National Sunglasses Day

Since breaking into the league in 2009, Cutch has always had a sense of joy and swag wherever he played.

Here are a few cards featuring Cutch wearing sunglasses.

First I am going to show off an original piece of artwork by the extremely talented artist Josh Trout

2022 has seen my favorite low budget insert in a long time. Check out those shades!

2021 had an insert set called Stars in Service showing athletes in the community.

It also had a base card featuring Cutch sliding to make a catch for his base card in Series 2.

2020 introduced the world to a worldwide pandemic and the coolest sports card ever produced.

2019 Stadium Club had a photo variant of Cutch 

2016 Topps Triple Threads featured images of Cutch at the 2015 All Star Game

This is an original art card by Brian Kong and was used to produce the Museum Canvas Collection reprints from this original artwork. 

2014 Topps Archives 

2013 Topps Archives All Stars

2013 had photo variants of the top stars sporting their sunglasses.  The most famous is the Yu Darvish card featuring a pair of sunglasses that should be sent back in time.

2012 had a photo variant of Cutch at the All Star Game

2011 Tier One had an autograph with Adam Jones where Cutch is sporting shades atop his cap.

2005 Bowman Heritage saw him sport a pair of shades on his cap for the base, mini, and mahogany parallels.  It is strange That the photo variant doesn't feature sunglasses on the cap as it was likely from the same photo shoot.

It also saw the 2005 Bowman Heritage Signs of Greatness autographs to feature the sunglasses on the hat.

2005 Topps Chrome saw Cutch wearing the shades atop his head.

Do you have any sunglasses cards to show off? We could do a blog bat around if so.

The Art of Juan Rosales

You may have seen me talk about the amazing talent of Juan Rosales on this blog before.

Amazing is Just one word to describe his style.  

I have gotten at least one sketch card of Cutch from Juan for the past 6 years.  

It was time to add another sketch card from Juan to the collection.  I thought about what image I wanted Juan to use as reference and ultimately chose for him to use the last HR Cutch hit as a member of the Phillies as inspiration. 

In typical fashion of Cutch's career he made a lasting impression with the Phillies fan base by hitting a home run in his final at bat with the club (it should be noted that he hit a HR in his first at bat with the club also). He also went on to celebrate in a very fun manner as he had done all year long, by wearing a straw hat with the Phillies logo under it.

Here is what Juan came up with

He added the lime green and neon pink to the background as a tribute to the Miami theme.

What is your favorite moment of your favorite player from the 2021 season you'd like to see turned into a sketch card? 

Josh Trout > Mike Trout

Mike Trout may be a generational baseball player, but Josh Trout is a generational sketch artist.

Let me set the stage

Behold the box it was shipped in

I carefully removed the outside band holding the package card inside.

Above is the very unique box that acts as a perfect compliment to the card itself.  I love the rookie cup design stating it is a Topps Artist and officially licensed.

Inside was a very nice hand written note on one of Josh's business cards.  It just so happens to feature that other Trout guy too.

Once I removed the business card I had this beautifully drawn absolutely stunning card of the Keystone State Legend that is Andrew McCutchen.

Thank you Josh!

Kong is better than Godzilla

I recently got myself an HBO Max subscription to test out so that I can stream a few movies (Zach Snyder Justice League cut, Godzilla vs Kong, and Mortal Kombat).  

The first thing I streamed was Kong: Skull Island.

I have a secret I need to share.

I love primates!!!!

I have been a fan of King Kong since I went on the old Universal Theme Park ride and it smelled like bananas.  I loved that ride so much when I was in my preteens.  I even enjoyed the 2005 Jack Black starred, Peter Jackson directed King Kong movie that lasted almost 4 hours long. 

I also loved Brie Larson in Kong:Skull Island so that helped to rewatch K:SI 

Once I watched Kong: Skull Island I went back and rewatched both Godzilla movies.

I'm not as big a fan of Godzilla as I am King Kong.  One of my old friends was obsessed with Godzilla.  I never understood the fanhood of the character.  

Now I don't want to spoil anything in Godzilla vs Kong, but Kong comes up in a huge way to help save the day, but let me say that in an actual fight between the two Godzilla will certainly win, but I'm rooting for Kong.

Much like sketch cards I prefer the (Brian) Kong variety to the (Bob)Zilla variety

Above is the original art Brian Kong created for a pack inserted sketch card in 2015 Topps Museum Canvas Collection.

That sketch card was also used to create the reproduction insert card found in 2015 Topps Museum Canvas as seen below

Brian Kong's art is so good it was also used as the reproduction art for the 2016 Topps Museum Reproction Canvas Collection cards

Above is the 5x7 gold parallel numbered to 10 copies

Below is a 1/1 mini sketch card from 2014 Allen & Ginter.

The above sketch is by also by Brian Kong, who has worked with Topps for many years on many different projects. I have been able to talk to Brian about comics and baseball fairly regularly when I would see him at comic book conventions in the mid 2000s.  

Above is the first sketch I ever got from Brian at the Big Apple Comic Con April 2005.

My two favorite characters (Sawyer and Kate) from my favorite TV show of all time (Lost).

I've been doing a lot of talking about (Brian) Kong, but let's talk about that Zilla now...

Bobzilla has fed off the hype of the Topps Project2020 and Project70 success and has been drawing on cards and selling them via ebay which I have lost because quite frankly the art style doesn't appeal to me.

  A few lines and a dinosaur?

I can do that myself.

For much less money too...

I've been drawing on cards for half a decade and some of you may even have some of my originals, which I did long before TP2020 or TP70 came out.  No offense to Mr. Zilla but I'm going to stick with my favorite Kaiju named artist and that is KONG!!!!

Who is your favorite kaiju?

Godzilla, King Kong, Mothra, or something entirely different?

What do you think of these "artists" like Bobzilla selling cards that have been drawn on?

Gettin' Rich

Everyone wants to get rich with this hobby, right?  Well I literally did get Rich.

Rich Molinelli, that is. 

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that my profile pic/avatar is a sketch card of Andrew McCutchen.  That card was drawn by Rich Molinelli almost a decade ago.  

I wanted an updated version and requested Rich draw him in a Yankees uniform because quite frankly I just don't have enough Cutch Yankees cards.

This is the result of what Rich came up with.

It rocks!!!!  I love the #26 pinstripe jersey, the clean shaved Cutch, and the unique design he threw into the background.

Best of all, it was done on a 2021 sketch card, making this my first of the new season.

If you want to follow Rich here are some of his links

Twitter @RichMolinelli

Website www.richmolinelli.com

Now for some "get rich" puns

I am always looking to add gold border 2005 Update cards to the collection

I currently have 7.  I've gotten them as cheap as $5 and have paid as much as $20 over my collecting career.

I am shocked at how much these are going for in this crazy hobby world we live in today

$46-$56 is an insane price for these if you ask me, but I guess with a Trout base rookie selling for $600+ regularly now it only makes sense.