this workout jersey is still from his 1st All-Star Game.

Note: I also have his laundry tag booklet card from 2015 Triple Threads for his 2014 All-Star Game (the first game he started)

#4 2005 Topps Chrome Cyan Printing Plate Autograph 1/1
I was able to grab this from someone that pulled it in 2014.  It was my 500th card of Cutch.  I am now near 1,700.  That shows how much of my collection has changed so that I could solely focus on Cutch.

#3: 2016 Immaculate Bat Knob 1/1
Unlicensed or not.  This was one of my favorite cards I got so far this year.  Featuring a bat knob that was PSA authenticated before Panini got it, it's a sense of relief to be able to verify the authenticity of the card.

#2:
It took awhile for my favorite product to get featured, but Allen & Ginter finally makes an appearance.  Combining a Cutch bat barrel nameplate and a Pedro Alvarez jersey nameplate, this 1/1 booklet was one of my first big cards I ever purchased.

#1: 2016 Allen & Ginter 1/1 Box Topper Nameplate
Quite literally one of the biggest cards I own, this massive and beautiful designed card shows the first part of McCutchen's nameplate from a home white jersey.

So there's my top 10 cards.
How do you like the way I ranked them? Would you rank them differently?

Honorable mentions (the just missed list):
Any of my 3 MLB Logoman cards

Any of my 3 Majestic Logo Cards

A pair of Autograph/Patch Booklets from Allen & Ginter that form the "P" on the alternate black uniform.

Any of these Superfractors could have earned a top spot, but the saying Chrome is King refers to Bowman, sorry random Topps products.

Triple Threads All-Star Game Patch cards /9 for each of Cutch's All-Star Games (so far)

How about this 1/1 Triple Threads Team Logo card with Jung Ho Kang and Gerrit Cole?  If it were not for Jung Ho's reckless behavior this card would have made the Top 10.  As more and more is becoming known about his character and actions, it is becoming harder for me to root for the guy.  Had this card been just Cutch and Cole it would have made the Top 10.  Need proof, go back to the top and see #10 for my reasons.

Now...onto the contest.

1)Leave a comment below with your link mentioning this contest and show off your 10 favorite cards of your favorite player.  They don't have to be mega hits.  You can like a card for it's photography, the joy of getting that card as a gift, whatever the reason...it's your list.

SHOW THEM OFF!!!!

2) All participants will receive tbeir blog entered into random.org as a result of participating.
Assuming there are at least 5 people who show off their top 10 here is the prize for the random.org result winner


1-A Craig Biggio Topps Dynasty autograph/patch card.

.
All other participants will receive one of the following cards

If less than 5 people participate, the Biggio will not be randomed off and I will just send you ONE of the above cards for participating.