Jameson Taillon Debut Patch

I've been waiting almost 6 years for this day to come.  I remember sitting in my small apartment on my busted up chair using my PC to watch the 2010 MLB Draft as the Pirates had the number 2 overall pick.  The 3 big names of the draft were all prep athletes.  Two of them have already become All-Stars (Bryce Harper and Manny Machado).  The third was the hard throwing highschool pitcher Jameson Taillon.  Man am I excited to see Jamo finally pitch in the big leagues.  I've had this card since August of 2013 patiently awaiting for his big debut to debut it.

This beauty was had for under $20!!!!!

2013 Pro Debut Patch 1/5

It features a large patch of the Jolly Roger from his 2012 All-Star Future's Game sleeve.  From the box score, Taillon didn't have a good outing.  He pitched 1 inning and gave up 2 hits (both doubles), allowing 1 run.  He didn't walk anyone, nor did he strike anyone out.  However he did throw 12 of his 17 pitches for strikes.  I remember watching the game and thinking damn, this kid is gonna be awesome in a few years.  He did an amazing job mixing up his speeds on his 4 pitch arsenal.

The back of the card has the normal small print text about not being from a specific season, blah blah blah.

McCutchen Mailday #29: Ginter Booklet Part Deux

Last December, I showed off a gorgeous 2015 Allen & Ginter autograph and prime patch booklet numbered to 10.  Another one recently hit eBay so I picked that up as well. 

The previous booklet (shown below) I had numbered 4/10 appeared to be the "P" on the Pirates front alternate black uniforms. 

This appears to be the top part of the "P" from the same uniform.

Another awesome addition to the Cutch PC as I have continued to grow it to record levels the past few years. 

McCutchen Mailday #247: Another Thr3ads Patch!!!!

I've previously shown off a Triple Threads 3D Patch a few weeks ago.  I've since added a second copy of the 25 card print run. 

This one happens to have the bat from the Jolly Roger sleeve patch on it, which I am always on the lookout for.  There's still a few more of these Thr3ads on eBay, but I'm probably not going to be adding anymore to the collection this year.

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.

Eye of the Peguin...

This is a card I have wanted for a long time and just never pulled the trigger on it.

It's an on card autograph of one the greatest hockey players of all time, Mario Lemieux.

After the disappointing end to the Pirates season last night, I am moving on to watching hockey.

Nothing like the Penguins logo and a HoF auto to cheer up this Pittsburgh fan. 

The Pittsburgh Version of Noah's Ark

When I saw this card pop up for sale, I HAD TO HAVE IT!!!!

It features Gerrit "The Cole Train", Pedro "El Toro" Alvarez, and Mark "The Shark" Melancon with 2 nice patches from their throwback Sunday alternate uniforms along with the Jolly Roger sleeve patch.

Cole and Alvarez have had a lot of jersey relics hit Topps products over the past few years, but even though Mark Melancon has been a 2x All-Star and is currently leading the league in saves he has been absent from high end releases.

It's because of the Shark that I had to add this card to my PC.

The Pirates are going to be in the most important game of the season tonight, a win or go home for baseball's team with the second best record. 

Let's hope to Raise the Jolly Roger after tonight!!!!!

SICK SICK PATCH OF KE'BRYAN HAYES USA JERSEY

I couldn't pass up this amazing patch for less than $15 delivered.

It's the "S" from his Team USA jersey and is numbered to 8/21 which just happens to be today's date.

SICK SICK SICK!!!! MAJOR MOJO!! GREGORY POLANCO TEAM PATCH

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 

used at an event and not a game.

At least Panini was willing to admit that.

SICK JOLLY ROGER PATCH AND GERRIT COLE ON CARD AUTO!!!!

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 dream of the Post Season....

The 2013 season was a magical season for the Buccos.  2014 looked like it would be an absolute disaster in the beginning of the year with the terrible start of the season, losing a few top prospects to injury, and the lack of proven depth in AAA.  As September comes closer to an end, the Pirates are still in a chase for Post Season play.

Pedro Alvarez 2013 Post Season Relic Patch 72/100

Earlier in the year, Topps produced a series of jersey relics called Post Season Relics.  The Pirates were represented by NL MVP Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez.  Alvarez became the first player in baseball history to collect an RBI in each of his first 6 postseason games.  Unfortunately he wasn't able to knock in the tying run in Game 5 when he struck out on an Adam Wainwright breaking ball.

It was just announced today that El Toro will likely be out for the rest of the season. Its unclear what his future with the Pirates is and with the emergence of Josh Harrison this year, the decline of Alvarez at 3B, and having a variety of cheaper options at 1B (Davis, Sanchez, Lambo, Bell) he could be non tendered.

One of my ongoing goals that started in 2013 was to acquire jersey relics of my favorite Bucs with a piece of the Jolly Roger sleeve patch.  This is my first Pedro Alvarez logoman relic.  You can see my others by clicking on the name below
Tony Sanchez Bradenton Marauders Jumbo Patch
Jason Bay
Joel Hanrahan
Neil Walker
Starling Marte
Andrew McCutchen
Andrew McCutchen, Freddy Sanchez, and Jose Tabata

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.

My newest Tony: Check out this SICK PATCH!!!!

This card has been a thorn in my side for nearly 2 years.  I have tried prying it away from the ebay seller since it first became available.  He put it in his store with a Buy-It-Now of $90 or best offer.  NO WAY WAS I GOING TO SPEND $90 for a catcher who hadn't even made his debut yet.  Well, finally after all the times that he has pulled it from his store and relisted and pulled it and relisted it, I finally managed to grab this incredible Bradenton Marauders logo patch of the Pirates backup catcher Tony Sanchez.  $30 is a big dropoff from the $90 asking price he's had and I am ever so grateful that I can FINALLY add it to my collection.

Wanna see something badass? JUMBO PATCH!!!!!

I recently made a purchase from the land of badassdom!

What happens in badassdom! Everything is exclamated! EVERYTHING!!!!

Velociraptors ride sharks while holding dynamite and uzis!

Badassdom is fricking awesome!!!

Oh and I get cards like this!

2012 Bowman Futures Game Jumbo Relic numbered 25/25!

eBay 1/1!!!!

CHECK OUT THAT CROWN!!!!!

This is my 2nd Jumbo relic of Jamo from the 2012 Futures Game, the other can be seen HERE!

You wanna see the back!!!

F YEAH!!!!

BADASS!!!!!

Another LOGOMAN patch???? Hells yeah!!!

Starling Marte was on fire to start the season and while he has cooled down recently, he's still a key piece of the Pirates winning season so far.  It's no secret that I love to add cardboard featuring the Pirates Logoman. I made it a goal this year to add 2 more cards to my collection featuring the Jolly Rodger.

I have already shown off my 2013 Joel Hanrhan Gypsy Queen logoman patch and my 2012 Neil Walker Museum logoman patch.  I also recently showed off as part of my McCutchen Mondays logoman patch a 4 piece jersey with Yoenis Cespedes, Reggie Jackson, Willie Stargell and Cutch.

Well now I can add Starling Marte to the list of players I have team logoman patches of.

2013 Topps Museum Starling Marte 49/50 AUTO JERSEY LOGO PATCH

MOJO LOGO!!!! The Jolly Roger invades my Jason Bay Collection

Team Logo patches are some of the most sought after cards available.  When they feature a grimacing pirate, they just look f***ing sick!!! Case in point, the card below...

2008 UD Premier Swatches 23/50 LOGOMAN!!!!

You can see part of the scowl of the Pirate and his gold earing.  The only thing that could have made this card better was if the Pirate was facing the right way.  Matter of fact, I think Jason Bay is doing his best impersonation of the Jolly Roger on this card.


Numbered 23/50, I grabbed this for less than the price of a discounted blaster.

McCutchen Monday: 2013 Topps Museum Primary Pieces LOGOMAN PATCH with 2 HOFers

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.

To see all my Andrew McCutchen relics, autos, printing plates, manupatches, etc ... check out this link.

Cutch has been appearing in more and more of the high end releases year after year and Topps has been making some really nice cards as part of their Museum Collection.  When you put those two things together along with a pair of HOFers and a Cuban sensation, well you get a really nice card featuring Cutch and a Team Logo patch.

2013 Topps Museum Primary Pieces
Yoenis Cespedes, Reggie Jackson, Andrew McCutchen, Willie Stargell
45/75

As you all know, one of my collecting goals this year was to acquire 2 more LOGOMAN patches.  I've actually added 5 so far.  This marks the 3rd that I have shown on the PTR.  The Joel Hanrahan 2013 Gypsy Queen Framed Mini Relic numbered to 10 and Neil Walker 2012 Topps Museum Signature Swatches were previously highlighted.

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!

1st Goal of 2013 COMPLETE!!!!!!

One of my 2013 collecting goals was to add another 2 cards to my collection featuring the Pirates Jolly Roger logoman.

Last month I showed off my Neil Walker logoman patch I picked up for a bit over $30.

NOW....

IT'S HAMMER TIME!!!

2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Mini Relic #6/10

NUMBERED 6/10

While Joel Hanrahan is no longer with the Pirates, he was a 2 time All-Star with the Bucs and was one of my favorites when he stepped up to the mound.  I'll still be rooting for the Hammer when he recovers from his season ending surgery and hope that his career isn't over.

This Hanrahan Gypsy Queen mini framed relic cost me $29 shipped.  Of the 10 copies, this is the only one that I've seen pop up on ebay so far.

FINALLY!!!!! Another logo patch!!!!

Last year I said I wanted to get cards featuring the Pirates logo patch of my favorite players.  So far I had a few Andrew McCutchen, one Jose Tabata, one Freddy Sanchez, and a Jason Bay.  Now I can add Neil Walker to that list.  One of my 2013 Collecting Goals was to add 2 of these to my collection this year.

I recently just won this on ebay with a submitted best offer.  There's another one currently on ebay for over 6 times what I paid for this gem.  Sure Mr. Jolly Rodger's face isn't very prominent in the patch, but we all know what it's from.  The card is number 14/25 and is from 2012 Topps Museum Signature Swatches.

Some stats you can't find on Baseball-Reference

Now that I'm officially back to posting once in awhile, I thought it would be fun to look at my Pirates collection by player.

I will state the number of individual unique cards of each player in my collection
followed by the number of autos, relics, auto/relics, manucards (patches/pins/rings/etc)

I will start with the 2 main stays of my collection: Andrew McCutchen and Jason Bay.
After this post I encourage you guys to leave comments about Pirates past, present, and prospects you want me to give a tally on.  I'd like to do a couple of these a week. 

Andrew McCutchen
Cutch is by far my favorite current player in the majors.  I've met him about half a dozen times at PiratesFest and Spring Training games and he is a really cool down to Earth dude.  I've gotten 4 IP autos (2 cards, 1 ball, 1 wooden sign) from him and hope to keep adding to my collection for many years to come.

Number of Unique Cards (base and parallels only): 124
Autos: 40 (2IP)
Relics: 29
Auto/Relics: 18
Manucards: 7 (1 Bat Barrel, 1 Glove, 3 Patches, 2 Silks)
Printing Plates (Non Auto): 8
Printing Plates (Auto): 1
Printing Plates (Auto/Relic): 2

Total Number of Unique Cutch Cards: 229

Here's some of my favorite Cutch cards

 My first white whale Cutch printing plate

 another 1/1 of Cutch (pre dreads)

 a sketch card AJ from The Lost Collector drew up for me as part of a trade

 A nice booklet with an auto and 3 pieces of patches including the U in "McCUTCHEN"

 The above card took me forever to track down

 Auto and a piece of the Jolly Rodger, yup that makes it a favorite

 see above for reasons why I like this card too

When Tabata debuted in 2010, he became a favorite of mine.  Since he got his contract extension, I have had nothing but repulsive feelings for the guy as he has become lazy in the outfield and terrible on the basepaths (caught stealing 12 times in 2012 compared to only 8 steals).  However I won't hold it against this piece of cardboard of my disgust of Jose Tabata for I love this on card auto of Cutch numbered 1/15

 dual IP autos of Cutch and Jones

 ok! This is my favorite booklet.  It's got Cutch's bat barrel in it for crying out loud!!!!!  Pedro Alvarez jersey letters and being a 1/1 help make it a favorite.

 metal frames and silver ink on card autos....it's no wonder this is one of my favorites

Nothing like some black chrome refractory auto goodness to say this is a sweet looking rookie card.  I also have the red refractor auto numbered to only 25, but for some reason I like the black more

I just love this card so much.  For some reason I just picture Cutch running from space aliens attacking PNC Park when I see this card.  That makes me smile thinking about it.

Cutch in a throwback uni with 4 pieces of jersey including one that is a patch and autograph.  Yeah! This card is fricking sweet too



Jason Bay
Jason Bay was my favorite Pirate before he got traded in that summer blockbuster that sent Manny to Hollywood and netted the Pirates.....Bryan Morris and a bunch of guys no longer with the team.  Bay was the first Pirate to win the Rookie of the Year when he captured it in 2004.  He appeared in 2 All-Star games for the Bucs and once with the Red Sox.  Since his release from the Mets, he's been picked up by the Seattle Mariners.  I will still cheer for Jason to get back to his glory days, but I fear that his career is coming to an end. 

Unique cards (base and parallels only): 147
Autos: 23
Relics: 57
Auto/Relics: 8
Manucards: 1 Bat Barrel
ManuAutos: 6 (1 Patch, 4 Letters, 1 Ball)
Printing Plates: 1

Total Unique Jason Bay Cards: 243 (total autos 37)

Some of my favorite Jason Bay cards include

A crummy sticker auto by Upper Deck with 2 nice pieces of patch.  I really like that the one is all yellow and the black has just a hint of yellow showing.  It makes me think of Wiz Khalifia's song Black and Yellow cause I know what it is

I like the manupatch on this card commemorating Jason for his ROY performance in 2004.  Not to mention that he has an awesome very legible signature.

one of Canada's all time HR leaders (behind only Larry Walker and Matt Stairs) was originally drafted by the Expos in the 22nd round of the 2000 draft.  He would later be traded to the Mets then to the Padres then to the Pirates then to the Red Sox...Then would sign a monster contract with the Mets only to be released and still collect on that contract while playing for another team (Mariners). 

 I just really like this photo.  You could say that this image is exquisite.

 Finally another on card auto of Jason.  The Stroke of Genius cards from UD Masterpieces are similar to Topps Five Star autos if you ask me. 

 Dale Murphy could one day be a Hall of Famer, although I personally don't think that he deserves it.  Jason Bay will never be a HOFer which saddens me a lil.

 Patches are cool.  I miss Upper Deck!!!! Their logo on cards just made me appreicate foil more than I ever did before 1989

  Penguins owner and HOFer Mario Lemieux joins Jason Bay on this card to show off the great city of Pittsburgh in this ITG release.  I don't know how authentic ITG products are, but with their big hits appearing in cases, I like the classness of it.

 A really nice Matt Holiday patch and a pure black Jason Bay patch.  I like the images used for both players too on this Ultimate Tandems card.

 I'm not crazy about Bay playing for the Mets, but everyone loves The Kid, right? Who wouldn't want a Gary Carter bat relic in their collection?  I sure as hell wanted one.

 Ok. This picture of JB is just a cool shot from the sides as he is getting ready to step up to the plate.  Having a bat relic helps.

 Holy Jumbo Patch with a bit of dirt!

 My only 1/1 printing plate of Jason Bay has to be one of my favorite even though it's for Topps Total and features the smallest image of Jason Bay I have ever seen on a baseball card

Finishing out my Jason Bay favorites is this 4 jersey Sweet Beginings Team Canada card.  I love this card as it's one of only a few Team Canada cards I have of Jason.




SO WHO DO YOU GUYS WANT TALLIES ON?
Current players like Pedro Alvarez and Jose Tabata, maybe even Neil Walker?
Prospects like Gerrit Cole or Tony Sanchez?
Pirates of Yesteryear like Manny Sanguillen or Dave Parker, perhaps even Bob Walk and Andy Van Slyke?
The HOF Bucs like Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Barry Bonds, Maz, or Ralph Kiner?

Leave a comment and let me know....