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? 

Happy Birthday Ms. CollectingCutch

My girlfriend and I have birthdays the same week.  Theyre seperated by a few years, but we typically celebrate our joint birthdays on the 3rd.

Her birthday is today.  We both have to work overtime and won't be able to do anything tonight.

My birthday is Saturday so it's more likely we do something over the weekend to celebrate.

Since she was born in 85, here are some 1985 inspired Topps (and 1 Donruss) designs.

2020 1985 Jersey Relic (prime patch) red parallel numbered to 25 copies

2020 Topps 1985 Jersey Relic (pinstripe)  black parallel numbered to 199 copies.

2020 Topps 1985 gold parallel numbered to 50 copies

2020 Topps 1985 design

This came courtesy of AJ from The Lost Collector

2013 Topps Archives (1985 design) Base, Gold Foil /199, Day Glow Orange parallel

2019 Donruss 1985 Relic

It is strange that Panini produced a card of Cutch in 2019 from his Pittsburgh days, but I'll take it.

That's all I have in terms of 1985 inspired designs sans one pink card I will be showing off next month...

Happy Birthday Ms. CollectingCutch

I could have a quarter million dollars in inventory

It likely wasn't a 1990 Fleer Juan Uribe that started it all, but it is one of the most iconic cards that drew attention for selling at an insane hype level price.

Some sellers are still stuck in the mindset that "rare" baseball cards are worth tens of thousands of dollars.  

This is true for certain cards, but I am always reminded that something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

A rare buyback Andrew McCutchen card hit eBay the other day.

I of course was interested in it.

And I say rare in the sense that it was only available as a redemption and came encased in a BGS holder and marked with a 1/1 on the case.

The card has no markings on it and it is strictly just a buyback/over stock inventory that has been placed in a BGS holder.

In case you are unfamiliar with how to obtain one of these Topps 70 buyback cards they were available as redemptions in packs of Series 1 and Series 2.  

Below is an example of one of the redemptions

Topps is celebrating their 70th anniversary this year and is providing 1 of these cards to depict each year of the company's existence.  

2017 Topps is represented by the Aaron Judge rookie card and it sold for just over $100.

Yadier Molina, one of the best defensive catchers of all time, has his rookie card in 2004 as that set's chosen buyback.  It sold for $500.

Eddie Fricking Murray, one of the most underrated hitters of all time with over 3,000 hits and 500HR had his rookie represent the 1978 set.  It sold for $250.

So explain to me why this seller thinks that the Andrew McCutchen 2009 buyback is worth $10K?

I get that it's a "1/1" but c'mon....

I messaged the seller an offer of $150 along with the screenshots of the sold cards stating I was a super collector of McCutchen.

He countered with $10,000 saying it's the only one in existence and to offer something closer to the asking price.

Well Mr. eBay seller, thank you for saving me $150.  I don't know why I was even thinking of adding another to my collection for a price that is 20x the going rate.

I know mine aren't slabbed in a BGS holder with the Topps 70 logo, but I have the following quantities in raw form just hanging out in my binders.

31x base

3x Wal Mart black

2x Gold Border /2009

I also have a PSA10 and BGS 9.5 in storage.

Do you have any large quantities (10 or more) of a player's rookie card?

Reflecting on Sharknado

I've mentioned Sharknado a few times on this blog in it's brief history.  It combines my love of sharks (Hey it's Shark Week on Discovery Channel!!!) and those bad animal feature films.  

The first film series debuted in 2013 and starred former 90210 heart throb Ian Ziering (born in Newark, NJ in 1964).  Ziering plays Fin Shepard, a former surfer who is the world's best hope to stop these tornadoes that spew out hundreds of sharks.  Shepard uses a chainsaw as his main weapon to combat this natural disaster.

Because it's Shark Week (one of my favorite weeks of the year) and Discovery Channel recently showed an episode starring Ian Ziering (and Tara Reid) debunking some of the stories discussed in all the Sharknado movies, I thought it would be fun to discuss my Cutch collection and Sharknado.

I wonder if there's a baseball card of Andrew McCutchen that references both 1964 and 2013?

Behold 2013 Topps Heritage!

The 2013 Topps Heritage Set uses the same design as 2014 Topps.  Andrew McCutchen's base card is 438, the same as a checklist in the original 1964 set.  Talk about a huge missed opportunity.

Above are the 9 cards I have of Cutch from 2013 Topps Heritage.

1st Row:Base, Base League Leaders, Chrome

2nd Row:Action Variant, Red Retail, Black Retail

3rd Row: Purple Hot Box Chrome, Black Refractor Chrome, Venezuelan black back action photo variant

I still need two of the chrome parallels

 Gold Refractor /5 and Chrome Refractor /564

A gold Refractor was listed last fall, but was pulled before the auction ended.  It was being sold by a seller in Japan.  I tried to reach out to the seller, but got no response.  Here's hope I can land one of the other 4 sometime.

Have you watched any of the Sharknado movies?

Just Another Mini Monday

Last week I showed off a 1/1 Gypsy Queen mini and asked the question if I should show off some more mini cards from the collection.  

While there wasn't a lot of responses, I have always enjoyed the miniature sized cards found as inserts.  

Topps is often known for their 1952 set to the casual hobbyist, but it was their 1951 release that resembled a card game that helped to get them on the map.

Released in 1951 was a set of cards with players that you would shuffle into your deck.  Based on the card you drew that would indicate the action taken for your team.  

Topps has used this idea and even design many times since 1951 including the 2020 release by Blake Jamieson, one of the head artists for Project 2020 and Topps Project 70.  

In 2015, Topps released a set of cards containing 104 players.  It had a MSRP of $79.99 upon release.  In addition to a complete set for the (roughly) $80 purchase, the box also contained 21 color back parallels and 1 autograph.

The 21 parallels were seeded into the set by the following breakdown:

Red Back (10 per set)

Blue Back (5 per set)

Green Back (3 per set)

Black Back (2 per set)

Gold Back (1 per set)

As you can see from the below picture I have all the color parallels from this miniature release.

Do you have any 1951 Topps Game cards, either modern cards that use the old design OR any originals?

It's Opening Day!

Happy Opening Day!!!

Above is the Opening Day Stars insert from 2018 Topps.

They were released in Series 1 packs and came in 4 additional color parallels (blue, black, gold, and red)

I am still on the hunt for the red /10 and gold /50.

What are you most excited about seeing from your favorite players and teams this season?

For me, I'm excited to see a full season of of Ke'bryan Hayes and some of the Pirates prospects make their debuts for a glimpse of the team's next core of promising players.

For Cutch, I am excited to see him return to being a great leadoff hitter in a stacked Phillies offense.

A Carbon Copy?

I set a goal to add 50 new Pirates Cutch cards to my collection in 2021. 

This 2014 Bowman Chrome may look similar to another card I already showed off last Friday. It's not a carbon copy, but it is a carbon fiber parallel.

It is the black carbon parallel numbered to only 10 copies and were inserted into packs at 1:695 packs.

Back in Black

One of my 2021 Goals is to add 50 NEW Cutch cards to the collection from his Pirates playing days (2005-2017).  That equates to roughly 1 new pre 2018 Cutch card each week.  I have been (barely) keeping pace with that strategy for much of this year.

The card you see below was my first purchase of 2021.  Because it was shipped via PWE there was no tracking on it and it took almost 9 weeks to be delivered.

This 2014 Topps Finest Black Refractor is Numbered 42/99.  I have a love/hate relationship with 2014 Topps Finest.  I both love and hate the design. 

Fun fact: Cutch hit a 5th walk-off homer for the Pirates in 2015. 

I can finally leave feedback for this January 1st purchase.

What is the longest you have had to wait for a card to arrive during this crazy times we are living in now?

Support from another Pirates collector

I used up my eBay bucks from the 4th quarter to snag a VERY desired card for my Cutch PC. 

I bought it from another Pirates collector who happens to have the best Topps Heritage Pirates collection I've ever seen.  I have had a few interactions with him over the years and we both have cards for each other's collections, but are at a stalemate for making a trade.  Here's hoping we can get the trade done this year.

This is the third Pirates playing days card I added to the collection this year.  My goal for 2021 was to acquire 50 new cards of Cutch from his Pirates years (2005-2017).  

Topps Flagship black cards have seen an uptick in popularity over the past few years and older cards are getting rarer to find.  

I am pretty happy to add another Cutch parallel card from his prime years.  The black jersey uniform and black border really make this a sharp looking parallel.

#TipYourCap2020

Today, thousands of people paid tribute to the century mark of the Negro Leagues being formed.  From generational athletes like Ken Griffey Jr and Michael Jordan to former presidents Barack Obama, George Bush, and Bill Clinton to late night host Conan O'Brien and many many more celebrities across Twitter their caps were tipped for the Negro Leagues using the #TipYourCap2020

Andrew McCutchen began tipping his cap to his wife Maria after every homerun he hits because he saw it in the Jackie Robinson movie, 42.

Topps has captured the moment on the 2018 Series 1 card.

I thought I would show off a trio of cards to reflect on the Negro Leagues that were created and that helped pave the way for Jackie Robinson to eventually break the color barrier and started what should have been equal rights for people of all races.

Jackie was the first black player to play in MLB and suffered a lot of backlash and animosity in his playing career.

At his Hall of Fame induction speech he made a comment that he would be most happy when he could eventually see a black person managing a team.

It was clear that the Negro Leagues paved the way for Jackie and Jackie paved the way for managers like Frank Robinson and Dusty Baker.

It is also clear that in today's world there is still negative racism and we must work together to end it.

We can be the change we wish to see in the world, but it starts with all colors uniting.

Black Diamond Digging

Each year Topps has done a different method of promoting their flagship cards.

This year the theme has been about the decades.  With it being a new decade, Topps is focusing on previous decade best players and teams.  Last year Topps focused on 150 years of baseball.

There have been "chasing" and "golden" events that Topps has promoted, but my favorite gimmick was in 2011.

2011 is kind of an iconic set now thanks to the great rookie class available in 2011 Update (Trout, Altuve, Goldschmidt, JD Martinez).

The theme that Topps used in 2011 was their Diamond Anniversary, 60 years of collecting.

Within the packs of flagship you could get a Diamond Card Giveaway code that was inserted 1 in every 4 packs.  Once unlocked you could "dig for diamonds" and unlock cards from 1952-2009, die cut diamond cards (not numbered), die cut Black diamond cards (numbered to 60 copies), or the ultra rare 1/1 diamond embedded base card.  (I will show mine off again in a few days so if you haven't seen it already, I will revisit that awesome card).

More details about the diamond card giveaway can be found here.

I was fortunate that I grabbed one of these black diamond cards a long time ago.  They all have a protective layer on top of the card (that's the wrinkles you see on the card below) that can be peeled off to really make the card refract light better.

The black diamonds are the rarest among the diamond die cuts and can often cost $30-$100 depending on the player.  Of course a Derek Jeter is listed on eBay at this moment for over $400 at this current time.

There is also a base diamond card available (pictured above next to the black diamond).

Wal Mart also has an exclusive blue diamond 30 card set.  Pedro Alvarez represents the Pirates in that set.

The backs are colored appropriately on the border to match the diamond on the front.

Do you remember digging for diamonds in 2011 Topps?