1 MONTH SOBER!!!

For the first time since 2009 I went 30 days without purchasing an Andrew McCutchen baseball card.  I've gone stretches of 10-14 days before, but I have never gone a full month.  This may sound like a first world problem, but I actually did become addicted to adding cardboard of the former MVP. 

Last year was the least amount of card purchases I made of Cutch in over a decade of "CollectingCutch".

Then this year happened and my purchases are even less (partially because he hasn't been in many products this year so far). 

I used to search eBay 3-6 times a day while also looking at other after market card places like COMC, blowout, mercari, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc on a daily basis.  

Now I check out my Cutch searches maybe once or twice a week. 

Collecting cardboard can certainly be addicting and fun, but with Cutch's career coming to a twilight I'm just not as emotionally invested in it as I once was.  Having him join a division rival on a one year deal where the Brewers likely won't make the playoffs isn't helping.  

Here is the very last Andrew Mccutchen baseball card I received in the mail.  

It is the 2022 Select Scope parallel (unnumbered).

I made the purchase on the last day in July and received it about a week later.

Now I can say that it has also been over a month since I last received an Andrew McCutchen card in the mail. 

What is the longest stretch you've gone without adding a card to the PC?

Have you overcome any addictions and been proud after the first month?

The Tiger Kinga

Remember when COVID hit and many people were forced to stay home and the most binge watched streamed show wasTiger King?

Well, I wasn't a part of that chaos as I kept working through all of COVID due to being an essential worker and I wasn't about ready to binge watch that show.

However, Panini took note of how popular tigers became and decided to make a new parallel for their 2020 Select release.

It's not in hand yet, but I did fairly recently add a JT Realmuto tiger stripes parallel to my ongoing COMC shipment.

You can see it below.

2020 Panini Prizm - [Base] - Tiger Stripe Prizm #172 - Tier II - J.T. Realmuto


I bring this up in the middle of shark week because 1)JT is a former Hammerhead (in the minor leagues) and 2)Tiger Queen aired this week on shark week. 

Kinga Philippe is a diver and filmmaker that recently had a special about searching for male tiger sharks.  There is a remote area in Turks and Caicos that contains mostly just female tiger sharks.  Kinga wanted to research and film where all the males are.  She is in addition trying to bring more notoriety to female researchers and filmmakers interested in the conservation of sharks.

How will the stats this year be valued?

A lot of people have been talking about the statistics for this shortened season and asking how will we look back at this season.  

Stats are an endless talking point for all baseball fans from the casual to the hardcore fan.  

Andrew has lead the league in a few stats over his decade plus long career.  In 2012, he lead the league in hits, collecting 194.

It is virtually impossible for a player to collect that many hits in a 60 game season.  A player would have to get over 3 hits a game for the entire season to get to a mark like that.  That would result in a batting average of likely over .700.  Like I said, virtually impossible.  Getting the "counting stats" will be tough this year.

However what about the percentage stats?

Now the talks of averages and ERAs can be discussed.  And they should be.  

The 3 best consecutive months of McCutchen's career were May, June, and July 2012 when he was the NL Player of the Month twice.

With 77 games played in those three months Cutch hit 22 HR, 59 RBI, and collected 112 hits while walking 33 times.  To say he was the hottest player in baseball during that three month stretch is an understatement.  

Even with all that hot hitting it was still "only" a .392 batting average and .450 OBP.  

With the season about a fifth of the way done for most clubs people I work with in the Philadelphia area are looking at Phil Gosselin and Adam Haseley and their above .500 batting averages wondering if they can keep it up all year.  The short answer is NO, they can't.  

It is hard to hit at a .400 clip for over 2 months.  The last guy to do it had his head cyrogenically frozen.  A few guys have come close, but I don't think there will be a .400 hitter with 55+ games played.  I just don't see it happening.

I bring up these stats facts because I recently picked up a "Refractor" like Prizm card from 2013 Select.  

This is the prizm parallel as identified on the back.

I already had the gold prizm

I still need the base. Anyone have one? 

Yeah I Got Skills, What You Gonna Do Bout It?

I'm back! Expect daily updates again as I have returned from an unexpected week of double shifts. 

Things are back on track now.

My favorite era of Collecting Cutch cards is 2009 to 2015.  There are so few cards that I need with print runs over 50 copies in that era that when a rarer copy shows up, I really look forward to getting it.

I recently got excited when I picked up this

2013 Select Gold Prizm

It is numbered to only 25 copies.

In case you were living under a rock a few years ago you probably saw the viral video of a guy named Joe Charman where he does strange things (often trick shots or throwing objects) and says "Yeah I got Skills, what you gonna do bout it?"

Well with adding this gold 2013 Select Skills Gold parallel I can say...

Yeah I've Got Skills, What You Gonna Do About It?

I now have the base and Gold Prizm

I still need the Prizm Refractor (not numbered) and Black Prizm (1/1)
Such a simpler time when even the unlicensed products had only 4 parallels to chase.  To put it into perspective, this year's Prizm has 27 unique parallels to chase including snake skin, lime green donuts, cosmic haze, among many other strange names.

2013 Select was a great product and I miss the days of base, Refractor, gold, and 1/1 color parallel.

Only A Select Few Can Be Golden

The title says it all

Panini may get a lot of hate for their logoless baseball cards and the problems that football and basketball fans have towards their products, but honestly they know how to make color parallels better than anyone.

The Select product lasted just one year in their recent production of cards, but the Gold parallels are beautiful pieces of cardboard to have.

With only 25 copies produced it is extremely tough tracking these rare parallels down for the unlicensed product from 5 years ago.

Two have surfaced recently and I was lucky to make a bid for one of them.

Cutch: Ragnarok!

I have always been interested in Norse mythology.  I think it started when I went to Epcot as a kid and got to ride the Viking ship.  The part of the ride that suddenly goes backward was so much fun when I was just 11 years old.

I bring this up because Thor: Ragnarok was released over the weekend!!!!  I'm a huge Marvel Cinema fan and am really looking forward to this movie, which I am on my way to see soon.

Let's take a look at some of the key characters from Ragnarok and see if I have any Cutch cards that can tie into the movie.

Thor, God of Thunder

This was a no brainer.  This 2013 Select Thunder Alley (and all the color parallels) lends itself perfectly to the main character.  I showed it off last Friday so it may look familiar.

Hulk

When you think of the Incredible Hulk there are probably two words that come to mind, "Hulk SMASH!!!". The Hulk is green just like this 2015 Donruss Dominator insert numbered to 999.

Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme

The Sorcerer Supreme is a master of the mystic arts.  Conjuring up a variety of astral images, the Doctor is clearly into Illusions, just like these 2016 Optic Illusions inserts and parallels.

Loki

The step brother to Thor, Loki is a shape shifter that is known to cause mischief and havoc while being very manipulative.  I was trying to find a card where Cutch was up to some mischief.  This 2012 Topps photo variant looks like Cutch and the Parrot are up to no good in the outfield.

Lady Sif

One of the greatest female warriors in the Marvel Universe, Lady Sif knows how to swing a sword to defeat her enemies.  This 2012 Bowman Cutting Edge Stars has the same razor sharp edges as the Asgardian Warrior.

Valkyrie

Also known as Brunnhilde, Valkyrie was selected by Lord Odin to lead the Valkyrior.  The sword wielding warrior is like a Marshall for the Asgards.  I've shown this Diamond Marshall before, but it represents her role nicely.

Hela

When you think of Hell, you likely have images of fire and pain.  I have a few readers that have sent me some 2017 Topps Fire cards in the mail, but for now I am going to just show off the insert from last year's Update Series insert.

Thanks everyone for checking out my Cutch cards and how I see them relating to some of the key characters from Thor: Ragnarok.

I encourage anyone to do a post featuring a card and try to make it have some Thor: Ragnarok tie ins.  Please no spoilers about the movie here though.  I won't be seeing it until tonight.

Golden Thunder

I got A LOT of new cards to show off since my pink cards Save The Boobies event is over.

I got the above card back in late September.  It ties in perfectly with Thor: Ragnarok which premieres today.

It also goes nicely with the base and prizm

And it's numbered to only 25 copies.

I have a ritual of waiting until Wednesday after a movie premieres to go to the matinee  and catch a film for only $5.  Wednesdays are usually my only day off and a lot of the sci-fi, action movies don't interest the lady friend.

Join me next Wednesday as I show off some cards and how they relate to Thor, Hulk, Loki, Hell, Doctor Strange, Lady Syf, etc.

Contest Reminder: My Top 10 Inserts Edition

A few days ago I showed off my top 10 Cutch cards. Each week I plan on doing more top 10 subclasses to remind all readers to enter my contest.

Today I am going to show off my 10 favorite Cutch inserts
#10 2012 Bowman Cutting Edge Stars
The only die cut to make the list, this card features a Spring Training Photo and discusses Cutch's admiration of Ken Griffey Jr. on the back.

#9 2014 Allen & Ginter Pastime's Pastimes
This is likely the only card published in 2014 that discusses both Manny Ramirez and Eddie Murphy in the same sentence.  That causes this card to rank in the top 10.  The chalkboard effect adds a nice background.

#8 2014 Topps High Tek Tektonics
This ultra hip semiacetate 90s throwback is what great inserts are supposed to look like.

#7 Select Thunder Alley
What do I miss about cards these days compared to the 90s? The over the top flashy inserts.  In it's only recent year 2013 Select gave us a bunch of great inserts.  It was a toss up between Thunder Alley and En Fuego, shown yesterday.  Ultimately I chose ThunderAlley because of the back.  Pictured below are the Prizm (refractor) and base.

#6 Opening Day Stadium Scenes
This card is technically not an Andrew McCutchen card, but since he is featured and I was at this game it counts.  The shot from Citizen's Bank Park in Philadelphia was from the On Deck Series.  I recognize the helmet that Cutch is signing as I was able to get him to sign a ball for me that same day.  I must have been just to the right of the person taking the photo and not even realized one day it would be on a baseball card.

#5 2017 Topps 5 Tools
When these were previewed the general consensus on the 2017 release was "meh".  One thing that seemed consistent was that the 5 Tool inserts look great.  I have to agree, this card really packs a punch.

#4 2010 Upper Deck Supreme
This retail exclusive insert set was available in 2 different colors (blue and green).  The blue was slightly harder to find.  I am including both because quite frankly I just miss Upper Deck so much.  The scans don't do them justice.

#3 2014 Elite Face 2 Face vs Clayton Kershaw
What a great concept for an insert set.  Pick 2 of the best stars in the game and show how they have faced off against each other.  I would love to see this get done with Topps so we have logos.  How well has Kris Bryant done against Carlos Martinez? Chris Sale vs Francisco Lindor? MadBum vs Corey Seager? Thor vs Harper?  This insert set needs to be brought back.

#2 2014 Prizm Fearless
I miss Cutch and his dreads
 During 2013-early 2015 releases, Cutch had some awesome looking cardboard because of his long dreadlocks.  It gave him an image that was easily recognizable.  This insert set (and all its glorious looking color parallels) shows a perfect image of Cutch crushing a ball.

Finally is a mini that is my absolute favorite image of Cutch on cardboard.

#1 2012 Topps Mini 1987
I started collecting baseball cards in 1987.  Anytime you get Wrigley Ivy in the background with a leaping Cutch, just makes for some special cardboard.

Some honorable mentions
2013 Select En Fuego

2016 Topps Perspectives

2013 Opening Play Hard

2009 Topps Propaganda Victory

As a reminder....be sure to enter my contest and show off your top 10 favorite cards of your favorite player.

Cinco de Mayo

Another quick post for today.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

Enjoy these En Fuego cards.

Regularly scheduled programming will resume Saturday