McCutchen Mailday #380-387: Sick Sick Patches!!!

I got in 8 packages today loaded with some sick amazing patches of my main PC player. I also added 2 more 1/1 printing plates.

This concludes all the McCutchen cards I was expecting to receive by year's end. I set out with a goal to add 100 new Cutch cards, but in the end, it ended up being nearly 4 times that. 

Unfortunately, my scanner isn't working so I had to take a picture with my phone. I will provide actual scans next year once I can get the scanner working again.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy new year. My girlfriend and I are living above a pub now so we can save up for a house. It's a little noisy, but at least we should never get in trouble driving from a bar.

I will post a recap of how I did with my 2015 goals tomorrow, but it was a successful year for my cardboard collection.

McCutchen Mailday #225: Steel Patch!!!!

This one made me happy when I finally added it the first time.

It makes me happier to add a rarer version.  The patches for Alvarez and Cole are super nice!  Cutch has just a bit of yellow and black patch on his plain gray swatch.

I've slowed down buying cards for myself as the year wraps up, but I would say that I accomplished quite a bit considering that I only want to add 100 new Cutch cards to the PC this year.

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. 

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!!!!!

McCutchen Mailday #110: A Trio of All-Stars

Jason Grilli and Pedro Alvarez were once some of my favorite Pirates.
I still like both as professional athletes, but seeing how many games Pedro's defense has nearly cost the team is wearing thin with me as a fan.

I have already completed my quest for 100 new Cutch cards, but I don't intend to stop adding more cards of Cutch as the year winds down.

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 #29: 2014 All-Star Stictches

The first 2 months of the new year saw me add an average of 15 new McCutchen cards per month (well ahead of my estimated goal of 9 per month).  I've been trying my hardest to get the blog up to date, but events like my Go Green event through St. Patty's Day delayed showing off more Cutch cards than I could have.

I received this card on the last day of February and it marks my 29th unique NEW addition to my Cutch PC.  My pursuit to add 100 new Cutch cards by year's end seems like it won't be a problem at all.

I picked up this card for 2 reasons.

2014 Topps All-Star Stitches 5/25

1) I love getting Cutch All-Star jersey relics

2) Since I am primarily a team collector, I don't usually add cards of some of the game's best players unless they appear on a card with Cutch.  Adding a jersey of Yasiel Puig was a nice addition.  I could certainly do without that piece of $#&@ Carlos Gomez on the card though.  

Carlos Gomez is my least favorite player in baseball today in case you weren't already aware.

Triple Threads 2 Box Reverse Challenge featuring a Zoo

I've been putting together 2 reverse boxes of Topps Triple Threads for the price of 1 over the past several months and just got my second triple relic in.  It features 3 thirdbasemen that have all recently been all-stars.

Among them is possible future Hall of Famer Adrian Beltre, current Pirates slugger Pedro Alvarez, and recent Boston acquired 3B Pablo Sandoval.  If only Beltre had a cool Animal Nickname like El Toro or The Panda this card would be really awesome especially if it spelled out "The Zoo" instead of Hot Corner.

This recent addition cost me $8 delivered and brings my reverse 2 for 1 box challenge to $91 and need only a handful of base/parallel cards, 1 Auto/Jumbo Relic, and 1 Triple Relic/Auto.  I recently grabbed a triple relic/auto for a fair price so I think that I will be able to successfully build 2 boxes for the price of 1 easily.

McCutchen Monday with Special Guests Jose Bautista and Yoenis Cespedes

I've been showing off a fair amount of 2014 Topps Triple Threads as I attempt to do a reverse box for nearly half the price of a box.  Today's addition ran me $25 delivered bringing my grand total to $77 and needing only 2 base cards and a jumbo relic.  These boxes sell for typically $150 so I'm a little over budget as of now if I want to complete 2 boxes for the price of 1

2014 Triple Threads 3/27 Bautista, McCutchen, Cespedes

I really like this card a lot with the exception of the Cespedes bat relic.  I understand that he's a popular player, but his appearance on this card kind of spoils the card for me.  Bautista and McCutchen are two of my favorite players in the game today and Cutch could very well be my favorite player ever by the time his career is over.  Cespedes does absolutely nothing for me.  I think he's a good ballplayer with a great arm and some serious pop in his bat.  I just have no emotional ties to the young Cuban outfielder.

Football Sunday: Go Steelers!!!!!

Just a quickie for today so that I can show off a super sweet Antonio Brown patch card I grabbed for $30.

Numbered to only 25 copies from National Treasure this card features three colors spelling out Steelers. Shortly after purchasing this card it was revealed that Panini was using event worn patches on game used described cards. This doesn't really bother me too much because ultimately I value the card at what it looks like, if it will stand out in my collection, and how much I collect the player. Since I don't have any Antonio Brown patches despite being an elite receiver and one of my favorite players, I thought $30 for this card was fair value.

Reverse Boxin' TTT

No today's post isn't some new sport featured on ESPN, it's another step closer to doing a reverse box of 2014 Topps Triple Threads.  Last year I started with a reverse box of 2013 Topps Tribute and continued that to this year with a 2014 Topps Tribute which I completed in October with 2 pink parallels (Didi Gregorious and Jason Heyward).

Earlier in the week I stated that I would reverse box a 2014 Topps Triple Threads starting with my Jason Grilli Jumbo Patch Autograph numbered to 10.  That card ran me $15 so if you're keeping track that left me $135 to go after the remaining 13 cards.  Not bad odds for completing a reverse box.

Well as I was browsing ebay I came across a seller who had several Pirates base cards, 2 Pedro Alvarez parallels, and an Andrew Lambo triple relic autograph numbered to 50.  What the heck...why not go for this large lot to help knock off some of the cards.  It ended up costing me $26 delivered but brings me to need only 2 base cards, 2 parallels, and 2 more hits with over $100 to spare.  Needless to say though I will likely take away a Pedro Alvarez base as I hopefully will not pull any doubles in a box that contains only 14 cards.

Here's the lot

2014 Triple Threads 8/50 AUTO/RELIC

Despite seeming like Lambo has been in the minors trying to break through for that breakout season at the major league level, Lambo is still just 25 years old.  I have high expectations for Lambo and think that he could be a better defender and contact hitter than Pedro Alvarez at 1B, plus he can play a corner outfield position.  I think that he will most certainly make the team next year and will likely win the starting 1B role midseason similiar to how Josh Harrison won the 3B role when Alvarez struggled.  Does this mean that I am giving up on Alvarez in the organization?  No actually.  I think Alvarez will return to 3B and Harrison will become a super utility guy again.

The other base cards in the lot were 2 Alvarez, 1 Cole, and 1 McCutchen.  As I said above I think I will most certainly replace one of the Alvarez base with either Polanco or Clemente.

2014 Triple Threads Gold 96/99 and Amethyst 236/325

As for the parallels I added the 2 Pedro Alvarez parallels because they were part of the lot.  Again though, expect one of these to not count towards the reverse box because even though it's a different parallel (amethyst and gold) I would like to get different players parallels too.

Speed Demons: My 1st Rickey Henderson Relic featuring Cutch and Crawford

I love to watch athletic ballplayers.  Sure watching guys just crush the ball into the upper decks is fun, but nothing is more exciting than watching a game where it's the 9th inning with 2 outs and one of the fastest players in the game is on base.  Seeing some of the Pirates recent speedsters like Cutch and Marte motoring around the bases is incredible to watch.  However, no one will ever compare to what Rickey Henderson was able to do.  Even at the age of 39, Rickey was still able to swipe 66 bags.  He's the all-time leader in stolen bases with 1,406.  The next closest, Lou Brock, has almost 500 less than him.

2011  Topps Triple Threads Triple Jersey Relic (Henderson, Crawford, McCutchen) Sepia 7/27

When I saw this card hit the market a few years ago, I swore one day I would own it, but never for the $50 price tages I was seeing attached to it at the time of it's release.  For $30, I finally broke down and purchased it, not knowing how soon I would see another.  While I can guarantee I would NEVER buy a jersey relic of Crawford $10, I am ok with Rickey and Cutch for those prices.  The low numbering (7/27) and featuring the "greatest all time" in Rickey makes it worth it though.

The Pirates face off against the Reds in a three game series before having to face them again in the 1 game Wild Card game.  Hopefully the Pirates can keep that speed demon Billy Hamilton off the bases.

This card is Nails!

Another Pirates fan has been selling off a large part of his Jason Bay collection over the past several months and I've been snatching the cards up left and right.  I've already shown off several of my other cards from the same seller and recently won this triple jersey relic of Jason Bay, Nick Swisher, and Lenny Dykstra for $3.99.  $4 for a triple jersey relic numbered to only 50 copies.  How could I go wrong?

2005 UD Generations of Materials 34/50

Earlier in the year, I managed to complete my Jason Bay partner project idea which I had 38 unique players on a card with Jason on either an auto or relic card.  I've decided to up that project and make a goal of 38 unique players on just a relic card by the end of 2014.  Here's a list of the players I have relic cards with Jason Bay.

Albert Pujols
Alex Rios
Alfonso Soriano
Andruw Jones
Bill Madlock
Bobby Crosby
Carlos Lee
Craig Wilson
David Wright
Edgar Martinez
Erik Bedard
Freddy Sanchez
Gary Carter
Jacoby Ellsbury
JD Drew
Jose Castillo 
Justin Morneau
Ken Griffey Jr.
Kenny Lofton
Lenny Dykstra
Mario Lemieux
Mark Teixeira
Manny Ramirez
Matt Holiday
Nick Markakis
Nick Swisher
Ralph Kiner
Rich Harden
Russell Martin
Shawn Hill
Torii Hunter
Xavier Nady

That currently gives me 32 unique players.