The Other Karate Kid

As many of you know, I used to be a huge comic book nerd during the early 2000s.  One day soon, I may tell the true origin of Collecting Cutch and how it relates to a superhero story.  Time will tell.

In my time of collecting comic books there were three collections that I "super collected" and had near complete runs for: Daredevil, Gambit/X-Men, and The Flash.  The collection that I was closest to being complete was Daredevil.  I had every issue created except for 1-5, 8, and 10.  Nearly an entire run dating back to the Silver Age of comic books.  

I sold the entire collection when Daredevil had hit movie theatres and doubled my money, but had I held onto many of those books in today's market I would probably be looking at close to $10K for the collection with the grades they were in.  

The reason I liked Daredevil so much was that he was fearless.  

Like most things in the printing world, there are the writers and editors that bring these fabled stories to life.  

Long before Ralph Macchio was a known actor and star of the Karate Kid franchise, there was another Ralph Macchio that was editing for Marvel Comics.  This Ralph Macchio would be nicknamed by comic writers and artists Karate Kid, a play on his name.

Ralph Macchio, the Marvel Comics editor, was known for his extended run on Daredevil and Spider-Man that began in the 80s and went through the early 2000s.  The editor also helped launched The Ultimates comic line which helped to inspire the entire MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe).  The Marvel Movies owe a great deal of homage to Ralph Macchio, especially Spider-Man.  Even the Netflix Daredevil show would not have been possible without Macchio's editing and pushing through some stories.

So today I am showing my own homage to The Other Karate Kid by showcasing some recent McCutchen cards.  These cards all highlight Cutch catching flies like Spider-Man catches thieves.  (There's a sing that could be written along them lines, I just know it.)

Above are the 2020 Topps Stadium Club Chrome 

red logo parallel (5/5), refractor

xfractor, wave refractor

Continuing the theme of catching flies is my near complete rainbow of the 2020 Topps Gold Label Class 1 (fielding photo).  I have the Gold (1/1), base, black, and red (/75)

I still need the blue which is numbered to 150 copies.

Much like karate lessons (or class) there are different colors to strive for (Topps parallels).  

Go watch Karate Kid then watch Cobra Kai!!! 

Cobra Kai is currently streaming on Netflix.  It directly follows up where the 1984 movie Karate Kid left off.  The series shows a Johnny Lawrence (blonde kid and defending champ in Karate Kid) down on his luck and struggling to,get through life.  It plays up how that crane kick (which may have been an illegal move) by Daniel Larusso (played by Ralph Macchio) changed both their lives forever.  Larusso now owns one of the most recognizable car dealerships in California and they kick the competition prices, while Lawrence can barely make rent.

Lawrence sees a young teenager get assaulted by a bunch of bullies and comes to his aid by doing karate on them.  He eventually opens up his own karate studio named after his former training dojo, Cobra Kai.  

Over the course of the first three seasons many familar faces (including the beautiful Elizabeth Shue) eventually make guest appearances and there are many similarities to the way Lawrence trains Miguel to the way Larusso learned under Mr. Miyagi.  

The cast is fun and the storyline, while simple, is entertaining.  I highly suggest for anyone with access to a Netflix account to watch it. 

Hopefully it brings back some 80s nostalgia along the way.

Help Me Chase Gold!

I have been incredibly lazy about trying to find 2018 cards of Cutch in Giants uniform.

Gold Label was released a few months ago, but so far I have only gotten 3 cards.

Gold Label has loads of parallels.

Each card has three different "Classes" which are stated on the front of the card. 

For each class there are also a handful of color parallels: base, black, blue, red, and gold.  These all vary in terms of production numbers, but the gold are all numbered 1/1.

So far all I have is Class 1 base and red to go with Class 2 base.

If anyone comes across any of the other class cards I need, send them my way.

Forgot about these...oops

A few days ago I showed off the red parallels I added to my collection. In my haste to get that post ready for the first Friday in February's National Red Day, I forgot to show off two more reds I had acquired.

The first is a 2017 Bowman Best red refractor numbered to 10 copies.

You will see more parallels of this in the future.  It's a lovely looking rainbow, but they got something wrong on the back.

While Cutch did have a good game on July 30th 2017 by hitting 3 homers in a game for the third time, his best game came on September 26th when he went 4 for 4 with 8 RBI, 2 homeruns, a single, double, and a standing ovation from the Pittsburgh crowd.  I guess releasing cards shortly after season's end didn't allow for that game to be mentioned on the back.

Another red card I added was the Gold Label class 3 numbered to 25.

I showed off the other two classes (1 & 2) on the red post.

The backs for all three classes are the same

Showing Some Class

Last year I waited until I had all the parallels before I showed off my Andrew McCutchen Gold Label rainbow (minus the 1/1 golds).

This year I am struggling to complete the rainbows and need your help.

Topps added a 5th parallel to chase this year (base, blue, black, red, and gold).

Here's what I have so far.

Here is the back of this year's Gold Label

Here's what I need.
Class 2 Black
Class 3 Red xx/25
All Classes Gold 1/1

Gold Digging

I recently saw a card on eBay that I thought I owned, but when I checked my spreadsheet and looking through my collection I couldn't find it.

Well....I did have one, but it was slightly different.

I had the 2014 Series 1 Gold Label card, but not the Series 2.

Now I have both and they look awesome next to each other.

I don't know if there were different classes for these inserts.  Both of these are Class 1 and numbered to 99 copies.

Over the weekend I will be showcasing some multiplayer cards of Cutch with members of Team USA.  Be sure to check out tomorrow for a monster sized card.  It's a HUGE card!!!!

Cross off another from the list

I had already stopped collecting when the original Gold Label cards came out in the early 2000s.  That's probably a gold thing though because I would have probably over paid for Jason Kendall and Jason Schmidt cards from that time.

When the 2016 Gold Label checklist was released I saw that Cutch was listed which meant I would have to add and track down 9-12 cards if I was lucky to find the Gold 1/1s.

Well after a few months I have completed all 3 classes for the base, blue, and red.

The base and reds were easy to track down even though the reds are supposed to be the rarest (golds excluded).

The hardest one for me to find?

Class 3 Blue.

Why? I don't know.  Since release only a few have hit the market, but nearly a dozen of the Class 3 Reds (/25) have shown up for sale.  Weird, right?

The back of the card talks about Cutch's 3 consective 20/20 seasons from 2011 to 2013.  He was on track in 2014 too, but suffered an injury in retaliation for Ernesto Frieri ending Paul Goldschmidt's season.  The injury landed Cutch out of the lineup for nearly 2 weeks and limited his base stealing during the final month of the season.  He would finish two bases shy.