Another sketch card for the PC from Chris Henderson

JUNG HO!!!!!!!!

I'm going to try and get back to my roots a bit

Over a decade ago I used to travel the comic book convention circuit and get sketches from my favorite artists of some of my favorite characters.  Back then I had an insane collection of Gambit artwork.

As I have grown older and more wiser, I realize that a playing card tossing Cajun mutant didn't really relate to me anymore. 

I still love the Marvel and DC Comics movies, but I have become a HUGE fan of The Flash and Arrow TV series.  One of my favorite characters from Arrow is the villain known as Deadshot.

When I saw this sketch card from DC Comics Epic Battles, I knew I had to have it.  Matthew Sutton knocked this out of the park.

I'm currently bidding on a few autographs from Arrow Season 1 Trading set.  I don't plan to build the master set, but would like to get autos of some of my favorite actors/actresses from that show.

McCutchen Mailday #46: Artist Proof 1/1 Leaf Legends of the Diamond

If you've followed my blog at all over the past year, you know that I have purchased several commissioned cards from Chris Henderson.  Chris' work is fantastic and I highly encourage you all to get a commission from him of your favorite player.

During my search for more 1/1 Cutch cards for my Quest for 100 new Andrew McCutchen cards added in 2015, I discovered some *sick* *sick* *sick* cards of which I won several.  My bank account took a major hit one week when I added 4 1/1s in a 5 day span.

This is the first of which I added.

It's an Artist Proof from 2014 Legends of the Diamond  As Chris normally does, he perfectly captured the athlete with his realistic artistic talents.  It is signed on the front with a 1/1.

The back just aknowledges that this card is an artist proof from 2014 Legends.

The rarest Barry Bonds 1989 Topps you will ever see

1989 Topps isn't known for their scarcity.  That's a simple fact.  However, a few years ago Topps opened their vault to some error cards that were produced and Chris Henderson, who has worked for Topps on projects such as Allen & Ginter Highlight sketches got a large amount of the misprint blank front cards and has been doing sketches on them through his ebay site.

I've previously had Chris do several commission sketches for me (Morton, Marte, McCutchen) and thought this was a perfect opportunity to purchase an extremely unique (1/1 sketch) of the HomeRun king on his actual 1989 Topps card.

Here's the sketch Chris came up with

What a great image of a presteroids Bonds.

If you're interested in purchasing some of his work, please be sure to visit his ebay site

Grill Cheese is Toast

Over the course of 2014 I added several Chris Henderson sketch cards to my collection.  For those that don't know Chris' work, he has done Allen & Ginter Highlight Sketches, some Rittenhouse sketch cards, among many other sketch cards for various companies.

Chris has an uncanny ability to capture the athlete perfectly in time and recreate it on a tiny trading card.  Need proof of his majestic prowess with art supplies, check out the Travis "I just got suckered punch in the eye" Snider.

I've had this sketch card in my collection for many months, but with the announcement earlier in the offseason of Grilli going to my hated Atlanta Braves, I felt now was a good time to show it off.  It's not like the other sketches I've gotten from Chris because this one is vertical compared to Morton, Marte, McCutchen, Cole, Martin, and Walker.

Even though Grilli was one of my favorite relievers to ever put on a Buccos uniform, I can't cheer for him in a Braves uniform.  I absolutely loathe the Braves.

The Sickest Sketch Card EVER!!!!

I've been showing off some amazing sketch cards that Chris Henderson has done for me over the past year.  One of my latest is by far his best sketch to date, at least in my opinion.

This 1/1 sketch card is of Travis "Lunchbox" Snider.  I asked Chris to draw one of the most memorable moments from the Pirates 2014 season which happened on Easter Sunday when Carlos Gomez of the Brewers started a bench clearing brawl with the Bucs that resulted in Travis Snider being sucker punched in the eye by Martin Maldonado.  Emotions got the best of both teams and Russell Martin came to his Pirates teammate's support by suggesting that Maldonado get pinned down while Snider sucker punched him.

Snider went on to play in games after the Easter brawl sporting a black eye.  His season was by far his best of his career posting a 2.1 WAR in limited appearances.  He set career highs in batting average and on base percentage and fell only 1 HR shy of his career mark.  Snider looks to be the 4th outfielder next season as it has all but guaranteed that Gregory Polanco will be the starting right fielder for the coming season.  I would like to see Snider take some reps at 1st Base to improve his ability to come off the bench.  He'll only be 27 to start the year so there is still hope for a breakout campaign similar to Josh Harrison's performance last year.

November 28th: In Memory of My Friend

A few years ago on this date, a dear friend of mine and extremely talented artist Josh Medors passed away.

Josh drew this during his battle with cancer on a piece of cardboard to raise money for the March of Dimes.  I miss Josh not only for his talent but also the strength he showed while battling through the pain.

Throwback Thursday: 800th Post Mazeroski Sketch & AUTO!!!!

For my 800th post, I wanted it to be something impressive!!!!
Something that made people say "Woah that's cool"

A 1 of 1 sketch card and autograph of Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski, ought to do the trick.  I have been keeping my eyes on these Leaf Masterworks sketch cards for a long time.

As some of you may know, I used to collect comic books and spent a lot of weekends attending the comic book convention circuit in the summers.  While attending the events I would often spend a lot of time and money chatting up the artists to get sketches of my favorite characters.

When I got back into the sports card collector market, I still had a fixation on sketch cards as you can tell by all the Chris Henderson sketches I've gotten in the past year.

This great image of a happy Maz (even though logoless) complete with a sticker auto of the Hall of Fame secondbaseman and 8 time gold glove winner was just too beautiful of a card to not add to my permanent collection in the Treasure Room.

Thank you to everyone that reads my blog over the past 800 posts.  It's been fun interacting with you all.

Russell Martin sketch card by Chris Henderson

It's time to deliver another great sketch card by Chris Henderson.  Chris does some of the best sketch cards I have ever seen.  They truly are works of art.  

My latest addition is none other than the player who has the highest Free Agent contract ever issued by the Pittsburgh Pirates, the sensational backstop that helped the Pirates get back to .500, the former Gold Glove and All-Star Catcher Russell Martin.

Like all of Chris' sketch cards, these are 1/1s that feature an uncanny likeness of the player depicted.  This one of course features Russ before his scruffy I'm not going to shave all season long look.

When I initially set this up, I asked for two things from Chris.
1) That he uses the black alternate uniform to keep it consistent with the other sketch cards he's drawn for me (Morton, Marte, McCutchen, Cole)
2) That Russ is shown with his mask off getting ready to gun down a runner attempting to steal

I will continue to hit Chris up throughout this year and next for more Pirates sketches and most likely some Penguins and Steelers.  If you're interested in arranging to purchase something from his website visit his site.  Let him know that Brian, the Pirates fan sketch collector sent you.  Information can be found on his website below.

Gerrit Cole sketch card 1/1

Over the past year I have shown off several original 1/1 sketch cards by the incredibly talented Chris Henderson. Here's some of the other sketches that Chris has done for me (Morton, Marte, McCutchen)
Chris's ebay store

Last night Gerrit Cole struggled in the early innings but went on to dominate the next 5 retiring all 17 of the last 17 batters he faced. The Bucs are going back to the PostSeason!!!!!

Football Throwback Thursday: Jack Lambert Sketch on a 1984 Topps Card

This is it!!! Football season is back and the Pirates are still relevant.  This is one of my favorite times of the year.  .

I really like the Steelers chances of making the Post Season this year.  They started out 0-4 which hurt their chances of the playoffs, but came on strong at the end of the year and were just a Kansas City Chiefs field goal kick away from making the Playoffs.

I've shown off some incredible Chris Henderson hand drawn sketch cards in the past.  He's drawn some of my favorite current Pirates players including Neil Walker, Charlie Morton, Andrew McCutchen, and Starling Marte.  Chris continued the tradition of great artwork by buying a bunch of old Topps blank front error cards from the Topps Vault and drawing sketches on them.  He had a ton of 1980s stars for sale a few months back including Ozzie Smith, Dan Marino, George Brett, Barry Bonds, and many more.

I came across this beautiful hand drawn 1984 Topps blank front Jack Lambert that Chris drew an intense image of the Hall of Fame Linebacker on the front.  I've praised Chris' artwork many many times but this is just insane the amount of detail he crammed into a tiny card.

The back of the sketch card is an actual 1984 Topps Jack Lambert card that was miscut and used as a proof.

I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE ANY OF YOU TO CHECK OUT CHRIS' ARTWORK AND COMMISSION HIM TO DRAW YOUR FAVORITE ATHLETE.  YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.

I'm off to root for the Steelers to beat those damn Ravens.

Neil Walker sketch card by Chris Henderson

Despite the tough loss and sweep the Pirates suffered today, Neil Walker had a great game at the plate today going 3 for 3.  He's putting up career highs at the plate this year despite several extended periods of time missed due to injury.

Because Neil Walker is a favorite of mine, I wanted Topps sketch card artist Chris Henderson to commission a sketch card for me of the Pittsburgh Kid.

I've shown off some Chris Henderson sketch cards in the past, but I think this may be his best yet.
Here's some of the other sketches that Chris has done for me (Morton, Marte, McCutchen)
If you're interested in purchasing some of Chris' artwork be sure to visit his ebay store

YES!!!!!! ANOTHER 1 OF 1 SKETCH CARD!!!!

It took awhile to finally show, but
as promised

It's another 1/1 sketch card

I've previously shown off sketches of
Starling Marte
Andrew McCutchen

I'm hoping to make arrangements for some other Bucs

McCutchen Monday: Chris Henderson sketch

Back in March I showed a 1/1 original hand drawn sketch card of Starling Marte drawn by the extremely talented Chris Henderson.  I mentioned how Chris has done work with Topps Allen & Ginter and many numerous companies.  During the time I purchased the Marte from Chris, I also set up two commissions.  This is the first of those two.

This sketch card rocks!!!!

Any ideas who the other player is I asked for a sketch of?

Sketch Card Art: Starling Marte by Chris Henderson

I used to attend comic conventions and collected sketches of my favorite comic book artists.  I got a chance to get some really amazing sketches from guys like Jim Lee, Michael Turner, Joe Quesada, Steve McNiven, Jim Cheung, Marc Silvestri, and many many more.  The urge of collecting comic books has since waded, but I still can't turn my eye away from great looking artwork.

While browsing ebay, I came across this 1 of 1 sketch card from Chris Henderson.  Chris has previously worked for Topps by doing the Allen & Ginter Highlight Sketches we all chase in our pursuit for complete sets every year.  

I recently set up two commissions with Chris of some other Pittsburgh favorites of mine.  You will be seeing them in the near future and they are just mind blowing with the detail he put into them.

It seems appropriate that with the announcement of Starling Marte signing a very team friendly extension (6 years/ $31 million) to post the above card.  Starling has long been one of my favorite players ever since he was playing for the AA Altoona Curve and offered me a cracked bat.  Sometimes he can be frustrating at the plate when he's struggling, but for the most part, he's out there hacking at pitches trying to find anyway possible to get on base to let the other guys behind him drive him in.  I think that he has 20+HR potential and will often be in the hunt to win the NL stolen base title.  He doesn't walk a lot, but isn't afraid to be hit by pitches either.  His glove work though is where he shines as he, in only his first season, was nominated for a gold glove in left field.  I'm excited to have Marte and McCutchen patrolling the outfield together through the 2019 season.