3 1 of 1s in 1 day

As a player collector there are so many cards produced and I know I can never acquire them all.

I will continue to add unique cards to the collection whenever the opportunity presents itself though.

Topps Vault is a way to inflate the 1/1 count without breaking the bank. They are one of the final steps in the printing process and Topps has often made these "test proofs" blank back cards available for sale via their eBay page.

I won the Class 1 and Class 2 cards with no competition ($10ea), but the Class 3 card had a few extra bidders.  I went for it and won it for the price of the other two combined.

This is a pretty unique rainbow even if it is a gimmicky item.

Do you own any of the Topps Blank Back cards?

This card is Frameous - Episode 2

I have been fortunate over the years of collecting my favorite athlete that Topps has produced some really nice metal framed cards.  

One of the first of these appeared in 2014 as an insert set available in Topps Series 2.  They were made to look like the original designs from Topps Gold Label 2000, but were limited to only 99 copies and had a gold metal frame around the card.  

They were EXTREMELY difficult to pull and landed on average 1 per case and the checklist consisted of 25 players (current and retired)

You may recognize this type of card from my first Frameous post which you can revisit here.

The back captures the original look of the 2000 Gold Label set and has the Class 1 designation.  (There were no other classes produced).  

If you're interested in seeing who else was part of the 25 player insert set, visit here.

I think that the success of this insert ultimately lead to the reintroduction of Gold Label as a yearly product.  

The product is produced now using traditional card stock with holofoil designs and the Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 rarities along with a few color parallels (black, blue, red) per class.  

The current production of Topps Gold Label uses frames for their autograph cards, which come on average 1 per box.  

Would you be interested in seeing framed cards shown once a month on this blog? 

This Card is Frame-ous, episode 1

I have been fortunate over the years of collecting my favorite athlete that Topps has produced some really nice metal framed cards.  

The first of these appeared in 2014 as an insert set available in Topps Series 2.  They were made to look like the original designs from Topps Gold Label 2000, but were limited to only 99 copies and had a gold metal frame around the card.  

They were EXTREMELY difficult to pull and landed on average 1 per case and the checklist consisted of 25 players (current and retired). 

Andrew McCutchen was coming off his MVP season and the Pittsburgh Pirates future looked extremely bright.  

The images on the front of this card were also used for other 2014 cards, but the combination of the sliding catch and the batting pose really look quite dynamic together.  You can tell that Cutch is at his Gold Glove defense level and is getting ready to run out a double in the gap. 

The back captures the original look of the 2000 Gold Label set and has the Class 1 designation.  (There were no other classes produced).  

If you're interested in seeing who else was part of the 25 player insert set, visit here.

I think that the success of this insert ultimately lead to the reintroduction of Gold Label as a yearly product.  

The product is produced now using traditional card stock with holofoil designs and the Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 rarities along with a few color parallels (black, blue, red) per class.  

The current production of Topps Gold Label uses frames for their autograph cards, which come on average 1 per box.  

Would you be interested in seeing framed cards once a month on a Friday? 

Do you have any metal framed cards?

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.

A very long card description

I just got in a shipment of nearly 200 cards from COMC.  It has everything from McCutchen to Morton to Clemente to minor league cards of all-stars, pink parallels, nonsports cards, and even some cards for you guys.

It is going to be a fun month showing off all these cards.  Of course the pink ones will have to wait until October.

One card that I got is such a ridiculously long card title though.  It helps to complete a rainbow that I wrote about here.  Shortly after that post someone posted one for sale at an extremely good deal.

In case you don't know what you're looking at, let me tell you the card description

2019 Topps Gold Label Class 1 Blue Parallel numbered to only 150 copies.

Exhausting card title, I know.

Is there really gold at the end of a rainbow?

The amount of parallels in today's collecting world is insane.  I don't use TCDB, but the site lists that Andrew McCutchen has 5,902 cards to collect.  That is a lot of baseball cards to collect for a guy with just barely over a decade of service time in the majors.

I only have about half those cards. 

While I do like to chase after many many rainbows, there are a few that I focus on more than others.  Prizm and Bowman Chrome have traditionally been my favorites to go after because of the amount of shine and refracting looks.

I have been looking at Topps Fire 2018 as another set I would like to eventually chase the entire rainbow for.  I feel like Fire has improved every year since it's initial release. 

2018 Gold Label is a release that I am getting very close to completing as well.

 Gold Label is a set that I see improvements for each year as well. 

There are 4 different colors to collect in addition to the base (pictured above).  As you can see in the picture above for the base version there are 3 different pictures to the left.  These help to distinguish, yet another parallel besides the color of the card.

In addition to the different colors, there are different classes.  Three to be exact. 

Class 1 is your traditional easy to find class.  Class 2 is the next tier up (think of it as a SP).
Class 3 is the top tier and the hardest to chase after (a SSP)

The 4 different color borders to chase for each Class have unique numbering and rarity.

All the Gold Label Golds are 1/1s, regardless of Class.

The Reds are the next rarest of the color parallels.  They are numbered to 75 (Class 1), 50 (Class 2), and 25 (Class 3) respectively.

The blacks, like base cards, aren't numbered but follow the same form of rarity in terms of Class 3 being the rarest.

The blues are fairly common parallel and oddly enough the easiest one to complete and yet the only non 1/1s I havent completed.  They are numbered to 150 (Class 1), 99 (Class 2), and 50 (Class 3).

As you can see from my page that I scanned in I still need the blue Class 1 numbered to 150.  It's on my wishlist for Santa this year.  I feel confident in saying that 2 years after release I will be able to knock out all the cards that aren't 1/1s to complete most of this rainbow.

However....
I also still need all 3 of the different classes Golds that are all numbered to 1/1.

I thought this particular set would show how crazy supercollecting a star player is in today's collecting market.  So even though I still have 11 cards of one player from one release, I still only have 73% (11 of the 15) for this particular release.

A 1/1 Challenge Or Something Else?

In case you don't follow me on Twitter (@CollectingCutch) I have been posting only 1 of 1 cards for the past 10 days.

I was wondering if I could post a 1/1 on here each day that I've never shown off here until Opening Day.

My question is would that be too much or should I spread them out over the course of the season.

With about 4 weeks until Opening Day, I think I could do it....

by showing off cards like this 2017 Gold Label Class 3 Gold Parallel 1/1

...OR...

Something that may be more challenging would be to count down the days until Opening Day by showing the card's actual card number in the set

Like this 2011 Topps Opening Day #27

...OR...



I could do something similar to my Serial History posts and just focus on the Serial Prefix number

Like this 2011 Topps Chrome #8 card serially numbered 27/50

 It is the Gold Parallel 27/50.

So in the comments below, please tell me how you think I should count down the days in March until Opening Day

Remembering John Kennedy

Today's black card for my Black History Month posts is this 2019 Gold Label black parallel frame autograph.

I have a few other of the parallels including base, red, and blue.

It's Presidents Weekend so I thought I would connect this card to a name similar to a former president.

John Kennedy, not the president, was the Phillies first black baseball player.

He appeared in only 5 games in his career and received only 2 At Bats.  He was primarily used as a pinch runner or shortstop defensive replacement in the 1957 season.  He didn't get a hit and scored only 1 run.

More of Kennedy's displacement in the Phillies organization can be found here.

The Phillies were one of the last three organizations to have a black baseball player on their team.  MLB put out an article in 2017 about the number of black players on each team.  That article can be,seen here.  It's sad that so few black athletes are playing baseball these days. 

In the 80s/90s they were plentiful with names like Gwynn, Henderson, Jackson, Griffey, Thomas, Sheffield, and Bonds. 

Labels are stupid, but Gold Labels Are Awesome

Short on time today so I am just going to show off another autograph of Andrew McCutchen.  I haven't counted them in a long time, but I think I am getting close to 200 unique autographs of Cutch.

I like that there are more on card autographs of Cutch to chase in recent releases.  I wish that there were more dreadlock style Cutch cards with on card autographs, but beggars can't be choosers.

Keep the autos coming....

Since late 2017 Topps and Panini have been using Cutch as an autograph subject more frequently than during his MVP level seasons.  From 2012 to 2015, Cutch finished in top 5 voting all four years, winning the award in 2013. 

Whatever label you want to put on Cutch's career thus far one thing prior to his injury year in 2019 was consistency.  He was one of only 2 players to mash over 20HRs from 2011 to 2018.  Had his 2019 injury not occurred he likely would have kept that streak going into 2020 as he had 10 HRs in just about 2/3 of the season left to play. 

A Call To Arms: Who Will Pilot The Blue Lion?

9/11.  There really isn't much that I can say about what this day meant to our country.  We probably all remember where we were when the planes hit the towers that morning.  I was in a college class with my good friend Bob.  We both only had that class that day and were planning on going to TCNJ that night to meet up with my (ex) girlfriend's sister, Jenny.  We were dismissed from class early and after many failed attempts using Bob's cell phone we finally got in touch with Jenny.  We decided not to go to her campus as fear struck her paralyzed.  Jenny had been to NYC just a few weeks prior and couldn't believe the towers were hit in a terrorist attack. 

Bob and I decided we would just go to the mall and grab some pizza while we figured out what else we would do that day.  We grabbed pizza then went to the comic book store.  We tried to ignore what was going on in real life and were trying to just be two 19 year olds enjoying a normal day, the best way we could.  After the comic shop, we went to an antique shop.  I saw a 6 inch die cast metal vintage Voltron figure from the 80s. 

I had remembered Voltron as a kid, but didn't have the Lion Force Voltron.  I had the "car" Voltron also known as Dairugger.  I bought the Lion Voltron for $20 and promptly displayed it in my car in the back window.

We ended up just walking around the mall and Main Street for the rest of the afternoon then parted ways. 

My memories of the day are filled with pizza, comics, friendship, and Voltron. 

In the following days, weeks, and years that followed I would see the terror of that day and how many people it impacted.  I am grateful that no one I personally knew at the time was there that day.  I am saddened by those that were. 

Tonight I am going to the Phillies and Braves game with a trio of coworkers.  Two of them are too young to remember the tragedy of 9/11 (they're in their early 20s).  One of them is slightly older than me. 

I always try to focus on watching baseball today.  Maybe it is a subtle way for me to avoid the situation, but the one constant in my life that has made me happy has been baseball. It reminds me of my youth and allows me to dismiss any real life problems. 

⚾ ⚾ ⚾ ⚾

I haven't been adding a lot of new cards of Cutch in a Pirates uniform to my collection lately. This is largely due to the fact that there isn't a lot out there that I don't already have. This has been a blessing in that it allows me to enjoy my cards I already have more.

I was thinking of a post I could come up to discuss my 9/11 memories today and found a card that reminds me of the day.

We all know that Topps tends to reuse their images.  I decided to take a look at this 2017 Topps 5 Tool insert and see if I can assemble the card using images from other Topps cards.

So with the Dynotherms Connected, Let's Form This Card, Voltron Style.  For each card I will post there are multiple parallels to chase.

Starting with the image in the top left corner, we will work clock wise to find what other cards these images were used on.

The image of Cutch catching the fly ball is from 2017 Topps Gold Label Class 1.  Cutch is a decorated defender, having one the 2012 Gold Glove and finished as a top 3 finalist in 2013.  With 2,954 career putouts he ranks third among all active Centerfielders in putouts.  He had 5 seasons as a top 3 centerfielder in putouts.  Even with missing the final month of 2018 because of a trade, he ranked 2nd in putouts as a rightfielder last season.

In the top upper right is an image of Cutch running.  This can be seen on his 2017 Triple Threads card.  Even though Cutch has slowed down a bit over the years and is more selective about his stolen base attempts, Cutch still has 187 career stolen bases, which is 18th among all active players.

Moving to the bottom right corner we see an image of Cutch presumably looking at a homerun shot.  Not many people can claim to have an image of that on a card as this image was used for 1/1 letters in their 2017 high end Definitive release.  I am the one person that can claim to have one. Cutch has 233 career homeruns.  Prior to this season only Giancarlo Stanton and Nelson Cruz could claim hitting 20 or more homers from 2011 to this year.  Unfortunately with the injuries that have plagued both Cutch and Stanton, only Nelson Cruz could claim that now.

The image in the center is a little tricky.  It is clearly from the same game based on the eye black and road jersey, but the Bowman Platinum version looks like Cutch is a little more into his swing than the image used for the 5 tool card.  Cutch lead the league in hits in 2012 with 194.  His 1,664 career hits ranks him 23rd among active players.  For three straight years he was among the top 10.

That moves us to the bottom left corner.  I can't find a card using the same image as this card.  Cutch has always been thought of to have a less than average arm in the outfield, but with 63 career assists as a centerfielder, that puts him 3rd among active players.  In 2011 and 2013 Cutch lead the league in double plays turned by a centerfielder with 5 and 3 respectively.  With missing a month thanks to a trade last year from the NL to AL he still ranked third among all right fielders with 8 outfield assists. 


I guess it is fitting that the tool that Cutch is most associated with not having is the image that hasn't shown up on many cards.

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

A New Level of Class

A few weeks back I showed off the Gold Label parallels I had acquired to that point.  That post inspired me to track down the two missing non 1/1s of the rainbow.

While the rainbow isn't complete yet. I picked up the missing Red Class 3 from 2017 Gold Label of Andrew McCutchen I needed.  Only the Black Class 2 (not numbered SP) and all the 1/1 Golds remain.

Chalk up another nearly completed rainbow.

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.