New Theme Week: Karate Kid/Cobra Kai

I have discussed my love for 2 specific 1980s movies (and their soundtracks) on this blog in the past.  In case you're just joining me, two of my favorite movies from the 80s are the animated Transformers (1986) and Karate Kid (1984).

Both films feature uplifting and rocking soundtracks.  

I am not the huge fan of Transformers that I was when younger, but the scene of Optimus Prime dying still gets me misty.

Karate Kid however is a different story.  Thanks to the Netflix series, Cobra Kai, I have fallen completely obsessed with every detail from the original movie and it's sequels, reboots, and current TV series.

This week I will be looking at my Andrew McCutchen collection and connecting items to this kicking franchise.

Much like some of my other themed weeks or the month long SaveSecondBase event, every item will tie into the theme in some way.  

To kick it off here is a 2017 Topps Throwback Set commemorating the 1984 design in honor of players' weekend.

As I mentioned above, Karate Kid was released in theatres in 1984.  I was only three years old at the time so obviously it would be years later on a VHS rental before I finally saw it (and fell in love with it).  

Everything about Danny's ability to overcome a new setting and bullies appealed to me when I finally saw it in grade school. 

I chose this card, because it was the last Topps Throwback online set that featured Cutch in a Pirates uniform.  Much like Daniel Larusso's character moving from a familar East Coast setting in Newark, New Jersey, following the 2017 season Cutch was on the move out west to California.

The colors of black and yellow match the colors for Cobra Kai.

I fricking love that show....

I'll talk a little about that show tomorrow.

#tbt: For Whom The Bell Tolls

In addition to Collecting Cutch, I also have a large collection of Charlie Morton cards, a growing collection of Hall of Famers (Roberto Clemente, Reggie Miller, Jerome Bettis) I enjoy collecting, and a love for Topps Heritage Pirates cards.

In recent years Topps has produced Throwback Short Print Variants to chase. 

Josh Bell wore the Homestead Grays uniform in a way that would make "Cool Papa" Bell proud.

On June 16, 2017 the Pirates and Cubs faced off wearing throwback uniforms from the Negro Leagues.

The uniform is referenced on the back of this Andrew McCutchen card I showed off a few weeks ago.

It is also referenced on the back of Josh Bell's 2018 Salute card.

In terms of actual Cool Papa Bell, this is the only card of his that I have.  When deciding on an autograph I wanted of the speedy Negro League star, I knew I wanted it to feature him in uniform with either the Grays or Crawfords.

"Cool Papa" Bell was born James Thomas Bell on May 17, 1903 in Starkville, Mississippi.  He was the forth born of seven children.

He worked at a creamery that is now Mississippi State University.  As a teenager he moved to St. Louis to live with his older brothers and attend high school.

He would pitch knuckleballs on Sundays and holidays while working as a packer during the week.

In 1922 he earned $20 a week pitching for a semipro team.  As a pitcher he started being referred to as "Cool" for striking out other Negro League stars.  He added "Papa" himself because it sounded better.

Bell transitioned himself into a speedy switch hitting centerfielder in the years that followed.  He would often bunt for base hits and once on base he would do things to mess up the pitcher's rhythm.

Stories are told of him scoring from first base on a single.

In the motion picture Cobb, starring Tommy Lee Jones a line is made in the movie of Bell's quickness.

"Cool Papa Bell was so fast that one time he hit a line drive up the middle that hit his head sliding into second base."

Bell would bounce around from team to team and eventually would go to play in the Mexican leagues in Latin America where he played ball with the fathers of Luis Tiant and Orlando Cepeda.

Upon returning to the US he caught on with the Homestead Grays winning back to back titles with the team.  As a 43 year old he batted .396 for the Grays who were on the verge of their 3rd straight title.

Satchel Paige, a teammate of Bell, said in his autobiography that Bell could flip the light switch and be under the covers before the room got dark.

The Sporting News ranked Bell the 66th greatest ballplayer in a 1999 article.

Bell passed away in 1971 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Negro League Committee in 1974.

Scripture Sunday - Proverbs 15:18

With the holiday season fully upon us, it is important to remember to stay patient as the lack of patience and understanding can lead to a lack of trust and faith.

Proverbs 15:18
Hot tempers cause arguments, but patience brings peace.

To those that may feel I forgot about them for winning the #SaveTheBoobies #SaveSecondBase contest, I certainly did not.  Thank you for your patience as I have been working insane amounts of hours for the month of November and haven't had the chance to get to the post office.  Cards will ship next Monday.

Today's card may look familar and that is because I recently showed off the SSP Throwback Thursday version of it.

This however is the 5x7 gold version numbered to only 10 copies (see the bottom left corner).

If there is one area of my collection that is missing A LOT of cards, it is the 5x7 online exclusives.

The Year was 1984

Cutch has appeared in many older set designs thanks to Archives and Heritage.

Over the summer he got the 1984 treatment thanks to Throwback Thursday.

Celebrating the first ever MLB Players Weekend, is a series of cards with the best nicknames from the inaugural weekend.

If you want to see some of Cutch's other cards from the 80s designs revisit my old post here.

Since the holidays are approaching I thought it would be fun to look back to 1984 and what all the holiday shopping trends were like.

Here's a link to the website I took the images from along with a write-up of each toy.  Some we carried over from 1983 and some became more popular in 1985.

Throwback Thursday: Researching the Image

One of my favorite features on here is to highlight #tbt cards, cards that feature Cutch wearing older uniforms.

In 2012 Topps released a photo variant for card #497. It featured Cutch and the Pirate Parrot doing a little batting practice before the game.  Cutch was dressed in the old Negro League uniform of the Homestead Grays famously worn by Hall of Fame legend, Josh Gibson aka "The Black Babe Ruth".

After some quick researched I determined that the card's photo is from a July 23rd 2011 game between the Cardinals at Pirates.  The Cardinals would go on to win the game 9-1 according to Baseball Reference.  All the pregame wiffleball batting practice didn't do him much good as he went 0-3 with 2 strikeouts.  There wasn't much to cheer for in the game as Brandon Wood knocked in the Pirates lone run.  Rookie Tony Watson pitched 3 scoreless frames in relief of All-Star Kevin Correia who gave up 7 earned runs in the first 4 innings.

It sure is fun to go back and research some old boxscores.  Ronny Cedeno batted second that day and Joe Beimel got the final out to avoid the Cardinals from putting up double digits.

Have you ever researched the games that appear on the cardboard you collect?

Throwback Thursday: 4 Months Late

Sooooooo, back in March I was showcasing all my 2017 Heritage cards I had acquired of Cutch.  I mentioned I didn't like the photo used and that I had a monster case hit card that I would show off in the upcoming days.
4 Months later...
I finally got around to scanning it in.

This extremely short printed Throwback uniform is found 1 per case.  With nearly a dozen different subjects for the Throwback cards, getting a Cutch is not an easy task.

I like the look of this card a lot.  The Jason Kendall era road greys (or grays depending on spelling) look great and are a nice refresher from all the 70s throwbacks the team has worn over the years.

I didn't realize I had never posted about this card until I was putting together a post for my most recent Heritage acquisition recapping all my 2017 Heritage cards.  You will see that post tomorrow.

Here are links to my other 2017 Heritage Cards
Gold Chrome /5
Yellow Back, Astd Chromes, Flip Stock, Color Swap

What's your high school picture look like?

Today in the world of Social Media it's Throwback Thursday. I find my newest Cutch to fit that perfectly.

I just got this 2017 Bowman Then & Now card which I won for $0.82.  I felt it was a worthy price to pay to add my 1,450th unique Cutch card to the collection.

The front of the card features Cutch virtually just out of high school having been drafted just a few month's prior to the card's release and comparing it to his current look.

The back of the card mentions both his Aflac Promotional Use Only card and his 2005 Bowman Draft card.

Here are the backs of the cards it references.

And here are the fronts of his first Bowman cards side by side.

In a future post I will show off some of the parallels I have of these. While I don't have any of the 1/1s I do have some of the lower numbered ones.

As a reminder, DON'T FORGET TO ENTER AND PIMP MY CONTEST.

Throwback Thursday: My First 2017 Cutch

2017  Topps has been out for a lil over a week now. I have kept quiet showing off any thoughts about the flagship release because I needed a Thursday to reveal this card first.

I bought a blaster at Target last Friday.  Unlike many others, I showed resistance (for a few extra days) of not buying 2017 Topps because I knew Cutch didn't have a base card in Series 1.

Cutch has a bunch of inserts and parallels though.
Jackie Robinson patch and insert
Spring Training Pin
5 Tools Insert
1987 Retro
1987 Color Refractors

Like everyone else I love the 5 Tool Talents and enjoy the 1987 cards.  I actually already bought a bunch of the color parallels from eBay.

Here's some other cards I got in my blaster.

Nothing really exciting in the blaster so I am just showing off a few of my favorites from the packs I opened.

This was my first pack and my first card of 2017 was Lucas Duda. Yuck!  The rest of pack was so bad I didn't even want to show it.

Wil Myers had a great year last year. The Steve Avery rediscover Topps card reminds me how much I hate the Braves

Jose Fernandez R.I.P.
The Beltran is gold /2017
The Chris Davis card is really neat looking.  I miss those subtle moments from the game being on cardboard.
Victoria Justice? Yes Please!!!

I like the inserts a lot this year, but the rookie class is really good for series one. I hear that Gary Sanchez guy is supposed to be good.

The team celebration cards are awesome as are the 5 Tool Talents.  The D'arnaud is rainbow foil.  It's amazing how Zach Duke has turned his career around to be a dominant lefty out of the pen.

My Jackie Robinson patch was Miguel Sano

Here's the other Pirates I got

The Great Move to Match The Great One

Andrew McCutchen might have more class and respect for the game and it's fans than most other ballplayers playing today.

On Sunday, Starling Marte let out the new defensive alignment which caused the Pirates to react and inform everyone that Marte will move from LF to CF, Gregory Polanco will move from RF to LF, and the team's franchise face will move from CF to RF.

Much like how Andrew handled the trade rumors before FanFest, he perfectly handled the news by posting an image of Roberto Clemente, the greatest right fielder to put on a Pirates uniform, on his Twitter.

Such respect and class.

With the new RunPMC alignment and Cutch's Twitter image response I thought it made sense to show off the cardboard I have of #21 and #22 together.

Let's start with the super rare Opening Day Photo Variant.

These typically sell in the $50+ range, often reaching close to $100.  The card features Cutch winning the 2015 Roberto Clemente award.

Next up is a pair of Heritage Clubhouse Collection cards from 2015

I wish Topps had made a quad with Cutch, Polanco, Marte, and Clemente

This next one might be my favorite of all the cards

It's a Triple Threads featuring three of the best Pirates of all time.

The thing I like most is that none of the relics look similar. Stargell has a white jersey, Cutch has a yellow Spring Training jersey, and Clemente has a bat.

These Throwback Thursday football style cards were a nice online exclusive set by Topps.

Truthfully, nothing really beats vintage looking cardboard.
Which leads to this...

Such a beatiful looking Heritage Clubhouse Collection card from 2013

We finish with my first dual relic of Cutch and Clemente

WhenI got this card I wasn't a supercollector yet.  I was so excited that a piece of cardboard was made featuring the Great One and Cutch.

Throwback Thursday: Cutch Brings Back Memories of a Cobra and Pops

Andrew McCutchen won the NL MVP award in 2013 when he lead the Pirates to the post season for the first time in 20 years. The last player to do that was Barry Bonds.

The Pirates teams of the late 70s were constantly battling the Big Red Machine as a team of dominance.  Those Pirates teams had MVP caliber players Dave Parker and Willie Stargell.

This year's National Treasure release recognizes all the things I mentioned above.

2013 MVP award
Throwback 1979 style uniform

Beating up the Reds

Booklet cards like this are the reason I enjoy National Treasures.