Scripture Sunday - 1 John 4:8

Too often we get caught up in not showing or expressing our love for each other because of daily functions.  It's important to remind those you love that you love them.

This past weekend my girlfriend drove 6 hours west with me to Pittsburgh to see Chris Archer's Pirates debut.

That is love.

We are reminded of love in 1 John 4:8
"Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

Show your love and God will show you.

Today's card is a Stadium Club Gold from 2014.  You can see Cutch displaying his cross arm band on his right sleeve.

Will To Win

As I mentioned yesterday I attended the Pirates debut of Chris Archer.  In a very short time Chris' personality and clue collar work ethic has already endeared himself to the City of Pittsburgh.

I was having trouble with my camera not focusing very well on my phone, but did manage to take some pictures.  I didn't take any pics of the stadium because quite honestly I have done that dozens of times with all my trips out west.

Last night was a Stand Up For Cancer day so I got my sign and wrote my friend and extremely talented artist name Josh Medors (R.I.P. my friend). My standard is to get a pierogi hoagie from Manny's BBQ (Manny Sanguillen owns it).

Our seats were in section 109 so we had a great view of the game.

I didn't take pics of the 11 non profit charities set up for early detection or any of the baskets the Pirates wives offered for charity raffles.  I should have though.  There were some really great baskets put together from the wives of their husbands favorite things.  Nearly every basket had an autographed ball, but also had gift cards, foods, clothing articles, etc.  The one I really wanted was a giant quilt consisting of all the players signed jerseys.  Unfortunately I didn't win anything.

The game started out on a sour note as Chris Archer threw two balls before giving up a mammoth shot to Matt Carpenter putting the Pirates quickly behind 1-0.

Chris struggled with command for most of the night walking four, hitting one, and giving up 7 hits in 4 1/3 innings.  He did manage to strike out 6 in that brief start and was hurt by a series of bizarre plays in the 5th inning.  Jordy Mercer normally known for being a solid and not flashy shortstop booted an easy double play ball which was followed by Starling Marte losing a ball in the lights.  Because he didn't get his mitt on the ball it was ruled a hit instead of an error.  If you were to ask any MLB player they would say the ball should be caught.

The top of the Pirates lineup continued to hit as Adam Frazier, Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco, and David Freese went a collective 9 for 17 with 5 Runs score and 4 RBI.

Keone Kela also made his Pirates debut and threw a scoreless inning thanks to an absolute laser throw by Gregory Polanco to nail Matt Carpenter at the plate trying to advance from 2nd.

The Pirates got the win, but the Cardinals basically gift wrapped the game as they left 16 men on base.  The Pirates had a will to win the game and took advantage of opportunities that were presented to them by the Cardinals baserunning and fielding miscues.

Overall I had a blast and think that this team could make a serious push to make a playoff run.  They will be getting back their best offensive player, Corey Dickerson, soon in addition to Josh Bell who has been sidelined this week. The back of the bullpen is going to be a strength and hopefully the starters can work 6 innings.  If the fans show up like they did last night and really get behind this team, they will have the ability to win meaningful games down the stretch.

Let's Enjoy The Show!

Welcome To PNC Park, Chris Archer

The Pirates sacrificed two of their young athletes (Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow) in addition to a third unknown player to be named later to acquire Chris Archer.

I will be heading over five hours west to get to the game so that I can see his Pirates debut at the beautiful PNC Park.  The weather looks to be cool (75 degrees) with a slight chance of showers.

For some people the beach is their happy place.  For me, it's PNC Park.  It is one of the most visually appealing stadiums with the Clemente bridge in the background.

Really looking forward to Chris' debut today.  I think it is so cool that he chose not to wear his old number 22 out of respect for Cutch's significance to the franchise.

I will take pics of the game to share.

On a completely unrelated note, former Pirates utility guy Steve Pearce had a heck of a game against the Yankees last night when he lead the Red Sox over a massive victory by powering 3 homeruns and 6 RBIs.  I wrote an article about him here and stand by the fact that if he was given enoigh consistent playimg time he could be a star.

Shelby coming round the mountain

I attempted 14 failed HR challenge cards this year until I finally got one right.  During the month of June I used several codes and always missed by a day.  If I predicted a HR on Tuesday, he would hit it Wednesday.

Finally on the last day of the month, Cutch hit an opposite field solo shot off struggling Shelby Miller.

I liked the matchup as Cutch has seen Shelby many times in his career as they were division rivals when Cutch was with the Pirates and Shelby was with the Cardinals.

There were only 19 winners for the month of June.

So far I have an April redemption (black) and June redemption (blue).  Cutch failed to hit a HR in May which is a damn shame because that redemption was pink and would have been perfect for the Save The Boobies event I do each year.

We Got Archer!

We have heard the Chris Archer to Team X for the past few trade deadlines and offseasons.

The cost for acquiring the 2015 All Star and Cy Young candidate was steep as the Pirates traded away one of their top prospects, Austin Meadows, right handed pitcher Tyler Glasnow, and a PTBNL.  Meadows and Glasnow both have All-Star potential, but have had struggles early in their youmg careers.

Most of the early reports say the price for Archer was too much to give up.  While I wish that only one of Glasnow or Meadows was required to get Archer, the Pirates got a cost controlled pitcher for the next 4 post season runs.  The best part of the acquisition is that they were able to keep Archer away from Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Louis.

If Archer can return to his 2015 All-Star season, the Pirates have a feature ace for a Wild Card game.

In other trade news, Andrew McCutchen wasn't traded by the Giants today.

Cutch hit a HR off Archer in the 2015 ASG.  It was Cutch's last plate appearance in an All-Star Game.

I feel like the Pirates got the golden ticket and a true difference maker in this year's trading deadline.

I still need a few more parallels from the 2015 Update Series where Cutch is coming home after his laser shot to left field.

The most notable need is the pink parallel which I would love to get for my October Pink month.

So far I have the base, sabremetric back, foilboard, gold, snow camo, and the black.

What do you think about the moves your teams made yesterday?

Do you think the Pirates gave up too much for Chris Archer?

Trade Deadline Day: MVPs ON THE MOVE?

This afternoon marks the end of the nonwaiver trade deadline and we could see some big names get traded today.

Last night news broke that the Nationals are indeed willing to trade Bryce Harper.  Could one of the faces of the game be traded in the coming hours?

Harper is a 5 tool talent that is a true game changer when on the field.

We have seen some of the best 5 Tool talents in the game get traded before so it shouldn't come as a surprise if one of them gets moved.

The green swatch from the Harper in the above 2 Hits Memorabilia cards is actually from a St. Patrick's Day Spring Training game cap.

I have a few Harper relics ranging from single jersey swatches to hat swatches to patches.  One of my favorites though is this extremely tough to find triple jersey featuring All-Stars Andrew McCutchen, Joc Pederson, and of course Bryce.

I also like when I know when I can pinpoint where a jersey relic is from.  The red and black swatches were from the workout jerseys.


One name we likely won't see get traded is Adam Jones who already has used his 10-5 rights to veto a trade to Philadelphia.  I respect Adam's decision to want to stay in Baltimore because of his family and the amount of charity work he does in the city.  That shows that he is a greater person than ballplayer.

Adam Jones is a very consistent player that usually puts up an average in the .270 to .280 range with 25 HR and 80-90runs/RBI.

This octopatch booklet is just ridiculous.  It had 8 of the top outfielders at the time of the card's production (minus Mike Trout).

Injuries derailed Tulo from a HOF career.

This dual button is still one of my top 10 cards in my collection.

There he is!!!! Mike Trout!!!!  He likely won't be traded.

What former All-Stars will be traded today?

Former All-Star Zach Duke was traded yesterday to the Mariners as they hope to solidify the diversity in their bullpen.

Oh you didn't know that Zach Duke who has been a lefty reliever was at one time an All-Star? Well he was in 2009 when Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel added him as a late addition to the roster.  He was also a 2xRookie of the Month in 2005 (July and August).

There are reports that the Indians and Phillies are very interested in Cutch, while it also seems possible that the Yankees would look to acquire the former NL MVP

I can see Cutch going to the Indians as that would be a great fit and he will be available to play daily.

Philly and NY look to be a platoon position if they were to acquire him as their outfields are already pretty crowded.

A $9 bid lands me a $90 redemption

I said I was going to ease up on the amount of cards I was buying and overall I have done very good with resisting the temptation.  I had heard that Cutch was a redemption for the 2018 Archives Active Players Autograph release.  While I didn't want to waste a lot of money on a redemption (we have all heard the year long process with some of these redemptions) I was willing to take a $9 gamble on a case break.

Boy am I glad I did.

These redemptions have been selling in the $80+ range.

I have no idea what card will be autographed when Cutch signs the buyback, but I am looking forward to it.

In order to enter the redemption, I had to break the seal to scratch off the back.  Once entered, I threw the redemption in a top loader and took the 2018 Archives Mag Case to place one of my favorite in person signed cards.

The reality of this card actually being made is a possibility as Cutch, Harrison, and Marte all signed for the 2018 Archives release.  If this actually gets produced (likely as a 1/1) I would need to add it to the collection.  For now though I am happy with my in person triple auto of the All-Star tandem of Cutch (2011-2015), Harrison (2014 & 2017), and Marte (2016).