Starling Marte Kanji

This is just an awesome looking card.

I have been wanting one of these Asia Exclusive Kanji cards.

McCutchen Mailday #105 + 106: a pair of Heritage Minis

I've been on a big Heritage parallel kick lately, trying to track down color swaps, Chromes, different backs, etc.

My latest batch of Cutch PC additions included red and green backs from the 51' Collection. Also included in the recent purchases was a Starling Marte red back.

McCutchen Mailday #69-71: Heritage Additions

I added the base cards of Cutch from 2016 Heritage in addition to the Action variant for $10 and couldn't be happier.

Also coming in the mail soon are a handful of Chromes and inserts.
The goal of adding nearly 400 new Cutch cards by year's end is actually on target, it's keeping up with the blog that's not.

Today is the 99th day in the year and I currently have added 119 new Cutch cards to the PC, but have only updated for the first 71. Stay tuned as many more posts are coming including some Grail like cards.

Just a pair of random relics as the year draws near the end

2015 is coming to an end and I have drastically cut down on my cardboard spending during December.  All said though, i managed to grab some incredible cards this year including nearly 40 1/1s of Cutch, several handsfull of Charlie Morton cards, and even some nice vintage i needed.

Here's a smattering of random relics I picked up recently. It's nothing special, but I do like the unique batting practice cap of Jason Kendall.

McCutchen Mailday #208: RUN PMC!!!! SICK LOGO PATCH

I just said a few days ago that I wanted to complete the rainbow of this card and this is one of the rarer of the different versions.

Numbered 2/3, this "Guarding the Alleys" three patch relic of RunPMC features a grimacing upside down Jolly Roger sleeve patch for the Marte part.

The one thing I don't like about this card is the old photos used for both Cutch and Polanco. Even though you can't see Cutch's dreads you know this card features a photo of the perenial MVP candidate used in prior years releases.

The Polanco photo features his 40 man jersey number (62) prior to being added to the 25 man roster and current jersey (25). Polanco debuted mid season in 2014. For such a highly noted prospect, he should have plenty of photos Topps could have used for this late 2015 release.

McCutchen Mailday #205 & 206: Sick Triple Threads All-Star Patch & Triple Threads Triple Player Addition

My latest McCutchen Mailday has a pair of 2015 Triple Threads that I am very excited to add to the PC.  Cutch has been the main focus of my collecting habits this year and I will admit, I have added way more cards of him than I thought I ever would own.  As I type this, it's only October 1st and I am looking at nearly a month's worth of Cutch cards scheduled to appear on future posts.  That's just insane!!!!

 Cutch has been an NL All-Star the past five seasons and has started in the past two All-Star games.  This year was something special as he hit a HomeRun in his last plate appearance of the evening.  To date Cutch has a triple slash line of .273/.273/.545 with 2 SB and 1 HR. 

RunPMC is my favorite way the Pirates set the Lineup. 
Polanco
Marte
Cutch
There's just so much speed at the top of that lineup.  The Pirates need a big bopper in the four hole that also makes consistent at bats.  Neil Walker seemed like a good choice to begin the year, but he failed to match his career offensive numbers in 2015. 
As more and more RunPMC cards start to show up, I am certain that I will be adding more as time goes on.  I'm likely going to try and complete the rainbow of this card "Guarding the Alleys" is a cool saying. 

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. 

Gonna be a Marte Partay

So...remember way back when I was making arrangements to buy some major mojo cards from a guy who hit big with the Pirates in Topps Museum.

Well, I added some more cards to my collection thanks to him being a generous guy and shipping this as a bonus card for buying so much from him.

I will take this all day, every day...

Thanks to Starling's walkoff Homerun last night, the Bucs magic number for the Wild Card game homefield advantage is down to 1. 

Let's Go Bucs!!!!

McCutchen Mailday #119: With Your Powers Combined I am RunPMC

When I was putting these cards together to scan I thought of Captain Planet.  I don't know why, but that line "With your powers combined" just popped in my head when I connected them all together. 

I could have very easily gone with the Voltron "Activate Interlock.  Dynotherms Connected" too which would have been much cooler than Captain Planet.

Anyway, I grabbed this group of Pirates Luminous Triumvrate along with some base cards and inserts for $19 delivered.   I've seen some of the individual cards sell for close to that amount.

What I like most about these is that the three players are all wearing the same uniform.  Unfortunately, Topps didn't do that with all teams.  The Royals, Mets, Marlins, Nationals, Cubs all have mixed home and road jerseys for their respective players.  I believe the Pirates and Cardinals are the only teams to feature players all wearing the same jersey for team sets. 

$6 Marte Partay!!!!

Stadium Club on card autographs look great.  I'm very happy to add this to my collection.

MAJOR MARTE MOJO!!!!!!

On Card Autograph
The letter "T" from Pirates
Numbered to only 10!!!!

Major F-ing mojo with this bad boy!!!!

Seeing Red: Checkmate!

It's been awhile since I showed off a red parallel on the PTR.
Bucs won against the Red Legs!!!!
And it was mostly because of this guy...

Starling Marte single handly saved the game in the 9th inning with his defense.
I hate the Reds

Throwin a Marte Partay in a Hippie Craze

Marte Partay

Prizm has some of the coolest color parallels each year. From Jackie Robinson's 42 parallels to Major Mojo Blues to America Red,White,Blue; Prism delivers each year. Despite the lack of logos, this year's newest parallel, tie dye, continues that trend.

Numbered 17/50 this trippy parallel on card auto of potential All-Star ran me 20 bills. It's my 20th certified autograph of the speedy left fielder.

Anxiously awaiting Stadium Club

Last year's Stadium Club was phenomenal.  The photography was great and the on card autographs were some great names.

I am really hoping that Jun Ho Kang or Josh Harrison get a Stadium Club auto this year.

I grabbed this auto of potential All-Star Starling Marte for $7 delivered earlier in the year. Starling made a game saving catch yesterday that got the Bucs back in the Win column after being swept in Washington.

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.

McCutchen Mailday #72: RUN PMC!!!!!! Triple relic of Polanco, Marte, Cutch

As a baseball fan, it's hard not to get excited about the potential the Pirates young outfield has together.  As a Pirates fan, it's downright thrilling to think of the amount of controlled years the Pirates have left of RunPMC (Polanco, Marte, Cutch)

While browsing for some McCutchen 1/1s to add to my Quest for 100 new Cutch cards in 2015 I came across this eBay 1/1 that had been on my radar since the products release.  Prior to the 2015 Topps Heritage card featuring Pops Stargell and RunPMC, this was the first relic card that featured Polanco, Marte, and Cutch together.  Many had eluded me for many of months until I snagged this bad boy for $40.

This unlicensed piece of cardboard is serially numbered 99/99 

McCutchen Mailday #50: Pops & RunPMC!!!!!

One of my collecting goals for 2015 was to add 100 new Andrew McCutchen cards to my collection that I previously didn't have.  I thought this would be a tough task as I would need to add a new Cutch before every fourth day.  I have kicked that goal's ass!!!!  I'm typing this on March 16th (but didn't post until April 29th) and have already added fifty!!!! Yes 5-0!!!!!  It's going to take me awhile to catch up on all these cards I have acquired in the past month using only 1 post per day.

So far in my quest for 100, I've added a handful of 1/1s, a plethora of parallels, and even a handful of autographs!!!!

To celebrate #50...you gotta party!!!!
A Marte Partay seems appropriate!

2015 Heritage Clubhouse Collection 7/10 (Stargell, McCutchen, Marte, Polanco)

Let's welcome Pops and RunPMC (Polanco, Marte, Cutch)

What a sweet piece of cardboard!

Gonna be a Marte Partay!!!!

Starling Marte has been hitting the ball terrible lately. It felt great to listen to the radio broadcast last night to hear that in the 8th inning the Bucs were having a Marte Partay after he clubbed a homer estimated to be 459 feet. What a shot!!!!

I grabbed this low numbered 2014 Donruss Power Plus autograph back in February for around $12.

The 2 for 1 Reverse Box Challenge continues...

With only $37 left to complete my hotbox of Pirates from 2014 Triple Threads I happened to grab another Jumbo Relic/Auto.  It's not nearly as awesome as the patch/auto of Grilli numbered to /10, but it features a 5+ WAR outfielder who is on the cusp of having a breakout season soon.

I grabbed this emerald beauty for $13 last year and have been waiting until my Go Green month to show it off.

The 2 for 1 Reverse Box Challenge for 2014 Topps Triple Threads is complete.

Base Cards
Alvarez, Cole, McCutchen, Polanco, Piazza (ok technically I didn't complete the base card challenge, but I'm sure I can find some cheap base cards to say I did it if I really wanted to spend the money just for trade bait.)

Parallels:
McCutchen (emerald /250)
Clemente (emerald /250)
Polanco (gold /99)
McCutchen (Gold /99)
Alvarez (Gold /99)
Alvarez (Amethyst /325)
*Cole (gold /99)
*Cole (amethyst /325)
*The Gerrit Coles will be shown off in a future post after "Go Green" month is complete

Rookie Autograph
Polanco (/100) 

Triple Relic:
Beltre/Alvarez/Sandoval "Hot Corner" /36
Cutch/Bautista/Cespedes "Pure" /27

Triple Auto/Relic:
Lambo (Emerald /50)

Autographed Jumbo Relic
Marte (this post)
Grilli (prime patch /10)

Unity Jumbo Relic:
Cole /27 & /36

Mega Autograph Lot!!!!

I've been purchasing bulk lots on ebay for the past few months and have been very happy with my results.  For $36 I added 5 autographs and a plethora of parallels from 2014 Bowman Chrome Prospects.
 I've been adding Nick Kingham autographs to my collection for the past year, but recently due to his success have been seeking out JaCoby Jones autographs as well.  However the 4 players featured above fail in comparison to the amount of time I have been adding this guy to my collection.

Over the next few months you will be seeing A LOT of Willy Garcia cards pop up on the Treasure Room. Why????  Well....I think he's going to be a special talent at the major league level.

In addition to the 5 autographs I also received 4 refractors of Andrew McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, Trae Arbet, and JaCoby Jones.  I included the back scans because there is a lot of cool information on the backs and the base and refractors look so similiar.

Want more?  How about a blue refractor (/250) and Gold Refractor (/50) for both Pedro Alvarez and Starling Marte.

Feeling blue that you didn't go after this lot?  Well this Harold Ramirez Blue Refractor will make you regret it even more...

Is that Purple Rain playing on your ipod?  Weird, here's a purple refractor of Fransisco Liriano

I think you're starting to feel green with envy as I was able to grab Green Refractors (/75) of JaCoby Jones and Nick Kingham...and yet you

Still want more????  Ok....do you like bubbles?
I grabbed this bubble refractor of prospect Ryan Hafner also in the lot

Individually this lot would have cost me up to $80 and I happened to get it for about half that price.  Pretty good deal if you ask me.