Super Collectors Helping Out

By large I consider myself a player collector more than anything else when it comes to this hobby.  I feel like I have always been a "player collector" since taking up hobbies as an adult.

I've talked before about my collections I have had over the years from 80s toys to comics to sports cards.  

In looking back though I was always a player collector and super collector in the mindset.

The weird thing is I was never invested in the upper tier of collecting.

When I was collecting 80s toys I was focused on Voltron and Thundercats.  Neither of those toy lines had the sports player mindset, but I was obsessed with getting everything that had Voltron on it.  If it had 5 robot lions on some licensed merchandise I needed it for my collection.  Children sneakers in size 3?  Yup I was buying them.  Pencil pouches and folders for my school supplies at age 25?  Yup...I needed them.  

Voltron and Thundercats both had loyal fan bases, but they fall into the second tier of great 80s cartoons behind things like Transformers, G.I. Joe, Masters of the Universe, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Fast forward to my comic book collections.  Growing up my introduction to comic books was the 1992 X-Men cartoon and my two favorite characters were the mutant couple Gambit & Rogue.  Once I got into reading comic books I was hooked on the Flash and Daredevil.  I began buying every comic that featured those characters.

Again, great characters but definitely not top tier like Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Hulk, or Wolverine. 

In 2005 I attended a baseball game for the first time in a decade and decided I was going to root for the Pittsburgh Pirates and began following the career of that year's draft pick, Andrew McCutchen.

For a three year run, many could argue that Cutch was top tier in the league as he was basically the National League version of Mike Trout.  Unfortunately he didn't sustain that level of success for decades like some of the all time greats like Pujols, Jeter, Griffey, etc.

My Cutch collection has been my longest tenured collection in any hobby I have ever been a part of.  It has outlasted everything I ever collected and in the span of over a decade and half of collecting his cards I have made some pretty awesome online friends because of the collection.  

About a month ago I received an awesome random act of kindness from another player collector via Twitter.  

As many of you may be aware Blake Jamieson kicked off his Project 70 checklist with a Cutch card.  Well dmoose8 on Twitter received a signed black ink (not numbered) autograph from Blake and he chose to send it to me.  I've had a few interactions with him and his dad on Twitter over the years.  He collects Erik Moustakas cards to the supercollector level and his dad has a fully finished Man Cave of Steal dedicated to Rickey Henderson.

This hobby is awesome!

I love seeing these super collections and being known for my Cutch collection.

More Art Cards

I am building up my collection of Uncle Larry inspired baseball art cards.

I came across this custom card maker through his Twitter @IceCatCards and visited his etsy store IceCatCards

He currently makes limited signed printed cards for under $10 shipped in two categories.

Double Take looks at some of the game's greatest players and their short time in uniforms normally not associated with that player.  These include Dale Murphy with the Rockies, Ken Griffey Jr trade to the White Sox, Jim Thome 17 at bats with the Dodgers, Pedro Martinez World Series run with the Phillies among others.

His other series is Born to be Legends which looks at some of the best players born in a year and uses the Topps designs for that card.

Andrew McCutchen was part of the Born To Be Legends selection for 1986 so he received a revamped 1986 card design with that now famous image from the dugout wearing the zip up Phillies throwback uniform.

Below is the back

And he sent a letter

Overall I am happy with this purchase. 

If you choose to make a purchase from IceCatCards, let him know that CollectingCutch sent you.

Josh Trout > Mike Trout

Mike Trout may be a generational baseball player, but Josh Trout is a generational sketch artist.

Let me set the stage

Behold the box it was shipped in

I carefully removed the outside band holding the package card inside.

Above is the very unique box that acts as a perfect compliment to the card itself.  I love the rookie cup design stating it is a Topps Artist and officially licensed.

Inside was a very nice hand written note on one of Josh's business cards.  It just so happens to feature that other Trout guy too.

Once I removed the business card I had this beautifully drawn absolutely stunning card of the Keystone State Legend that is Andrew McCutchen.

Thank you Josh!

Murphys, Bailey's, and Guiness

There are three drinks that come to mind when I think of Irish beer: Murphy's, Baileys, and Guiness.

Let's run through that list and see if there are any McCutchen references hidden in my collection.

When I think of Murphy and baseball, I immediately think of Dale Murphy.

Being a supercollector I have come across many other player collectors over the years.  While many have bigger collections of certain players, no other collector has more artistic talent than Daniel Jacob Horine and his popflypopshop 

Daniel is a big time Dale Murphy collector and recently released another limited Dale Murphy art print based on the reverse negative Upper Deck card.

I've talked about his work in the past and tried to get you all on board for his extremely affordable and limited prints back when I was doing my Cobra Kai week and discussing the Dave Parker print he did.  He currently has a fantastic Billy Ripken "F face" print available. 

He has also done a limited gold sticker print run (only 50) of the Andrew McCutchen 2 cups swag image.  You can revisit my post about this here.

I also think of Dropkick Murphy, a Boston band, that requested former Red Sox closer not to use their song, Shipping up to Boston, when Jonathan Papelbon left Boston to join the Philadelphia Phillies for the 2012 season. 

In 4 career plate appearances, Cutch went 0 for 3 with a walk versus Papelbon.

I don't have any Cutch related items, but Papelbon's 2014 Bowman card is taken from a game that he got Andrew McCutchen to pop out to the catcher and eventually recorded the save when he got Pedro Alvarez to strike out looking.

No for the best option of the Irish drinks: Baileys

The 2009 AL Rookie of Year, Andrew Bailey faced Andrew McCutchen only one time in his career and Cutch went 0 for 1.

Homer Bailey

Because of the rivalry between the Reds and Pirates, Cutch has faced Homer Bailey more than just a small sample size.  

Bailey does have the rare feat of throwing a no hitter against the Pirates.  It occurred on September 28th, 2012.  The only base runner that was Bailey's doing was a walk to Andrew McCutchen.

In 54 at bats, Cutch managed to get 16 hits while also piling on 11 walks.  While not getting many extra base hits, Cutch was still able to get on base at a .424 clip versus the Christian Bale doppelganger. 

While on base, Cutch also swiped four bags. 

Guiness...

Well I got nothing, but think if there was a category for Guiness record for most Andrew McCutchen items, I might be in the discussion for holding that record.

Another Art Card of that Famous Swag SP

There is less than 24 hours left to purchase your Blake Jamieson Topps Project 70 card.

If you like Matt's artwork check him out on his other social media accounts.

Website mattstewartillustrations.com

Twitter @Archaeomatt

More Card Art

Yesterday I showed off a Blake Jamieson CardArt of the famous swag card.  Today I am following up on that with some more swag artworks in recognizing Blake's Project 70 card still available from Topps.com

The artist today is Daniel Kearsey who I discovered on Twitter.  His website is www.sixtyfirststreet.com and he offers really nice computer generated artworks printed and placed in a custom case.

Daniel used the famous image of Cutch and put it on a 1986 Topps design (Cutch's birth year).

The back features a signature and serial numbering to only 20 copies.  It also features some basic stats and Daniel's social media accounts.

So if you like the Cutch swag card head over to Daniel's website or Topps.com and grab yourself a copy.

Blake Delivers a Gem

Project 70 is an art project collector set that Topps is doing this year based on last year's success with Topps Project 2020.  This year the artists will all be doing their take on players of their choice to all 70 years of Topps Baseball cards.

Card number 10 which was made available on Topps.com is none other than Andrew McCutchen and it is drawn by Blake Jamieson.

Blake was one of the most popular artists on Project 2020 because of his super fan friendly personality and constant interaction with fans and artists alike.

I have a few Blake Jamieson splatter cards in my collection already, but the coolest one is this 2020 Topps Series 2 Photo Variant.

Blake offered it up for sale in September and I snatched it up immediately.  It features spray paint on the front of the card along with a gem 💎 stencil.  A beautiful blue paint pen auto is on card and it was encased in one of Blake's signature tamper proof foil stickers atop.

A certificate of authenticy was place with the card.

Will you be buying any of the Project 70 cards?  I already got the Mookie by Ben Baller and Fernando Tatis by Ermsy.

Not sure how many of these Cutch cards I'll grab. I'm thinking 10?

These pants got swag

2020 was a very strange year.

Unemployment went to record heights and many brick and mortar stores closed up due to the pandemic.

And yet there was a renewed interest in sports cards and other hobbies soared to heights the market hasn't seen since the early 90s collecting craze that impacted both comics and cards.

I was able to add a lot of really unique items to my collection in 2020, but one of the coolest items was a pair of game used pants worn for a game featuring a top 10 card of the year.

Many youtube channels and hobby forums reviewed their most iconic cards of 2020 and wouldn't you know, the man who wears 22 had a short print Series 2 flagship rank #2 on Beckets top cards of 2020.

I'm not a follower of anything Beckett or Blowout or Hobby Connection or other hobby related news has to say because quite frankly my collection isn't bought to stay trendy.  

My collection is currently just cards (and other items) of my favorite athlete of all-time.

So while Beckett may say the card is iconic, I say the pants are more iconic as they were worn only once and helped create one of the most swaggy cards of this millennium.

Here is the hologram which can be verified via MLB.com

I really have no idea how I will display these since I don't have the jersey.  

Is it weird to get a mannequin just for the lower half?  

R.I.P Richie "Dick" Allen

Richie Allen, also known as Dick Allen, passed away yesterday.  

While I was too young to ever see him play, I have seen video footage and his statlines over my lifetime of being a casual baseball fan.

Dick Allen accomplished a lot in his 15 year career.

He won the Rookie of Year in 1964

He won the MVP in 1972

He was a 7 time All-Star

And he received MVP votes in all but 3 seasons which he played 100+ games

Many consider him a borderline Hall of Famer with his 1,848 hits and .912 OPS.  He finished with 1,099 runs scored and 1,119 RBI and 351 HR.  Him and Tony Oliva both fell 1 vote shy for the Hall of Fame in 2015 by the Veterans Committee. 

I don't actually have this card in hand yet, but it is part of my COMC order shipping next month.

His number 15 was retired September 3rd, 2020 by the Phillies. Unfortunately due to this past season no fans were able to give Dick a proper cheering and goodbye. 

Many Hall of Famers have said many kind words of Allen both in his life and his untimely death.  Mike Schmidt has gone on to say that Allen was a mentor to him. Goose Gossage had said he was the strongest hitter he ever had to face. 

The only interaction I ever had with Dick Allen was liking a tweet he made over the summer.

I showed off my Uncle Larry collection of Cutch only a few weeks ago, which you can revisit here.

In that post there was a few other customs I forgot to show off.

I showed off some tobacco style cards custom cards here.

I also got a sticker by Daniel Champion (who makes some of the most amazing comic art baseball themed prints you will ever find).  His website is popflypopshop.com/.  He currently has a limited edition Dave "The Cobra" Parker print for sale which I am showing below.

The post where I showed off the gold sticker is here.

And I have this custom 1988 Donruss inspired card that someone on Twitter sent me.

Much like the rest of 1988 products it is horribly off center.

I also have these gold stickers.

Needless to say I have a good collection of this image of Cutch, which the great Dick Allen said is the "coolest baseball card ever".

I have to agree with the original 1-5, number 15 Dick Allen.

I don't want to sound too morbid, but if there were ever a year to field a baseball team of former players who passed away, this year has a heck of a squad ready to roll out.

Lou Brock

Joe Morgan

AL Kaline

Richie Allen

Tony Fernandez

Jimmy Wynn

Pitching: Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver, Whitey Ford, Don Larsen, and Mike McCormick

The Uncle Larry Collection

I have gotten a few items relating to the famous 2020 Topps card and have shown them off over the past few months.

Here is the complete collection.

11x14 Topps cards, 5x7 gold Topps card, 2 of the SP photo variant, a BGS authenticated autograph with inscription "Sat. Night Special", 4 sketch cards, and a 16x20 photo authenticated by Hunts Auctions.

The most recent addition is the bobblehead which I preordered back in August. The post got the attention of Cutch evidently because when I woke up this morning, I had this on my phone

That is pretty awesome and shows how humble and fan friendly he is. If you read this, thanks for following me back Cutch.

Sticking to a new concept

I have been showing off Andrew McCutchen cards on this blog for over 3 years and have been blogging about Cutch collectibles for 9 years if You go back to my old Pirates Treasure Room.

While it is fun to discuss all my cards of Cutch, I also really like collecting items that aren't found in a baseball card pack.

I am hoping to show off some of my bobble heads, autograph photos, newspaper and magazine articles, toys, game used items, and so much more.

To kick things off here is a limited edition sticker made by Daniel Jacob Horine who I met on Twitter @Danny_Champion

Only 50 copies of this sticker were produced and Danny was kind enough to send me this one for my collection.  It features the classic image of Cutch from Retro Night. The gold chain, double cups, sunglasses all make this sticker a unique item for the collection.

What are some items you want to see me show off first?

More Swag In The Mail

I saw @Cheahacardworks had posted some tobacco style art cards on his Twitter account and I immediately asked if I could acquire them.  A week later they were in the mail to me.

These are the most swaggalicious tobacco cards I have ever seen.

He also sent them inside a fake pack with Willie Stargell on the front.

The backs are reminiscent of those old cards.

And Then There Was 1

I made It clear I wasn't interested in overpaying for the Andrew McCutchen SP photo variant found in 2020 Series 2 Topps Flagship.  

The weekend around release the card was selling for as much as $350 and averaged around $250 for about 72 hours.  Talk about insane prices for a card that is only a SP with an insert ratio of 1:7 packs.

I waited.

And spent my money on other things.

And I waited.

And spent more money on other things.

Then I continued to wait...

Until I was able to secure both the SP and SSP photo variants for only $75 combined.

BOOOOOOM!!!!!

I now own the most swaggy card ever made of Andrew McCutchen.

It is just shy of becoming my 3,000th unique card too as these cards bring my total to....

2,998

AND

2,999

Yup!!!

Thanks to this Twitter purchase I am 1 card away from the milestone 3,000 unique Andrew McCutchen cards

Commercial Break

I am interrupting this week of Bowman's Best cards to bring a card I have been patiently waiting to show off for many many months. 

 You have seen Juan Rosales draw plenty of images of Andrew McCutchen for me over the years, but this image of Cutch has become famous thanks to the photo variant found in Series 2 Topps 2020.

Juan began working on this commission for me back in December 2019 when he told me he would again be doing sketch cards in 2020 Museum.  Long before I knew about the photo variant happening I made arrangements for Juan to draw that image for me.  By early January he had started to work on getting it completed, but couldn't show it to me or ship until the product released. 

Due to COVID19 there were many delayed shipping releases later of 2020 Topps Museum. 

Since the product officially released today I  can finally show it off.

Thank you again Juan!

Time to get my swag and dance on and return to a week of Karate Kid inspired posts.

Big Pimpin'

BASEBALL IS BACK!!!!

Nathan at Bucs Stop Here is running a contest to predict the division winners. 

So like Jay-Z said when I was in high school, I'm gonna get "Big Pimpin"

Head over to Nate's blog and submit your picks and you could win a blaster of Series 2 Baseball which may have a chance to win the most swaggy card ever made by Topps.

I'm still in need of the SP from 2020 Topps Series 2, but did receive this 11x14 Topps online exclusive yesterday.

Too much swag!

A few people have already tagged me on Twitter regarding the 2020 Topps Series 2 photo variant Short Print of Andrew McCutchen.  A few coworkers who are also into cards text messaged me about the card too.

If you haven't already seen it I advise you to put on some shades because this card will blind you with it's swag.

The card community has gone absolutely nuts over this card and prices have varied from $12 to $100.

Many current auctions are in the $70+ range with days left.

The announcement that the season is moving forward and an extremely unique photo variant on a brand new release are definitely driving the price on this card.

I'm going to sit this one out for now though.  I'll let the prices drop back to the $10-$20 range which is where this card's value should be.


ESPN thinks it's a pretty cool card and I agree, but I can't pay those wild prices.