Morton on the Mound: 2014 Power Players

With the post season just around the corner and the likelihood that the Bucs will be facing the Cubs in a one game playoff, this will likely be Charlie Morton's last start for the 2015 season.  Even if the Pirates get by Jake Arrieta and the Cubs, they will almost certainly use a starting rotation of Cole, Burnett, Liriano, and Happ (likely not in that order of course)

I'm hoping that the Pirates can go on a 5 game winning streak to end the season and the Cardinals go on a 5 game losing streak, but that is very unlikely as the Braves are playing terrible baseball and will lose at least one game against the Cardinals.

As I am writing this, I am getting sad to think that baseball is almost over (just under a month left).  The Pittsburgh Steelers have just lost Ben Roethlisberger for a 4-6 week span so that greatly minimizes my excitement for football season.  I guess I can get excited about the Penguins, but they have looked terrible in the opening games of preseason. 

One thing I can get excited about is showing off cardboard of my main player PC, Charlie Morton.  This is a card that I didn't know existed until a few months ago and I was able to track one down (cheaply too) and add it to the collection. 

These /75 Power Players were redemptions cards  Topps sent for their Power Players online program last year.  Only 75 of each player were made.  They are beautiful in person as they are covered in a gold foil.  I've previously shown off the Pedro Alvarez power player card. 

McCutchen Mailday #143: 2015 Topps Chrome Pink Parallel

Last year, I did a huge Save the Boobies contest where I ran all Pink parallels for the month of October. Every comment left raised $$$ for Susan G Komen foundation.  I don't think I am going to be doing that again this year unless there is a lot of positive reaction to it.  Would you guys like to see that?

My Quest for 100 hasn't yielded many pink parallels this year, but this Topps Chrome is especially nice.  I was able to snag it for under $3 delivered.

McCutchen Mailday #141 & 142: A Pair of 2015 Archives not numbered 1/1

Earlier in the year I showed off 3 2015 Topps Archives all numbered 1/1.  Strangely enough I didn't have the base, but had gotten three of the hardest cards to obtain (black border and 2 printing plates).  My quest to add 100 new Cutch cards by year's end has been eclipsed for a long time now, but fret not blog believers I won't stop adding them.

Here's the backs

Football Sunday: The Bus has Arrived

Jerome Bettis is my favorite football player EVER!!!

Before he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, I set out a 2015 goal to add an autograph of him along with 2 Pittsburgh Steelers that have been inducted into the Hall.  When Bettis got inducted, I could have easily killed two birds with one stone as they say by just adding this to the PC. 

I've already shown a few Canton enshrined autographs with Bradshaw, Greene, Ham, Blount, and Harris.  Bettis makes #6 on the year.  Another 2015 goal accomplished.

Hanging out with Cole

I've been so busy adding cards to my collection that I completely forgot to post about my vacation earlier in the month.  My girlfriend and I went down to Florida to celebrate our birthdays (we are 2 days apart). 

One of her bucket list items was to swim with manatees (an endangered species that can only legally be swam with in certain parts of Florida spring waters on the Gulf Coast.  It was a lot of fun, but my snorkeling skills left a lot to be desired.  I struggled with it. 

In addition to spending several days at Sanibel Island, we swung by Bradenton for their final home game of the season.  I put in bids to try and win several of the players jerseys, but lost out on Austin Meadows, Reese McGuire, and Harold Ramirez. 

While we were at the game, I heard a young man poking fun at one of the players for the Marauders.  I laughed and turned around and thought it was Cole Tucker.  It made sense that Cole would be in Bradenton because only a few days prior he had undergone surgery at Pirate City. 

I pulled up some Google images of Cole and asked my girlfriend if that looked like him.  She said "I will have to see him smiling.  All these pictures of him he's smiling in"

About 5 seconds later, Cole smiled as the Marauders had gotten a base hit.

"Yup" that's him she said.

There were plenty of empty seats around him as the day had been constant rain showers all day which makes me think that most fans decided not to come out.  I approached him and asked if he was Cole Tucker.  He acknowledged he was and started making small chat with me.

I wished him a speedy recovery from his surgery and told him how thankful I was for him to take the time to chat with fans and how much I appreciated him signing a baseball for me earlier in the year when the West Virginia Power were playing the Lakewood Blue Claws (Phillies A team about 20 minutes from my house). 

He asked what brought me to Florida and I told him how my girlfriend were on vacation. I told him I wanted to catch a game for my birthday.  After a quick selfie with Cole, he also signed my ticket stub and personalized it and inscribed it "happy bday"

Such a great young kid who I will be rooting for in the years to come. 

Before the game I was able to get autographs from Wyatt Mathisen and Frank Duncan on their team issued cards.

I also won two game used bats from Rays Center Fielder Kevin Kiermaier and Pirates Top Prospect Josh Bell.

McCutchen Mailday #139 & 140: A Pair of Ginter Buybacks

I have recently been purchasing a few Allen & Ginter buybacks of Cutch and have received my first two in.

Both of these are hailing from 2010.
One is the Black Border mini and the other is the This Day in History insert

They're technically not new cards, but buybacks do feature something unique to the PC so I am counting them for my Quest for 100 new Cutch cards.  I've kicked that goals ass this year.



Finally found a copy of this card!!!!

I have been looking for a certified Luis Tiant in a Pirates uniform for nearly 5 years. I knew that he had a few Topps Originals signed from the 1982 Topps release, but never found one up for purchase.

Finally after 5 long years of searching, I came across this 2004 Topps Originals signed by Luis numbered 31/51.  It cost me only $17 delivered and is a welcomed addition to the PC.

To me Tiant is a borderline Hall of Famer.  He had a few dominating years, but only appeared in 3 All-Star Games and never got higher than 4th place in Cy Young voting.  He finished his career with 229 Wins, 3.30 ERA, 2416 strikeouts, and a 1.19 WHIP. 

Tiant may be best remembered for his unusual delivery on the mound which Johnny Cueto has copied a lot. 

Morton on the Mound: Chasing the Rainbow

As you all know I am a Charlie Morton super collector and am still trying to chase the rainbows of any and all Charlie Morton cards.  As of now I have all of Charlie's non 1/1s from 2015, but if anyone wants to send me unwanted parallels I will gladly accept them.

McCutchen Mailday #138: Pirates Pride!!!!!

I've shown off a good amount of autograph and relic cards already this year in my pursuit to add 100 new Cutch cards to the PC.  I have been even more aggressive then recent years in trying to add cool cards of Cutch.

This latest offering is another card that has been on my radar to add to the PC for the past few years.  Hailing from 2012 Triple Threads is a sticker auto of Cutch with jersey relics that spell "Pirates Pride".  This and Club Dread are two of my favorite sayings that Cutch has ever had for Triple Threads.  Maybe I can find a Club Dread sometime...

Had to be a Deadshot, didn't ya....

Growing up in the 80s, I was subjected to a lot of Billy Joel from my mother.  One song that constantly played in her cassette deck of her Mustang (aka the Roach Mobile) was Big Shot.  Her birthday is coming up soon and every year, I subject myself to listen to Billy Joel and Journey since I don't get to see her very much anymore . 

Last month, I noted that I wanted to get back into my comic collecting roots by grabbing some cardboard of characters I enjoy today.  Both Arrow and The Flash on CW have become my weekly addictions when there is new episodes to watch. 

Both series feature a lot of cool cameo by some of the DCU best comic book villains, but one of my absolute favorites is the character, Deadshot.

In the TV show, Arrow, Floyd "Deadshot" Lawton is played by the brillain actor Michael Rowe.  Deadshot will be featured in next year's Suicide Squad by the Fresh Prince, Will Smith.  I grabbed a printing plate of the man who never misses for $15 from the new DC Comics Super Villains cardset.

Football Sunday A trio of Hall of Famers

One of my collecting goals was to acquire some Pittsburgh Steelers autographs of men enshrined in Canton, Ohio.  Very early in the year, I was able to track down a lot of three on card autographs that met that criteria.  For $37 delivered, I was fortunate to add autographs of Jack Ham, Franco Harris, and Mel Blount.

Granted, the Ham isn't licensed and the signatures of Harris and Blount aren't the cleanest, but they are all certified autographs and for $12.33 each you just can't beat that price for someone who has earned the golden jacket.

eBay recently ran a 5x eBay bucks program so I picked up another Steelers autograph as part of the promotion and I have to say that it's a huge hit for my PC. 

McCutchen Mailday #126-137: 12 NEW PRINTING PLATES!!!!

Told you yesterday that today was going to be a big one.

I normally spend about $50 for a 1/1 printing plate of Cutch.  Sometimes depending on if I like the card a lot, I will try for more.  Recently a large lot of 1/1s of McCutchen became available and I pounced on the chance to own them for around $40 a pop.

Presenting to you...12 new Andrew McCutchen printing plates

Here they are individually.

2012 Gypsy Queen mini Black Printing Plate

2011 Bowman Chrome Yellow Printing Plate

2011 Topps Triple Threads Magenta Plate

2013 Topps Tribute Cyan Plate

2014 Allen & Ginter Black Printing Plate

2014 Bowman Platinum Magenta Plate

2014 Gypsy Queen Black Printing Plate

2014 Topps Finest Cyan Printing Plate

2014 Bowman Yellow Printing Plate

2013 Topps Triple Threads Cyan Plate

2012 Archives Yellow Printing Plate

2013 Archives Yellow Printing Plate

This brings me to 25 new 1/1s added to the Cutch PC this year.  That might seem a little insane, but I'm not even close to being done yet.

McCutchen Mailday #120 - 125: All about that base, bout that base

I recently purchased a LARGE lot of singles from a local guy and amongst the Gerrit Cole and Starling Marte parallels from 2013-2015 were 6 new base cards from 2015 of Cutch that I needed for my Quest to 100.  Together these cards cost me $7 total which isn't too unfair considering the uniqueness of some of them.

These 6 cards are a small lot compared to what is coming up next...

Stay tuned True Believers....

McCutchen Mailday #119: With Your Powers Combined I am RunPMC

When I was putting these cards together to scan I thought of Captain Planet.  I don't know why, but that line "With your powers combined" just popped in my head when I connected them all together. 

I could have very easily gone with the Voltron "Activate Interlock.  Dynotherms Connected" too which would have been much cooler than Captain Planet.

Anyway, I grabbed this group of Pirates Luminous Triumvrate along with some base cards and inserts for $19 delivered.   I've seen some of the individual cards sell for close to that amount.

What I like most about these is that the three players are all wearing the same uniform.  Unfortunately, Topps didn't do that with all teams.  The Royals, Mets, Marlins, Nationals, Cubs all have mixed home and road jerseys for their respective players.  I believe the Pirates and Cardinals are the only teams to feature players all wearing the same jersey for team sets. 

Ke'Bryan Hayes Patch Auto Acetate Team USA!!!

Grabbed this for a $10 spot

Sweet new addition to the collection of former Pirates Charlie Hayes' son who is playing in the Pirates minor league system.

10 Years of Allen & Ginter Minis

Allen & Ginter is celebrating their 10th anniversary this year.  As a result there are plenty of "buybacks" floating around with the 10th anniversary logo floating around the secondary market.  I've been trying to pursue adding at least 1 mini of the framed commemorative inserts.  Many have fallen in the 99 cent range which is about all I value them at.

Here's 8 of what I have so far.

2007 Chris Duffy
2008 Jason Bay
2009 Ryan Doumit
2010 Zach Duke
2011 Jose Tabata
2012 Joel Hanrahan
2013 Garrett Jones
2014 Ralph Kiner

The Zach Duke is the A&G back while the Hanrahan and Jones are black borders.

McCutchen Mailday #118: Button Up!!!! My 1st Cutch Button

This card is just SICK!!!!

By now it should be well known that I love National Treasures!!!!
This button card has been on my radar for a few years.  I've seen them sell in the $400+ range.  I grabbed mine for under $300.  It might be the most expensive Cutch I have added all year in my pursuit to add 100 new Cutch cards to the collection by year's end. 

Coupled with a few 1/1 jersey letters, a 6 relic booklet featuring Bo!, Griffey Jr, Mr. October, etc and a plethora of rare numbered parallels, I have to say this has been a good year for collecting Cutch.

Two Great Pitchers: 1 Dual Auto

Sonny Gray and Gerrit Cole both will receive some Cy Young votes this year (even if they don't win the award).

Both of these two young superstar pitchers have their jersey and signature on this card, that I grabbed for $24 delivered.

McCutchen Mailday #117: Griffey, Bo!, Mr. October, Harper, Kemp 5 Tool Booklet

I know I have said it several times this year, but this might be the best McCutchen I have added so far this year.  It features Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr, the best two sport athlete ever Bo Jackson, Cutch, the Phenom Harper, and some guy named Matt Kemp.

WOW!!!!

Check out the patches on Cutch and Harper!!!!

only 3 of these were produced

Football Thursday: Mean Joe Greene auto

The NFL season officially kicks off tonight as the Steelers and their multiple suspended playmakers and injured roster will be taking on the New England Cheaters Patriots.  I don't have a very good feeling about this game, but there were times last year that I had figured the game was in the bag for victories (Tampa Bay and NY Jets come to mind) so who knows?

One thing I do know though is that I completed another of my 2015 goals by acquiring this Mean Joe Greene autograph earlier in the year for the cool price of $35.  I set out the year to acquire two autographs of Steelers in the Hall of Fame in addition to a Jerome Bettis autograph.  At the time of my goal planning, Bettis had not yet been selected to join the illustrious group in Canton. 

So far the only card I had shown from that goal was my dual autograph of 4x Super Bowl Winner Terry Bradshaw and 2x Super Bowl Winner Ben Roethlisberger.  I'm super excited to add an on card auto of one of the most legendary Steelers of all time.

The Steelers have one of the most storied histories in the NFL, but only 2 players have ever have their number retired by the Steelers.  They have not issued numbers once a "Steelers Legend" has retired, but the number has not officially been retired.

One player who received the honor of getting their number retired is Joe.  Look up his stats and you will see why Joe Greene was a Hall of Famer and Fan Favorite. 

There will be other Steelers HOFers displayed before the season is over and also some very nice Steelers Legends too.  Keep an eye out for my Sunday Football posts. 

McCutchen Mailday #115 and 116: En Fuego Gold & Black n White Stadium Club

I know I know...

I just showed off a gold parallel of Cutch last week, but these are so hot one of them is En Fuego!!!!

For $50, I added my 115th and 116th unique new additions to the Cutch PC this year.  They weren't purchased all from the same seller, but they did both arrive the same day.

I am a huge fan of Stadium Club.  The orange black and white parallel is just awesome looking!!!!

My primary focus this year has been adding as many Cutch cards to my PC as possible.  I surpassed 100 a long time ago and I don't want to spoil too much, but wait until some of the stuff I've recently acquired. The next few McCutchen Maildays are big ones!!!!

Tony Tuesday: It's Finally Mine!!!!!!!!

One of my 2015 Collecting Goals was to try to grab a few more of my 2009 Bowman Chrome Tony Sanchez Autographs.  I've previously shown off the Gold, Blue, XFractor, and Base.  That left me to add 3 very low numbered cards (1/1 Super, /5 Red, /25 orange) and the refractor (/500).  My goal for the year was to add 1 more to the collection.

I did it in a big way by grabbing the Red /5. 

I submitted a best offer for only twice what the base refractor was selling for and the seller accepted!!!!

Behold the beauty of RED!!!!!

Since Tony didn't receive a September call up for the Pirates this year, I think that it's safe to assume that his days catching for the black and gold are pretty numbered.  His bat and glove never lived up to the hype of being an elite defender with a plus hitting tool.  He still has team options so it's likely that the Pirates will keep him on the 40 man roster for catching depth next year.  Elias Diaz and Reese McGuire have likely surpassed him as being the backstop of the future though.

Everything is bigger...

In the USA!!!!!
I hope everyone is celebrating Labor Day safely and having fun.

To celebrate the holiday, here's a jumbo size Team USA relic of Ke'Bryan Hayes.

I wasn't going to pass this up for the $4 delivered I spent on my latest Ke'Bryan Hayes PC addition. 

Ke'Bryan just got promoted to Morgantown to play with the Black Bears a little over a week ago.

He hadn't shown much power in the Gulf Coast, but hit well enough to get the promotion after slashing .333/.434/.375 over 44 games and collecting 7 stolen bases in the process.  At age 18, he becomes the youngest player on the West Virginia Black Bears.