Now that Spider-Man: No Way Home is available for digital download I thought it would be fun to discuss the multiverse of card collecting.
If you are into the Marvel movies, go watch Spider-Man: No Way Home!!!
It's Amazing (no pun intended)
It's no secret that Topps and Panini have been pumping out dozens of parallels over the past few years. Sometimes they may look similar to one another, but very often there are bold enough color changes that you can tell a magenta speckled from the standard pink refractor
or differiante the lime green donut circles from the forest green flash variants.
Every now and then though they release these variants (Loki reference) that look a lot like the original.
Right before the holiday season I was able to grab a pair of Superfractors that look nearly identical.
These Superfractors look nearly identical, right?
Well, if you turn them over you will see the only difference of these 1/1s.
One is the standard Topps Chrome Update Superfractor and the other is the Topps Chrome Update Sapphire Superfractor.
We are probably all familar with Topps releasing value boxes that contain a chrome pack with their Update release each year. These Topps Update Chrome parallels are often very sought after as they were produced in very limited supply.
Topps has been making a product called Topps Sapphire since 2016 and has recently made a Topps Update Sapphire addition as well. Oddly enough this Topps Update Sapphire edition doesn't always follow the same numbering as your standard Topps Update set or Topps Update Chrome edition.
All these parallels and multiple issues are getting tough to keep up with.
Do you think Fanatics will continue the parallel trend that Topps and Panini has been building upon over the past few years?
When I was younger my aunt in California would call us every Christmas Eve and ask "is it Christmas yet?" This was usually late (8pm or so) and usually lead to the ultimate traditions of setting milk and cookies for Santa, ensuring the stockings were hung, leaving an apple and carrot outside for the reindeer, etc.
I don't have much interaction with my aunt anymore, but every year that it gets closer to Christmas I think of those old phone calls.
This month I have been showing off some red and green cards and I have a few pairings that could knock your Christmas stockings off.
I want to show off these cards today because they remind me of a funny gift that I received one Christmas from an uncle who has spent his entire life collecting.
Back in the mid 2000s (2003-2005ish?) I was really into the toys from my childhood, specifically Thundercats. Well, my uncle literally made me cry one year....from laughing at the zany gift he gave me.
You may recall that I gave up on baseball because of the 1994 strike and that I hadn't attended a baseball game again until 2005. I told my uncle that I wanted to get back into baseball again, but was so confused with all the card manufacturers and different parallels that were being made at that time. Boy do those 2005 parallels seem simple compared to,what Topps and Panini are doing now.
Well on Christmas day 2005 I got a small box with tissue paper and inside was a baseball with a "Lion-O" signature. Yes, my uncle wrote Lion-O (leader of the 80s cartoon Thundercats) and drew a small paw print on the sweet spot. Somewhere I think I still have that ball and when I eventually unbox everything from the move, I am sure I will find it again. Hopefully the signature didn't fade from being in a box for 15 years.
Card manufacturers have attenpted to make baseballs part of their releases from time to time, the most famous being Sweet Spot signatures.
Panini used that concept for their 2020 Absolute Baseball product and Cutch was one of the featured signatures.
There were 3 parallels to chase
1/1 Red & Blue stitching
/6 Red
/5 Green
I missed out on the 1/1, but was able to grab both the red and green last year.
I guess it makes sense that the green stitches baseball (/5) would be lower numbered than the red (/6) as I have never seen a baseball with green stitches.
These cards look and feel very much like the Upper Deck Sweet Spot autographs. I have seen many horror stories of those cards fading over time.
What suggestions do you have for displaying the cards while preventing the signature from fading over time?
What are you looking forward to most for Christmas?
I have begun packing up all my base and serial numbers in anticipation of actually moving next week.
I've had a lot of fun looking at all these cards hanging out in boxes and I can't wait to finally be able to properly display them all in the near future. It's going to be awesome to have the Cutch Cave operational.
A pair of cards I came across were these 2020 Topps Triple Threads green (/275) and ruby red (1/1).
With nearly 300 1/1s in the collection, I knew I had some 1/1s in these boxes, but I was pleasantly surprised to find this ruby red as I don't even remember buying it.
Do you have any green and red parallels in your collection?
Do you want to see more of my green and red parallels this month?
First of all, my photography skills with my phone are some of the worse on a blog. I'm sorry. One of my purchases I plan to get next year is another scanner or some kind of lightbox so I can take better pictures.
One of the few purchases I made over the past few months is a card I have looked to acquire since 2013.
Yup, 2013!
Panini Prizm has always been one of my favorite card releases because of how bold the color parallels are, see below for an example.
Recently the product has gotten a little silly with nearly 30 different parallels to chase after like lime green donuts, zebra stripes, etc but early Prizm was stunning.
Look at the group of parallels above that I scanned and showed off a few years ago.
Man, do those colors pop!
Pictured above is my latest pickup for the rainbow, a 2013 Target red exclusive coupled with my green retail exclusive.
I always liked that Topps and Panini would do exclusive parallels to chase with some of the retail stores (Wal Mart, Target, Toys r Us, Meijer, Walgreens, etc).
Do you like the store exclusive parallels?
Despite not being licensed, do you like the Prizm brand?
Do you have any recommendations for taking pictures of baseball cards?
Last year I showed off a bunch of red & green parallels as I was counting down to Christmas.
While I have been very busy with planning the move and the holidays and work schedule, I do plan to *occasionally* continue that trend this year.
Above is my 2017 Bowman's Best Green and Red refractors of Andrew McCutchen.
The Green is limited to 99 copies.
The Red is limited to 10 copies.
Oddly enough the back mentions Cutch's best game of 2017 as July 30th.
Many players would love to hit 3 HR in a game and getting 2 walks with a great catch will certainly be a memorable game, but I have to believe if you ask Andrew what his best game of 2017 was he would say September 26th.
In that September 26th game Cutch went 4 for 4 with 8 RBI including 2 HR (one being his first Grand Slam). He had that game in his final homestand at PNC Park as a member of the Pirates.
Would you rather have a game with 3 solo HR and 2 walks
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 was a week ago that Andrew McCutchen hit his 250th career homer. I've shown off a few of my cards limited to 250 copies in celebration of this event.
Today I will look at my 2014 cards limited to 250 copies.
2014 was the last year of Cutch having dreadlocks during a season and it would also be the last year before things were getting purply by Topps.
2014 Bowman Orange
2014 Triple Threads Emerald
2014 Bowman Chrome Blue refractor
I love that Homerun chart above. I wish more cards had unique backs like that on a regular basis.
I have been dropping some trivia while looking at Cutch's career homeruns, but I think this next bit of trivia is awesome and really shows the power/speed combination that Cutch has shown over his 13 year career.
Since Cutch's 2009 debut there has only been 1 player in Baseball with 250 homeruns and 200 stolen bases. His name is Mike Trout. Cutch currently sits on 194 career stolen bases and 250 homers. It is likely Cutch joins this generation's greatest player before the season is up. Granted Trout did all that before his 30th birthday, but who's keeping track of that?
Saint Patrick's Day is here so I wanted to run a contest perfect for a celebration of green.
Here is one of my favorite "green" cards of Cutch.
It is from 2017 Flawless and is the green emerald parallel which features an on card autograph numbered to only 3 copies (!!!!) And encapsulated in a nice one touch case complete with a Flawless sticker.
From 2016 Flawless I have a giant patch of the Jolly Roger sleeve logo on an Emerald card numbered 2/5.
Flawless Victory
Speaking of Flawless Victory
Above is a video of the Pirates clinching their playoff spot back in 2014.
I have a bottle that was used in the champagne showers that evening and it is signed by Andrew McCutchen.
Here is another image of the bottle. I shrink wrapped around the signature so it won't fade over time.
Here is the authentication for the bottle
The Pirates 2014 team was a fun one to root for despite them not advancing very far in the Postseason. They, like everyone else in the 2014 Postseason, got Bumgarnered. There are a few other reasons though why I can't label it my favorite team roster.
That distinction belongs to the predecessor year, 2013.
2013 was a magical year for Pirates fans. It marked the end of the 20 year losing streak. More important though there was a group of men that I watched develop into one of the best teams in baseball.
2013 was loaded with many individuals getting hardware and personal accomplishments.
Andrew Mccutchen was MVP, Player's Choice MVP, silver slugger
Clint Hurdle was Manager of Year
Pedro Alvarez was a silver slugger and HR champ
Francisco Liriano was Comeback Player of Year
Jason Grilli won Reliever of Month twice and was featured on Sports Illustrated
Pirates All Stars included Cutch, Alvarez, Grilli, Jeff Locke, and Mark Melancon.
The team had veterans like Garrett Jones, Russell Martin, and AJ Burnett built around a young core coming into their prime.
We saw flashes of brillaince from rookie "future ace" Gerrit Cole as he won his first 6 games and beat former Cy Young Winners: Tim Lincecum, Clayton Kershaw, and Zack Greinke in his first three games. My brother got married in 2013 and I made a bet with him that if the Pirates made the postseason in 2013, he would name his first son Cole because of Gerrit Cole. I love my niece, but am still hoping I get a nephew one day and my brother lives up to that bet.
Even the bench and role players were fun to root for. Travis Snyder may have been a top prospect a long time ago, but his career never blossomed into superstar. Still, Lunchbox as he was known was an everyday guy who fans could root for. The same can be said for guys like Mike "The Fort" McHenry and Clint "Journey" Barmes. I suspect Pittsburgh is the only city that gave Clint a standing ovation as a visiting player in his career.
So here is the contest.
Make a post about a year your favorite team DIDN'T win the World Series. Be sure to include why that year's roster stood out to you. Who were your favorite players that aren't superstars? Did any members of that team go on to Hall of Fame careers? Tell as much as you can about that team and any many memories you may have about that year in general.
After you make the post, leave a comment here with a link to your post. (Please reference my contest in your post)
On April 2nd, 2019 I will hit the randomizer 3 times. The person at the top of the randomizer will receive...
2004 Topps Tribute Carl Yastrzemski Green Wall Relic card.
I thought with it being St. Patrick's Day, a green wall relic of one of the most historically trophyless franchises (prior to 2004 at least) seemed appropriate.
It's Amazing (no pun intended)
These Superfractors look nearly identical, right?
One is the standard Topps Chrome Update Superfractor and the other is the Topps Chrome Update Sapphire Superfractor.
