Another Mini Rainbow to start

AJ Burnett was one of my favorite players to ever put on a Pirates uniform.  When he announced his retirement after the 2015 season, I was hoping to grab some awesome cards of Batman in his final season.  With all the Cutch cards I was buying last year, I put off buying a lot of AJ cards.  Now that it's the offseason and he's no longer active and likely not Hall of Fame bound, I can refocus on adding some great AJ cards to the PC.

For example this one

Numbered 1/5 and snagged for only $3.50

I also grabbed the black numbered /10, but am still waiting on it's arrival.

McCutchen Maiday #249: The Card I have always wanted produced is finally mine

Over the past few years, the Pirates have been sending multiple players to the All-Star game.  Topps usually produces cards with multiple players from the same team as a part of their Update series getting the All-Star relic treatment.

This year alone, I have acquired some of those cards.

Cutch with JHay (Tony Watson and Mark Melancon were both All-Stars too)
Cutch with Grilli and Alvarez (Jeff Locke was also an All-Star)

There has never been a card produced that featured all the players (Clint Hurdle isn't a current player) on the same card with a jersey relic until...well, they still haven't!!!!

Even without Mark the Shark Melancon on this card, it still rocks!!!

Cutch, AJ, and the Cole Train all together with images from the All-Star game and AJ's photo from when he was announced at PNC Park that he was going to the 2015 All-Star game.

These three guys (and of course Charlie Morton) are my favorite Buccos.  I am so happy to have a card that features all of them together with jersey relics that match their 2015 Warmup threads.

A Couple Of All-Stars Arriving and Departing?

As the Winter Meetings are currently under way, it is a major possibility that the Pirates could lose 2 All-Stars from last year's 2nd Best record in the MLB. 

AJ Burnett, who is one of my favorite players to ever put on a Pirates uniform, was named to his first All-Star team in his final year.  AJ stated that 2015 would be his last season in the majors and he was absolutely stellar in the first half.  I'm hoping that maybe if the Pirates are making a playoff push again next year, that AJ might come out of retirement and win a ring with the Bucs.

Mark Melancon, who has been one of the league's most consistent relievers over the past few seasons both in the setup and closer role, was named to his second All-Star team.  He lead the majors in saves last year and became the Relief Pitcher of the Year.  There are strong talks that the Astros may be interested in acquiring Mark the Shark this offseason. 

If that happens, it's going to be different not seeing these guys in Pirates uniforms come opening day 2016.  With the Bullpens that Neal Huntington has built since taking over as GM, I am certain that he will find some more diamonds in the ruff though.

These two All-Star Stitches ran me under $5 each.  I can't wait to show off a similar card in a few days. 

A new AJ piece

Earlier in the week, I said I wanted to go back and add as many AJ Burnett cards to my collection as possible, even ones that depict him as a Marlin, Yankee, Blue Jay, or Phillie.

For $3 delivered I've added another relic to the mix.

McCutchen Mailday #86 & a new AJ

Tonight is the All-Star Game and the Pirates will be well represented with 4 participants. Andrew McCutchen is making his 5th consecutive All-Star game (2nd starting) and is batting leadoff.

Gerrit Cole will be pitching the 3rd and 4th innings with AJ Burnett scheduled for the 7th.

Mark Melancon isn't scheduled for a full inning, but will be ready to come out of the bullpen should anyone get in trouble.

To honor the participants, I'm going to show off a pair of cards I have recently picked up.

Up first is a low numbered 2015 Prizm Gold parallel (3/10) that I snagged for $20.

For $4 delivered I also grabbed a new AJ Burnett card. As a reminder I am looking for any and all AJ cards.

My first 1/1 AJ

When the Pirates acquired AJ early in 2012 I was extremely happy. I attended his first game in a Buccos uniform and I remember the crowd all screaming "Noooooo" when AJ squared around to sacrifice bunt. He instantly became a fan favorite.

This year will be AJ's final season and it couldn't end better than for AJ to make All-Star team in his last year. Hopefully he can add a 3rd World Series ring too.

I know I am very late to the party but I would like to start up a PC of AJ. If anyone has some cards of AJ Burnett they would like to trade me please hit me up via email or leave a comment below.

For $22 I added my first 1/1 printing plate. Hopefully I can add more to my PC.

McCutchen Monday: Band of Brothers

This is a card I have had in my collection for a LONG TIME!!!!

With AJ on the mound and Cutch starting to get back on track, it seems like an appropriate time to show it off on McCutchen Mondays.

PiratesFest Recap AUTOGRAPHS, PHOTOS, AND SO MUCH MORE!!!!

Last weekend I attended PiratesFest for the first time since 2010.  I normally can't attend because I work in retail and trying to get time off a few days before Christmas on a weekend, well....for those of you that work retail you know what that is like.  Fortunately for me, my store had inventory last week and I had to change my normal days off around and just happened to get Saturday and Sunday off.  It worked out great because me and the lil lady went to Pittsburgh and had an absolute blast.

We got into Pittsburgh around 7am Saturday morning and went to the hotel for early checkin.  The hotel thankfully graciously handed us two keys and we passed out around 7:15.  The doors for Saturday opened at noon, but fans could get in line before that and a select few autograph sessions previously sold out online would be available at 11am before the doors opened.  I got to the ticket booth right at 11 and grabbed a session with Starling Marte, Al Oliver, and Jack Wilson.

Before the signing began, I went to the photo opp booth to get my picture taken with a familiar face to the Pirates organization, AJ Burnett.

AJ is one of my favorite personalities in the Pirates clubhouse in recent years.  Since the lady friend is a Phillies fan she was excited to meet AJ also (even though he didn't have a great season with them last year).

I've gotten so many things signed by Starling signed in the past that I really just wanted an autographed card with him and to have my picture taken with him.

Mission accomplished.

Next up was getting an autographed ball (and postcard) signed by a man that could be in the conversation for the Hall of Fame, Mr. Al Oliver.  Al was very friendly to the fans all weekend long including signing his book in the Majestic store.  I tried to get my picture taken with him in the photoline, but it didn't come out very well.

This man needs no introduction if you followed the Pirates during their terrible stretch in the early 2000s.  Seeing Jack Wilson on ESPN webgems was a nightly occurence as he chased down and dove for any ball in the infield before he ultimately got traded to Seattle in 2009.

I was able to get 3 cards signed by the former shortstop.

I also purchased an autograph session with Gregory Polanco, John Smiley, and Jeff Locke.  Funny story about Jeff was that I got to ride in the eleveator with him for 22 floors before the FanFest started and he was incredibly nice and friendly to me making small chat about the weather, who I was excited to see, the Pirates postseason goals for 2014, and finally wishing me a safe trip back to New Jersey.  With a former All-Star (Jeff Locke) and a super talented 5 tool prospect (Gregory Polanco) at the autograph session, it was actually John Smiley who I was most excited to meet.  Like Marte, I've met Polanco and Locke a handful of times when they were playing minor league ball.  However, I never had the chance to meet John Smiley and since I'm trying to complete the 1991 Fleer team set autographs I felt that this would be one of my best chances.

I got a ball signed by Polanco,

2 cards signed by Locke and the 1991 Fleer and 1989 Upper Deck signed by Smiley.

Oh and I took a selfie with Polanco.

THIS TALL MAMMOTH SIZED GENT WAS THE MAIN REASON I WANTED TO GO TO PIRATESFEST.  It's hard to imagine a guy who's 6 foot 7 being an underdog in anything, but John's path to the big leagues is riddled with obstacles and had a happy ending when he caught on with the Pirates last season.  I got a ball signed from a game that he pitched in at Philly.

He signed it on the sweet spot and it is most certainly sweet looking!!!

Also in that bunch were Alumni members from the early 90s Buccos.  Doug Drabek and Mike Lavalliere.  I already had autographed baseballs from both and have numerous cards of Drabek signed.

To keep it simple I got a 1991 Fleer signed by Lavalliere and a 1992 Triple Play signed by Drabek.

In between some sessions I ran into Kent Tekulve and John Wehner who both signed for me as well.

I think I've talked about it in the past but when I was much much younger I used to emulate Teke's unique submarine pitching style.

Sidearm Stryker and Teke united at long last.

Teke signed a ball and Wehner signed a 1991 Fleer for me while also posing for pictures.

The final autograph session for day 1 for me was Dave Parker, Bill Virdon, and Fransisco Cervelli.  This session didn't excite me too much but for $20 charity to the Wounded Warriors project, I felt that I needed to attend.  I didn't get Cervelli to sign anything but a postcard he had at the table.  He also posed for a picture which was really nice of him.

One thing I noticed about Cervelli was that he kept playing with his phone between fans approaching him.  I hope he isn't as distracted on the diamond this year.

Bill Virdon signed an OMLB on the sweet spot for me

Dave Parker signed my 1978 Scorecard I bought at the fest for $5 along with a post card.

Day 1 was a complete success in terms of graphing and meeting the players.

Before everything closed up for the day I had been in discussions with one of the vendors who was selling a Willie Stargell autographed baseball for $80.  I went back and forth on it before I realized that the ball was a Bartlett Giamatti official baseball which made me splurge on the Hall of Famer's signature.

Being on a Giamatti ball made all the difference in the world to me between spending $80 or not dropping the money.

Day 2 started out really good too, but due to time restraints we knew that we weren't going to spend a lot of time at the fest because of our nearly 7 hour drive back home.

It started out with getting our pictures taken with Charlie Morton and Starling Marte.  In case you're wondering, the #37 jersey you see me in my pictures is a game used Charlie Morton jersey from his 2010 season.  I wore it both days at PiratesFest.

Then we went to the AJ Burnett, Dick Groat, Omar Moreno line.  I didn't have anymore OMLB to get autographed so I bought a pair of Chevy HomeRun balls for $5 that have the Chevy logo on the SweetSpot.

I got Groat and Moreno to sign the side of each of the balls and arguably my favorite thing of the whole PiratesFest was getting a chance to

throw up some metal with AJ

and have him personalize my photo from the day before.  The lady friend didn't like her smile in the photo she wanted to be cropped out of it before we got AJ to sign it.  Girls can be so self conscious sometimes.  LOL

After the autograph signing we headed home, but not before we stopped in Primanti Brothers and saw the Steelers beat the Falcons.  It was a great day for me.

For my girlfriend who's an Eagles fan, not so much.  LOL!

Smiley, Cervelli, Marte

Here's a recap of the free postcards signed by some of the players who were gracious enough to slip one as you walked by them.

Parker, Moreno, Oliver, Groat

The scan cut off the players names, but I wasn't about ready to rescan it because I am lazy today...

I also bought an 8x10 signed by Francisco Liriano for $25 also.

Seeing Red: AJ Parallels

AJ Burnett left the Pittsburgh Pirates for greener pastures in Philadelphia.  Although the location is closer to his family, it remains obvious that the money also played into AJ's decision to join the last place Philadelphia Phillies.

2013 Prizm Red Parallel

Many Yankees fans couldn't wait to get rid of AJ after the 2011 season due to his obvious Jekyll/Hyde performances issues.  I was ecstatic to add him to the roster right before the 2012 season started for a pair of subpar prospects.  I attended the first game he pitched in a Pirates uniform and remember the crowd booing and screaming no!!!!! when he went to bat for the first time and squared around to bunt.  (He had injured his eye during spring training bunting drills).  That game was a lot of fun as they shutout the Cardinals and AJ pitched exceptionally well while Pedro delivered the only RBIs of the game.

2013 Topps Target red parallel

That game felt like things were going to start to change and that Neal Huntington's plan was finally starting to come together.  The Bucs collapsed in September and finished 3 games under .500 for the 2012 season despite strong performances from the pitching staff and breakout performances by some of the younger arms.

AJ became a fan favorite and one of the best pitchers in the NL during his time with the Bucs and I was happy to see him regain his form with the Pirates that he had before heading to the Big Apple.

All the AJ Burnett red parallels were purchased for around a $1 a piece and I'm glad that I have a full page of AJs in my binder to remind myself what a small role AJ had on the franchise during his short two year tenure with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

My first AJ Relic

I really wanted Topps to make an AJ Burnett relic card in a Pirates uniform at some point over the past two seasons.  Unfortunately that never happened.  I really liked having AJ as a member of the Bucs.  He was extremely competitive and even when he didn't have his best stuff or felt like he was getting squeezed by the umpires, he continued to battle on the mound.  I'm going to miss AJ being a member of the rotation this year and think that he will greatly miss the defensive shifts the Pirates put on last year, which will inevitably make his numbers revert back to "normal".

Above is my first AJ relic I have purchased.  It features 8 members of the Florida Marlins Teammate Timelines.  The card is double sided with 4 members on each side.

The card also comes with it's own certificate of authenticity.

In light of bad AJ showing up at the mound today for the Phillies, it made sense to show off this 8 relic card...

Waiting for AJ

AJ Burnett had one of the best seasons of his career in 2013.  He became a free agent at the end of the season and the Pirates chose to not give him a qualifying best offer of $14.1 million to resign with the club for the 2014 season.  I can't argue the logic though.  AJ said numerous times that he would either be retiring after the season or resign with the Bucs.  The worse case scenario would be AJ took the qualifying offer then decided to retire midseason if he started out poorly.  This would leave the Pirates payroll in jeapordy and would have wasted an offseason where they sought out other pitchers.

No matter what happens to AJ Burnett during this offseason, I am happy he was a part of the Pittsburgh Pirates the past two seasons.  I got to see his Pirates debut last April and there was a buzz around the stadium that something magical would soon be happening in the Burgh that rainy day when he shutout the Cardinals.  He became a teacher to the Pirates young arms and was trully a leader in the clubhouse.  I hope that maybe one day AJ returns to the diamond as a pitching coach and helps lead future arms to become better ballplayers.

The above green paralle "Band of Brothers" 2013 Prizm card was grabbed for $2 shipped on ebay.  I'm happy to put it away in my Cutch collection, but think that I should get a 2nd copy for my AJ Burnett page too.

17 Reasons why Case Breaks sometimes SUCK

I participated in an ebay case break of 2013 Bowman Chrome and was highly disappointed with what I got.  17 cards, no refractors, no rainbow colors, no autos for $40.

I should have just used that money to buy a team set, a Tyler Glasnow base auto, and maybe a rainbow parallel or few.

I'll show the highlights of what I got first
1xGerrit Cole

2xStarling Marte

1xAndrew McCutchen

1xAJ Burnett

1xJose Bautista Bowman Rookie Reprint

Prospects
4xTyler Glasnow
4xMatt Curry
3xJin De Jhang

YUP!!!! This case break sucked!!!!
Just like losing to the Cardinals last night