McCutchen Mailday #60: Rookie Cup Manufactured Patch

I have won this card twice on eBay before and both times I failed to actually receive it. One time, the seller noticed after I won it that it was damaged by being covered in coffee as he was packaging it and spilled his morning beverage on it. He offered a full refund. The second time, I had received a different manufactured patch of Cutch in the mail and the seller said I could keep that card and offered me a full refund. I was happy with both sellers being honest regarding the card, but

This time though, I acquired it! And I Love It!!!

A Tale of 1 City

I follow the Pirates minor league system as closely as I follow the major league roster.  With the way the Pirates used to do things before Neal Huntington took over, you could get maybe 3 years out of a player before you had to say goodbye to them.  They were in fan's eyes what the Oakland A's are doing now (but the Pirates had about 20 more losses each season).

Now the Pirates have a competitive team on the field for 162 games a year and also have a very interesting farm system rich with right handed pitchers drafted out of high school.  At the head of the class is Tyler Glasnow, but right behind him are Jameson Taillon and Nick Kingham.

Kingham is repeating in AAA to start the year, but will most likely be the first guy called upon to make his MLB debut this year.  Jameson Taillon, the 2nd overall pick in 2010, is still recovering from Tommy John Surgery last year.  It's likely that he will make his minor league season debut around June/July with the potential for a September callup.

Both the cards above feature Taillon and Kingham with the Pirates AA affiliate, the Altoona Curve.  I won both cards nearly 4 months ago for around $10 each.  The Taillon is numbered out of 75 and hails from 2013 Topps Pro Debut.  The Kingham is not numbered and is from 2014 Topps Heritage Minors.

Happy 4th of July

My latest Andrew McCutchen manupatch hails from 2010 Topps and is numbered 56/99

2010 Topps Cap Logo Patch 56/99

It features a cap logo patch to celebrate 4th of July.  I grabbed it last year for under $10 delivered.

I originally had plans to head to Pittsburgh for the 3 game series against the Phillies, but with the engine on my car needing to be replaced, I decided it was more financially sound to stay in NJ.

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.

MANUPATCHES INVASION!!!!

Short on time today so just a quick post of some Pittsburgh logos

Up first is my favorite sport: baseball and the logo of the Pittsburgh Pirates

2013 Topps Andrew McCutchen Patch

Cutch is by far my favorite player to collect cardboard of so it's only fitting that I added another manupatch of the 2013 NL MVP.

Next up is my second favorite sport: Hockey

2010-11 Leaf Limited Nick Johnson AUTO Manupatch 54/299

It's been awhile since I added a hockey card to my collection so when I came across this Nick Johnson auto manupatch for only $5, I felt that I needed to pull the trigger.  Johnson was selected 67th overall in the 2004 NHL Draft (the same year that Evgeni Malkin was selected 2nd overall)

Jameson Taillon West Virginia Power Patch

Not long ago I showed off a Gregory Polanco West Virginia Power manupatch from 2013 Pro Debut.  I recently came across a Jameson Taillon West Virginia Power manupatch from the 2012 Pro Debut set and quickly picked it up for $17 delivered.  I'll admit time and time again that I don't like manupatches much, but when they feature the awesome logo of the WV Power, I'm going to pick them up.

2012 Topps Pro Debut Manupatch West Virginia Power (Jameson Taillon)

Even though he's having elbow issues, Taillon should be up mid season 2014 to help the Pirates continue to make a strong push for the playoffs.  I'm really looking forward to seeing what this kid can do.  It's hard to believe he'll be just 22 in 2014.

My favorite logo for the Pirates minor league system on a manupatch

Gregory Polanco might be one of the top 10 prospects in the game right now, but that's not the reason why I recently grabbed this 2013 Topps Pro Debut manupatch (numbered 59/75).

2013 Topps Pro Debut Manupatch 59/75

In fact the reason why I grabbed it was because of the logo of the Pirates minor league affiliate, West Virginia Power.  This logo is my favorite of the Pirates minor league affiliates.  It's a baseball making a Grrrr face wearing a bandana, gold earing, and top hat.  What is not to love of this?

For the price of a discounted blaster at a box store, I grabbed this manupatch of the funny looking gent that represents the Power and the Pirates' top prospect.  Sounds like a fair price to me.

McCutchen Monday: 2010 Topps Hat Logo

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.

I am not a fan of manupatches.  I want to be very clear about that.  But when a manupatch features my favorite player, the year after he should have won Rookie of the Year, well.....

2010 Topps Hat Logo 43/99

I'm willing to add a Pirates hat logo manupatch to my collection, especially if it's numbered to only 99 copies

Happy 4th Of July

I saw this Garrett Jones 4th of July Manupatch from 2010 Topps on ebay a few months back and had to have it for the $4 price tag.  I wasn't much of a fan of manupatches and am still not, but I think this looks nicely displayed with my collection.

Happy 4th Everyone!!!

#Let'sGoBucs!

Trading Post: Screaming Line Drive

I recently made a trade with Daddyoho of the blog Screaming Line Drive.  For a couple Phillies jersey relics and a few Flyers, I managed to get 3 nice Pittsburgh additions to the Treasure Room.

2003 SP Legendary Cuts Historical Impressions 175/200

Up first is the card that started the trade, a 2003 SP Legendary Cuts Historical Impressions Honus Wagner numbered 175/200.  It's a nice looking manucard made to resemble Honus' autograph.

On the back of the card is an interesting fact about how Honus ranked in the top 10 in the entire league in average, RBI, hits, runs, OBP, slugging, extra-base hits, and total bases over the course of a 11 straight seasons.  It also shows his career totals for his Hall of Fame career.

Once we started talking, we added more cards to the mix.

2002 SP Authentix Jersey Jason Kendall 

Included is this 2002 SP Authentix Jersey of Jason Kendall.  It such a shame that he suffered such a major injury during his prime cause he could have been one of the best contact hitting catchers in MLB history.  As it stands he finished his career with 2,195 hits and a .288 batting average.  That puts him 4th all time on the catcher's hit list.  4TH ALL TIME!!! Ahead of Mike Piazza, Johnny Bench, Yogi Berra, and Gary Carter.  Do you think that Jason Kendall will ever be recognized as a HOF player?  Probably not.  Mainly because of his off field problems with his ex wife.  And that's a damn shame because it would have been nice to see a Pirate I rooted for get his plaque in Cooperstown wearing the Black n Gold.

2012 Black Friday Sidney Crosby

The final card of the trade was a Sidney Crosby 2012 Black Friday base card.  I'm sure that since he's a Flyers fan, he was more than happy to throw this in since, well.....Flyers don't like Sidney and Sidney doesn't like them.  Why? He just don't like them.

Another completed nameplate

I just completed another nameplate of one of my favorite players.  This one took much much longer than I thought it would considering it's only 3 letters.  Jason Bay had a heck of a game yesterday, going yard twice. I wouldn't be surprised to Jason get traded midseason to a contending team looking for a right handed bat with pop.  He currently has 8 homeruns in limited every day opportunities.

I would still like to spell out PIRATES using Bay's cards from the 2007 SP By The Letter Signatures.  At least I now have BAY completed.  I'm not sure why the B is numbered to only 25 where as the A and Y are numbered to 50.  I see nothing different on the front or back of the cards to differentiat a parallel.

4/12 This Day in Pirates History

HOF Left Fielder Ralph Kiner began his career on April 12, 1946 for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  He would play only 10 years before his career ended early at the age of 32.  He managed to lead the league in HRs 7 years in a row, a feat that no other player in baseball history has done.  During his 8 years with the Pirates he hit 301 of his 369 career home runs.

In 1953 he was traded to the Chicago Cubs for 2 years.  Pirates then General Manager Branch Rickey stated "we finished in last place with you, we can finish in last place without you".

To celebrate this day in Pirates history when one of the greatest sluggers to wear a Bucs uniform made his MLB debut, I thought it would be fun to show off all my Ralph Kiner AUTOS, RELICS, and MANUPATCHES.

I've currently got 10 Autographs of the HOF slugging Left Fielder.  I'd like to have added 5 new Kiner autos by the end of the year.  That should be one of the easiest of my 2013 Collecting Goals to accomplish.

2012 Topps Golden Moments AUTO

2010 Topps Tribute AUTO/Bat Relic 20/99

2004 Donruss Absolutely Ink AUTO/BAT relic 53/100

2003 Donruss Signature Series Legends of Summer AUTO

2006 UD Ultimate Ensemble Signatures QUAD AUTO 19/25

2012 Topps Gypsy Queen DUAL AUTO DUAL RELIC 7/15

2010 Topps Sterling DUAL AUTO DUAL RELIC BOOKLET 10/10

2005 Upper Deck Class of Cooperstown AUTO/BAT Relic 1/15

2001 Donruss Classic Significant Signatures ON CARD AUTO 

2004 Fleer MLB Draft Edition Past Present Future TRIPLE AUTO 12/33

Triple Threads TRIPLE RELIC 11/27

2008 UD SP Generations Dual Relic (BAT)

2012 Topps Triple Threads BAT/JERSEY relic 18/36

2010 Topps Triple Threads Legends BAT relic 16/27

2007 UD Sweet Spot Classic BAT relic

2002 Fleer Classic Cuts BAT relic

2002 UD SP Legendary Bat

2012 Topps Gypsy Queen BAT relic

2006 UD SP Legendary Cuts BAT Relic 172/199

2010 Topps Manufactured Bat Barrel 25/99

2004 UD Sweet Spot Classic Patch 264/300

Patching up some holes in my collection

I recently picked up 3 manupatches for my collection.

The first is of HOF left fielder Ralph Kiner and is numbered to 300.  It shows the Pirates "P" along with a "TM" logo.  I like adding these type of cards from time to time if they are unique.  Adding 20 different "P" with the same core group of players though gets a little boring.

The card is very thick (138pt).  This is my first manupatch of Kiner with the Pirates current logo.  I grabbed it for $7.

I also grabbed another Pirates HOF player and quite possibly the greatest shortstop to ever play the game, Honus Wagner.  While this card epically fails in comparison to my T206 Honus Wagner bat relic card, it's kind of cool to get a logo patch of the Bucs from the 1903 World Series.  Honus was a key player heading into that 1st World Series where the Pittsburgh Pirates played the Boston Americans, but managed to bat only .222 with only one extra base hit and only 3 stolen bases.  The Bucs would lose the best of 9 series in Game 8.  The 2004 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic Patch is numbered 70/200 and cost me $10 shipped.  

The other manupatch I picked up is a throwback patch of Rashard Mendenhall from the 2010 Topps Football set.  It cost me $3 and is my first Steeler manupatch.

a Dodgers Hit on the PTR????

I've shown some Dodgers blue before.  But quite honestly the only reason I grabbed this card was because it's an auto of a current member of the Pirates that I managed to grab for $5.

Manupatch AUTOs were a great idea.  Some of them don't really make sense, like the one above.  Why is JAMES McDONALD signing a letter U?

The short answer?

I have no idea

But this card makes me want to spell out P I T T S B U R G H

James McDonald was traded to the Pirates in the summer of 2010 along with Dodgers prospect Andrew Lambo for a 1 month, 18 inning rental of Ocatvio Dotel.  Not a bad deal for the Bucs if you ask me.  I wish all the other Dodgers trades the Bucs made worked out like that.  Maybe they felt bad for sending us garbage in the Jason Bay trade.

The Pirates face the Dodgers tonight in LA at 10PM ET.  JMac pitched a gem yesterday giving up 1 run 2 hit baseball over 7 innings.  He didn't deserve the loss yesterday, but the Pirates bats didn't come alive until the 9th inning.  Hopefully the Bucs can get back to .500 tonight.

Trade Bait and First Impressions of 2013 Topps

I was at my local Wally World cause I was in the mood for a $5 foot long at Subway.  While there I decided to pick up a blaster of 2013 Topps.
I like the design of this year's set a lot.  I also like the inserts a lot more than of years past.
Everything below is for trade except the emerald Pence.

So there's some cool parallels and inserts available if anyone is interested. The Trout blue parallel is a pretty neat grab for a Wal Mart blaster.  I wish that my rookie patch card was someone besides Derek Jeter.  I'm really hoping to get the Clemente in my collection this year.

I didn't get anything too exciting in Pirate players, but am pleased  that I was able to get a few Bucs including the Batting Average leaders blue parallel featuring Cutch and the Calling Card insert of Willie "Pops" Stargell.

In addition to the 2013 Topps cards I have for trade, I also picked up a bunch of Japanese import cards.
I bought all these through my LCS which he said were from overseas. I'll highlight the Pirates ones I got tomorrow.

Kemp and Kershaw are on hold for Greg at Plaschke if he doesn't already have them.

These are really unique cards and are meant for a Trading Card Game similar to what Topps Attax was.

I showed the back of the Kemp (base) and Ruiz (WCB "insert") to show the size comparison between the two.  The WCB cards are more like the 1975 Topps minis found in Lineage.  
Let me know if anyone is interested.

On another note...I know that I probably owe some cards still. If that is the case, shoot me an email and let me know what I owe you.