It's been awhile since I showed off some new Cutch cards. Every year, I get the crazy idea to start posting only green cards for the month of March, then realize I don't have a lot of new green cards in my collection.
Instead, I have been buying up more Andrew McCutchen cards in hopes to get my Cutch PC close to 1,500 unique cards by year's end.
Technically I already have 2 others of these numbered laundry tags, but I would really like to get all 6 pieces of the laundry tag to complete the set.
A few days ago I received a package in the mail from youtuber Brad8671. I have been a follower/subscriber of Brad's for over a year now and his videos (especially during football season) are extremely entertaining. If you're on youtube, go check him out.
Brad was showing off a few of his 2015 National Treasures that he had gotten in group breaks and mentioned "no one wants these" regarding the Jackie Robinson Tribute cards. Well, I quickly emailed Brad saying "I do I do" regarding the Andrew McCutchen he had gotten.
A few short days, this beauty showed up giving me my 39th unique card of Cutch I have added this year.
The back of the card discusses what game the jersey is from and how Cutch fared in the game.
Again I want to thank Brad for his incredible kindness in sending this card over to me. I will hit you back with some Dolphins stuff soon brother...
I'm nearing the 200 mark for adding new Cutch cards to my PC this year. The goal was to merely add only 100 new Cutch cards to the PC this year. I've added probably close to 100 cards numbered to /50 this year which is just crazy sauce. There's even more coming though...
I've shown off a bunch of 2014 National Treasures cards this year as I have reverse boxed nearly a case worth of cards.
This nice Game Used patch card features what is most likely a part of Cutch's jersey sleeve.
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.
Earlier in the year, I showed off my first bat knob to my collection. It was of my favorite current non Pirate, Jose Bautista. Today marks another Treasure Room milestone, as I have added my first button card to my collection by acquiring a 2014 National Treasures button.
I think at this point I have acquired enough 2014 National Treasures cards to make a case, but have only spent about two boxes worth on the product. Reverse boxes are awesome!!!
The same seller that provided me with a handful of amazing cards in my collection this year also had these two cards available for sale and the basic relic was a throw-in. I'm always happy to add Cutch relics to the PC especially this year as my Quest for 100 new Cutch cards is nearing the completion mark already into June.
A few weeks ago, I showed off an insane Gerrit Cole PC addition and today I am doing the same with another young core member of the Pirates team, Gregory Polanco.
Polanco has a beautiful swing at the plate and there is no doubt in my mind that he will blossom into a key piece of the Pirates future as they battle for the division year after year. He's been struggling against lefties in the majors thus far in his career and it wasn't until Joey Gallo's promotion that I realized something. Most lefties don't have crazy platoon splits until they reach the majors and that's because in the minors there aren't any dominating left handed pitchers. If you're a dominant lefty in the minors, you quickly ascend to the majors faster than any other player type.
This will likely be my last addition of Gregory Polanco to my second 2014 National Treasures reverse box as I have already shown off 3 other beautiful cards of the former top prospect.
While I love the patch to this Polanco more than the Cole I showed, it brings me such great disappointment that this patch was
If there is one thing I love to own, it's a 1/1 of my favorite players. Not just any 1/1s though. I'm talking Superfractors, Bat Nameplates, Letters, sick patches, etc... I've shown off some impressive 1/1s in the past Including 4 last week, but nothing compares to this bad ass card of my favorite current nonPirate, Jose "Joey Bats" Bautista.
This card is an absolute mammoth!!!
It's super super super thick and I don't even know what to say besides this video...
That video pretty much summarizes why Joey Bats is my favorite baseball player that's not currently on the Bucs (I bet that Neal Huntington wishes he could have that trade back)
Oh and in case anyone cares, here's the back of the card.
The Blue Jays are steamrolling now having won 11 straight games.
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.
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.
I had doubts about only one of the Pirates bats hitting heading into the 2015 season. Historically Cutch, Walker, Marte, Alvarez, and Mercer have shown enough above average offense over their careers to trust that trend continuing. In small sample sizes Cervelli has shown a high average over his career. JHey showed signs of brilliance last year and I trusted him to be a .280 - .300 hitter with double digit HR/SB combo. Gregory Polanco had shown poor plate discipline last year and I felt his swing was too long. Thus far, he has been the Pirates lone bright spot on offense.
I had so much fun with my reverse box challenge of 2014 National Treasures that I decided to take another crack at it. Same rules apply as the first time around. Grab a minimum of 3 autos, 1 booklet, and 4 other cards for less than the price of a box ($425).
To start us off, I have a Notable Nicknames on card autograph of Gregory "el coffee" Polanco. This card was originally a redemption only card and only a few have started showing up on the secondary market.
I am not sure how Gregory got the nickname El Coffee, but the way he plays is very energetic so maybe that had something to do with it. The on card autograph ran me $38 so my total spending limit on the next 7 cards can not exceed $387. That shouldn't be a problem.
To recap my last National Treasures reverse box, I have provided links and pics below.
2014 National Treasures
Cost of 1 Hobby Box: $425
Each box was to contain the following compared to what I received
1 booklet (numbered to 99 or less) - I got 2 (both numbered to 10) including a cut HOF auto
3 relics (numbered to 99 or less) - I got 4 (all numbered to 25 copies or less)
4 autographs - I got 6 (2 by Hall of Famers)
0 guarantee gems - I got 1 of HOF numbered to 20
My reverse box had an extra 6 cards in it and almost all my cards were numbered to less than 50 copies.
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!
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.
I grabbed this Andrew McCutchen because it accomplished several goals. It was one more card to add to the Cutch PC in my Quest for 100 new Andrew McCutchen cards and it was another card I could add to my 2014 National Treasures Reverse Box Challenge.
This beautiful game worn jersey features some staining and is numbered to only 99 copies and was won with a winning bid of $22.22. That's an eBay 1/1 kind of bidding right there as 22 is Cutch's jersey number.
There's been a lot of heat on Panini lately with their relic authenticity verification, but quite honestly I buy cardboard because I like it. The above logoless card is beautifully designed and despite the lack of P on Cutch's helmet or jersey, the company used an image that doesn't need a logo. The color choice for the Franchise tag on top fits in perfectly with the Alternate Black jersey the Pirates wear in recent years.
And to prove the authenticity of the jersey, we have a statement on the back that this is a game used relic.
If you haven't checked out my Reverse Box Challenge for 2014 National Treasures, click here.
Jose Bautista is my favorite non current Pirate. When I saw this awesome low numbered booklet (only 10 copies) with Joey Bats spelled out, I knew I had to add it to my collection for $11.
I've been wanting to add more Joey Bats cards to my collection this year and this is my first booklet of the former Pirate and former HR Champ.
I also pulled this card in a Target pack recently
If anyone has any Jose Bautista cards they are looking to unload...please hit me up!
My latest addition to the National Treasures bonus reverse box I grabbed is a stunning ON CARD autograph and HUGE 3 color patch of Gregory Polanco.
What I like the most about this card is the extension that Gregory did when signing the card. It will likely cause BGS to grade the auto less than a 10 because it's out of the allowed box he was supposed to sign, but I like that kind of stuff.
It's been a long time since I added a piece of cardboard signed by the Cobra. You'll have to go all the way back to October 2013 to see that post. I was able to meet Dave at this past year's PiratesFest and got a program signed by him.
My latest addition is a card that I aggressively tried to win on nearly a dozen chances and I kept losing it. I finally bit the bullet and bought one for $29 which is about $5 more than what I was willing to spend on it.
Notable Nicknames might be my favorite group of autographs from the National Treasures release.
Dave Parker may never make it into the Hall of Fame despite having similar numbers to Hall of Famer, Jim Rice. A great article was written in 2013 about the very similar career accomplishments by both. You can read the article on 30 year old cardboard's blog here.
When I was doing my 2014 National Treasures Reverse Box challenge, I was naturally looking for some nice Pirates cards to add to my collection. By adding autographs of HOF players Willie Stargell and Bill Mazeroski along with bat relics of Roberto Clemente and Stargell, a diamond, and some sick autos/patches of the Bucs young core (Cole, Polanco, Taillon) I was very pleased with my results. Fortunately I finished the reverse box challenge under budget by almost $150. What did I do with it?
Well, I am still adding cards...
Like this Cutch I picked up for $12 delivered.
It's my 22nd new Cutch card I have added to my Cutch PC since January 1st as I am pursuing the Quest for 100 new Cutch cards by year's end.
I liked this card because it has Andrew's full name on the card. Even though it's not numbered to less than 50 copies I am still going to count this in my Reverse Box Challenge results when I show everything off in the future.
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
I've been showing off some incredible cards for my 2014 National Treasures Reverse Box. The card I'm going to show off today is a true gem though (pun intended).
Randomly inserted in packs of 2014 National Treasures are gem cards of some of the game's greatest ball players of All-Time. Each card features an actual diamond or emerald inside the card.
For $45 I grabbed a Paul Waner diamond numbered 12/20.
The back of the card authenticates the diamond as real so I may have gotten a major savings on that. LOL!
This marks my 7th card of the reverse box and brings my box total to $279. That leaves $146 for the remaining autograph of my reverse box. HINT: I'M WAAAAYYYY UNDER THE AMOUNT.
Other cards I have shown already in my reverse box of /50 copies and all Pirates include
2 Hall of Famer autographs (Stargell and Mazeroski)
1 Hall of Famer bat relic (Clemente)
1 Hall of Fame jumbo bat relic (Stargell)
2 patches of the Pirates youth movement (Taillon & Polanco)
1 Jumbo Jersey Relic and On Card Autograph of one of baseball's top young pitchers (Gerrit Cole)
EVERYTHING CAN BE SEEN BELOW
