What killed the dinosaurs?

Continuing my posts about Arnold Schwarzenegger we have a line from Batman & Robin where Arnold played the villain, Mr. Freeze.

What killed the dinosaurs?

The Ice Age

Above are my Bowman Platinum silver ice parallels of Cutch 2016-2019. 

What are some other great Arnold one liners you'd like to see?

Buried Museums

I went through a box of relic cards yesterday just to refresh my memory on some of the relics I have from 2017 and found this massive patch that I never showed off before.

It's nice to find cards like this that I completely forgot about.

You like metal?

I've been showing off a bunch of Allen & Ginter cards lately and this will be my last A&G post for awhile.

I thought it would be fun to show off all my metal cards from Allen & Ginter

This is the only non Pirates metal mini I have. It's from 2019 and features him in a Phillies uniform. Strangely enough the 2019 versions didn't have the standard hand numbering that others have.

Above is the 2015 version. The 2015 Rip Cards weren't coated inside with the proper wax sealant which caused all the metal and art cards to get EXTREMELY scratched up.

This is the 2016 extended SP mini metal

And here is the base of which I own all 3 of the print run.

I've talked about being a metalhead on here a few times sighting bands like Vision of Disorder (V.O.D.) and Pantera being two of my favorite bands of all time.  

I am not up with bands post 2005 though.  I don't really have the time now to listen to music other than driving home from work on occasion. 

Having been in a teenage metal band, I think the sounds of guitars shredding, double bass pedal drumming, and deep bass lines will always be in my blood. 

Do you listen to any metal bands? 

Who WOOD believe this?

The Topps Allen & Ginter wood parallels 1/1 have long been some of the most sought after e on the after market.  

They are incredibly difficult to obtain as they are only made available inside a rip card.  Rip cards for those that don't know are cards featuring 1 to 2 different athletes/personalities that can be ripped to find bonus cards 3inside. The problem with this is that so many uj collectors and player collectors don't rip their rip cards because they want to keepg the wood parallels legacy, the 2018 batch went missing except the extended numbers.  G

I remember having an opportunity to buy the wood extended Cutch SP from 2018 A&G on release day and balked at the $150 price tag associated with i.  t.  This was before it was revealed that all other wood minis never made it into production.

I am forever kicking myself for not acquiring that card.

I have managed to get the 2015, 2016, and 2017 wood minis in my collection and have had several conversations over the years with the owner of the 2010.  

For now though it looks like these 3 will be the only ones in my collection. 

What cards do you regret not getting before knowing how rare they were?

Simply One of the Best

Last year I showed off a bunch of red & green parallels as I was counting down to Christmas.

While I have been very busy with planning the move and the holidays and work schedule, I do plan to *occasionally* continue that trend this year.

Above is my 2017 Bowman's Best Green and Red refractors of Andrew McCutchen.

The Green is limited to 99 copies.

The Red is limited to 10 copies.

Oddly enough the back mentions Cutch's best game of 2017 as July 30th.

Many players would love to hit 3 HR in a game and getting 2 walks with a great catch will certainly be a memorable game, but I have to believe if you ask Andrew what his best game of 2017 was he would say September 26th.

In that September 26th game Cutch went 4 for 4 with 8 RBI including 2 HR (one being his first Grand Slam). He had that game in his final homestand at PNC Park as a member of the Pirates. 

Would you rather have a game with 3 solo HR and 2 walks 

-OR-

2 HR, 1 double, and an 8 RBI performance?

Gobble Gobble

Today is a day for giving thanks.

Obviously there are some things that I am thankful for that go without saying.

I am thankful for my health.

I am thankful for my family and friends health.

I am thankful for all that God has blessed me with this year.

There are of course some less obvious things that I am thankful for

I am thankful that very very soon I will have a place to properly display my Cutch Cave.

I am thankful that my commute to work each day will save me 2 hours daily once I move.

I am thankful for Topps releasing autograph cards with turkeys on them because turkeys are awesome.

I am thankful for all the food I am going to consume today.

I am thankful for Ghostbusters: Afterlife finally being released which I will be watching tomorrow.

What are some unique things you are thankful for?

Congrats to Bryce Harper

Bryce Harper won the NL MVP for the second time in his career.

I like Bryce Harper.

A lot!

I love the way he plays the game

Above are all my Cutch cards that also feature Bryce Harper.  

Just Tell The Truth

Each year during the month of October, I show off only pink (and shades of pink like magenta, peach, etc) to help raise awareness of Breast Cancer, a leading cause of death for females in the United States.  

Due to my own financial situation this year I will not be able to make a donation for each (meaningful, non spam) comment left by those that follow the blog.  Once things settle down on the home front though I will be looking to make a donation in 2022 based on the comments left during this year's event.  Hopefully together we can help at least one woman get a much needed mammogram.  Early detection is key!!!

If you want to make your own private donation please visit the National Breast Cancer Foundation.  There is a donate button on the main page and it only takes a minute of your time.  Every little bit helps.

I have focused primarily on cards that only feature Andrew McCutchen on the card, but in recent years have also featured cards with a cameo appearance (either being seen on the card or as a name cameo on the back of the card).  In 2019, I created Falco Files which discussed players that replaced (Shane Falco Replacements movie reference) on an active roster, number worn, or trade.  I will also be showing some Cutch's Crew cards that show pink cards of players that have played with Cutch on multiple teams. I will continue to utilize these styles of posts as we celebrate the 5th Collecting Cutch Save Second Base event (I am no longer counting my first run on the Pirates Treasure Room I did back in 2014).

I am always looking for new ways to incorporate new celebrities into the event so today I am presenting

Krista Allen

You may recognize her as one of the adult film lesbians in the Adam Sandler & Jack Nickolson comedy, Anger Management.

She certainly stands out in the film.

You may also recognize her from the horror movie, Feast


She may be best remembered for her role as the busty new tenant in the elevator of the Jim Carrey comedy, Liar Liar

This 2017 Josh Bell Topps Chrome pink refractor rookie card is a fantastic looking card.

Flip it over and you could have seen an Andrew McCutchen name cameo on the back.

It states that Bell is the only player to be named the Pirates minor league player of the year twice.

That is a lie according to The Baseball Cube
Zach Duke, Sean Burnett, and Andrew McCutchen were also winners of the award twice while in the minors.

However, according to an article via MLB.com it states the exact same thing Topps printed on it's card back.

What do you consider a lie?

What are some things you've found on the internet to not be true?

Cardboard Cameos: For Whom The Bell Tolls

Each year during the month of October, I show off only pink (and shades of pink like magenta, peach, etc) to help raise awareness of Breast Cancer, a leading cause of death for females in the United States.  

Due to my own financial situation this year I will not be able to make a donation for each (meaningful, non spam) comment left by those that follow the blog.  Once things settle down on the home front though I will be looking to make a donation in 2022 based on the comments left during this year's event.  Hopefully together we can help at least one woman get a much needed mammogram.  Early detection is key!!!

If you want to make your own private donation please visit the National Breast Cancer Foundation.  There is a donate button on the main page and it only takes a minute of your time.  Every little bit helps.

I have focused primarily on cards that only feature Andrew McCutchen on the card, but in recent years have also featured cards with a cameo appearance (either being seen on the card or as a name cameo on the back of the card).  In 2019, I created Falco Files which discussed players that replaced (Shane Falco Replacements movie reference) on an active roster, number worn, or trade.  I will also be showing some Cutch's Crew cards that show pink cards of players that have played with Cutch on multiple teams. I will continue to utilize these styles of posts as we celebrate the 5th Collecting Cutch Save Second Base event (I am no longer counting my first run on the Pirates Treasure Room I did back in 2014).

I am always looking for new ways to incorporate new celebrities into the event so today I am presenting

Catherine Bell

I will admit it.  Back in the early stages of the internet I discovered the above image of Catherine Bell and it has been one of my favorite images to this day.

Bell has been acting on the silver screen since 1991

She has had brief roles on TV shows like Friends, Vanishing Son, and Hercules.

Her most famous role was playing Lt Sarah MacKenzie on the TV show JAG which she reprised the role in 2019 for three episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles.

Another of her recent roles is the lead role on the recently cancelled The Good Witch.

Bell will always be one of my first internet crushes and a frequent Yahoo search when I was younger.

Above is a look at Catherine Bell at age 31 vs 51.

Bell was born in 1968, one of my least favorite Topps designs ever.

The terrible burlap sack design did offer some pink fonts for many teams though including the Pirates, which was used again in 2017 Topps Heritage.

This 2017 Heritage card features a cameo of Cutch both on the front and back.

As you can see there is also a Josh Bell cameo.  

Lots of stars on the back of this checklist

Can you think of any other actors/actresses to appear in a TV show over a decade later to reprise the same role? 

Did you ever watch JAG?

A kaleidoscopic look at life lessons through baseball cards

I have been rummaging through my binders and I have to say, I never truly appreciated some of my cards as much as now.

When I was getting a new McCutchen card nearly every day it was just buy it and put it away.  I never took the time to really appreciate what I had as I was always looking for what I didn't have.  

That's the problem with being a completionist rather than a collector.  However, it is absolutely impossible to collect every unique card of a modern star player.  Not only are there hundreds of 1of1s being produced these days, but even the cards numbered to 50 are becoming difficult to acquire.  Case in point, not a single Mother's Day pink parallel from 2021 Series 2 Andrew McCutchen has hit eBay yet and the product has been out for nearly 2 months.

I have been looking back at what I have more than what I don't now and that is a pretty cool feeling.  Don't get me wrong I still do daily searches on my usual sites, but the buying has been far more limited than before.

It wasn't until I dug out a binder and looked at some parallels that I noticed the kaleidoscope type refractor the Topps Chrome prism refractors give off.

When shined in the right light, these things are awesome!!!!

Ooooh, the 2015 Prisms look awesome!

The back for all the prism parallels don't have any distinguishing identification like Refractor or a numbering system unique to prisms.

Personally I think the 2016 (seen below) is the best of the prism refractors.

Here is the 2017

Here is the only McCutchen Giants prism refractor from 2018

And the 2019 is McCutchen's first Phillies prism Refractor

Cutch didn't appear in 2020 Topps Chrome so he didn't have a prism refractor released last year.  I am curious if Cutch will appear in 2021 Topps Chrome.

Has there been a parallel that you never appreciated until years later?