The Debut of Patches Malone

The 2015 Diamond King set reminds me of the posters for Dark Knight Rises.

For proof see below...

Here is the poster not super cropped

Batman created an alter ego called Matches Malone when he was investigating the criminal underground.

Maybe unlicensed cardboard of Cutch will be looked at by Patches Malone.

Cutch V Batman: Dorkness Recesses aka F**k Batman

San Diego Comic Con is in full effect at the time of typing this.  I had always wanted to attend it just once as I am a nerd deep inside.

Fans were previewed a trailer for the new Titans TV show exclusive to DC's streaming service.

The trailer begins with Robin saying "F*** Batman".  The DC Universe aka Zak Snyder's playground is always so dark.  When I think of the Titans I think more fun than brooding and morbid.  The show should have followed in Marvel's footsteps and did something similar to how the characters of Guardians of the Galaxy interact.  Instead we get "F*** Batman"

Let me clarify something, I am a big fan of Batman.

I am not a big fan of the Reds.  They historically have beaten my Pirates in all the important games.

Let's travel back to the year 2012.
With the Pirates on the cusp of finally breaking their 20 year losing streak they would have to face the Reds in the final home series and win out or risk losing their 82nd game and thus ensuring another losing season.  That year, like the previous year, the Pirates were in first place at the All Star break.  Like the previous year the team suffered a second half collapse.

On September 28th, 2012 the Pirates would face Homer Bailey.

Homer Bailey, who looks an awful lot like Christian Bale, made sure the Pirates would lose their 82nd game in a way only the Pirates and their faithful fans could bear witness too.  Bailey was masterful that day as he pitched a no hitter using 115 pitches over 9 innings.

His only blips were a walk to Andrew McCutchen and an infield error that Scott Rolen booted off a Clint Barmes one base error.

With Bailey having a terrible season, it seems appropriate to show off how well Cutch has hit Bailey over his career.

Oddly enough, the only year that Bailey contained Cutch was during Cutch's MVP 2013 season.

Following the 2013 season, Bailey met with new Reds manager Bryan Price and wanted to make sure the team was heading in a direction of winning divisions and competing for the postseason.  The Reds seemed determine to go deep in October and signed Bailey to a 6 year $105million extension in February 2014.  It is currently one of the worse contracts given out in the past few seasons only being outdone by the Chris Davis Orioles contract.

I took advantage of a 20% off coupon on eBay a few months ago and snagged this card that I had long desired.  While the price is still too high for a guy who has had a WHIP over 2 and ERA in the 6s the past few years, I wanted the card to remember the guy who secured the Pirates 82nd loss of the 2012 season as it would be the last time the Pirates would have a losing season for 3 years.

Oh and "F*** Batman" this is one of only 2 copies in world.

Light Up The Bat Signal!

When the Pirates were trading for AJ Burnett just before spring training 2012, my optimism for the team was at an absolute high.  The team managed to be very competitive through the first half of the 2011 season.  Their use of shifts and elite bullpen was good enough that the Pirates offense could still hang in for games.  Add to the fact that they had a pipeline of front of rotation guys on the way in the form of Gerrit Cole, Jameson Taillon,  and Luis Heredia made it seem like the Pirates were going to finally start winning regularly again.

AJ Burnett instantly became my favorite pitcher of the staff.

Prizm released an insert called Band of Brothers and it featured both Andrew McCutchen and AJ Burnett.   For the past few years I have been trying to track down all the parallels.

One of the biggest non 1/1 needs from my entire collection can officially be crossed off.

I managed to snag this for $40.

AJ Burnett became known as Batman around Pittsburgh and during his final home game with the Pirates he was given a painting.

In his return to the Burgh after a stint on DL in 2015, the city lit up the bat signal behind him.

His final home game had Batman flags and posters and t-shirts all throughout the stadium.

Birth of Retro Greatness

Many of us have fond vivid memories of our childhood. For me when I think of my childhood, it's canvas photo albums filled with pages full of 1987 Topps, Fleer, and Donruss baseball cards watching Thundercats and running around with a towel wrapped around my neck saying "I'm Batman."  Sometimes these events happened seperately, but as I remember it, they all happened simultaneously often on a daily basis.

Now, nearly 30 years later I still think I am Batman and love to collect those retro designed baseball cards. 

The cardboard from the 80s and early 90s, like many of us, is what got me into collecting baseball cards.

Here are all the Andrew McCutchen cards I own based on original card designs from my birth year

1981 Donruss (2015 Donruss)

1982 Donruss (2016 Donruss)

1983 Topps (2015 Archives)

1983 Topps All-Star (2013 Archives)

1985 Topps (2013 Archives)

1986 Topps (2014 Archives)

1987 Topps (2011 mini and two versions of 5x7s from 2015 Topps)

1989 Bowman (2014 Bowman is Back diamond refractor)

1989 Topps (2014 Chrome Refractor)

1989 Topps (2014 Topps Diecuts)

1991 Donruss Studio (2013 Black Friday Studio '13)

1991 Topps (2016 Archives)

1992 Bowman (2010 Bowman Throwbacks)

1993 Topps Finest All Stars (2013 Finest)

1994 Topps Finest (2014 Finest)

I didn't include cards produced from 1997-2009 because I wasn't collecting during that time. So even though there have been retro style cards of Gold Class and Topps Tek featuring Cutch I won't be highlighting them in this post.

How many cards do you own of your favorite player representing styles of cardboard originally produced after your birthyear?