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?

Holiday Tribute

As I was looking through my binders for green and red parallels to show off I discovered a few things:

1) Topps and Panini make a lot of products each year

2) There are quite a few green and red parallels I still need to complete rainbows (2018 Bowman Platinum Green, I'm looking at you)

A pair of high end parallels stood out in my 2018 binder.

Topps Tribute dropped the typical bold parallels from year's past and introduced a version of Topps Tribute we have never seen before.

Enter wood borders made famous from the 1962 and 1987 designs.

This time the cards were given an acetate finish and the bold color parallels were less obvious.

I like this design, but it looks more like an insert set than low numbered parallels from a high end set.

What do you think of the above set design for 2018 Topps Tribute?

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?

Cutch's Crew: Talk About a Full House

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

Jodie Sweetin

She was born in 1982 in Los Angeles, California.  She would become a popular child actress on the TV show Full House, which takes place in San Francisco.

Seems appropriate to showcase someone with both LA and SF ties as we prepare for the big rivalry series.

After multiples battles with drugs and alcohol she got in the spotlight again thanks to her participation on Dancing with the Stars.

She then went to star in many Christmas themed Hallmark Channel movies.

It has been reported that the Full House actress did get some plastic surgery prior to the filming of Fuller House.

Oh well...

In the first season of Fuller House, the Netflix spinoff series, sees Stephanie Tanner meet up with Hunter Pence.

Pence was a fan favorite in San Francisco thanks to his leadership, heart, and hustle.  It lead to the Giants winning a pair of World Series in 2012 and 2014 thanks in large part to Pence.

Hunter Pence was a teammate of Andrew McCutchen with the 2018 San Francisco Giants, but also appeared as a member of the 2011 and 2014 National League All Star Team with Cutch.  He even appeared as a cameo with Cutch on a Jay Bruce 2011 Topps Update card.  Cutch and Pence are celebrating together, but Bruce is kinda getting ready for a fist pump by himself.

When Cutch was traded to the Giants he appeared at FanFest and did an absolutely remarkable and hilarious impersonation of Hunter Pence's batting stance.

You can view the complete video with Cutch's commentary by clicking this YouTube link.

I think Cutch enjoyed being a teammate of Hunter Pence.

Here is a 2018 pink mini numbered 2/25.


2018 Topps Mini - [Base] - Pink #47 - Hunter Pence /25
Purchased for $2.84 

I just purchased this card from COMC yesterday after a subliminal suggestion by AJ from The Lost Collector mentioning the show Fuller House in the comments.  Obviously I don't have it in hand yet and have chosen not to ship it yet due to the constant delays in shipping and my current living situation being what it is.

The card doesn't directly give a name cameo of Cutch on the back, but he is one of the 9 players the card back references.

Hunter Pence was always one of my favorite players when he was active.  I love the way he interacted with fans and he was an absolute fan favorite no matter where he played, even when he was a visitor.

Heidi Watney even got into the Hunter Pence sign craze but making her own while hosting Quick Pitch on the MLB Network.

Do you remember the Hunter Pence sign craze?

You may recall a few years ago I showed off this incredible patch card with patches of Johnny Cueto, Hunter Pence, and Andrew McCutchen.  

It's one of my favorite unlicensed cards in my collection. 

Did you like Full House (or it's sequel)?

It is safe to say that I know who Hunter is rooting for tonight.

A Masterpiece Addition

It's been a long time since I showed off some Giants cards of Andrew McCutchen and that's mostly due to my focus of Cutch cards is Pirates, Minor League/Pre Debut, Phillies, Giants, Yankees cards in that order.  

If I was to see an autograph card of Cutch I didn't own, the Giants are pretty low on my desire list. 

That's not to say that I pass on adding new Giants items to the collection though.

I picked up this WalMart exclusive Topps Gallery autograph of Cutch before we started our moving process.  It was in that monster box of cards I have been going through.  

Topps Gallery is an art based set that features a variety of artists to draw some of the most popular players in the game.  

Topps tabbed Evan Shoman to draw the Masterpiece inserts. 

There was a limited number of sticker autographs available of Cutch for this release.

On the back you can see that it is limited to only 5 copies in the top left corner. 

The Giants are having a great season this year and should be seeing themselves clinch a playoff spot in the next week and half. 

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?

Shark Week and All-Star Fest

This has been a fun start to the week in terms of TV viewing.

First up has been all the Colorado MLB All Star Game events and the MLB Draft.  I am excited for the future of the Pirates and really enjoyed the All Star Game Home Run Derby last night.  I am looking forward to see the Pirates having a player start the All Star Game tonight.  Adam Frazier will start the game at 2B and Bryan Reynolds will start the game in Centerfield becoming the first Pirates player(s) to start the game since Andrew McCutchen started the 2015 All Star Game in Cincinnati.

Current Cutch teammate, JT Realmuto, will begin the game as the starting catcher.

Before JT was a teammate of Cutch 

and before Cutch was leaping over JT when they were opponents

JT was a member of the Miami Marlins

I have built a small stash of cards in my next COMC shipment.  I'm holding off on shipping until we have moved into our new permanent residence.   

You can see some of the cards I have purchased below.  I will show off the full mini PC I have created once they all arrive (whenever I decide to ship of course) 

2017 Topps Stadium Club - [Base] - Sepia #71 - J.T. Realmuto

 
2020 Topps Gold Label - Gold Label Framed Autographs #GLA-JRE - J.T. Realmuto

2020 Topps - Significant Statistics #SS-23 - J.T. Realmuto

2018 Topps Stadium Club - [Base] #287 - J.T. Realmuto

2019 Panini Donruss Optic - [Base] - Pink Velocity Prizm #105 - J.T. Realmuto /199

I have also been enjoying Shark Week on Discovery Channel this week and am on the hunt for a JT Realmuto minor league card of his time in Jupiter when he was a member of the Hammerheads.

Picture above is for reference only.

Will you be watching the All Star Game tonight? Anything you're looking forward to? Pregame predictions?

Have you or will you be watching any of Shark Week?