Where's the Happy Face?

It looks like Randy Arozarena and Austin Meadows recently had fake autographs used for Topps Definitive, a VERY HIGH END release ($2500 per box)

Here's a link to the post

I've often questioned the authenticity of guys who just scribble an autograph with a single line and no distinct markings, but both Meadows and Arozarena have distinct signatures.  

As a former Pirates prospect autograph seeker I have been able to get Austin to sign in person and it looks like his cards signed for Topps products.  Below is a sampling of some recent eBay auctions for Meadows autographs if you're not familiar.

Randy's signature has a very distinct feature where he makes a "smiley face" before the R.  The last A is also extremely large.

What do you think happened with these dual signed autograohed cards?  What should be done by Topps for those that pull one of these cards if in fact they can prove they weren't signed by Randy & Austin?

Oh and here is a card of Cutch smiling.

The Great Rookie (and Cup) Debate

Topps rookie cup/trophy cards have been around for a long time.

Over the course of that time, Topps has made a few errors.  In recent years we have seen players have a rookie cup logo in addition to a rookie card logo on the same card because Topps has chosen to release the player's rookie card after the player's actual rookie season.  We saw it happen in 2020 with Yordan Alvarez, 2021 with Alec Bohm (although the year 2020 was a strange year for distribution, player debuts, shortened seasons, etc due to the worldwide pandemic), and 2022 with Wander Franco. 

As much as people get upset (myself included) for Topps not releasing a rookie card during a player's rookie season we have seen this happen many times in the past including HOF guys like Willie Mccovey and Eddie Murray.  Their Rookie Cup cards aknowleding the tremendous performance as a rookie got placed on their cards for their true 2nd year in the big leagues, but they are considered rookies because they didn't get a rookie card when they were actually rookies.

Many of us believe that in the earlier 2010s Topps seemed better at applying the correct RC logos on players and those good enough to make the Rookie Cup award get their 2nd year card to adorn the Rookie Cup. I'm going to prove that theory wrong too.

With the Pirates deep in nearly two decades of losing seasons, Andrew McCutchen's debut in 2009 gave the fans hope of better things to come.  Cutch won the Baseball America Rookie of Year, finished in 3rd for Baseball Writers NL ROY, and was announced as a Topps Rookie Cup winner for his debut season in 2009.

Cutch got a RC logo on his 2009 Topps Update card during his rookie season. 

Cutch's performance as a rookie lead to Topps producing cards of Cutch in 2010 with the Rookie Cup/Trophy logo for Topps Flagship and Heritage releases.

Good things were definitely on the horizon for Pirates fans as it saw the team promote their top 3 positional prospects (Pedro Alvarez, Jose Tabata, and Neil Walker) in 2010. 

Both Neil and Jose received a RC in 2010 due to their early season debuts.

Pedro Alvarez was called up later in the season and didn't appear in 2010 products except Pro Debut (a prospect filled minor league set).  He did not receive a RC in 2011 like what we have seen recently with other top prospects like Wander Franco, Yordan Alvarez, Alec Bohm. However as you can see below Topps didn't put a RC logo on Pedro's 2011 Topps release.

The 2010 Topps Rookie Team can be found here.  As you can see from that list, Pirates 2B Neil Walker was named a Rookie Cup winner.

This meant that Walker would have his Topps Flagship and Topps Heritage cards feature the rookie cup.

One name missing from that list is Jose Tabata, who was good enough to receive one rookie of the year vote in 2010 for his performance.

He slashed .299/.346/.400 with 19 stolen bases in 26 attempts.  After the 2010 season, he was believed to be atop the Pirates lineup for the future for his above average speed and hitting approach. He also provided outstanding defense in left field. 

Tabata had a good rookie season in 2010, but in comparison to Jason Heyward, Mike (Giancarlo) Stanton, and Austin Jackson it just wasn't good enough to receive the cup/trophy honor for his 2011 Topps flagship cards.

However, Topps Heritage did produce a 2011 Topps Heritage card featuring the All Star Rookie trophy for Tabata.

The back mentions Tabata having the second most stolen bases on the Pirates.  Andrew McCutchen lead the club with 33 SB that season. 

This means that Topps produced 4 outfield rookie cup cards for Topps Heritage.

But oddly enough, Giancarlo Stanton was rejected the All Star Rookie Trophy for all parallels while Tabata maintained the logo.

A more recent mistake by Topps was including Ke'Bryan Hayes in the 2021 All Rookie Cup product highlighting players who have earned the distinction of Topps Rookie Teams for the past 70 years.

The problem with that is Alec Bohm was announced as the 3B for the 2020 All Rookie Topps Team, not Ke'Bryan. Again due to the odd year that 2020 was, I am willing to forgive RC mistakes on 2020 products and having them all have to be included in 2021 products, but there's no excuse for putting someone on the checklist for a set called Topps Rookie Cup for a guy that didn't get nominated by Topps as a Rookie Cup winner for the 2020 season. 

Do you pay attention to the rookie cups and rookie card logos on flagship or Heritage releases?

Do you think there should be a clear deadline for Topps to release rookie cards of players so a Rookie Cup and Rookie Card logo don't appear on the same card?

Are you aware of any Rookie Cup logos being added or subtracted in error for Flagship or Heritage products?

 

National Wear Red Day, A Yearly Tradition

Over the past couple years I have had a tradition of showing off red baseball cards the first Friday of February.  You can revisit all those posts here.  The reason I do this is to bring awareness to women heart disease.  

I will continue the theme of showing off some nice red parallels, but first...a reminder to please wear red today to support the movement.

Visit heart.org to help make a contribution.  They set out a goal of $3 million this year and as of Friday morning are falling well short of it as they have only raised just over $100K.

Now for the best red parallel baseball card in my collection that I have picked up over the past few months

2021 Topps Now Game Used Base and (on card) autograph celebrating Cutch's 250th career home run. The card is numbered out of only 10 copies (mine being number 2)

This is a very recent pickup and it was shipped by COMC within a week.

Shocking, right?

That is the 2021 Topps Triple Threads Triple Relic patch Ruby parallel numbered 1/1 featuring relics of Cutch, Bryce Harper, and Rhys Hoskins

You guys like bling?

Ben Baller does

And Ben Baller Did The Card for this 2021 Topps Chrome Ben Baller edition red parallel limited to 5

How about some autographs signed in red ink?

2021 Heritage High Number limited to 72 copies and 2021 Diamond Icons limited to 25 copies

And to finish things off I have a 2021 Topps Archives Red Hot 🔥 parallel limited to 50 copies

That's all for now.

Again please go visit ❤ heart.org ❤ and make a contribution if you're able to today.

Don't forget to wear your red!

Cardboard Cameos: For Whom The Bell Tolls

Each year during the month of October, I show off only pink (and shades of pink like magenta, peach, etc) to help raise awareness of Breast Cancer, a leading cause of death for females in the United States.  

Due to my own financial situation this year I will not be able to make a donation for each (meaningful, non spam) comment left by those that follow the blog.  Once things settle down on the home front though I will be looking to make a donation in 2022 based on the comments left during this year's event.  Hopefully together we can help at least one woman get a much needed mammogram.  Early detection is key!!!

If you want to make your own private donation please visit the National Breast Cancer Foundation.  There is a donate button on the main page and it only takes a minute of your time.  Every little bit helps.

I have focused primarily on cards that only feature Andrew McCutchen on the card, but in recent years have also featured cards with a cameo appearance (either being seen on the card or as a name cameo on the back of the card).  In 2019, I created Falco Files which discussed players that replaced (Shane Falco Replacements movie reference) on an active roster, number worn, or trade.  I will also be showing some Cutch's Crew cards that show pink cards of players that have played with Cutch on multiple teams. I will continue to utilize these styles of posts as we celebrate the 5th Collecting Cutch Save Second Base event (I am no longer counting my first run on the Pirates Treasure Room I did back in 2014).

I am always looking for new ways to incorporate new celebrities into the event so today I am presenting

Catherine Bell

I will admit it.  Back in the early stages of the internet I discovered the above image of Catherine Bell and it has been one of my favorite images to this day.

Bell has been acting on the silver screen since 1991

She has had brief roles on TV shows like Friends, Vanishing Son, and Hercules.

Her most famous role was playing Lt Sarah MacKenzie on the TV show JAG which she reprised the role in 2019 for three episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles.

Another of her recent roles is the lead role on the recently cancelled The Good Witch.

Bell will always be one of my first internet crushes and a frequent Yahoo search when I was younger.

Above is a look at Catherine Bell at age 31 vs 51.

Bell was born in 1968, one of my least favorite Topps designs ever.

The terrible burlap sack design did offer some pink fonts for many teams though including the Pirates, which was used again in 2017 Topps Heritage.

This 2017 Heritage card features a cameo of Cutch both on the front and back.

As you can see there is also a Josh Bell cameo.  

Lots of stars on the back of this checklist

Can you think of any other actors/actresses to appear in a TV show over a decade later to reprise the same role? 

Did you ever watch JAG?

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?

A post that is a day late and the last card Mays offend some people

Happy (belated) 90th Birthday Willie Mays!

Willie May will forever be one of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game.

Above is an unlicensed card from Hits Memorabilia featuring three of the top 25 centerfielders to ever play the game (at keast according to a 2018 poll where Mays was ranked 1st, Griffey 3rd, and McCutchen 22nd)

It is my only Willie Mays relic and was worn at an old timers game for the Mets.

I also have this 2015 Topps Heritage New Age Performers card that features a sweet image of Cutch on the front

and a nice writeup about Willie Mays on the back

Its hard to believe that it was only 6 years ago that Cutch was leading the league with a .952 OPS.  It feels like forever.

⚾⚾⚾      

My favorite Willie Mays card in my collection is a NL Leaders card that features 3 All Time Greats

I wrote about it on Chasing3000 way back in 2018.

⚾🎂 ⚾ 🎂 ⚾

With it being Willie Mays birthday yesterday, Topps used that opportunity to showcase the newest Alex Pardee Project 70 card and it features none other than Willie Mays.

The odd thing is that he is featured as a werewolf.

Does anyone understand this?  I have never seen an image of Mays with any facial hair, let alone werewolf status.  

I understand that Pardee really dives into his love of comic books for his art, but if he wanted to make a werewolf for the project why not use someone like Bryce Harper or even Brian Wilson?  Both those guys are known to have some pretty intense facial hair.

I did buy the Pardee Mays card because I am collecting the Pardee and Jamieson artist sets to get the posters.  

Have you bought any Project 70 cards?

What is your favorite Willie Mays card in your collection?

21/72

The 1972 Topps set will always be associated to me as the last playing days card of Roberto Clemente. It also is represented by my first look at the 1972 set via the 1987 Turn Back the Clock subset featuring Clemente. 

So it was a nice surprise to see Topps pay respect to Clemente by creating a 21 card insert set to Roberto Clemente in this year's Topps Heritage release which pays homage to the 1972 design.  The number 21 was of course worn by Clemente throughout his playing career.

I quickly jumped on adding the black refractor from this year's Topps Heritage to my collection.  It is limited to only 72 copies.

Mine is serially numbered 21/72 in the top right corner.  So close to a Cutch22 serial number, but I will gladly take the Clemente numbering for a 1972 inspired set.

Have you gotten any Topps Heritage cards yet?  

If so any luck pulling a Clemente insert card?

Red Ink Autos

Topps Heritage, Bowman Heritage, and Allen & Ginter have some of the most elusive and most sought after cards in the hobby with their red ink autographs.

Often times these are extremely limited print runs and the red ink usually stands out on the cards that Topps chooses.  I have 3 red ink autographs in my collection.

The oldest red ink autograph in my collection goes back to Cutch's draft year, 2005.  The 2005 Bowman Heritage cards were made to resemble 1951 Bowman in a more modern twist.  

Moving on from Bowman Heritage to Topps Heritage is the 2012 Topps Heritage red ink numbered to 63 copies.

I love the 1963 Topps design and this card pays homage to the set both in design and limited print run (only 63 copies produced).  My only complaint with this card is that the red ink doesn't pop as much as the other two red ink autographs in my collection.

We close out with my favorite red ink autograph, 2012 Topps Allen & Ginter limited to only 10 copies. 

That is how a low print run, alternative ink (red) autograph should look.  The red ink on the plain white design POPS!  The mini card nestled inside the framed border looks really nice. 

Do you have any red ink autographs in your collection?