Target Acquired!!!!

Back in May I declared that I wanted to add more of the rare 2009 Andrew McCutchen cards to my collection as one of my main goals for the rest of the year.  You can revisit that post here.

Well, my friends...

That Target has been acquired

Quite literally actually

Before Topps started to make glossy backed vintage logo designs in hobby packs with serial numbers to 99 copies, Topps was making Throwback variants in Target exclusive Hanger boxes.  

These Target exclusive vintage "umbrella" design logo of Topps weren't numbered and had a very vintage cardboard look and feel to them, especially the backs.

These days not only can you not find packs of cards at Target, but are now associated with red parallels, made famous of course by the 2011 Topps Update Mike Trout.

Do you think Topps should make the throwbacks with the classic cardboard non glossy stock again?

A Blogger Had Me Targeted

My Andrew McCutchen collection is pretty familar around the card blogs.  Unfortunately I tend to not be too involved with checking email very often.

Evidently I missed an opportunity to add an Andrew McCutchen card to the collection by not checking email. 

Instead I noticed it when I checked eBay for new McCutchen cards and noticed the Target exclusive 2020 Update red parallel was listed.

It had a very reasonable buy-it-now price and the seller had immaculate feedback.

So I bought it.

A few days later it was in my mail box with a note from Jim of the blogger profile GCRL and current author of Cards As I See Them

Have you ever made a purchase with another blogger, not knowing it was them?

Falco Files: Career Opportunity?

There is only two more posts left for the 4th annual Save Second Base Event.  Thank you all for the number of comments you have posted and for anyone who has shared awareness during this month long event by showung their own pink cards.

1 In 8 women will be detected with breast cancer in their lifetime. Be sure to visit the official site here to learn more about what you can do to help find a cure.

All month long I have been showing some of my favorite female celebrities along with pink baseball cards to help bring awareness.

Jennifer Connelly is getting the spotlight today.

I mentioned last month that she was the first actress that I thought was pretty.  She was absolutely stunning in the Disney film adaptation of the comic book, The Rocketeer (as you can see above).

She reminds me of a vintage Hollywood queen with her acting and dark black hair.

As she aged she has remained beautiful and she is set to costar in Top Gun 2: Maverick opposite Tom Cruise.

From a visual standpoint, my favorite role is a 1991 film where she gets stuck inside a Target store.

If you want to see the bust of her check out the movie Career Opportunities where she gets stuck inside of a Target with the school's class nerd.

 There are a lot of great Jen moments

The award winning actress best acting works are in Requiem for a Dream where she plays a recovering addict.

A Beautiful Mind is another great movie that shows her acting at it's best.

She also appeared in the Science Fiction thriller, Dark City

Jennifer underwent breast reduction and has become an advocate for women not doing plastic surgery as they get older despite many believing she has had nose, breast, and hairline surgery done over the past decade.

Even with her confusing stance on ethics and being hypocritical I still enjoy her acting and her roles when she was younger.

I was the biggest advocate for the Pirates keeping Andrew McCutchen on a lifetime contract and letting him play out the rest of his career with the Battlin' Bucs, BUT if the 2019 preview that Bryan Reynolds gave us this past season is any indication of what will come in the next six years, I am looking forward to many more seasons of Pirates baseball with Bryan Reynolds batting third and manning the outfield.

Call it a Career Opportunity, but as a fan I am grateful for the Pirates getting this young hit machine outfielder.

This Target hanger pack pink exclusive came in just enough time to make this year's Save Second Base event.

We only have 2 more days left....

After 9 Years, It's Finally Mine!!!!

Before Topps was issuing the vintage logo limited to 99 cards, Topps was placing vintage card stock with the vintage logo exclusively in packs at Target.

Trying to find copies of these cards now is relatively impossible.

The only completed sale of one of these  vintage stocks from the ENTIRE SET sold on eBay for the past three months is a rookie Buster Posey that sold for $61.  Others are listed including a Stanton rookie for $1K.

None show up on COMC at all for the entire 2010 set.

When I saw this second year, rookie cup winner card appear for $12 or best offer, I couldn't click buy-it-now fast enough.

It may have only cost $12, but adding this early in his career release of Cutch feels like a huge triumph considering it took 9 years to finally track one down.

89 cents > $54

I haven't been picking up Cutch cards anywhere close to the way I was getting them for the past 3 years.  I used to average a card a day in the mail.

The lack of physical cards ending up in my mailbox hasn't stopped me from continuously looking for great deals though.

For some reason there seems to be unknown short print cards of Cutch each year.

2016 Allen & Ginter relics come to mind as does this Target exclusive 2018 Heritage High Number insert.

Being a retail exclusive definitely makes it tougher to get, but the difference between what some people who know how rare this card is compared to those that don't is mind blowing.

On one scale you have one being sold for $54.

On the other scale you have one that finished at $0.89

So how did I do for my 89 cent winning bid?

The HomeRun Derby Cutch Style (A New 1/1)

Back in 2012, Andrew McCutchen was added to the HR Derby as a substitute for the injured Giancarlo Stanton.

In the 1st Round he hit 4 HomeRuns, 1 shy of eventual winner Prince Fielder.  During most of his at bats the focus was on Derek Jeter if I remember correctly.  It was a huge disappointment for me to see my favorite player finally start to get recognized and get overshadowed by not talking about him while batting.

Topps made a HR Derby in Updates and Highlights for Cutch and I have several of the parallels including one of my latest 1/1 plates.  Ho hum, another 1/1

The orange parallel (Top Row Middle) is very tough to find despite a large number produced (210 copies).  This is because you can only find the oranges in Factory Sealed sets.  A special pack of 5 cards were placed inside each complete set.  Trying to track down the orange is tough.

Cutch also had his 2013 Triple Threads All-Star Relic feature an image from the Derby.

I fell asleep early last night so I couldn't watch the Derby in its entirety.  I hear Aaron Judge was impressive to watch though.

Back in May I showed off my All-Star Game patches which you can see by clicking here.  I showed the 2013 above.

I wanted to show off my other Cutch ASG cards over this week, but haven't gotten around to being in the mood for scanning cardboard.

Rainbows and Sparkles

As a predominantly only player collector now my main focus is to complete rainbows.  I am still working on getting a complete NEEDS list but here's my 2014 Topps flagship #150 cards I have.

The main card of this bunch is the sparkle variant that you can see on Cutch's helmet by his neck.

Another of the variants is the photo variant where Cutch is doing the Zoltan sign used by the Pirates in 2012-early 2014 when a player would get a key hit.

Other parallels include the retail exclusive yellow/green and red/blue parallels.

Some others are the Red Hot Foil

And the Power Players online redemption code

Some of the parallels I need for this are the Gold /2014, Black /64, Pink/50, and Camo /99.

The rarest card numbered to 2013 you'll find

I wrote about this card on my old blog last January.  It's believed that only about 100 of these made it into packs after it was discovered so many were off center.

I currently have 8 different variations of US213

They include base, emerald,Wal Mart Blue, Target Red
Photo Variant, Camo, Gold, Hope.

I'm still looking for any of the 1/1s and the black.