(Love) Stamp of Approval

Be prepared...

The card you see today, you will see again tomorrow....

This 2015 Topps Coin/Stamp card has the word LOVE on it.  That's a perfect stamp to discuss on a day like today, Valentine's Day.  The stamp and coin are both from 1986, Cutch's birth year.

The coin features a quarter with George Washington on it.  

Tomorrow is President's Day.

Be prepared for some more Cutch coin cards tomorrow.

The COMC Pirates Package

I recently received a package in the mail containing over 100 cards for my player collections of Andrew McCutchen, Gary Sheffield, and various Pirates players I like to collect. 

While the package arrived in 2021, I am not going to count it towards my 50 card goal because they were all purchased in 2020.  It is only because of COMCs slow shipping that forced me to receive the cards many months after requesting shipment.

Let's dive into some of the highlights of the package...

This card is extremely difficult to find.  

And I mean extremely difficult.

If you travel with me into the way back machine to 2011, the hobby wasn't as strong as it is now.  

Not only could you find retail packs at retail establishments, but many collectors were doing just that...collecting.

Topps wasn't producing factory sets with multiple parallels encouraging people to open their retail factory sets.  Granted there was 1 (yes only 1) pack inside every sealed factory set containing a handful of cards with a unique color border parallel.  

These were often red or orange.  

Trying to find one of these 10 years later of your player?  Good luck!

They are numbered to 245 copies on the back and I suspect many of them are still sealed away in factory sets.

So remember what I just said about 2011 Topps Factory red parallels?

The same is even harder for the 2010 Factory red parallels.

There is another McCutchen that has been looking for one of these for a few years.  I'm hoping to use this as trade bait to help me acquire a card of his that I have been after.

If you've followed the blog for a bit, you probably know that I love the 2015 Topps Strata set.  It is the first set that Topps produced featuring an MLB authenticated sticker on every relic used in the set.  My goal is to collect as many of these of possible.  I added 3 more of the plain grey swatches to the collection.

They will go nicely with all these patches I already had from the set

Next up is a 2016 Optic Teal parallel numbered to 50 copies.  This helps get me closer to completing this rainbow.

Speaking of 2016, here is a 2016 Diamond Kings silver Artist Proof.  It's not numbered, but rare to come across 5 years later.  I really like the design of this year's Diamond Kings release.

This 2016 Bowman Platinum would be a perfect card to show off next month for St. Patrick's Day.  The green parallel, numbered to only 99 copies, really pops in the background.

Here is a card I was surprised I didn't have.  It's a 2013 Topps Heritage Chrome Refractor.  I have the black Refractor, the base chrome, and the purple chrome, but never got the refractor...until now. It's numbered to only 564 copies and is based on the 1964 Topps design.

Ok. This one is kind of a cheating card.  It features Cutch in a Pittsburgh uniform, but is from 2018.  Cutch was traded prior to the start of the 2018 season and this technically doesn't count as a Pirates playing days card because he didn't play for them in 2018.

What do you think?  Should a 2018 card that features Cutch playing for the Pirates count as a Pirates playing days card even though his last game played was for the Bucs in 2017?

Here is the first Panini relic card I picked up that I needed.  I've shown the dual relic off of this card, but not the single relic.  It's from 2014 and is a nice designed card.

Here is one of those cards that I knew existed, but a few things prevented me from adding this to my collection over the past decade:

It is a Topps Heritage card so Master Set collectors are always looking for this.

It is a rare card (only 62 copies) from a set 10 years old.

It features the Baltimore Orioles, who in my eyes have a very loyal collecting fan base.

It features a former MVP in his early career.

It is a stamp set so there are stamp collectors who also collect things like this.

What an awesome looking card.

And to finish up its another pajama party card.  Despite no logos, this early Donruss release is a much needed Press Proof parallel.  The silver proof is numbered to only 199 copies.

That wraps up my Cutch Pirates cards from my COMC pickups from the 2nd half of 2020 (except one notable card).  I'll show off some others in the future.  They will include my Giants, Yankees, and Phillies Cutch pickups. 

Never Saw It Coming

Justin Verlander had to prematurely end his season in 2020 after pitching only 6 innings and will likely miss all of the 2021 season as he recovers from Tommy John surgery.

JV has been a workhorse since his debut.

In his 16 year career there has only been 4 seasons he hadn't pitched over 200 innings.  His rookie year he was just a September call up and pitched only 11 innings.  His "sophomore year" he pitched 186 as a 23 year old and won the Rookie of the Year because he still qualified as a rookie under MLB status rules.  In 2015 he appeared on the DL and logged just over 130 innings and ultimately this season he pitched 6 innings of 2 hit, 7 strikeout ball.  

He has solidified himself as a Future Hall of Famer with his consistent approach year after year.

I never saw his injury happening, much like the picture you see below.

I love when athletes do photos like this, taking selfies of themselves without the person wearing their jersey being aware of who is behind them.  The little kid in the picture didn't see it coming.

I had a similar situation pop up in October when I joined Mercari because two people I follow on YouTube had suggested there were great deals on the online marketplace.

I didn't expect to find anything of need because let's face it, I already have over 3,000 unique cards of Andrew McCutchen.

Finding a rare card I didn't have for a reasonable price wasn't something I truly expected to happen. 

Well, like the kid wearing the Justin Verlander tshirt above, I never saw this JV coming into my possession.

Topps Heritage Dual Stamp cards with print runs of 50 copies from a decade ago never pop up for sale on eBay anymore.  

They certainly don't pop up for Justin Verlander and Andrew McCutchen. 

THE LAST RECORDED SALE VIA EBAY SOLD IN 2013

I was very happy when I grabbed a Kendrys Morales stamp with Cutch back in 2018 and that cost me more than this card. 

I didn't think this would hit the market because it applies to so many different collections (player, team, vintage style, set, Heritage master set builders). They certainly wouldn't pop up for $30 delivered either on eBay.

I am very happy with my first Mercari purchase and have used the app to add a few more items to the collection, which I will share with you later.

Adding a 2nd year low print run card of Cutch and a Future Hall of Famer is a pretty awesome 1st purchase. 

Have you used Mercari?

If so have you gotten any rare items that don't pop up on eBay or other frequently used marketplaces?

Packages in the mail...

I FINALLY got around to sending out the contest winning packages for my #SaveTheBoobies #SAVESECONDBASE event.  Congrats again to John and Gavin.

In addition I am still in the process of putting together some holiday packages for a few of my frequent commenting bloggers.  If you have posted comments a lot on my blog you will likely be getting a package from me this holiday season.

One stamp not used in the process of this packaging was this dual stamp with Kendrys Morales from 2010 Heritage.

It is only numbered to 50 copies.

The Money Card

Over the past few years Topps has produced cards featuring the game's top talents with old coins.  I have purchased a few of these from time to time.

They often sell for big bucks to player collectors.  I'm not completely in love with the idea of spending over $30 for a piece of cardboard with my favorite player, an old coin from the 80s and a stamp valued at under 25 cents.

My breakpoint on these kinds of cards is $15 or less.  Well, I managed to score the below card for a winning bid of $14.50.  The puppy love stamp did it in for me.

Do any of you collect these gimmicky cards?