McCutchen Mailday #35-38: Low Numbered Parallels Galore

Quick post today, but I got a bunch of new Cutches in the mail the other day

 Up first are two parallels numbered to 99 or less.  The first is a stunning 2015 Topps Tribute Emerald /99 and the second is a /75 2014 Topps Chrome.  I'm getting fairly close to completing the rainbow for the 2014 Chrome.  I know that I will never the Superfractor though.

Up next are two 10th Anniversary Allen & Ginter cards.  The first is a jersey swatch and the 2nd is the black exclusive 10th anniversary base card. 

McCutchen Mailday #28: It's a Real Baseball!

The Andrew McCutchen PC continues to grow daily as today brought home another unique and awesome relic to the Cutch Collection.

Hailing from 2015 Topps Tribute Special Edition is this game used baseball from the game which Cutch hit his 1st career MLB Home Run.  The back details some of the game's events where Cutch lifted a 2 run Home Run off current team mate Francisco Liriano.

This is an awesome card and my first baseball relic to feature Cutch.  I have shown off a few other game used baseball relics in the past and I think these are some of my favorite types of relics.  If I had to rank them in terms of basic relics (not counting premium patches or bat knobs, etc) I would say baseballs, unique clothing (cleats, hats, etc), jersey, bat would be my order.

McCutchen Mailday #245 & 246: Steel Greats and another On Card Auto

It's going to be tough for me to cram in as many cards as possible as the year comes to a close and I still have Andrew McCutchen cards rolling in.  I made a huge purchase on Black Friday and when all is said and done, I will have tripled my goal to add 100 new Cutch cards to the PC.

My 245th and 246th new McCutchen cards added to the PC this year are a pair of high end hits from yesteryears that I previously didn't have.

Up first is a card that I have wanted for a long time, but never pulled the trigger because it would often go for over $100.  I was lucky to snag mine for well under that and add a nice home jersey swatch from Hall of Famer Willie Stargell, a batting practice jersey swatch from 5 time All-Star Andrew McCutchen, and a dual bat relic from Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente.

 This card is amazing in person.

Next up is another on card autograph of Cutch from 2012 Tribute.  This was the year that Topps had slabbed all their cards.  The seller had taken it out of the case and submitted it to BGS, but it came back with sub grades, which worked out for me as I added my near century mark of Cutch autos to the PC.

McCutchen Mailday #226: Feeling Blue (not really)

I've been buying a lot of Christmas presents between last night and this morning. My wallet and bank account have taken a pounding.

So why not show off something I got for myself?  My Cutch additions will be slowing down over the next few weeks as I begin to prepare for Christmas. I still have close to a dozen left that I've purchased this year, but haven't gotten around to show off yet.

McCutchen Mailday #220-222: A Trio of Relics invades the PTR

The Steelers have a bye week so no football cards today.  Instead, I will just continue to show off more Cutch cards that I have added to the PC this year.

A trio of relics.

I've shown off a few plain color relics of Cutch this year

This latest trio includes a 2015 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection, a 2014 Topps Tribute, and a 2013 Bowman Platinum Cutting Edge Relics

Nothing too fancy.  Just a smorgasbord of random jersey colors on some nice looking cardboard.

McCutchen Mailday #144-149: High End Low Numbers!!!!

Tribute, Museum, Triple Threads?

These are some of the highest end products released each year by Topps.
Add in some low numbered parallels from Panini and you have my latest lot of Cutch's I've purchased.

 Look how shiny they are!!!! 

Not a bad group of cards for only around $20
These 6 pieces of cardboard bring my yearly additions of Cutch to 149. 

McCutchen Mailday #111 & 112: more Relics!!!!

My Quest to add 100 new Andrew McCutchen cards has yielded some amazing cards this year.  While I can't classify these as groundbreaking I can say that I am very happy to add two more relic cards to my PC of Cutch.

 Topps Tribute used to be one of my favorite releases every year.  That was until they messed it up this year.

Diamond Kings, unlike Topps Tribute this year, completely nailed it.  I absolutely love this release.  Checkout that Studio Portrait of Cutch with dual relic action.  The dual relics are numbered to 99 copies.

McCutchen Mailday #79: Tribute Prime Pieces

I've been showing off a lot of high end Andrew McCutchen cards lately and that's because I purchased a massive lot from the same seller and made several payments to grab them all.  We are nearing the 80% mark of the goal being completed half way through the year.  Adding 100 new Cutch cards over the course of 365 days seemed like a crazy task.  What's crazier though is the amount of sick cards I have been able to grab this year.  If not for his terrible start to the season, I wouldn't have been able to grab all these high end cards for less than they would currently be going for.

Year after year, Topps Tribute is one of my favorite high end sets to chase after.  This year was no different for the base and relic cards.  Unfortunately the product was recalled due to many autographs smudging and appearing streaky.  For that, the cards on the secondary market have demanded a more premium value.  When I saw this prime patch available I couldn't pass adding it to my pile with the same seller that provided me so many other key cards to my collection this year.

McCutchen Mailday #74 &75: a pair of 2015 Relics

To celebrate Cutch's 2 RBI in yesterday's game, Im going to show off a pair of relics. This brings me to the 3/4 mark on my 2015 goal to add 100 new Andrew McCutchen cards to my collection.

Before the year started I decided that I wanted to do my yearly reverse box of 2015 Topps Tribute.  After the recall, I determined that grabbing just a relic of Cutch and a base card of Cutch was good enough for me.  I didn't have the desire to chase smudged Gregory Polanco autographs or tiny jersey cards of Gerrit Cole just to carry on the tradition of reverse boxing Topps Tribute.

Around the same time of winning this 2015 Topps Tribute relic, an Arch-type relic from Topps Series 1 was ending and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to snag them both.

Here they are in their separate unique scans...

I use the term unique loosely as the image is the same and the jersey swatch is practically the same too.

REVERSE BOXIN' 2011 TRIBUTE

I've been struggling to update my blog for the past week as my scanner hasn't been working. All my posts in the past few weeks were previously written and scanned.

For the past few years I have been doing reverse boxes on Topps Tribute. This year Topps recalled the product shortly after it's release. Because of that I decided to look at past year's Tribute products and make reverse boxes from 2011 Tribute.

I was fortunate to find this Willie Stargell dual jersey/facsimile auto for only $4.25.

A Pair of Grillis

My collection can be broken into a few categories
Flagship Topps Pirates 1952-2014
Super Collection: Charlie Morton
Player Collection: Andrew McCutchen, Jason Bay, Andy Van Slyke, Tony Sanchez
Pirates Autographs
Pirates Relics
Pirates smaller player collections
Penguins
Steelers
Pacers

When I am browsing the interwebs in pursuit of some new cardboard to add to the collection, I sometimes come across deals too good for me to resist, but deep down I know that I don't really need to add the card to my collection.  Such was the case for what you are about to see below.

Quite frankly I didn't need any more autographs of the former Pirates All-Star closer, Jason Grilli.  BUUUUUUTTTT this was toooooo good to pass up I said.

I already have a healthy amount of Jason Grilli autographs in my collection including the best on card inscription autograph of Jason Grilli ever along with a sweet sticker auto/jumbo patch numbered /10 for my Triple Threads reverse box.

Well for $7 combined and delivered I managed to add two more John Hancocks of Jason Grilli to my collection.

One is numbered /10 and features Grilli as I will always remember him (smiling and having a good time)

And the other is on card and numbered /40.

What do you guys think?
Was $7 worth it for more cardboard of a guy you don't really collect and already have in your collection?

McCutchen Mailday #5: 2014 Topps Tribute Gold 16/25

For the past two years, I have been Reverse Boxin Topps Tribute.  In October, I showed off the final card of that reverse box with help from Kate Upton and Jason Heyward.  I finished that reverse box for $85 under cost. Since then, I have been upgrading my base cards to parallels.  One such upgrade was this 2014 Topps Tribute Gold numbered 16/25 that I snagged for $12.50 in my Quest for 100 new Cutch cards added to my collection in 2015.

Gold parallels look so good with those throwback uniforms from the early 70s.  This is one classy looking card from the front.

The back talks about some of Cutch's accomplishments prior to the 2014 season in which he put up MVP caliber numbers for the third year in a row.  Last year was the first year that Cutch didn't steal 20 bases in a season in his six year career.  He'll begin his age 28 season with 128 career home runs and 143 stolen bases.

Reverse Box 2014 Topps Tribute...I might as well do it

Last year I made a 2013 Topps Tribute reverse box and it was a lot of fun.  To see all the cards I grabbed click here.

Earlier this year, I thought about making a reverse box of 2014 Topps Tribute because I thought I could get a lot of nice low numbered cards for under the value of the box.

I've already shown off
a few Gerrit Cole relics
a Starling Marte /25 autograph
a 1/1 Jason Grilli inscription auto

I had already committed $103 of the $225 for 2 relics and 2 autos (both low numbered)
That left me with $122 to add 2 autos and 12 base cards.

My favorite Gerrit Cole in my collection

Leading up to the 2011 MLB draft there was a lot of discussion about who the Pirates should draft #1 overall.  3 college pitchers (Danny Hultzen, Gerrit Cole, Trevor Bauer), 1 prep pitcher (Dylan Bundy), and 1 college bat (Anthony Rendon) stood out above the rest.  For me it was simple Cole or Rendon.  Rendon had a lot of medical concerns and that's why he dropped in the draft to the Washington Nationals.  I had zero interest in Hultzen and despite his high ceiling even less interest in Bundy.  If the Pirates were going to draft a pitcher I wanted one of the UCLA guys, Cole or Bauer.  Cole had a higher ceiling but struggled during the season.  Bauer appeared to be the pitcher going up draft boards strong as the season winded down due to his insane strikeout rate and win record.  The Pirates drafted the high ceiling former NY Yankees first round draft pick, Gerrit Cole number 1 and instantly became a higher prospect than the already highly touted Jameson Taillon.

2014 Topps Tribute Game Used baseball 7/10 MLB Debut

Cole made his major league debut and it was one of my favorite games of that magical 2013 season the Pirates had last year.  Topps finally got away from the "not specific game, event, or season" this year when they introduced a line of game used baseballs (all with specific MLB holograms on them) to indicate what game the used baseball was from.  Since this card represents such an important game for the Pirates, I vowed to one day at one to my collection.  Costing me $53.32 delivered seems like a lot, but now that it's in a nice magnetic touch case with a stand proudly displayed, I think it's worth it.

Once I had the card in hand, I decided to check out the hologram on MLB's website and found out that the hologram sticker used has no data in the current system.  Is it possible that Topps is producing fake relic cards?

Cole will made his return from the DL Wednesday against the Atlanta Braves in just his 3rd start since June 4th.  The Bucs need Cole to be a front of the rotation starter if they have any hopes of making the post season.  They are currently struggling mightly due to many injury issues, but thanks to some late inning heroics and an absolutely incredible start by Cole (7IP, 6K, 2 ER) they were able to pull away with a victory.  Let's hope that trend continues in the House of Horrors, Milwaukee.

Topps Tribute Thoughts and a 1/1 Autograph

Remember last year when I built a Topps Tribute reverse box? I'm considering doing it again.

2014 Topps Tribute 65/99

I recently just picked a very affordable Gerrit Cole jersey piece from 2014 Topps Tribute and remembered how much fun it was to build a reverse box last year.  The problem I'm currently facing is the big hits have already hit the open market and are selling for much more than I would have liked to grab them.

Last week I showed off one of the cards that I just had to pull the trigger on when it hit the open market.   It was a 1 of 1 Jason Grilli inscription Onyx auto you see above.

How fricking sweet is that thing?  Since last year's All-Star break Jason Grilli has struggled due to injuries.  He's also had to face Ryan Braun more times during that span and it seems that Braun can hit a HomeRun every time he faces him.

I also grabbed another Cole jersey relic for under $6 delivered.  So far, I've committed $103 for two relics and 1 auto (a 1/1 no less).  Each box retailing for $225+ includes 2 relics, 4 autos, and 12 base cards.  I should be able to complete a reverse box for under $122, but I'm not sure if I really want to.