It has been nearly a year since my last post.  Over the past year a lot has happened both personally and in terms of collecting.   For those of you that follow my ebay page, I have started to sell off some of my McCutchen collection.  At last count before selling things off I had nealy 3,900 unique cards of Cutch (3,876 to be exact).   Andrew McCutchen will always be my favorite athlete.  I really don't see that changing.  I followed sports and trading cards until I was a teenager (mid 90s).  I stayed out of the hobby and sports entertainment in g ..read more

Andrew McCutchen made 5 straight All Star seasons from 2011-2015.  He debuted with the Pirates in 2009.   Josh Harrison was traded from the Cubs to the Pirates organization in 2009.  He made his MLB debut in 2011.  He didn't become an everyday player in the lineup until 2014 when he made his first All Star game.   The two would go on to form a great friendship on the field and be two of Pittsburgh fan favorites in recent years both receiving everything from T-shirts to bobbleheads to garden gnome giveaways.  It could be argued that Cutch was more de ..read more

It looks like Randy Arozarena and Austin Meadows recently had fake autographs used for Topps Definitive, a VERY HIGH END release ($2500 per box) Here's a link to the post I've often questioned the authenticity of guys who just scribble an autograph with a single line and no distinct markings, but both Meadows and Arozarena have distinct signatures.   As a former Pirates prospect autograph seeker I have been able to get Austin to sign in person and it looks like his cards signed for Topps products.  Below is a sampling of some recent eBay auctions for Meadows autographs if ..read more

When Andrew McCutchen debuted in the majors in 2009, he was given #22 as his uniform choice.  The number was previously worn by Xavier Nady.  Cutch has gone on record saying he would have liked to have number 24 as it was the number of his childhood hero, Ken Griffey Jr. At the time of Cutch's debut Tom Gorzelanny had been wearing #24 for three seasons.  The number 22 hasn't been worn in Pittsburgh since 2017 when Cutch was traded to San Francisco prior to the start of the 2018 season.  Cutch has become very associated with the number 22 and has it as part of his social m ..read more

We have seen many delays occur over the past few years due to the COVID 19 pandemic that struck in 2020.   When the pandemic initially hit there were delays with nearly everything.  Panini even made a toilet paper parallel in 2021 Optic to aknowledge the craziness that occurred.  We continue to see shipping delays occur two years later.   In the past few months of 2022 we have seen Topps finally distribute two products originally intended for 2021. Up first is the 2021 Big League Baseball This product was originally scheduled prior to the All Star Break 2021 ..read more

Last week I was gifted with a 1/1 Topps Blank Back card in the mail from a longtime Twitter friend and Bryce Harper collector. Cutch got his 1,000 career RBI that same day.  He did it on a weak infield ground ball fielder's choice that he couldn't be doubled up on.  Topps honored the event with a 24 hour Topps Now card available which I snagged from apizzo1482 as a preorder for only $5.20 What a career! He got his 200th stolen base and 1,000 RBI this year. As of the 1,000 career RBI he was then missing some milestones by just a few marks 56 hits shy of 2,000 9 doubles shy ..read more

The 4th of July is meant to celebrate our independence as a free country.   With all the flaws our country may have, let's celebrate the great things that our country has provided. Leave a comment below why you love America ..read more

For the first time since 2009 I went 30 days without purchasing an Andrew McCutchen baseball card.  I've gone stretches of 10-14 days before, but I have never gone a full month.  This may sound like a first world problem, but I actually did become addicted to adding cardboard of the former MVP.  Last year was the least amount of card purchases I made of Cutch in over a decade of "CollectingCutch". Then this year happened and my purchases are even less (partially because he hasn't been in many products this year so far).  I used to search eBay 3-6 times a day while also l ..read more

I was caught completely off guard when AJ of The Lost Collector hit me up with a message saying "I have something coming your way". Being the supercollector that I am, it is rare for items regarding Cutch to escape me being aware of their existence ESPECIALLY when it comes to cardboard.  2020 saw me start to limit the number of new Cutch cards to the collection, but I am still adding hundreds of new cards each year. Where it gets tricky regarding my Cutch collection is his appearance in print media and stadium giveaways (excluding bobbleheads of which I have over 20).  Included in ..read more

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 ..read more