McCutchen Mailday #89: Fireworks!!!

Due to the way the month is falling and the heroic effort by Andrew McCutchen last night/early this morning, I am going to skip around a little as I wind down on my Quest to add 100 new Andrew McCutchen cards to my PC by year's end.

This 2015 Prizm Fireworks insert was actually the 89th new Cutch to get added to the PC so I am temporarily skipping over 86, 87, and 88. This beaut ran me a cool $1.50.

Cutch lit up the Steel City in the bottom of the 14th inning around 12:20am when he launched a 2 run homer over the batter's eye to give the Bucs an extra inning walkoff. It is Cutch's 4th career walkoff and helped extend his hitting streak to 17 games.

Light it up Cutch!!!!

McCutchen Mailday #26: 2014 National Treasures Franchise

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.

Just another McCutchen Monday

Here's a card that I purchased a long time ago, but never showed off.  Hailing from 2013 Panini Select is this Staticians insert commemorating Cutch on his 194 hit season in 2012.

I grabbed this for around $2 at a local mall card show last year.

McCutchen Mailday #22: National Treasures Jersey Relic

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.

Football Sunday: Le'veon Bell Towel Relic

There is no single card that defines what I am trying to accomplish this month by making every card post PINK than this card right here.  NFL has really brought a lot of awareness towards breast cancer by fully allowing their players for the month of October to wear pink on their uniforms.  Panini decided to make relic cards of photoshoots wearing a pink Breast Cancer Awareness towel and randomly insert them into their products.

Numbered BCA7 and costing me $8 delivered is this really awesome Le'Veon Bell towel relic.

I drafted Le'veon Bell in the 2nd round of my fantasy football team this year and he has been an absolute stud for me so far.  Anybody else draft him?

Now for some Steelers boobs...

My first RussMart jersey

Since the Pirates signed Russell Martin as a free agent after the 2012 season, I've been wanting to add a relic of his to my collection.  There were many options available from his Dodgers days, but I was really hoping Topps would produce something of his.  The only relic that I know of though that Topps has produced of Russell wearing a Pirates uniform was this 1/1 Bat Nameplate from Topps Museum I bought last year..

Fortunately Panini was able to pick up Topps slack and produce this Jersey King in 2014 Donruss Series 2 of the Pittsburgh Baseball Club backstop.  The card above cost me just $1.99.

Russ has had one of his best offensive years of his career this year and will likely be one of the key free agents on the market this winter.

Cobra in the Mailbox: This is why baseball cards are fun...

Collecting and having a hobby should be fun.  It shouldn't consume your life or try to make a profit.

I collect baseball cards because they're fun to look at the stats, read the backs, and see nice photography.  In recent years though, a lot of that has gone away.  Maybe it's because, I'm older, but it doesn't seem fun anymore.  It seems like a job.

Then something like this insert set comes along and makes me feel like I'm 8 years old again and I suddenly fall in love all over again.

The backs are just as fun filled as the fronts.

If you're a team collector, player collector, or just like fun unlicensed cards check out the Nicknames inserts from 2013 Hometown Heroes.  There's a lot of fan favorites, under the radar names in this set.

McCutchen Monday: Thunderstruck!!!!!

My latest unlicensed insert of Andrew McCutchen comes from 2013 Select and is from the insert set Thunder Alley.  This chromed out card was recently had for a cool dollar.

I really wish that Panini could have gotten a license.  I would love to see the players with logos on their uniforms considering all the neat insert sets that they are producing in their products.  At least, they are using images of the players where it's not as noticable that they don't have a license.

McCutchen Monday: 2013 Panini Select Team

Is anyone else experiencing trouble with blogger not applying the correct times to posts?  The post I scheduled for yesterday applied this morning at 12:15am.  Oh well...

My latest Andrew McCutchen is an unlicensed card from 2013 Select that the seller greatly overcharged me on shipping.

For the low price of only 99cents I won the above 2013 Panini Select Team.  The seller decided to ship the item in a plain white envelope inside a toploader.  Call me crazy, but that doesn't seem like $3 to ship.   

A new Andy Van Slyke card

One of my 2014 collecting goals is to add 36 new Andy Van Slyke cards to my PC.  The first few weeks of January lead to nothing, but I finally added a new AVS to my collection.

1 down, 35 to go...

This recent $3 pickup hails from the 2013 Hometown Heroes insert set, Rivalry and is my first unlicensed card of AVS in a long long time.

If you're not familar with the insert set, it features players that played for rival teams during their playing career.  Past fan favorites like Lenny Dykstra (NYM and Phillies), Roger Clemens (BoSox and Yanks), Orel Hershiser (Dodgers/Giants), and many others are featured in the set.

Above is a scan of the back of the card.