McCutchen Mailday #86: THE GRAIL SUPERFRACTOR

As sports cards collectors, we look for several things when seeking out that Holy Grail of cards.  It could be a rookie, a 1 of 1, an autograph, a "sick" patch.  These are all things that come to mind.

For me, the Grail McCutchen cards was adding a Superfractor from one of his first Bowman releases (2005 Draft, 2008 Futures Game, or 2009 Bowman Rookie Card).

I can check that last one off the list.

Behold it's most majestic form.
Official rookie card Superfractor.

A Superfractor Rookie Card of a player on the path for the Hall of Fame and my main player PC.  I don't know if 2016 will bring me much more success than adding this beauty to the collection, but even if the rest of the year fall's short, I'm ok with what  I have added thus far in my 2016 Cutch PC additions.

Let's just check out the backside of this beauty

Look at that sexy 1/1 in the bottom right corner.

I Held The Coveted Card and a McCutchen Mailday (120-126)

Yesterday I went to the Chantilly Virginia sports show with my brother because he wanted to attend a few of the Jacksonville Jaguars player signings. It was my last day of vacation and I tagged along for the ride. In less than two months I will be an uncle as my brother and his wife are expecting a baby girl in Early May. I viewed this little get away to be one of the last times him and I get to hang out without a baby or our ladies around.

I really wasn't interested in any of the player signings except Antonio Brown, but his prices were way too high.

Instead I just browsed the dealer's area and picked up some supplies, dime box cards, and some vintage I needed.

Oh and I got to see an authentic T206 Honus Wagner in person AND get my picture with it.

BOOOM!!!!!

This sure beats the heck out of all the reprints I have seen in my time.

I did find this unique oddball card talking about the prized card in the 25 cent bin.

As if that wasn't enough, I also grabbed a bunch of supplies, some vintage, and a few Cutch cards I needed.

When I got home these were in the mailbox.

I will return to normal updates to show all the Cutch cards I have gotten between my 72nd new PC additions and 119th new PC additions.

Holding the Wagner and getting a trio of Cutch rookies needed an immediate update though.

Overall though, I am very very happy with how the Cutch collection has grown to Supercollector status over the past year.

Morton on the Mound: Graded rookie 9.5

I recently picked up a 2002 Bowman Chrome rookie of Charlie Morton graded 9.5

It seems appropriate to show it off today since Ground Chuck is facing off against his former team. It was just a little over 6 years ago when the Braves traded Morton along with 2013 All-Star Jeff Locke and minor league depth Gorky's Hernandez for Nate McLouth.

McLouth was coming off a 2008 All-Star appearance along with winning a gold glove in Center field.

Since the trade Morton and Locke have produced 1.3 WAR for the Bucs. Granted, it's nothing great but both men are still contributing to the Pirates success unlike McLouth who posted 0.1 WAR over his 3 years with Braves.

Auto XFractor...Read All About It!!!!

I couldn't think of a better headline, so I'm sorry for the stupid title.

Even more though I apologize for lack of words on a title that says "Read all about it"

Here's my latest Gerrit Cole.  It's from 2013 Topps Finest and features a nice swatch of yellow spring training jersey.

It cost me only $17

A Joey Bats rookie graded for less than $5.

I have no idea how trustworthy this grading company is, but for $2.58, I couldn't pass it up.  The grade is perfect and it's a Joey Bats rookie.

McCutchen Monday: Red Hot Rookie Refractor

Here's another predreadlock Andrew McCutchen as I am showing off some of my Cutch cards I have had in the collection, but never spotlighted on the PTR.

Maybe without all that hair weighing him down, he'll be able to swipe 30+ bags again.

I'm heading to Pittsburgh today for the home opener. My baseball vacation week is coming to an end soon as I return to work Thursday.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the best St. Patrick's Day Insert Ever!!!

When I was looking for my National Treasures cards for a reverse box, I came across this Xander Boegarts card.  I knew that I had to have it.

There were initial reports in 2011 that the Red Sox were interested in trading for Joel Hanrahan and there was even some speculation that Xander Boegarts could be traded 1 for 1 for the Hammer.  Hanrahan would eventually be traded to Boston along with Brock Holt for 4 players including 2013 All-Star Mark Melancon.

The back of the card is actually interesting...check it out

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY EVERYONE!!!

Throwback Thursday: You Complete Me 1968

One of my collecting goals for 2015 was to complete 2 vintage team sets which you can see on my Vintage Needs.  I can now cross off almost two from the list and we are only a month into the new year.

Because of our work schedules and the hour difference between us, I didn't get a chance to see my mom on Christmas.  Instead it took us a few weeks into the new year to exchange gifts and enjoy some drinks and holiday cookies.

My mom went above all expectations and hooked me up with some vintage cards I needed to complete some team sets I was working on.  She filled in the remaining 5 cards needed for my 1968 team set by adding 4 cards sporting Hall of Famers (2 Clementes, 1 Stargell, and 1 Jim Bunning).

In addition to the 5 cards I needed for 1968, she also scored me a handful of 1962s which brings my team set needs for that year to only #10 Roberto Clemente.

Thanks so much Mom for knocking these out for me.

Football Sunday: Landry Jones Event Gloves

It's Sunday and that means one thing: FOOTBALL!!!!  The Steelers are playing the Buccaneers in week 4 and they should be able to improve their record to 3-1 on the young season.

One player who will not impact the game at all is sophmore player and 3rd string quarterback Landry Jones.  Jones was selected in the 4th round of the 2013 draft class.  He has struggled in his preseason opportunities with the team and has yet to dress for an official NFL game.

When the Steelers drafted Jones, they thought that he may one day succeed Big Ben as the Steelers QB of the future. He hasn't lived up to that hype and remains most likely a 4th round lottery ticket bust.

All that said, I really hope that Landry can catch on somehow and be given the opportunity to play in the NFL.  He's a devoted Christian and has a great video detailing his life and religious beliefs on the site iamsecond.com.

The card pictured above ran me a cool $8 delivered and is my first event worn glove card I own.  The stitching and three colors were too much to pass up for the price.

McCutchen Monday: Slabbed, signed, delivered...

When I finally got this in my hands, the first thing I thought of was that Stevie Wonder song.
Slabbed, signed, delivered...Baby it's mine!!!

While this doesn't equal the greatness of the Holy Grail Printing Plate 1/1 Rookie Auto of Cutch...this slabbed autographed rookie is a close second.

This is the 3rd autographed slabbed card I have of Cutch.

Happy Monday folks!  Go Bucs!!!

McCutchen Monday: 2009 UD Signature Stars GRADED

My current favorite player in baseball is Andrew McCutchen.  Quite honestly, he might be my favorite player I've ever gotten a chance to see play. I currently own over 350 unique cards of Cutch and hope to get that number closer to 500 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.

Last October, I made a COMC purchase and showed off a few Upper Deck rookies of Andrew McCutchen that I had added to my collection.  I recently just purchased one of them graded off ebay because I had about $10 in ebay bucks and couldn't figure out what to do with them.  After using my ebay bucks the below graded Gem Mint 2009 UD Signature Stars rookie ran me under $7 delivered.

I don't collect a lot of graded cards, but have started to add more and more to my collection over the past year.  This is my 5th graded Cutch rookie (all 9.5)

Mario Lemieux Rookie!!!!!

The Penguins 2013-14 season kicks off today so I figured, now is as a good a time as ever to show off one of my summer acquisitions.

Mario Lemieux is one of the greatest hockey players of all time.

And now I own his rookie card from 1985-86 Topps.  I grabbed this beauty for $42.  That's half the price that many others have sold for.  Sorry for the crooked scan.  I don't know what's wrong with my scanner.

LET'S GO PENS!!!!

Remembering 1992: Barry Bonds Highland Mint Bronze Rookie Card

Yesterday, the Pirates clinched the playoffs for the first time since 1992 (the same year they last had a winning record).  This year's Pirates squad has similar aspects to that same 1992 team.  The Pirates 1992 post season ended with throw from Barry Bonds that went just wide of homeplate, allowing Sid Bream to slide and score the winning run in Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS.

Bonds went on to win the MVP that year (his second of his career) before departing from the Steel City to become a member of the San Fransisco Giants.  He finished his age 27 season with 109 runs, 34 homeruns, 39 stolen bases, 103 RBI, and .311 batting average while winning a gold glove and silver slugger.  That equaled a 9.0 WAR for the season.

I came across the above Highland Mint Bronze rookie card of Barry Bonds for $10.  I didn't want to take the card out of the case to scan it so I just used the image the seller had on ebay.  It's a nice looking card and is numbered 477 of 5,000 on the certificate.  The actual card itself is not numbered.  It was produced in 1993 so having only 5,000 available actually is pretty rare for that "junk wax", "everything is a collectible" era.

Jason Bay Jason Bay Jason Bay Jason Bay Jason Bay

As bad as the Pirates have been over the past 2 decades, there is one team that questionably runs their organization so much further down it's become a laughing stock.

Can anyone name who the NY Mets top paid outfielders are for the 2013 Season?

If you guessed anyone on the 40 man roster, you're sadly mistaken.  Thanks to the team not having any money to pay their payroll and constantly deferring bad free agent contracts, the top two paid outfielders on the Mets this year are Jason Bay and Bobby Bonilla.  Yes Bobby fricking Bonilla will be making about a million dollars until the year 2035.  Could you imagine that?  The guy has been retired for 12 years now.  His annual salary in 2001 was only $5.9 million, but instead they're going to be paying him $1.19 million until he's 72 years old.

Anyway thanks to the Mets uncanny ability to destroy any free agents they sign, the value on Jason Bay cards has plummeted to ridiculous levels over the past few years.  That's fine for me of course as I was able to snag a lot of 50 unique Jason Bay cards for $29.  Below are some of the highlights.

Included in the lot is a 1/1 2005 Topps Rookie Cups Black Printing Plate which gets me 25% to completing one of my 2013 Collecting Goals.

Also was the above 2005 UD Reflections Frabric Reflections Patch numbered 69/99

And even though it's a double in my collection now I also got the above GOUDEY AUTO.

About half the cards in the actual lot were doubles which is a bummer, but on the flip side about half the cards were new additions to the collection.  Here's some of my favorites.

First up are his rookie cards from 2002 Topps.  Bay traveled a lot before he finally established himself with the Pirates in 2004.  He had already spent minor league seasons with the Mets, Expos, and Padres.

These cards are all horizontal.  I hate the design of the card on top.  WTF is that weird alien design to the right of Bay?  I dig cards that look vintage like the 50th anniversary card in the center.  The Fleer Ultra on the bottom is just a nice clean looking design.

 I included the above card's front and back because quite frankly I liked it.  No other reason besides that.  It's an informative card that gives extra info about a team.  Upper Deck sure did make some awesome cards, didn't they?

Jason was not a burner on the basepaths. He wasn't going to swipe 40 bags a season. In fact there was only one season (2005) where he stole more than 20.  Despite not having blistering speed, Jason knew when to pick his spots and steal a bag.  The above cards show him on the basepaths.

I'm a sucker for Heritage.  Bowman, Topps, Fleer Tradition, UD Vintage. I love it all.  The above 2005 Bowman Heritage is no different.

2008 Topps Milestones 24/150
2005 UD Sweet Spot Gold 391/599
2005 Topps Rookie Cup 357/499

Oooooooh numbers time.  There were 3 numbered cards included in the lot.  None of them are particularly low numbered, but all 3 are new to my Jason Bay collection.

Overall this lot got me 29 new Jason Bay cards to add to my collection of the 50.  Not bad odds.

Maz Tri Fecta Complete

My local mall was having a card show today and I managed to add a card I've been after for a long time.  That card is none other than a 1957 Topps Bill Mazeroski rookie card. 

Maz is an 8 time Gold Glove winner and the all time leader in double plays at 2nd Base.  Maz was voted into the Hall of Fame in 2001 by the Veterans committee after receiving no higher than 42% in his first 15 years of eligibility.  Maz is most often remembered for hitting one of the most famous homeruns in World Series history when he hit a walk-off home run in the 1960 series against the power hitting New York Yankess in Game 7.  Maz received a statue to immortalize that moment outside PNC Park in 2010 when the Pirates unveiled a statue in his honor.  I was fortunate enough to attend that game it was unveiled.  (Not surprisingly the Pirates lost that game as they did 104 other games that season.)

Anyway, I was able to pick up this card for a mere $30.  Sure it's not a Gem 10, but it is in really nice shape and could have easily sold closer to $70-$80.   Fortunately I have bought hundreds of dollars of cards from this guy before and he always puts his latest batch of Bucs cards aside for me and cuts me a deal.  I'm super pumped to add this plundering to the treasure room.

The rookie now completes a trifecta of Maz cards for me.



Here's some other Maz cards that I previously never spotlighted on the PTR.

This 2004 Ultimate Collection Ultimate Ensemble Signatures card numbered 19/25 features 2 HOF players (Maz & Kiner) along with 2 players who looked like they were on pace to have HOF careers during their first 6 years in the league (Parker & Bay).  This is one of my favorite AUTO cards I own as it has such a great amount of history displaying Pirates of yesteryear on it. 

Kiner represents the 40s-50s Pirates
Maz represents the 50s-60s Pirates
Parker represents the 70s-early 80s Pirates
Bay represents the 00s Pirates.
If only Andy Van Slyke was on this card to represent the late 80s-90s Bucs, this card would be perfect.

Also not previously posted is a 2005 Sweet Spot Classic Authentic Game Used Jersey relic of Maz.that I picked up for $4 shipped (purchased with another item for free shipping). 


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I also picked up this Jason Bay Bazooka Blasts bat relic at the card show for $3.  It's a new addition to the PTR of my favorite Canadian Bucco.  I really hope that Jason can turn his career back around in Seattle after a disastrous 3 years in NY.  I might pick him up as my final draft pick in fantasy baseball this year just as a deep sleeper.  Someone has to produce runs in Seattle, right?

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....