The Most Elite

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

Zoe Saldana

She was born in New Jersey in 1978 and got her first acting role in 2000. 

By 2003 she was beginning one of the most impressive runs at landing in movies with huge ticket sales when she played the role of Anamaria, from Pirates of Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

She has been a huge part of many sci-fi movies over the past decade. 

In 2009 she starred in James Cameron's Avatar which was the highest grossing movie of all time.  Zoe helped to bring the world of Avatar to life by her stunning performance of Neytiri.

Avatar remained atop the highest selling movie of all time until a new Disney entry occurred in 2019.

That movie was Avengers:Endgame and thanks to a second release during the holiday season, it topped Avatar.

Zoe retained her role from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, playing the role of Thanos' step daughter, Gamorra.

If you want a top selling Sci-Fi movie in the 21st century go to Zoe Saladena.  She has been the most elite actress of the past decade.  By the end of 2019 she was the 2nd highest grossing actress of all time.

Above is a magenta printing white whale from 2020 Triple Threads.  It features an autograph and patch relics and bat relics.  The card spells out Decade Elite

The back discusses how elite Cutch was offensively during the 2010s. 

What was the last movie you saw in theatres?

Do you plan to see any movies in the near future?

A post that is a day late and the last card Mays offend some people

Happy (belated) 90th Birthday Willie Mays!

Willie May will forever be one of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game.

Above is an unlicensed card from Hits Memorabilia featuring three of the top 25 centerfielders to ever play the game (at keast according to a 2018 poll where Mays was ranked 1st, Griffey 3rd, and McCutchen 22nd)

It is my only Willie Mays relic and was worn at an old timers game for the Mets.

I also have this 2015 Topps Heritage New Age Performers card that features a sweet image of Cutch on the front

and a nice writeup about Willie Mays on the back

Its hard to believe that it was only 6 years ago that Cutch was leading the league with a .952 OPS.  It feels like forever.

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My favorite Willie Mays card in my collection is a NL Leaders card that features 3 All Time Greats

I wrote about it on Chasing3000 way back in 2018.

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With it being Willie Mays birthday yesterday, Topps used that opportunity to showcase the newest Alex Pardee Project 70 card and it features none other than Willie Mays.

The odd thing is that he is featured as a werewolf.

Does anyone understand this?  I have never seen an image of Mays with any facial hair, let alone werewolf status.  

I understand that Pardee really dives into his love of comic books for his art, but if he wanted to make a werewolf for the project why not use someone like Bryce Harper or even Brian Wilson?  Both those guys are known to have some pretty intense facial hair.

I did buy the Pardee Mays card because I am collecting the Pardee and Jamieson artist sets to get the posters.  

Have you bought any Project 70 cards?

What is your favorite Willie Mays card in your collection?

Give Me Ideas

In the past I have reached out to try and connect a random thought to an Andrew McCutchen card I own.  I've done this with everything from chimichangas, butterscotch pudding and quotes from Elf, with my favorite of that group being "Six Inch Ribbon Curls"

Give me some ideas to write about.

If not, I'll be forced to show cards like this

I am sure not everyone wants to read about a triple patch card of three Philadelphia Phillies.  I mean it does have the 2013 and 2015 NL MVPs on it and it is numbered to only 9 copies.  The foil pops brightly and the patch on the Cutch portion has nice color breaks, but who wants to read about the Phillies? Anyone? 

If you don't want to read about upper middle tier cards like the above 2020 Triple Threads card, leave a comment below something you want me to relate to something in my collection.  

I will choose a comment at random and if you can stump me, you will win a random prize.

Let's keep it PG13 by the way. 

Legends of the Burgh

I have shown this card off on Chasing 3,000 but since that blog gets only a quarter of the views that this one does I thought it was time to show it off here too.

This card is awesome.  It features two Hall of Famers and Pirates for life in Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell.

It also features the pair of outfielders who,were most responsible for bringing a brief winning culture back to the Steel City in Starling Marte and Andrew McCutchen.

The card is numbered to only 10 copies and pairs up nicely with these other 2015 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection cards in my collection.

Clemente, Cutch, Stargell /25

Stargell, Cutch, Marte, Polanco /10

 Clemente, Cutch /66

Stargell, Cutch /66

Strange(r) Things are Afoot at the Spectra

And with today's post we have reached the finish line for the 4th Annual Save Second Base Event.

Thank you for all the comments and participating in all the contests I ran this month.  Cards will all ship the first week of November.  Please link back to my blog and The National Breast Cancer Foundation.  It's important to share awareness all year long.

So with today's post, allow me to introduce...

Fricking Winona Ryder!!!!

Winona Fricking Ryder!!!

Anyone remember that scene from Heathers?

Winona is a treat at award shows

She is immortal in Hollywood

She's played the bad girl

And the good girl

And she has one of the best cinematic bounces in history.

She has a long history with Keanu Reeves.

Haven't I seen her wear that outfit before?

She barely aged in almost 30 years.


She isn't ever type casted, but often times she appears in supernatural movies/shows of some sort.

When it comes to a supernatural or unusual mind, very few outpace the mind of Tim Burton.  It is for that reason that on Halloween I will discuss how she has appeared in a trio of Tim Burton movies.

Her first feature lead role was in Beetlejuice

She would later pair up with Burton again in the Johnny Depp star performance, Edward Scissorhands.

She then lent her voice in the animated feature Frankenweenie.

That is a Triple T(h)reat and all are acceptable to watch for Halloween purposes.

No tricks here. This 2017 Chronicles Spectra triple relic Triple Threat card contains pieces that are guaranteed by Panini to have been game used.

3 Step Process for Tier 1

Want to complete a 2018 Tier 1 rainbow like the one you see above?  I am going to provide a simple three step process how you can be succesful.

Step 1:

Acquire the single relic

Step 2:

Acquire the dual relic numbered to 25 copies

Step 3:

Acquire the triple relic numbered 1/1

Now of course you can mix up the order you acquire them, but getting all three are the essence of completing the rainbow.

I completed this rainbow thanks to the 10% eBay bucks started late Tuesday afternoon.

The triple relic came yesterday.

Going Green: 8 Tracks to Fast Tracks

I recently watched an Irish movie called Sing Street.  It's on Netflix and features a bunch of great songs from the 80s!!! You should know my love of 80s music if you've read this blog before.

I won't reveal any spoilers, but it follows a boys dream to become a musician to impress an aspiring model, Lucy Boynton.

Who wouldn't try to impress her?

Lucy sports a black hair style relevant to the 80s music scene and 8 track time period in the movie.

Speaking of 8 tracks...here is a card talking about Cutch and his young days running track at Fort Meade High School.

I have a lot of the Emerald Triple Threads Triple relics.  One I showed off yesterday.