A pink card for October

As per October tradition, Collecting Cutch is once again showing off pink cards to raise awareness for breast cancer.

While he also shows some very attractive subject matter, I'm going to stick to cards here. My newest Tino Martinez card, as luck would have it, is nothing but pink:

This is from 2020 Topps Chrome Update. Obviously this was a disaster of a set, but with the inclusion of Tino Martinez, gave me many parallels and refractors to chase down. This is the pink refractor, not to be confused with the pink wave refractor.

While my card-buying, collecting habits, and desire to run a blog all but vanish, once in a while I still surf eBay and this card was a minimal price, so I snagged it. I have a stack of about 20 Tinos I have yet to add my to my 'have' list, both on my blog and on TCDB. This is one of them, but I'll be sure to update that in the near future.

My October posting will likely continue to be sporadic, but I strongly encourage you to go check out Collecting Cutch's blog for his excellent cause all month long.

A buck buck buck for #1,100

I'm ripping off Collecting Cutch's post today, where he won a sweet Andrew McCutchen Panini relic /5 for just a buck.

I too won a cool card for just a buck, and it has the double bonus of being unique Tino #1,100 for me! 

Last August, I hit 1,000 Tino cards, so it took me about 9 months to secure 100 more. Not too bad at all.

Anyhow, the card is from 2000 Stadium Club Chrome, and is the Refractor. I wouldn't say this is an overly rare card. It's not numbered to /5 or anything. However, I don't recall seeing it pop up on eBay, so I quickly snagged it for $.99 plus $.99 shipping.

This was actually a pretty sweet Stadium Club design. Fairly minimalist with a lot of room for the photo. Name within a pennant with the team logo just to the right. Very sound design and very baseball-y. I also like how Tino is seen rounding second base after what appears to be a homer.

I was glad to get this card for a buck, and nice to have another round number for my Tino collection.

The boobs continue to be saved

Every October, perhaps the greatest thing to hit card blogs is Collecting Cutch's Save Second Base event for breast cancer awareness. Not only does he post voluptuous gifs, but also shows off some sweet pink cards. In addition to that, he give to others plenty of chances to win pink cards of their own.

I was the lucky winner of one of the contests, and my prize was the very cool Bob Gibson pink Project 2020 by artist Ermsy. What a cool card, and one of the tamest that Ersmy has done. I have several Project 2020s, but a Gibson was not one of these and will look great alongside the rest. There are a lot of strong feelings about these artist-issued cards. Mostly negative. As someone who paints a bit and likes art, I think they are cool. Sure, some are better than others (subjective) and some I don't prefer (also subjective). But what I find most interesting is that the people who dislike and dismiss these want to make sure you know about it, as opposed to the people who are fine with them and quietly collect. I have the full run of Jeters, yet this is my first time mentioning these cards.

Cutch also threw in a few more pink cards. Can't go wrong with either of these.

Brian, thanks again for all of your efforts for breast cancer awareness!

Free Card Friday - Pink Cards!

Collecting Cutch is once again run his Save Second Base event for Breast Cancer Awareness, featuring pink Andrew McCutchen cards and bouncy gifs all month long. He holds contests throughout, and even donates $1 per blog comment he receives.

I wanted to add to the event with a small Free Card Friday featuring only pink cards. I'm sure I have more, but this is what I could dig up easily.

Please claim one or more cards, and email me your address if I don't have it. These will be shipped in a PWE.

1994 Fleer Ultra Ryan Klesko All-Rookie Team #5 of 10

1992 Score All-Star Game P&G Wade Boggs #4 of 18

1995 Upper Deck Collector's Choice You Make The Play Greg Maddux #22

1992 Marvel X-Men Teams Toy Biz variation #71 (corners a bit rough)

And be sure to support Collecting Cutch's month long event for Breast Cancer Awareness.

3D x 3

In his latest Save Second Base contest, Collecting Cutch has asked us to show off some 3D cards.

There are a bunch if ways to go with this. Donruss Pop Up cards, Denny's Holograms, Topps Embossed, and more. 3D cards have been a part of collecting baseball cards for years.

It's also been a part of all facets of life. I remember getting cereal boxes that came with 3D glasses, or even a receiving a set of glasses to watch TGIF for a night of special 3D episodes as a kid. I remember watching Tim Taylor on Home Improvement shove a 2x4 into my living room that night.

About 10 years ago, it looked as if 3D TVs were the next big thing. The technology was actually very cool. But people didn't want to watch TVs with special glasses. I haven't heard much about 3D TVs in five or six years.

Recently, I bought a big box of cards of a social media marketplace. The contents looked good from the pictures, and I've had some really good luck with them in the past. This one ended up being pretty good too, as I've already made my money back while keeping the stuff I wanted, including a few Jasson Dominguez cards and a Vlad Jr. autograph.

However, there were a few cards in there that I'd say qualify as 3D cards.

The first that stuck out to me was this Tony Gwynn from Pinnacle's 1995 UC3. At first I thought this was an Upper Deck product, so I was surprised to see both Pinnacle AND Sportflix on the back. It actually says "Sportflix, a Pinnacle Brand." It looks like Pinnacle tried to make a higher end Sportflix? The card itself is nice and clean, and the 3D effect is fairly well done. There is no movement like a traditional Sportflix, but there's plenty of depth.

The next is a basketball issue, from 1996-97 Upper Deck SPx. This is the type of card I'd never find in the wild as a kid, but one I'd see in Beckett and want it. Not only is it diecut, but also hologram!? Be still, my heart. All that's missing is some clearcut acetate! The hologram itself is a bit more on the 3D side with a picture-in-picture effect with a headshot in the foreground and an action shot in the background.

My last entry is a bit of a stretch, as it's more of a 3D texture than card effect. There was a stack of these  bordered 2012 Gypsy Queens. Not really 3D, but the framed is raised and the card is set back within the frame. That counts, I think.

Be sure to check out Collecting Cutch all of October and support his annual Save Second Base event.

Phenomenon

When Collecting Cutch challenged us to post about our favorite John Travolta movie, I wasn't sure which direction to go. 

Pulp Fiction is an obvious choice. I like it, but wouldn't say I love it. Randomly, I really like Look Who's Talking, but I think that more has to do with watching it as a kid. Can't really miss with Grease, but I've seen it so many times (family favorite so it was on A LOT), that I actually sort of despise it now.

But when PWE showed up yesterday from a TCDB, it hit me like a bolt from the sky. Phenomenon. 

That's my favorite. I haven't seen it in a long time, but I certainly remember the story well. An average guy who can do extraordinary things. I sort of relate that back to this guy, who impresses me more and more by the day:

The story starts when George Malley, Travolta's character, sees an unexplained bolt of light from the sky. It sort of looks like this when it hits him:

Bam! The story goes on to show George suddenly being in touch with parts of his brain that most aren't, from quickly learning languages to being able to move objects to predicting disasters. He became a true phenom in every sense of the word, which is the name given to many young players in baseball. First-year phenoms or future stars:

(Although I must admit that it's quite a stretch by Topps calling Mike Tauchman a future star)

Ultimately the story has a sad ending, which I won't spoil. 

And while unconventional, I definitely think that this movie is my favorite of all of Travolta's hits. And if you want to read more on Travolta and how he unfortunately lost his wife to breast cancer, take a look at Collecting Cutch's contest post here. And let's continue to raise awareness for breast cancer.

Be careful what you comment on...

... because it might just come true!

A few weeks back, I made an innocent comment on one of Collecting Cutch's post about - shockingly - Andrew McCutchen.

He was showing off a few McCutchen Yankees autographs (yes, there are a few out there). I really enjoyed Cutch's 1.5 months as a Yankee. It was awesome to see him in NY rocking the Pinstripes, although it was hot garbage he couldn't wear 22 because the corpse of Jacoby Ellsbury still had it. Anyhow, I made a simple comment, "I need to pick up a McCutchen Yankees autograph sometime."

That was it. Innocent, right?

And a few days later, a bubble mailer showed up in my mailbox. And this was in it:

Are you kidding me?! It's not like these are a dime a dozen. This was waaaay too generous. To boot, this is the EXACT autograph of McCutchen I would have targeted. Brian assured me this was a dupe for him. But still!

I was ecstatic. 

Of course, with Collecting Cutch, it never just ends there. Look at this! A giclee print of an art card by Edward Vela, signed on the back by the artist! Gorgeous.

I had seen the word "giclee" a few times, but wasn't sure what it meant. 

Hmph, well that makes sense. That is indeed what it is. Also I was pronouncing it "Gick-lee" which is very wrong.

And more and more Cutch cards. I feel like I have a nice mini-collection of him simply from the extras Brian throws into packages.

And look how far into this post I got without even showing a 2020 Topps DJ LeMahieu autograph. Nearly a perfect card. And look, he wore #26 right after Cutch did! I never thought about that.

And this absolutely beauty of a Jesus Montero card. If this were 2012, it would go for a pretty penny. Remember to sell your prospect cards, kids.

This Austin Jackson/Joey Devine card is awesome! Itr's numbered 2/2 (weird!). Austin Jackson has had a really good career. Somehow he's still just 33, although he has played for 7 teams. Still, he's a .273 career hitter, with over 1100 hits. That...is a solid big leaguer. He's made over $31Million as well. Good for him.

And least but not least, a custom from Collecting Cutch himself! I have been assured this is Yoda, not Shrek.

What a very generous gift he sent me.

Now I'm going to go find someone posting about a Trout RC and casually mention it would be nice to have one...

Second Base is the Best Base

It dawned on me recently that I never properly showed off some of my loot from Collecting Cutch's annual Breast Cancer Awareness event.

That was not intentional at all, and I wanted to make things right. Cutch is always super generous with his mailings from the event, and this is no exception.

He sent it in early December as well, so lead off the package with one of his fun painted customs of Andrew McCutchen playing the role of Santa Cutch:

So fun. The GQ card was a great choice to point given the non-glossy card stock.

The whole package was generous but to me the highlight was the Luis Severino Topps Salute Mother's Day autograph. The pink interlocking NY and the MLB logo with pink ribbon is really one of the perfect cards to honor the event that Brian runs each year. Great themed card of a great pitcher. I look forward to seeing Severino on the mound for (hopefully) a full season in 2020. It was a bit of a wasted season for him due to injury, but he showed he was healthy when he did come back, and he's still very young. He'll be just 26 for all of the 2020 campaign.

I had seen this card a few times, but never got one. It's a Fan Favorites card of Bald Vinny. I can't really say I agree with Bald Vinny being a fan favorite. Yankee fans don't really care about Bald Vinny at all. Still, must be cool for him to have a signed card in a set.

I didn't mind these Player's Weekend Manu-relic thingies at all. I really like Player's Weekend and don't mind seeing the Yankees in different uniforms for a few days. I know people (especially Yankee fans) get up in arms over any changes to the uniform (including the lovely Nike swoosh in 2020!), but I'm not one of them at all. I don't want to see a full-time change, but I have no issue with taking part in a weekend like this. Hopefully MLB starts to design some better-looking uniforms for the weekend.

I also think the nickname thing is a little played out after a few years. I'd love to see the theme continue in a different way. Maybe put the name of a charity or honor a family member. Or maybe put the name of a past player that the current player enjoyed growing up. Or auction off the spot to fans with the proceeds going to charity.

Anyhow, I was happy to get these two cards of current superstars. The Gleyber Donruss is a variation (thanks for telling me that, TCDB), and the Judge is from the ultra fun 2019 Topps Holiday set.

Last but not least, I'll bring it back with a pink Refractor of Chance Adams, who has 2,000 cards in 2019. The pink once again is a great reminder of the support Brian shows for his cause. Chance was a 40-man roster casualty earlier this offseason.

Thanks again, Brian! I really appreciate the package, and all you do for Breast Cancer Awareness.

My favorite Yankee born in the '80s

In his latest contest installment, Collecting Cutch asks who our favorite player born in the '80s is. I had no answer off the top of my head. Tino was born in the '60s, and Ty Hensley + all the current Yankees I admire were born in the '90s. Tough choice.

Ultimately, the decision came down to a coupe of older Yankees, and I think I chose well:

Plus a pink card!

Brett Gardner was born in 1983, and is the longest tenured Yankee, making his debut in 2008 at the old Stadium. Since then, he's been a constant part of the Yankees over the last decade. He seemed to be always overlooked or pushed aside for shinier new models, but somehow, no matter what, he always ends up playing more than expected and contributing to the team in never-ending ways.

Gardner started his career has a slap-hitting, fast-running leadoff type hitter. Somehow he has developed into a 20-HR guy, learning to yank balls into NY's short porch.

He is a fiery dude, although I can't say I agreed with his recent binge of dugout bashing with his bat. I don't mind emotion, but I didn't like that.

Still, it's hard for any Yankee fan not to appreciate what he has given the team over the last 10+ seasons. He's been a consistent force, and someone who I'm sure I'll appreciate more once he's no longer around.

Player collectors looking out for one another

There are a few player collectors on the blogs who are dominant in their respective field. P Town Tom with Vogelmonster. Zippy with Torrens. Junior Junkie with Griffey. Collecting Cutch with McCutchen. There are countless others I'm not mentioning, but we all know the plight to try and track down all cards of one's chosen player.

My favorite player retired 14 years ago, and it's still incredibly hard to track down his cards. However, often it's my fellow player collectors who help me out the most.

Recently, Brian of Collecting Cutch sent me a few cards out of the blue. Included in the package were these:

True, I did have the '89 Redemption, but I did redeem it to receive a second Tino buyback auto (still no update there). But the 2016 Panini Prime Cuts auto, numbered to just 10? One I needed and really appreciate!

Brian is always looking out for me, and he mentioned to me that when he buys a few Cutch cards from a seller, he'll often take a peek at what else the seller has, and usually searched for Tino as one of the guys he looks for.

I found that to be a very touching gesture, and really appreciate that Brian goes out of his way to do that. He's sent me far more Tino cards than I have sent him of Cutch, and I hope one day to pull or stumble across a very rare McCutchen so that I can properly thank him.

Brian also sent me a few Cutch cards (always appreciated), and a cool Giancarlo Stanton custom from the World Baseball Classic. The design looks like it's from the Rookies App.

Last but not least, a sweet RC Red Refractor of Dellin Betances. The card is amazing looking in person, as the scan didn't do it justice.

Player collecting is a bond of sorts, and guys like Brian really help make the battle worth it!

My favorite team that didn't win the World Series

The 2003 World Series will forever be the one that got away.

I wanted to go a few ways with this for the contest over at Collecting Cutch.

At first, I wanted to choose 1994. The Yankees were looking primed to come out of the AL in a World Series showdown versus the Expos. I have no doubt that Don Mattingly would have hit .800 in that World Series.

Then I wanted to choose 1995. But I feel like the Yankees needed that crushing 1995 loss to set the stage for 1996. Similar story for 1997 leading into the threepeat 1998-2000 Yanks.

I wanted to choose 2001 because of the epic World Series and what it would have meant to NYC.

I wanted to choose 2010 because the Yankees should have gotten Clif Lee and beat Texas in the ALCS.

I wanted to choose 2017 because the Yankees weren't supposed to contend just yet, but then ended up one game short of going to the World Series.

I wanted to choose 2018, mostly because that means the Red Sox wouldn't have won.

But to me, the ultimate letdown is still 2003. Aaron Boone hit the epic Game 7, extra-inning HR of Tim Wakefield.

That Yankees team was better than the Marlins. They were. But the game isn't played on paper, and the Marlins showed up to play and the Yankees didn't. After the epic series with Boston, it just felt like the Yankees couldn't match that intensity again. Whether they were worn out or expected to win or whatever it might have been, they didn't play well and lost 4 games to 2 in a series that wasn't very close.

What is most disappointing is that guys like Mike Mussina and Jason Giambi had their shots at rings, and the team didn't come through. By no means was this my favorite Yankees team, but I would have loved to see those guys - along with Alfonso Soriano - finally get their rings. Those three never did.

My favorite Yankees team? Hardly. But one I wish would have win? Definitely.

Santa Cutch

Right before I took off on my holiday excursion, I came home to a mailing from Collecting Cutch himself. It was a holidays "just because" package, and was filled with some solid additions to round out 2018.

First, a hand painted and what I can only assume is a 1 of 1 Santa Cutch from Gypsy Queen. These are rare! I got a good chuckle when I saw this.

Now, on to the less rare cards. The biggest ticket item outside of the artwork is this sweet Michael Pineda Triple Threads. I've cooled with my Big Mike collection since he signed with the Twins, but hard not to like a card like this. On-card autograph plus awesome jersey swatch showing two pinstripes is really cool!

My next favorite card was a Bowman Chrome Gleyber Torres. I still get giddy when Gleyber finds a way into inbound packages. His cards still feel a bit rare.

Here are a couple of others I enjoyed.

Thanks to Collecting Cutch for thinking of me and being a good friend of the blog!

Cornering the market

It's weird being really the only market when it comes to collecting certain players. Now, I don't have complete proof of this, but I believe I'm the only person actively chasing Ty Hensley cards.

Even with my Tino Martinez collection, I face competition from Yankees fans, especially for some of his rarer cards and autographs. I still manage to snag most of the ones I want, but it's not easier.

Then you've got the super collectors with collections centered entirely around popular players. I can't imagine how hard it is for Junior Junkie or Collecting Cutch, as both must face a lot of competition for rare cards of Griffey and McCutchen, respectively. Although I have to say, I can't imagine anyone beats those two for key cards of that particular player.

I'd assume P-Town Tom (Vogelmonster) and Zippy Zappy (Torrens) can relate as to being the only market for a certain player. While it's great to not be in a major competition for cards, it can also be frustrating.

For me, Ty Hensley carries the label of "YANKEES FIRST ROUND DRAFT PICK." And that's true. He was. In 2012. Yet many of his cards still carry a premium price because of the interlocking NY, despite Ty's struggle to succeed in pro ball. It's annoying seeing cards I need that are either overpriced, or the seller isn't willing to negotiate. I just want to be like, "dude, if I'm not buying this card, no one is."

Luckily, anytime there is an auction with a minimum bid for a card I need, I usually end up with that card, and usually at the lowest price. So when this autograph numbered to /10 popped up with a $.99 bid, I was all over it.

And won it for $.99. The problem I now face is really the fact that shipping usually outweighs the card cost, but at this point, I don't have a ton of choices if I want to keep building this collection.

Nevermind, that wasn't all of the Topps Nows

In my last post, I mentioned that was it for Topps Now cards that were incoming.

What I didn't account for was one find its way to me in a surprise package, but that's exactly what happened after I made that last post. This came courtesy of Collecting Cutch, who said he snagged an extra one of these and thought I'd like it since Gleyber Torres was on it. He was right!

The front of the card, which I forgot to scan, recognizes an MLB record 81 walk-off HRs in 2018. Given this card was dated August 29th, I'd have to believe the record extended itself well beyond 81. It also served as a bit of foreshadowing, as McCutchen, pictured next to Torres, would be his teammate three days later.

Very cool and a great addition to my Torres collection, which is predominantly Topps Now cards.

However, I can't quite say it was my favorite card of the package, considering this was in there:

Ooooh la la. I've been after this card from 2010 Donruss Elite for a while! Any time I get to add a new Tino autograph feels like a very special moment in my collection, mostly because there just aren't many out there.

There was a second Tino I needed as well, from 1998 Stadium Club One of a Kind, #'d to just 150. I say "just 150" because that's a fairly low-numbered card for Tino. When serially-numbered cards became the range in the late '90s, many were numbered to a few thousand. So in 1998, 150 would have been very rare!

I've always felt like this was such a cool photo to have on a card as well, with Tino diving into 1B mitt-first for the out.

And of course, you can't end a package from Collecting Cutch without a few Andrew McCutchens! I would love for him to be back with the Yankees in 2019, but I don't see how it would happen. McCutchen should, and will, get a multiyear deal somewhere. I just hope it's someplace where he can compete for a championship. He's an all-around great dude and deserves it.

Brian from Collecting Cutch is a great dude as well, and I appreciate the excellent package!