Ke'Bryan Update

A few new additions to the Ke'Bryan Hayes PC

I really need to start adding more Bowman, but these Team USA cards are just so nice looking.

McCutchen Maiday #388: Happy New Year Y'all!

I didn't have time yesterday to show this off, but I managed to get in another Andrew McCutchen card as the year came to a close.  Here is the final Andrew McCutchen card from 2015.  This card arrived 4 days before expected delivery. 

In addition to that, I managed to get my scanner fixed so I am reshowing the cards I posted on Wednesday.

2015 was the most successful year in my cardboard collecting days.  I'm really looking forward to see what I can come up with in 2016 as my Cutch collection grows even more and I continue to knock off vintage needs.

McCutchen Mailday #380-387: Sick Sick Patches!!!

I got in 8 packages today loaded with some sick amazing patches of my main PC player. I also added 2 more 1/1 printing plates.

This concludes all the McCutchen cards I was expecting to receive by year's end. I set out with a goal to add 100 new Cutch cards, but in the end, it ended up being nearly 4 times that. 

Unfortunately, my scanner isn't working so I had to take a picture with my phone. I will provide actual scans next year once I can get the scanner working again.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy new year. My girlfriend and I are living above a pub now so we can save up for a house. It's a little noisy, but at least we should never get in trouble driving from a bar.

I will post a recap of how I did with my 2015 goals tomorrow, but it was a successful year for my cardboard collection.

A few more Ke'Bryan sticker autos

Here's a few more Ke'Bryan Hayes sticker autographs I grabbed about a few months ago.

Not too shabby for about $20 for the lot. Bowman draft just came out and I will be seeking to add the rainbow to my collection.

Ke'Bryan: do your laundry!

I've been adding Ke'Bryan Hayes cards here and there in between adding to my Cutch PC.

This beaut ran me $20 and is numbered 3/5.  Not a bad price to pay for a guy I think will be a future everyday third baseman.  I have a few more nice Ke'bryan cards coming in soon.

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.

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.

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. 

SICK SICK PATCH OF KE'BRYAN HAYES USA JERSEY

I couldn't pass up this amazing patch for less than $15 delivered.

It's the "S" from his Team USA jersey and is numbered to 8/21 which just happens to be today's date.

My second Cole Tucker Team USA card

One of my recent COMC purchases had another Cole Tucker Team USA jersey patch in it.  The card ran me just north of $2 and features a great image of Cole sporting his awesome fro.

I'm looking forward to picking up a lot of Cole's parallels when he appears in a Bowman release next month.  Despite a slow start to his career, I think this kid is going to be something special.  He batted .267 with 48 hits in 48 games as a 17 year old playing in the Gulf Coast League.  He's still probably 4 years away, but with his ability to stick at shortstop, bat from both sides, and speed he will likely be a very good baseball player.

Jameson Taillon: One Pitch at a Time

At this point in the Pirates season, I was really hoping that I would be talking about how Jameson Taillon came up mid June and helped to solidify the Pirates rotation.  It's hard to believe that the Pirates used a 5 man rotation consisting of Brandon Cumpton, Vance Worley, Edinson Volquez, Charlie Morton, and Jeff Locke at long stretches of the season and are with only a few weeks left in the season only 2.5 games out of first place.

I recently picked up this 2009 Team USA 17 under inscription of the former 1st round pick for $20 delivered.  With the season coming to a close soon, it's important that if the Pirates are going to push for another playoff run, they will have to do it "One Pitch at a Time".

Let's Go Bucs!!!!

USA!!!!

Many Americans watched the USA soccer team play Germany in yesterday's World Cup matchup.  I don't have any soccer cards, but I do have a Gerrit Cole 2011 Topps USA baseball cap patch numbered 10/25 to showoff today.

I was shocked to win this card many many months ago for around $12.  I'm excited to get Gerrit back tomorrow.

My Newest PC is a 2014 MLB Draft Pick

Cole Tucker was viewed as a reach on draft day and I have to admit I was a little disappointed when I heard his name instead of Jacob Gatewood, Monte Harrison, Michael Chavis, Michael Kopech, or Spencer Adams.  To be perfectly honest, I had never even thought of Cole Tucker as anyone prior to round 4 due to where Baseball America, MLB.com, and other analysts were expecting him to go.

That all changed an hour after he was drafted by the Pirates with the 24th overall pick in 2014.  After viewing a picture of him from his little league days wearing a Pirates cap and jersey on Twitter with the caption, "I've been waiting my whole life to be a Pirate." he instantly became one of my favorite players.  The  day in the life of Cole Tucker documentary helped too.

He was one of the first first rounders to sign from the 2014 draft class and one of the first Pirates to sign.  He signed for slightly below slot and there are numerous sources stating that the A's would have selected him with pick #25 if the Pirates hadn't drafted the fast switch hitting defensive teenager.

Because of all this, I am adding Cole Tucker to my latest player I hope to PC.  This is in addition to being a supercollector of Charlie Morton and having nice size collections of Andrew McCutchen (I've been lacking with this due to the massive amount of cards produced over the past few years) and Tony Sanchez.

The first card in my PC is a gorgeous 2013 Panini USA Baseball 18U Auto and Dual Patch card numbered 1/10.

This is hopefully the start of a very nice PC of one of the Pirates most exciting young middle infielders.

McCutchen Monday: USA!!!!!! AUTO!!!!!!

Memorial Day is a day to remember those who died serving the US Armed forces.  It's one of the most patriotic days of the year and has also turned into a party weekend.  I like to party with new baseball cards by my favorite baseball player, who is also the reigning NL MVP.

2012 Prizm Team USA AUTO 24/25

So in honor of the United States of America, here's a McCutchen AUTO featuring him in his Team USA duds.  I tried for over a year to win one of these under $75.  The low numbering of this card make it almost impossible to find on the open market now.  This ran me $45 delivered awhile ago.

Katy Perry Presents: The Letter U

A nice set of tits is always appreciated, so in the style of Sesame Street and my favorite lady to ever wear an Elmo tshirt, I will allow Katy Perry to present today's letter (yes there are baseball cards in this post too)

Today's Letter is:

2007 SP By the Letter Jason Bay AUTO 7/25

You might be thinking there's no U in Jason Bay. Well Treasure Room fans, you are correct, but Upper Deck created a name plate of Bay that also spelled out PITTSBURGH. The above Jason Bay U marks my 5th letter in attempting that plate. I have the S B U R H.

2009 Upper Deck Team USA By the Letter  Jameson Taillon AUTO 42/100

The above 2 future front of rotation Pirates pitchers are from the Team USA by the letter line in 2009. Both Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon are represented.  Speaking of Jameson Taillon, if you haven't already checked out the sick patch of his I have from the 2012 Futures Game go check it out by clicking here. It also features the letter U.

Gerrit Cole USA PATCH!!!!!

Much like my Austin Meadows Jumbo Patch relic, I decided to grab a Team USA patch of one of my favorite Pirate pitchers, Gerrit Cole.

2013 Team USA Game Gear PRIME PATCH 79/99

Cole was selected to be a member of the collegiate national team and went 4-0 with a 1.06 ERA while fanning 46 hitters in 34 innings while holding opponents to a miniscule .104 batting average.

I grabbed the above card a couple of months back for a major bargain price.

Wanna see something badass? JUMBO PATCH!!!!!

I recently made a purchase from the land of badassdom!

What happens in badassdom! Everything is exclamated! EVERYTHING!!!!

Velociraptors ride sharks while holding dynamite and uzis!

Badassdom is fricking awesome!!!

Oh and I get cards like this!

2012 Bowman Futures Game Jumbo Relic numbered 25/25!

eBay 1/1!!!!

CHECK OUT THAT CROWN!!!!!

This is my 2nd Jumbo relic of Jamo from the 2012 Futures Game, the other can be seen HERE!

You wanna see the back!!!

F YEAH!!!!

BADASS!!!!!

Really cheap relics for $5 total

2013 Topps Archives Relics Andrew McCutchen

2008 UD USA Baseball Camo Cloth Jordy Mercer

Both the above cards were won for $5 shipped combined.
It's a no brainer that Andrew will be returning to the team as the centerfielder next year and with the solid bat that Jordy Mercer showed in his rookie year, he should be the starting shortstop next year.

Another Austin Meadows Major MOJO HIT!!!!

When the Pirates had the fortune of having Austin Meadows drop to them at 9th overall in the 2013 draft, I instantly went on ebay in search of some of his cards.  While I haven't had much luck at making crazy good snipes like I had hoped, I am happy to finally add another major hit to my growing PC of the Pirate Prospect.

I have to hand it to Pirates GM Neal Huntington and owner Bob Nutting for not shying away from talent in the draft just because of coveted signing bonuses.  If only the Pirates had this kind of support behind them like in the 2007 draft when they overlooked Matt Wieters for a middle reliever Daniel Moskoes (ugh!!!!).

2012 Panini USA Prime Patches 23/24

Pictured above is my prime patch of Austin Meadows from 2012 Panini USA.  It's numbered 23/24 and makes my first jersey relic of the 5 tool teenager.

Meadows had a very good first year in pro ball after a slightly rocky start.

In the Gulf Coast League he batted a .294/.399/.519 line (.918OPS) as a Center Fielder 18 year old.  Of his 47 hits, he had 11 doubles, 5 triples, and 5 homeruns while driving in 20 over the course of 43 games.  Defensively he committed 1 error, but had 3 outfield assists and 1 double play.

After the Gulf Coast League season ended, him and fellow 1st round pick Reese McGuire became members of the NY Penn-League Jamestown Jammers where he played in 5 games and hit 2 HR and batted a .529/.636/.882 line for an OPS of 1.519 while walking more than striking out.  To say this kid isn't going to be something special would be disrespectful.  From video I've seen, he's going to be one of the game's best in a few years.

If you had previously missed my post where I showed off autographs of the Pirates recent draft picks in Team USA gear, click this link to see autos of Cole, Taillon, McGuire, and Meadows.

McCutchen Monday: 2007 USA Baseball AUTO

My current favorite player in baseball today is Andrew McCutchen.  Quite honestly, he might be my favorite player I've ever gotten a chance to see play. I currently own almost 300 unique cards of Cutch and hope to get that number closer to 400 by the end of the year.  Amongst my cardboard collection of Cutch are many autographs, over a dozen 1/1s, and almost enough jersey material to put his jersey back together.  Back in 2011, I created Morton Mondays, but with the lack of Charlie Morton cards available, I changed it to McCutchen Mondays so each Monday I will show off one new card from my Cutch collection.

To see all my Andrew McCutchen relics, autos, printing plates, manupatches, etc ... check out this link.

A lot of 1st round talents play for Team USA during their amateur years.  In recent years, the Pirates have had several 1st rounders play for the 18 and under team including Austin Meadows, Reese McGuire, Jameson Taillon and Gerrit Cole.  

I recently did a post of some of those players autogrpahs on Team USA cards.  

When Panini released the 2013 USA card set, several star players were highlighted with autographs in the set.  I tried on 4 different cards to acquire the 2013 TEAM USA auto of Cutch numbered /25 but lost every auction.  However, not to be discouraged I kept my eye (and ebay saved searches) for Cutch USA autographs open.

2007 USA Baseball Alumni Autographs 44/475 AUTO

I've seen this card in the past, but it often sells for much more than I would like to pay for a Cutch auto.  Even though the centering of the auto is way off and the "A" in Andrew is mostly missing, I'm happy I was able to add this for less than $40.  It brings me to 67 certified autos of Cutch.