Falco Files: The Man

Sorry for all the delays with this year's event.  We are continuing to move forward with the purchase of the house.  I can't wait to show you all the new Cutch cave basement once we finally settle in next month. 

Each year during the month of October, I show off only pink (and shades of pink like magenta, peach, etc) to help raise awareness of Breast Cancer, a leading cause of death for females in the United States.  

Due to my own financial situation this year I will not be able to make a donation for each (meaningful, non spam) comment left by those that follow the blog.  Once things settle down on the home front though I will be looking to make a donation in 2022 based on the comments left during this year's event.  Hopefully together we can help at least one woman get a much needed mammogram.  Early detection is key!!!

If you want to make your own private donation please visit the National Breast Cancer Foundation.  There is a donate button on the main page and it only takes a minute of your time.  Every little bit helps.

I have focused primarily on cards that only feature Andrew McCutchen on the card, but in recent years have also featured cards with a cameo appearance (either being seen on the card or as a name cameo on the back of the card).  In 2019, I created Falco Files which discussed players that replaced (Shane Falco Replacements movie reference) on an active roster, number worn, or trade.  I will also be showing some Cutch's Crew cards that show pink cards of players that have played with Cutch on multiple teams. I will continue to utilize these styles of posts as we celebrate the 5th Collecting Cutch Save Second Base event (I am no longer counting my first run on the Pirates Treasure Room I did back in 2014).

I am always looking for new ways to incorporate new celebrities into the event so today I am presenting

Rebecca Quin

She is best known as her WWE personality, Becky Lynch and is the current WWE Raw Women title holder

She was born in Limerick, Ireland in 1987 and began wrestling professionally in 2002 as a teenager. 

She has become one of the most popular female wrestlers in the history of professional wrestling.

In 2021 she married fellow WWE superstar Seth Rollins who she has a child with

Becky Lynch has a nickname of The Man that she got in 2018 thanks to a feud with The Queen, Charlotte Flair.

Bryan Reynolds, acquired in the 2018 Andrew McCutchen trade, has become the best player on the Pirates.  Elected to his first All Star Game in 2021, he was the first Pirate to start an All Star Game since Andrew McCutchen in 2015.

He was named a finalist for a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger. 

This 2020 Topps Finest The Man insert is a callback to the 1998 Topps Finest set featuring a neon pink The Man logo on front

It features an Andrew McCutchen name cameo on the back in addition to that bright pink border on side

Do you have a favorite wrestler (past or present)?

Who is "The Man" on your favorite baseball team currently?

ICYMI : The Magic of 250

In case you missed it, Andrew McCutchen hit his 250th Career Home Run on Wednesday night.  

Here is a breakdown of his 250 HR by team

203 Pirates

15 Giants

5 Yankees

27 Phillies

I wanted to show off a few of my cards that were serial numbered to only 250 copies and decided to start with 2016 and 2017.  

My reason for those years?

Well, that's around the time I changed my focus from collecting all things Pittsburgh to be mostly just CollectingCutch

So without further ado, here are a few of my serially numbered cards to 250 copies

Now I should warn you all that if you have allergic reactions to the color purple, it is best to change the general direction of your eye gazing.

Let's begin with the year 2017

Bowman Platinum purple holofoil

Bowman's Best purple refractor

Topps Gallery 1951 Bowman Heritage green

Gypsy Queen purple border

⚾ ⚾ ⚾ 

Now we will travel back to 2016

Bowman Chrome purple Refractor

Bowman purple

Bowman Platinum purple

Bowman's Best Blue

Topps Finest purple

Gypsy Queen purple

Triple Threads Emerald

I do plan to make more posts celebrating Cutch's 250th career Homerun and will be taking a deeper dive into his homers.

Don't forget to head over to topps.com and purchase yourself a copy of the Topps Now card. I secured myself a copy of the base and the red parallel autograph limited to 10 copies.

The Finest Christmas

Topps Finest created the modern day refractor.  The 1993 set helped revolutionize the card industry using a new set of technology and the hobby reacted in a way that 27 years later we are still in love "with the shine".

2016 Topps Finest really pushed the colors forward in a bold direction.  The color parallels were bold and shined beautifully.

Matthew 5:16

Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

I got BUCKing Lucky

I was going through a stack of cards to mail out last week and came across a card that I had never put away for my PC.  

I bought this green parallel for only $1 with free shipping.

Cutch SP Challenge Day 2

I got some more packages in the mail Friday and they all relate to the 2020 SP Frenzy Challenge.

I said I wouldn't go after the SP and pay $275 for one card that on average could be available 1 in every 7 packs.

Nope.

Not gonna do it!

I did grab a foilboard parallel from 2020 Big League release though.

It cost me $3.25

Did you know that only 100 of these Foilboard cards exist? Only 3 have sold.

Did you know that there is likely 2,000+ of the McCutchen SP out there?  87 have already sold on eBay

Which one should have the ridiculous premium attached to it?

I also grabbed the 2020 Topps Finest Bryan Reynolds "The Man" insert.  This insert card has a nice layer of pink which I think could come in handy for October.

It has an Andrew McCutchen cameo on the back.

And...it only cost $2.65 shipped.

I also snagged another 2020 parallel I needed.

This is the gold parallel numbered to 2,020 copies (similar print run as the SP everyone is chasing)

This card cost me only $1.99

Yesterday's mail day cost only $7.89.  I feel like I got better value out of these cards than the father's day and vintage stock from Wednesday.

That brings the total to $44.89 for these 5 cards.  Not great, but the two best cards will really bring the prices down for the wntire project.

24 Day Countdown With Nothing But the Finest

Knock knock
Whos there?
Orange
Orange who?
Orange you glad we have another countdown card today...

This 2014 is the orange parallel numbered to 25 copies.

This one is serially numbered to 24 (/ 25) which helps with the countdown recognizing it is only 24 days to Opening Day.

The 2014 Topps Finest consisted of 100 cards.

McCutchen was number 24.
Again helping to recognize it's only 24 days until Opening Day.

Oh and in case you're wondering I have a pair of 1/1 printing plates for the base card as well.

They're obviously numbered 24 as well

Remembering Kobe via Cutch Cards

News broke yesterday afternoon that Kobe Bryant passed away in a helicopter crash.  He was only 41 years old.  His 13 year old daughter was also aboard the helicopter.

The number of accolades and accomplishment that Kobe had on the court immediately puts him in discussions of being of the greatest of All-Time.

He is the first player to wear two numbers in his career and have both numbers retired by the same team.  While it may seem gimmicky, Kobe's numbers with the two numbers (8 and 24) are actually pretty comparable.

Read this article and you can see the crazy parallels of Kobe's number 8 and number 24 journey.

For those that don't want to click the article, here is a snapshot

Number 8
8 All-Stars
3 NBA Championships
16,777 points

Number 24
10 All-Stars
2 NBA Championships
16,866 points


He also won a scoring title with both jersey numbers.

Today I will look at 8 serially numbered 24/xx cards of Andrew McCutchen to remember the Black Mamba.

2017 Donruss Optic Black & Orange Parallels

Numbered 24/25 and 24/199

2016 Topps Pink

 Numbered 24/50

2017 Diamond Kings Blue Artist Proof

 Numbered 24/25

2013 Bowman Chrome Orange Parallel

Numbered 24/25

 2014 Topps Tek TEKtonics insert

Numbered 24/50

 2015 Bowman Best Orange Parallel

Numbered 24/25

2010 Topps Finest Gold Refractor

 Numbered 24/50