Cops and Robbers

Sometimes as fans of the game we get lost in trying to over think things and wonder "what if?". This can lead to us living in the past or future without taking in the present.  I know as a Pirates Fan I had to endure a lot of those moments.  Two moments come to mind for me.

The first is Game 5 of the NLDS in 2013.  The Pirates chose to go with rookie Gerrit Cole to take the mound vs Adam Wainwright in the deciding game.  I had a bad feeling about that because 1)it was shorter rest for Cole than the original scheduled starter AJ Burnett and 2) AJ historically never pitched 2 bad games in a row. 

The moment the Cardinals got on the board I immediately went in to thinking about what could have been if Cole didn't start and AJ did.

The second happened very recently.  Andrew McCutchen was coming off the worse year of his career.  He started the first two months of the 2017 season barely hitting above .200.  I never lost hope in my favorite player returning to his glory though.  I did start thinking about "what if he's traded at his lowest value? What if the return for Cutch nets us guys worse than Andy LaRoche?  Could I stomach that?". 

I bring this up because while it's ok to imagine you have a Delorean and can time travel, don't get caught up missing the joys (as few as they may be some weeks) of rooting for your favorite teams and players.  

Every time Cutch and JHay do a celebration at home plate even when the team is losing is just as special as when the team is winning.  

Don't rob yourself of the joy of sports.

Robbing is wrong.

Sincerely, 

The Diamond Marshall

Andrew McCutchen

The above card is another one I have had on the radar for a few years.  It's extremely rare as it's numbered 8/10.  This is the Gold Parallel which I must say looks awesome in person as it really makes the badge pop.

Batman vs. Superman

When it comes to super hero movies, I will forever be a Marvel guy.  Even the ones that got bad reviews (Daredevil, Punisher, Fantastic Four 1, Wolverine Origins) I still enjoyed because quite frankly I just like the characters more.

Now when it comes to DC movies, I never liked Superman.  I always feel that he had it too easy.  Batman though, yeah Batman is cool.

I bought 4 Bowman Chrome Mini Wave Refractors from a seller who has been selling off his collection to me slowly.

When I layed these cards out I thought of Batman vs Superman because of the color scheme.

They are numbered as following: red /5, black /25, gold /50, blue /99.

I guess the color scheme could also have been for Pirates vs Phillies.  Let's Go Bucs!!!

Ooooohhhh McCutchy you so fine you blow my mind

I sent out a few more packages today.  The following zip codes can expect something in the next few days.
05866
07044
19390
95119
26505

If you entered my contest and have not received a runner up package, please email me your address so I can get something to you.

I got my first 2017 Topps Finest card in the mail last week.

Cutch was a SP in this year's set.  His base is selling in the $5+ range.

This is the orange parallel numbered to 25.

I have an 8 card lot en route that contains the SP base card along with some other players that I will be sending out in trade packages.

Cutch won his 5th career Player of the Month award for June 2017.  After hovering around .200 through April and May, Cutch is now batting .288 on the year after a ridiculous stretch of games where he batted .411 for the month of June (best in league)

Only Albert Pujols (8) and Miguel Cabrera (6) have more Player of the Month awards than Cutch (5) among active players.

"Today We Celebrate Our Independence"

I know the true meaning of July 4th, but honestly is there a better quote for today than the quote by Bill Pullman in Independence Day?

Series 2 offered a bunch of Independence Day cards (flags, logo patches, inserts).  I don't own any of them or the parallels yet but I do have the red /25 Independence Day insert en route to my mailbox.  If anyone wants to grab me any of the manufactured relics (base or color parallels) I will gladly trade for it.

Independence day relics are not new to Topps.  They produced a line of manufactured relics bearing team's cap logos back in 2010.

Here's my Cutch from that series.  I also have a Garrett Jones from the same series.  They're numbered /99 copies and have a 229 player checklist.  That's a lot of cards to chase.

The Jersey of a Champion

Andrew McCutchen may never win a Championship with the Pittsburgh Pirates (although I certainly hope he does), but he will forever be a member of the Gold Medal championship team of the 2017 WBC.

I had so much fun watching the WBC this year, not only because my favorite player was a participant but also because it is always so much fun seeing the different cultures compete.

This is my first WBC jersey relic of Cutch although I did show off a base relic that showed Cutch on the front and mentioned him on the back.

If anyone knows me and my Cutch collection I will be seeking out other cards to add to this unique part of Cutch's career.  The jersey swatches for this are all plain grey swatches.  Obviously I would love to add some nice patches or letter nameplates or something to the collection.

I will be attending the Pirates at Phillies game tonight wearing my Cutch WBC jersey. Look for me on TV.  4 of the past 5 games I've attended, I've been seen on TV.

4 more parallels added

With the release of Archives, Bunt, Inception, Series 2, and Museum all in the past month I am getting very close to 1,800 unique cards of Cutch.

In addition to all the recent card releases, 3 previous collectors of Cutch are beginning to sell off their collections so I have been able to add some nice cards to the collection in the past month also.  

Here's my latest group of cards I purchased.

4 new parallels, none of which are super rare.

A pair of Heritage Chrome refractors, a die cut Bowman Chrome insert and a Blue parallel for Topps Museum.

With this cardboard quatro added to the collection, I now sit at 1,760 cards (with more incoming).  When I began to collect cards again late in 2009 I never thought I would be approaching this many unique cards of my favorite player for the next decade.  This has been such a fun joy trying to track down as many of his cards as possible.

Christmas in July

I got a 12/25 card in the mail a few weeks back that I'm sure Gavin from Baseball Card Breakdown would want for his collection.

It's the Pink border from 2017 Donruss.

I'm slacking on adding Donruss cards to the collection this year.  Time to go change that.

Happy July 1st everyone!   Try to stay cool