Yellow? Yellow? Is this thing on?

On yesterday's post where I shared a bunch of blue cards on a Monday, Johnny's Trading Spot made a comment about having a hankering for yellow cards coming on.

I wasn't sure if he meant yellow cards

Or the band Yellowcard

since I did show a music video in yesterday's post.

I can only assume (and you know what that can sometimes mean) that he actually meant yellow cards.

Yellow has been a part of Topps color palette since they began with 1951 Topps Red Backs card game pieces.

The card game pieces featured a yellow and white background behind a red diamond and a black and white photo of the player.  They would be used to play a game of baseball using the cards.  This 2015 version of Andrew McCutchen features a triple by the 2013 MVP.

Topps would continue to use yellow as a strong background color choice in multiple sets in the 50s and 60s.

This 1958 style is a 2019 Topps Archives card.  I have a few different border parallels of this card, but this particilar copy is the base, which I received for free at the September 2019 Philly Card Show where I met McCutchen.

Many more sets over the years would feature yellow, but my first experience with yellow in the card design was a 1986 Rick Rhoden.

The first set I collected was 1987 Topps, but my first packs I had were 1986 Topps.  The Pirates had a yellow name printed atop the card.

There were supposed to be parallels of this 2014 Archives card produced as several other players that shared this design also got a gold foil parallel.  A quick google search and you will see that NONE have ever been sold on eBay, COMC, or sportlots in 6 years.


The most BOLD yellow card I have is this 2018 Topps Heritage High Number

This card is based on the 1969 Collector Cards Jumbos.  The back is very plain and boring.

Speaking of backs
I have shown off the 2017 Topps Heritage Bright Yellow back parallel in the past.

These are very rare Short Printed cards, but not nearly as rare as the SSP Gray Back from 2017 Heritage

Topps has produced baseball cards for nearly seven decades.

Like many other printing processes from those days they have used printing presses that utilize printing plates to create the images.  There are four colors used to create each of the baseball cards we love and enjoy.  The colors are black, cyan, magenta, and yellow.

Here are 8 of my yellow plates.  I currently have 26 yellow printing plates of Andrew McCutchen.

Of all the plate colors, the yellow is my least favorite.  Often times the yellow plates create the faces to look like zombie versions of themselves.

Lost Cards from the Lost Collector

 A few weeks ago I received a 4 card PWE from AJ at The Lost Collector.  The same day I received that package I sent him a package containing an Andrew McCutchen autograph Tier 1 Yankees card because he commented "I hope to get one someday" or something like that.  Well I had a double so I sent it his way.  

Then in the middle of spring cleaning, I lost the location of those 4 cards before I could scan them in.  While preparing to send some packages to go out next week, I found them.

AJ hit my two main basketball player PCs with a Paul George and Reggie Miller.  He also included an orange Chris Archer 2019 Tek numbered to only 25 copies.  Sad news came out yesterday that Chris Archer is shut down for the 2020 season (if there is a season).  That 2018 trade that sent Glasnow, Meadows, and Baz to the Rays looks worse and worse every month.  AJ also included a 2017 Chronicles base card of Cutch.

Today I got ANOTHER PWE from AJ with even more Reggie Miller cards.  Sweet!!!!!  Of these 7 cards, 6 are brand new to the collection.  Only the All-Star card in bottom left was already in my collection.  I love the fact that he included both the cardboard and actual sticker of the '96 UD Stickums.

AJ hit up some more PC additions with a base card of Josh Bell 2020 Donruss (I am trying to put together the rainbow for the Cutch name cameo on the back).  The highlight though is that bright yellow retail exclusive 2020 Donruss of former Pirate and NJ born Charlie Morton.  Before being traded to the Phillies, I had every non-1/1 Charlie Morton card made.  I really need to up my Morton game for releases in 2019 and 2020.

AJ thank you so much for such an awesome pair of envelopes.

Stay safe everyone and Keep Collecting.

Cardboard Cameo: Steel City, Black n Yellow

The Steelers schedule was released last night and it looks like they will be playing a whole bunch of mediocrity.  It might be a fun swan song for Big Ben to lead the black and yellow back to a deep playoff run.

I know Ben wants to play another 3-5 years, but I would be shocked if it lasts that long.

It's time for the black and yellow to thrive again!!!

Steel City!!!

"When you play Pittsburgh, you play the whole city"

I've shown off a few of these 2020 Donruss cards of Josh Bell in the past because of the name cameo of Andrew McCutchen.  I will continue to pick them up when they're cheap enough like this Value Box exclusive I got for under $2.

Falco Files: Walgreens Runs

This week has been an amalgam of pain and discomfort emotionally and physically.  From losing my grandfather last week to getting a tooth infection and strep throat this week I have been to Walgreens more in the past week than in the previous year.

In my trips I haven't come across any of the exclusive yellow packs that Walgreens offer.  I am still in need of the 2019 Series 2 McCutchen yellow parallel, but I do have a Bryan Reynolds yellow parallel I purchased shortly after release.

I am shocked that the price on these yellow retail exclusives is still relatively low compared to some other parallels with similar print runs.

As a reminder you can access Falco Files cards by clicking here.  Falco Files is a series I made to show off cards of players who have replaced Cutch on a roster either by trade, injury, or jersey number.

Bryan Reynolds, a second round draft pick of the Giants, was traded to the Pirates in 2018 as part of the Andrew McCutchen trade.

Elf Week: The Yellow Ones Don't Stop

JediJeff suggested another great line.

While on his date with Jovie he says to Zooey Deschanel's character "Watch out! The yellow ones don't stop" referring to taxis as they approached an intersection.

Now I could simply show off this 2014 Bowman Yellow parallel

 Numbered to 99 copies

 to wrap this quote up.

But...
It's good to know where this line originated.

When Buddy first came to the city from the North Pole he was completely unaware of all modern traditions.

Like don't play in traffic or how to wavedown a taxi...

The slow motion of Buddy getting hit by the taxi legit made me cry from laughing so hard the first time I saw this scene.

It helped set the stage for "Watch out! The yellow ones don't stop"

The same can be said for this yellow printing plate.  This 1/1 yellow plate...

Didn't stop until this card was produced...

 Here is the yellow plate next to the yellow parallel

How did I do with that one Jeff?

I Wander What's Better? To have Moore or Lester?

I like being punny sometimes, but I was looking at the pre 2012 prospect ratings (Mainly because I was tracking Josh Bell's minor league lack of hype) and noticed a crazy name at the top of the list.

That name was Matt Moore.  Now granted he had just come off a memorable post season and was primed to be the next guy up in the long list of Tampa Bay Rays future aces.  Below Moore on the list were a few guys named Mike Trout and Bryce Harper.

Harper has been a bit of a disappointment excluding that one Ruthian season in 2015 when he had a WAR over 10 for the season.  Consequently that one season matches his other 6 years in WAR over his career.

Andrew McCutchen and the Phillies will face off against Jon Lester, who has quietly put together a Hall of Fame caliber career.  He will certainly get to 200 wins before he retires and if he can hold on and pitch for another 4 more seasons he should be able to become just the 4th left handed pitcher to amass 3,000 strikeouts.

Lester was a 2nd round pick in the 2002 draft, but never made any top 100 prospects lists until just before the 2006 season when he was ranked 22nd overall.  During the 2006 season, Lester would go on to exceed rookie status.  He is a 5 time All-Star and 3 time World Series Champion.  He has finished in the top 10 of the Cy Young voting FOUR times in fourteen years.

Other guys from the top 5 prospects heading into the 2006 season include: Delmon Young, Brandon Wood, Jeremy Hermida, and Stephen Drew.  To say those four turned in great careers would be a lie as the four of them equal what number two prospect, Justin Upton has compiled over his career.

This is my only Jon Lester autograph.   It is from an uncirculated 2005 Just Minors black printing plate that pairs him up with Andrew McCutchen.  Just Minors cards are great for getting dual (and even triple) autos of players you normally wouldn't expect to be paired up on a card together.

Prospects are a strange thing and oddly have become like stocks in this hobby.  People are paying outrageous prices to horde the next big thing.  Personally I can't get into it.

That being said I do have nearly 400 base cards of Lolo Sanchez that I got for about $50.  I am hoping to get a bunch of them signed this minor league season.

So to put it all in perspective, don't get caught up in all those prospect ratings.  Most fail to live up to the hype and some fail to get hype, but go on to have great careers.

I am still shaking my head that a Wander Franco autograph sold for over $20,000.  Some others have sold for over $10,000 recently on eBay.

 The kid is only 18 years old and hasn't played an inning above A ball yet.  I don't want to jinx the Franco kid or anything, but Gregg Jefferies put up much better numbers in the minors at that age.

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.