McCutchen Monday: 2013 Pinnacle Collection

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.

Rather than show off just one card today, I thought it would be fun to show off all the new Andrew McCutchen cards available in 2013 Pinnacle.

I've heard a lot of negative reviews on the 2013 Pinnacle brand mainly due to the unlicensed uniforms.  That may be true for many of the other teams, but because nearly all the photography used for the Pirates was when the Bucs were wearing their alternate black uniforms, I think that the cards actually look great.

Up first are the base card and the Museum Collection parallel.  Much like the museum collection parallels that ran in the Pinnacle brand in the 90s, these feature the same foil design.


NOW FOR THE INSERTS!!!
Pinnacle had some great looking inserts in the 90s and the 2013 version is no different.

First up is the staple Team Pinnacle.  Back when Pinnacle had a license they would produce cards of the best players at each position in each league.  Since their player selection is not as strong, they just went with two really good players on each card.

This Team Pinnacle card features two very talented 5 tool athlete centerfielders: Andrew McCutchen and Matt Kemp.

 Next up is an insert series called Position Powers.  These cards look at milestones achieved by the players at each position.  Nothing earth shattering about these cards to say the least, but its a new unique Cutch card for the collection.

This set of inserts is a lil gimmicky.  Each player for the Clear Vision line has different levels of rarity (single, double, triple, homerun).  I'm currently trying to track down all the other versions, but have the single version for now.

 The final insert series is actually my favorite.  I LOVED acetate clear cards back in the day.  I don't know why, but they just screamed 90s awesome to me.  The card above is Pinnacle Success and features Cutch on a clear card

Football Sunday: Troy Polamalu Jersey

Football is back so that means it's time to show off some Steelers jerseys and autographs each Sunday.

Troy Polamalu 2010 Certified Fabric of the Game 166/215

First up is a man that really needs no introduction or description of his accolades...Troy Polamalu.

The 2010 Panini Certified Fabric of the Game numbered 166/215 ran me $5 at a card show during the spring.  It's my first Troy jersey card.

Jason Grilli WBC Jersey Relic

The WBC is done every 4 years and features players from around the world competing on an international stage to bring awareness to the sport.

2006 UD WBC Collection Jersey Relic

In 2006, the current Pirates closer, Jason Grilli was a member of the Detroit Tigers but was also a highly effective arm for Team Italy.  In 4.2 innings, Jason struck out 7 while allowing only 1 hit and 0 walks.

Jason has not shied aware from an apperance in the WBC, having also competed for Team Italy in 2009 where he struggled in his 3.2 innings of work collecting a loss and save.

Recently Jason appeared for Team Italy in 2013 as well, but only pitched 1 inning while allowing a walk and hits batman.

I'm still searching for a 2013 Topps Tribute WBC Auto of Jason so if you have one for trade, please let me know.

$1 BOB: Minor League Edition

$1 doesn't buy you a whole lot, but today it got me these cards shipped

A 2007 TriStar Prospects Plus Potential of Andrew McCutchen.

Above you can see the young centerfielder's accomplishments and some scouting reports.

I also managed to grab a 2011 Just Gems card of Starling Marte.

Above is the back of the card.  Note the legal stuff at the bottom of the card.

Throwback Andy Van Slyke

I miss some of the 90s cards.  The Pirates yesterday were guaranteed their first nonlosing season since the days of Andy Van Slyke.

1993 Score Dream Team

I'm going to make it a mission to update my Andy Van Slyke PC sometime this week.

Zoltan!

For those that don't know the Zoltan! sign, it's from the movie "Dude, Where's My Car?"  One night at the Pirates clubhouse, the team was watching the ridiculous movie and after a Rod Barajas homerun with the Z symbol coming home, it just kinda stuck.  Well, to further implement that the Pirates are the team of destiny this year, the Steelers have just signed a punter named Zoltan Mesko.  Pittsburgh is going to go nuts!!!!!

Since the Zoltan craze started for the Pirates last year Topps has had a few releases showing the Zoltan symbol being used.

The first was Josh Harrison's Topps card from last year.

While it is exciting to remember Josh's walkoff, it's incredibly depressing to remember that he had no idea how to make a Z.  No Mr. Harrison, that is an S. Not a Z.  This is why you had to go back and forth between the minors and majors last year.  Learn the symbol, then you can come back up and play with the big boys.

2013 Topps Museum Collection Momentous Material 8/50

The first card from this year to feature the Z is a Topps Museum Andrew McCutchen jumbo jersey relic.  The same image of Cutch is also shared on a booklet with Starling Marte from the Museum collection.  So far no other releases have shown the "Z"

2013 Topps Pirates Team Issued Travis Snider 

The 3rd card that I became aware of using the Z was the Pirates Team Set version of Travis Snider.

McCutchen Monday: 2007 USA Baseball AUTO

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.

A lot of 1st round talents play for Team USA during their amateur years.  In recent years, the Pirates have had several 1st rounders play for the 18 and under team including Austin Meadows, Reese McGuire, Jameson Taillon and Gerrit Cole.  

I recently did a post of some of those players autogrpahs on Team USA cards.  

When Panini released the 2013 USA card set, several star players were highlighted with autographs in the set.  I tried on 4 different cards to acquire the 2013 TEAM USA auto of Cutch numbered /25 but lost every auction.  However, not to be discouraged I kept my eye (and ebay saved searches) for Cutch USA autographs open.

2007 USA Baseball Alumni Autographs 44/475 AUTO

I've seen this card in the past, but it often sells for much more than I would like to pay for a Cutch auto.  Even though the centering of the auto is way off and the "A" in Andrew is mostly missing, I'm happy I was able to add this for less than $40.  It brings me to 67 certified autos of Cutch.