Plunder The Lox

I was caught completely off guard when AJ of The Lost Collector hit me up with a message saying "I have something coming your way".

Being the supercollector that I am, it is rare for items regarding Cutch to escape me being aware of their existence ESPECIALLY when it comes to cardboard.  2020 saw me start to limit the number of new Cutch cards to the collection, but I am still adding hundreds of new cards each year.

Where it gets tricky regarding my Cutch collection is his appearance in print media and stadium giveaways (excluding bobbleheads of which I have over 20). 

Included in the many stadium giveaways there are a bunch of T-shirts that Cutch has left his mark on and this is where I could improve the collection the most.

Well, AJ hooked me up with one of the best Sportscenter commercials of all time.

Plunder The Lox.

I love this shirt and have already worn it twice!!!

Thanks for the awesome shirt AJ

Anyone know who the blonde is in the commercial? She could be a good candidate for my October event.

What were some of your favorite This is Sportscenter commercials?

#CutchsCrew: Zero Year Teammate

Andrew McCutchen made 5 straight All Star seasons from 2011-2015.  He debuted with the Pirates in 2009.  

Josh Harrison was traded from the Cubs to the Pirates organization in 2009.  He made his MLB debut in 2011.  He didn't become an everyday player in the lineup until 2014 when he made his first All Star game.  

The two would go on to form a great friendship on the field and be two of Pittsburgh fan favorites in recent years both receiving everything from T-shirts to bobbleheads to garden gnome giveaways. 

It could be argued that Cutch was more deserving of being named to the 2017 All Star Game than Josh Harrison as you can see in the comparison below.

Cutch lead JHay in every offensive category except Stolen Bases.  Joe Maddon, the NL ASG manager, felt differently though and liked JHays versatility. 

After Cutch got traded in 2018 Josh Harrison made statements that he too wanted to be traded seeing two franchise favorites (Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole) get traded within days of each other. 

JHay played one more season with the Pirates in 2018 before going to join the Tigers for the 2019 season.  

Cutch joined the Phillies in 2019 and it looked like he was trying to get "the band back together" for the 2020 season as the Phillies had signed both Neil Walker and Josh Harrison to minor league contracts with spring training invites. 

The 2020 season was put on pause due to the Coronavirus and Topps had to alter their production and distribution of sets because of it.  There were a few guys who got cards in 2020 but didn't make appearances with the teams featured when the regular season came around.  

One such card was Josh Harrison's 2020 Topps Update card which features Harrison in a Phillies Spring Training uniform even though the Phillies would not bring him north and he would play the 2020 season with the Washington Nationals. 

He also got the Topps Heritage treatment for a Phillies card.

I would have loved to seen Walker, Harrison, and Cutch all make meaningful contributions to the 2020 Phillies team and get a triple relic of those 3 Pirates fan favorites on a Phillies card.  That would have been cool. 

On a completely side not, Josh Harrison has had some amazing Topps Flagship cards over the years that show how fun and scrappy he is as a player. 

What are some of your favorite cards featuring an athlete that never played an actual game for the franchise?

What former All Stars have played together on different teams that you're a fan of?

Hello McFly!!! Are you in there McFly?

I must be living in some new alternate timeline that Biff created when he took the Delorean back to 1955.  My memories of Pirates Superstar Centerfielder Andrew McCutchen had him winning the National League MVP award in 2013.

The back of this Topps National Baseball Card Day card says differently.

Topps did things differently this year in regards to their National Baseball Card Day promotion.  Each team got their own SGA packs with different fronts and different backs.  I showed off the Pirates here.

Here are the card shop giveaway and SGA side by side.

And here's the backs.

At least Topps used different images and backs for these, something that has been bothering me more than it should lately. Topps took it one step forward and made the SGA a horizontal back despite a vertical front.  Whaaaaat?

Happy Belated National Baseball Card Day

I received a card yesterday from a friend who had attended a Pirates game earlier in the week, the Trevor Williams pitching gem game in fact.  Not only did he attend a great game in person, but he also got a pack of team specific cards to celebrate National Baseball Card Day.

This year Topps made their standard National release of a player from each team.  In addition they created team specific cards.  The Stadium Giveaways for each team feature 9 current players and 1 All-Time Franchise Legend for a total of 10 cards per team.  Some of the odd legends include Wade Boggs (Devil Rays) and David Ortiz instead of any of the other Red Sox all-time greats (Yaz, Williams, Fisk).  The Philadelphia Phillies recognized that they have no quality players on their team and released a 20 card legends set, not numbered.

Further details about both releases can be found here.

I have a National Release (with different picture) ordered and will probably receive it sometime later this week.

In the meantime let's (belatedly) celebrate National Baseball Card Day today!!!

Here's the 2017 Pittsburgh Pirates team specific release of Cutch.

The card back has a different write up than the National Release.

HOW DID YOU CELEBRATE YESTERDAY?
RIP ANY WAX?