McCutchen Monday: 2014 Topps Gold

Of all the Topps inserts in recent years, the 2014 Topps Gold is my favorite.  I love 90s inserts and early 90s Fleer Ultra and that's what this card reminds me of.  I know it's based on those late 90s Gold Class cards that Topps put out, but the metal frames, great photography, and bio make this card what I loved about collecting in the 90s.

Add to the fact that the card is limited to only 99 copies, it becomes one of my favorite cards from 2014.

Remembering Ralph Kiner

It's been six months since Ralph Kiner passed away and I am still disappointed that I never made the trip to a Cooperstown signing that he so often attended.  Kiner was one of the greatest sluggers of his time and during his 10 year career he hit 369 homeruns.  After his playing career ended, Kiner went on to be an announcer for the New York Mets.  Both the Mets and Pirates are wearing commemorative patches to honor Kiner this year.  The above card was purchased for $15 back in January and is my 15th certified autograph of the Hall of Famer.

Black is the New Black: Tyler Glasnow Bowman Black Auto AGAIN

This is my 3rd copy of the 2013 Bowman Black auto numbered to 25.  This copy is numbered 2/25.

I didn't get it for a steal, but it was the cheapest of the bunch that I have grabbed.

Happy 4th of July

My latest Andrew McCutchen manupatch hails from 2010 Topps and is numbered 56/99

2010 Topps Cap Logo Patch 56/99

It features a cap logo patch to celebrate 4th of July.  I grabbed it last year for under $10 delivered.

I originally had plans to head to Pittsburgh for the 3 game series against the Phillies, but with the engine on my car needing to be replaced, I decided it was more financially sound to stay in NJ.

Throwback Thursday: Sluggers Supreme 1958 Topps

It's hard trying to find a vintage Topps card of one of the greatest hitters of all time on it, but I managed to do it when I added this Ted Williams and Ted Kluszewski 1958 Topps Slugger Supreme to my collection.  I grabbed this nice piece of cardboard for only $7 delivered.

It's not known if the Big Klu is truly a Pirate in this card, but since he played the 1958 season for the Bucs, I added it to my ongoing attempt to collect every flagship Topps Pirates card.  Klu didn't play long in the Steel City as he was only in 160 games over a season and half.  During that time he batted .284 with only 6 HomeRuns, but did maintain a very good strikeout to walk rate (30:31)

YES!!!!!! ANOTHER 1 OF 1 SKETCH CARD!!!!

It took awhile to finally show, but
as promised

It's another 1/1 sketch card

I've previously shown off sketches of
Starling Marte
Andrew McCutchen

I'm hoping to make arrangements for some other Bucs

Pirates Rookie Cup Lineup Analysis: Every blogger should try to do this....

2005 Topps Rookie Cup Yellow 195/299

It struck me while I was putting away my latest Jason Bay card seen above that the Pirates haven't had too many Topps Rookie Cup winners over the years despite having a top 10 draft pick for nearly two decades.  Off the top of my head, in recent memory Cutch and Walker stood out to me.  So with that being said, I went through my binders from 1987 (my first year collecting baseball cards) and decided I would show off every Pittsburgh Pirate to have the Topps Rookie Cup.  As I was going through the 12 players selected to Topps Rookie teams, I noticed that essentially every position was filled.

Here's the lineup I came up with for the position players

Jason Kendall - C (R)
Andrew McCutchen - CF (R)
Neil Walker - 3B (S)
Jason Bay - LF (R)
Craig Wilson - 1B (R)
Warren Morris - 2B (L)
Jose Guillen - RF (R)
Al Pedrique - SS (R)

Bench Bat- Carlos Garcia (R)

First, some minor details...I put Walker at 3B because he played 6 games at the position in 2010 (which qualifies in fantasy baseball) and the Pirates don't have any Rookie Cup 3B winners, but have 3 that qualified as 2B (Morris, Walker, Garcia).  I think that Walker had the best statistical season as a rookie second baseman, BUT after putting him at 3rd, it came down to the side of the plate Garcia and Morris hit.  My lineup is already loaded with right handed bats so I went with Morris over Garcia.

Jason Kendall leading off and catcher was kind of a no brainer to me.  It was a place in the lineup that he was often used and he posted a ridiculous 35 walks to 30 strikeouts during his 1996 rookie season.  He would almost certainly put the ball in play and get on base for the guys behind him.

Cutch finished his rookie season with 22 stolen bases, 54 RBI, 74 Runs, and a .286/.365/.471 line.  He often hit in the leadoff spot during his rookie season so that the Pirates could utilize his speed at the top of the lineup.  Personally I think Kendall is a better leadoff guy though.

This is where I started to experiment with the lineup a bit.  Neil Walker might not seem like a typical #3 hitter on most clubs, but during his rookie season he batted .296/.349/.462 with 66 RBI.  After the 2010 All-Star Break, Neil was one of the top 5 NL players in RBI during that span.  He hit really well with runners in scoring position during the 2010 season.  I put Walker in the 3 hole also because of his ability to switch hit.

Jason Bay is the only Pirate to ever be a unanimous decision when it came to Topps Rookie Cup players.  He is also the only rookie to ever win the Rookie of the Year (hopefully Gregory Polanco wins it this year).  He posted a 2.2 WAR during his rookie season while playing in 120 games batting a .282/.358/.550 line with 26 Home Runs, 82 RBI and  61 Runs.  Having him in the cleanup spot makes the most sense.

Craig Wilson's 2001 rookie campaign got him acknowledged as the best rookie first basemen ahead of Albert Pujols (who was listed as a 3B).  Wilson was a slugger who played multiple positions for the Bucs including Catcher, 1B, and both corner outfield positions.  In 88 games he posted an obsurd .589 slugging percentage to couple his .390 OBP.

Because of the pop that both Bay and Wilson brought, I didn't want a high strikeout guy batting behind them so I went with the left handed hitting second baseman Warren Morris instead.  Morris had a great line for a secondbaseman while batting .288 and having only 88 strikeouts in 147 games.

Jose Guillen had a cannon for an arm in right field, but could also handle the stick during his rookie season.  He hit at a below average with a high strikeout rate, but did collect 14 HR and 70 RBI enroute to his rookei season.

Al Pedrique looked like he could be a future All-Star shortstop in his rookie season in 1987, but wound up being a below average player for the rest of this career and will often be remembered as the manager that intentionally walked Barry Bonds 12 times during 3 days when Barry was sitting at 699 career HomeRuns.  His 1987 season saw him have a 1.4 WAR season which included a .301/.354/.362 line.  He did collect his only career homerun during that 1987 season.

My bench bat is Carlos Garcia, a current manager for the Pirates AA affiliation Altoona Curve.  Garcia posted a 1.4 WAR with 12 HR and 18 SB during his rookie campaign.  As a former infield coach, he is my utility player and bench bat.

For the pitching side, I was fortunate in the 27 years of collecting baseball cards that the Pirates have had a right handed and left handed starting pitcher along with a relief pitcher.

I'll start with the most recent of the bunch, Mike Gonzalez.  Gonzo's rookie season in 2004 had him as one of the best relief pitchers in baseball that season.  In 47 games and 41 innings, Gonzo posted a 9:1 strikout per walk rate.  Reread that if you need to cause that is just crazy numbers.  He struck out 55 batters while walking 6 and posted a 0.877 WHIP and 1.25 ERA.  With Oliver Perez looking like a Cy Young candidate, Jason Bay winning the Rookie of the Year, and Gonzo shutting everyone down in middle relief, it's amazing the Pirates finished so poorly with a 72-89 record.  I guess it's a good thing though because they were able to use that poor record in the 2005 draft and selected Andrew McCutchen.

Steve Cooke, the 1993 rookie LHP winner went 10-10 for the start of the Pirates two decade long losing streak.  Nothing really stands out for Cooke as his ERA, strikeouts, and walks were all average or below average, but the competion that year was very limited.

Mike Dunne, was a pitch to contact pitcher who in his 1987 rookie campaign went 13-6 to lead all qualifying pitchers with a .684 winning percentage.  He completed 5 games and pitched 163 innings despite making only 23 starts.  That means that he pitched on average almost 7 1/3 innings per start during his rookie season.

I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED THE ANALYSIS I PUT INTO THIS AND AM CURIOUS IF ANY OTHER TEAMS HAVE ENOUGH PLAYERS SINCE 1987 TO FIELD A TEAM AND IF SO, HOW COMPETITIVE WOULD IT BE?