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.

McCutchen Mailday #225: Steel Patch!!!!

This one made me happy when I finally added it the first time.

It makes me happier to add a rarer version.  The patches for Alvarez and Cole are super nice!  Cutch has just a bit of yellow and black patch on his plain gray swatch.

I've slowed down buying cards for myself as the year wraps up, but I would say that I accomplished quite a bit considering that I only want to add 100 new Cutch cards to the PC this year.

McCutchen Mailday #191 - 198: Some Massive New Additions to the Cutch PC

Here's a lot of some huge MOJO PC pickups. 

In my quest to add 100 new Cutch cards to the PC this year, I have become the go to guy for a person liquidating their collections.  This All-Star patch card from 2012 Triple Threads is fricking sick!!!!

In this lot is a group of jersey relics, triple threads relics, a rookie variant, a nice gold parallel, and this amazing manu relic from Gypsy Queen. 

How nice are these new additions?  If Harper becomes an MVP this year, it will feature the 3 most recent position players to win MVPs.  Braun 2012, Cutch 2013, Harper 2015?

I've been wanting to add a copy of this "Steel" since I saw it released in 2014, but never could acquire one cheap enough for my liking.

 Check out the tiny bit of yellow stitching on the grey swatch

My first die cut relic

Just your standard gold parallel from Topps Tribute.  This card looks beautiful in person. I'm going to build the rainbow of this card.

Another Cutch rookie parallel that I didn't have in my collection. This is the mahogany wood parallel from 2005 Bowman Heritage.

McCutchen Mailday #172: It's Real It's Real

I've been wanting to add one of these since the product was released earlier in the year and I made my large Cutch collection purchase from someone selling a bunch of their PC.  When it comes to jersey relics, I like for them to fall in one of the following categories before I purchase it.

It's super cheap that I want to purchase it

It features the Jolly Roger logo

It features a nice black and yellow patch

It has the MLB authentication number on it.

The latter was the reason for buying this quad relic of the Bucs superstars.  While the nice bit of patch on Cutch is nice, the MLB authentication hologram for Gregory Polanco was the main reason I wanted this card.

So after getting it in my hands, I did what any other person would do, I researched what jersey I had of Gregory's.

Actually it's not a jersey at all

I have a piece of Gregory Polanco's pants used on June 28th against the New York Mets. 

Gregory was 0 for 5 that day with 2 strikeouts.  This game marked the return of Gerrit Cole from the DL and he pitched awful in the first two frames, allowing 5 runs on 5 hits, 2 walks, a wild pitch, and several stolen bases.  After the 3rd he started to settle down, but not before recording his 4th loss on the year. 

The Pittsburgh Version of Noah's Ark

When I saw this card pop up for sale, I HAD TO HAVE IT!!!!

It features Gerrit "The Cole Train", Pedro "El Toro" Alvarez, and Mark "The Shark" Melancon with 2 nice patches from their throwback Sunday alternate uniforms along with the Jolly Roger sleeve patch.

Cole and Alvarez have had a lot of jersey relics hit Topps products over the past few years, but even though Mark Melancon has been a 2x All-Star and is currently leading the league in saves he has been absent from high end releases.

It's because of the Shark that I had to add this card to my PC.

The Pirates are going to be in the most important game of the season tonight, a win or go home for baseball's team with the second best record. 

Let's hope to Raise the Jolly Roger after tonight!!!!!

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.

Another for the PC!!!

I like to get slabbed autograph rookies of the Pirates players that I enjoy watching.
Hence no Pedro Alvarez!
I kid. (Slightly)

Gerrit Cole has been a force to be reckoned with this year and I was lucky enough to finally add this BGS 9.5 Chrome Auto to my PC.

It seems like Gerrit Cole is always being featured on ESPN or MLB's Sunday game. I won't complain though because there was a looooooong time that the Pirates never got National coverage games.

THE NICEST GERRIT COLE IN MY COLLECTION....

Well, I'm not sure if it's the nicest, but damn is this thing unique

Dual button relic from 2014 Gypsy Queen of Francisco Liriano and Gerrit Cole. Only 3 of these beauts were made.

McCutchen Mailday #84: Cole & Cutch booklet 1/5

Whaaaaaaat!!!!????? Another booklet?????!!!!!

I couldn't resist adding this 1/5 booklet from 2014 Museum to my collection featuring the top pitcher and position player in the Pirates new millenium.

It's my first DUAL relic booklet of Cutch I have added this year in my Quest to add 100 new Cutch cards to my PC in 2015.

Reverse Boxin' Museum Collection

With the complete debacle that was 2015 Topps Tribute being recalled, I quickly decided that I wasn't going to reverse box Tribute this year like I have done in the past.  Instead I chose to do another reverse box of 2014 National Treasures and 2015 Topps Museum.

National Treasures, despite not having a license, has been my favorite set to reverse box (as you can tell by all the posts I've made about it).  Topps Museum has been one of my favorite sets to chase high end cards on the secondary market year after year.

Museum had a large selection of Pirates to choose from in their product this year.  Due to overspending on some other high end items from the line, I went for the cheap route for these three cards you see below.  I managed to win all three for $38 delivered in separate auctions.

Everybody aboard the Cole Train...

This card had eluded me for nearly half a year before I was able to pull the trigger on one that was reasonably priced.  I can finally add it to the other 2 Pirates Notable Nicknames (Dave "The Cobra" Parker and Gregory "El Coffee" Polanco)

Gerrit Cole has truly turned himself into the ace of the staff and there ain't no stoppin the Cole Train this year. He will be on the mound today going for his 10th win of the year.

SICK JOLLY ROGER PATCH AND GERRIT COLE ON CARD AUTO!!!!

This card is without question, my favorite Gerrit Cole card in my collection to this point.  It's very low numbered (only 10 copies).  It's got an on card autograph.  It's got the bandanna for the Jolly Roger patch.  It features his Futures Game jersey.  Even the image of Gerrit without a Pirates logo of him, makes sense for how the card was designed.  Beautiful job Panini.

The back goes on to talk about how awesome Gerrit is in addition to authenticating the blue jersey swatch is from his 2012 Futures Game appearance.

Another Cole Train auto for $15

In the next week I will be showing off some absolute sick cards (many of which are 1/1s). Be sure to check them out and comment as you see them.

In the meantime here is a 2015 Donruss red parallel I grabbed for $15. Its low numbered 23/25.

Another low numbered Cole for the PC

Just a real quick post today to show off my newest numbered Gerrit Cole I have added to the PC.

Purchased for $3 is the 2015 Donruss Diamond Kings Stat Line numbered 59/138

Auto XFractor...Read All About It!!!!

I couldn't think of a better headline, so I'm sorry for the stupid title.

Even more though I apologize for lack of words on a title that says "Read all about it"

Here's my latest Gerrit Cole.  It's from 2013 Topps Finest and features a nice swatch of yellow spring training jersey.

It cost me only $17

Major Error on this Cole Train card

Gerrit Cole is one of the league leaders in wins this year.  His performance on the mound has been nothing short of incredible.  Last year he won 11 games and in early May he will attempt to get win #5.  Earlier last month I snagged up this low print run (only 11 copies) card commemorating Cole for his 11 wins last year.  This particular card is numbered to 5.

On the back of the card is where I get frustrated with Quality Control at card companies.

Notice the 2014 states that Cole won 11 games in 2014.  Well how come for his career, he is only a 10 game winner?
Donruss used Cole's career numbers for ERA, WHIP, and total innigs pitched correctly, but the Wins ,Loss, Games/Games started, Hits, BBs, and K columns they used Cole's 2013 numbers.

C'mon....get your shit together

MORE SICK MOJO GERRIT COLE!!!!

Yesterday I went to the Bucs home opener and IT WAS AWESOME!!! Gerrit Cole pitched an incredible game racking up 8ks thru 6IP. He ran into trouble in the 7th by loading the bases before recording an out, but groundball specialist, Jared Hughes came in to get a double play and pop out minimizing the damage to only 1 run. The Bucs offense was supplied by Buccos Blasts by Harrison, Alvarez, and a 2 run shot by Corey Hart. The bullpen's only struggle was by Mark Melancon in the 9th when he almost blew a non save 4 run lead. Overall though great pitching from Cole and the 3 round trippers is what gave the Bucs the win.


I've been adding more and more Gerrit Cole National Treasures cards over the past month.  The Notable Nicknames on card autograph continues to elude me, but I've added another sick On Card Auto and Patch of The Cole Train along with a Jumbo Jersey.

 Check out the beauty of that card!  On card autograph.  Sick patch!  Low numbering!

The Cole above is a lot like my Polanco I showed off in February.

As you may recall I was going to be adding as many National Treasures as possible until I ended up spending $425 on this product.  I've seen some people with sick boxes containing 1/1 bat barrels, but I have also seen some breaks that produced a lot of rookie autographs along with HOF jersey cards numbered /99.  I think I will get a lot more value out of my reverse box. Every card I have acquired is less than 50 copies.

Green and Blue: Gerrit Cole 4 card lot

Late last year I purchased a 4 card lot of Gerrit Cole 2014 Bowman Chrome Refractors for a ridiculously good deal.  Included in the lot were base, base refractor (/500), blue refractor (/250), and green refractor (/75).

I've been saving them to show off for this month.  I hope you enjoy.

Sorry for the crooked scan for the base, but it slid during scan and I didn't have the patience to fix it.

Cole pitched well in his Spring Training debut going 2 innings, striking out 3, and allowing a hit and walk.

The Final Card to the Reverse Box

I had committed $279 towards my 2014 National Treasures Reverse Box approaching my final card.  Each box of National Treasures features 8 cards for $425 with the guarantee of 4 autographs and 1 booklet.

I set out to do something incredible by not only adding some of the Pirates young future, but also remembering the history of the Bucs with Hall of Famers while keeping every card to less than 50 copies.

My latest on card addition is of future ace Gerrit Cole.  It's my 29th unique autograph of the former UCLA #1 overall pick.  It's my second Cole auto used in the reverse box so I kind of feel like I cheated a little, but my rules were simple.
1)Keep the box under $425 while following the standard National Treasures ratio
2)Every card must be a member of the Pittsburgh Baseball Club
3)Every card must be under 50 copies

Using those rules, I fully complied with what I set out to do and kept under budget by $131.

I will now use my $131 savings to see what else I can come up with.

EVERYTHING I HAVE ACQUIRED SO FAR CAN BE SEEN BELOW

Roberto Clemente bat relic 6/25

Willie Stargell Cut AUTO and jumbo bat booklet 7/10

Gerrit Cole on card AUTO and jumbo jersey 32/49

Jameson Taillon Jersey Patch 2/25

Gregory Polanco Colossal Prime Jersey Patch 14/25

Bill Mazeroski On Card Autograph Hall of Fame 2/10

Paul Waner Diamond 12/20

Reverse Boxin Update #3: Gerrit Cole Auto/Jersey

Last week I showed off an awesome /25 Roberto Clemente bat that would lead to me doing a reverse box of National Treasures.  That bat relic set me back $62.  Earlier this week I showed off an amazing Cut Auto and Jumbo Bat relic booklet of HOFer Willie Stargell that set me back $81.  It looked like I didn't stand a chance at making a reverse box for under budget.  Well, the most recent week has been very kind to me and I was able to add this Gerrit Cole Jumbo Jersey/On Card Auto for only $23 and made some other purchases as well for well under budget.

I figured I have $53 to spend per card to reverse the box properly and so far I have spent $166 on a $159 budget for those three cards so I am a little over still.  Rest assured though that I should AND WILL get this box for much less than asking price and every card will be /50 or less (something National Treasures can't guarantee).

The 5 remaining cards will have to be a guaranteed 2 more autographs and a combination of 3 remaining hits (relic, gem, auto).  I have not seen any boxes busted that contain 2 booklets, but maybe they exist too?

On another note, every card in my box will be Pirates centered (either through playing with the team, drafted by team, or signed by team at some point during their playing career).