Happy Birthday #87

Sidney Crosby turns 34 years old today.

He was born 8-7-87 and has always worn #87 while a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

When the Penguins won the Stanley Cup in 2009, he was at that time the youngest Captain to win a Stanley Cup.

The team would go on to win another Stanley Cup in 2016 and then again in 2017.

Because this blog focuses on my Andrew McCutchen cards (and I still don't own a Sidney Crosby autograph), let's look at some Andrew McCutchen cards featuring that classic wood border 1987 design.

Above are my 2016 5x7 Jumbo cards of the 1987 Tribute.  Both are numbered to 49 copies and were available in different color nameplates.

I also own most of the 2017 1987 30th Anniversary Designs, which you can see below.

I am in need of the Silver Pack Black Refractor 1/1 along with the 1987 insert from Series One Platinum 1/1

I doubt I will ever get those 1/1s for the collection

I do own one relic card of Sidney Crosby and it features the core of the Stanley Cup teams, minus Kris Letang.

Who are your favorite hockey players? 

More Art Cards

I am building up my collection of Uncle Larry inspired baseball art cards.

I came across this custom card maker through his Twitter @IceCatCards and visited his etsy store IceCatCards

He currently makes limited signed printed cards for under $10 shipped in two categories.

Double Take looks at some of the game's greatest players and their short time in uniforms normally not associated with that player.  These include Dale Murphy with the Rockies, Ken Griffey Jr trade to the White Sox, Jim Thome 17 at bats with the Dodgers, Pedro Martinez World Series run with the Phillies among others.

His other series is Born to be Legends which looks at some of the best players born in a year and uses the Topps designs for that card.

Andrew McCutchen was part of the Born To Be Legends selection for 1986 so he received a revamped 1986 card design with that now famous image from the dugout wearing the zip up Phillies throwback uniform.

Below is the back

And he sent a letter

Overall I am happy with this purchase. 

If you choose to make a purchase from IceCatCards, let him know that CollectingCutch sent you.

A very young McCutchen OR a very old photo?

Right before I knew I was going to be moving, I was forced to box up my entire collection.  There were a lot of things that I own that I have never shown off here or anywhere for that matter.  From cards to photos to bobbleheads to stadium giveaways there is a lot of Andrew McCutchen items in my collection that I haven't shown anywhere.

One such item is a signed photo from when Cutch was playing in the minor leagues featuring an image of his AFLAC high school days.

It was printed on Walgreens photo paper over 15 years ago way back in 2006 as you can see below.

If you could have a signed photo of any living athlete, who would it be and how would you display it?

Newspaper Clippings

I was able to add something new to the Cutch collection that is a new category of CollectingCutch for me.  It's a newspaper from USA Today from the Bay Area.  

During the July 31st, 2018 non waiver trade deadline, the Giants made it clear that they were going to continue to try to contend.  They held onto all their players with expiring contracts.

Meanwhile the Pirates who had traded away two of the franchise's elite players (Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole) prior to the start of the 2018 season were surprisingly contending and made a HUGE push to acquire one of the most coveted starting pitchers (Chris Archer) for a package of Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows, and Shane Baz. 

The trade shocked the baseball world including Andrew McCutchen who shared his thoughts in this newspaper article.

Cutch would finish the 2018 season with the New York Yankees after a rough stretch of August for the San Francisco Giants.  Since I live in an area near both the Philadelphia and New York markets, I wish I had thought to add some of these articles of Cutch prior to picking up this unique find.

Do you have any sports related newspapers in your collection?

Do you know where you can purchase older newspapers besides eBay?  Is there a site similar to COMC but with newspapers?

Die cut cards are awesome!

I love die cut cards

2021 Stadium Club finally provided me with a new die cut card of Cutch to add to the collection.  There were no die cuts of Cutch (to the best of my knowledge) produced in 2020.  Of course there are a few parallels to chase after.  So far I have gotten only the red parallel.  

I wish there were some sort of technology involved with the design.  I seem to recall the Triumvirates in the past having some sort of holofoil technology, but maybe I'm thinking of something else. 

I like the image chosen for Cutch and when you collect the Bryce Harper and Alec Bohm you can interlock them all together.

The back discusses that only 5 active players have gotten more than Cutch's career offensive WAR.  

Awesome!

Mike Trout is the only outfielder among the five.  His career offensive WAR is 73.7.

The others include three first basemen

Joey Votto 55.9 oWAR

Miguel Cabrera 79.2 oWAR

Albert Pujols 85.5 oWAR

Do you have a favorite die cut card in your collection? 

What are some of your favorite die cut designs?

Cutch's Crew: Call Me Sir!

Andrew McCutchen has played for 4 Major League teams over his career and has also participated in the World Baseball Classic in 2017 as a member of Team USA's gold medal championship.  He has also been selected to 5 National League All-Star teams.  During that time he has had a few repeat teammates.  

In this brand new segment, called Cutch's Crew, I will look at a few of my favorite repeat teammates of Cutch and show off my small collections of those players.

Today I am looking at the Shortstop position

Didi Gregorious

Didi was signed by the Cincinnati Reds in 2007 as a teenager and ascended through the minors before making his debut in 2012.  With his big league spot at shortstop blocked by Zack Cozart, the Reds shipped him off to the Cleveland Indians for Shin Soo Choo.  Once in Cleveland (and also blocked at the big league level) he was again traded for starting pitcher Trevor Bauer of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Didi became the team's everyday shortstop and hit a home run off Phil Hughes in his first at bat as a Diamondback.

Didi struggled against lefties and found himself losing playing time as the season progressed.

He would eventually be traded to the New York Yankees to replace the long time shortstop and Hall of Famer, Derek Jeter.

Didi stayed the shortstop for the Yankees through the 2019 season.  He hit 97 HR over 660 games for the Bronx Bombers.

Cutch joined the Yankees during the August Waiver Trade Deadline 2018.

This was mainly to provide a veteran presence in the outfield with an injured Aaron Judge

While there aren't any cards that feature Didi and Cutch pictured together on the same card from his Yankees days, Cutch does have a cameo on the front of this Topps Now Aaron Hicks' card

which mentions Didi Gregorious on the back of the card

The Yankees won the Wild Card Game versus the Athletics, but would go on to lose in the ALDS to the eventual World Series Champions, Boston Red Sox.

Following the 2018 postseason, Cutch signed a 3 year deal with the Phillies, allowing Cutch to play in the City of Brotherly Love through 2021.

After a very good start to his Phillies career where he was leading the National League in walks prior to a season ending injury the 2020 season brought forward some more former teammates. 

The Phillies signed former teammate, Didi Gregorious as their starting shortstop.

Didi had a productive first year with the Phillies in the shortened season of 2020 and it yielded him an extension with the club. 

Didi's WAR by season while a teammate of Cutch

2018 WAR 4.9 

2020 WAR 1.2

2021 WAR -.6

Check out this video by Stark Raving Sports that looks at why Didi Gregorious is the most interesting man in baseball today.  It talks about how he became knighted, his artistic abilities, and all the languages he is able to speak.  It really is a fun video. 

This Day In Cutchstory

Let's hop in that Delorean and travel back to August 1st, 2009

The Pittsburgh Pirates hadn't had a winning season record since 1992.

They were hosting the Washington Nationals, who hadn't had a winning season since they left Montreal when they were formally called the Expos.

The Pirates best player was rookie Andrew McCutchen, who the Pirates drafted in 2005 with the 11th overall selection.

The Nationals best player was Ryan Zimmerman, who the Nationals used their first ever franchise selection with the 4th overall selection in the 2005 draft.

Yes the 2005 draft was loaded with future Face of the Franchise players!

The Pirates entered the game 44-58.  This made them the worst team in the very mediocre NL Central.  The Cardinals lead the division with 52 wins entering the day.

The Nationals entered the game at 32-71, nearly 40 games under .500 and the worse team in baseball.

PNC Park packed in 26,855 fans to support the last place Pittsburgh Pirates, excited for the young Pirates that were playing well after the team was gutted at the trade deadline just the day before.

What the fans got to witness was the very first Pirates rookie to home three times in a single game.

Andrew McCutchen, in less than 50 games had made Pirates history by homering three times in a game versus the Washington Nationals.

Over the years, there have been a few baseball cards recognizing Cutch's rookie year performance including the oversized 2010 Allen & Ginter cabinet card.

2017 Honus Bonus Partners made a lot of 1/1 cards similar to what Topps Moments & Milestones did.  It took a few players are recognized their home run logs with a 1/1 for each homer.  Above is a card recognizing Cutch's 5th career homerun and his 2nd of the day.

The backs all featured the same backs.

The 2021 Topps Silver Packs feature a retro 1986 design and all have the mojo refractor look

The back of this card notes Cutch's first three Home Run game.

The Pirates are looking for a sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies today.  I would love to see the Phillies not only win today so they can get back in the division race, but Also want to see Cutch launch a few homers into the stands for the fans today.