- This might be the only card I have of Jim that has a multiple position designation on the front. I'll have to watch the cards in 1997 & 1998 to see if there are any others with the 3B-1B listing.
- The '97 Collectors Choice cards featured the "Did you know?" on the back. The DYK on Thome's card documents the fact that Larry Doby was the first African-American player to play in the AL, appearing 7/5/47 for the Indians.
- For 99 cents, the Collectors Choice brand was not a bad choice for card lovers looking for an inexpensive rip. I remember ripping a lot of these packs back in the day...
- Robert
- Maybe this past weekend is the "breakout" that Pirates fans have been waiting for from Cutch? 7 for 18 against the Brewers at Miller Park (better known as Pirates death valley over the past decade) may be the tonic that Andrew needed to turn this season around. He now has a 6 game mini hit streak, raising his average 8 points.
- Bio on the back: "McCutchen has found that playing the video game Call of Duty prior to a game helps him relax and achieve a proper frame of mind." Start shooting!!
- 2012 Bowman Chrome, 220 cards in the set and lists for $50. The McCutchen card itself lists for $1.50. Seems kind of excessive to me, I think that the Chrome sets have kind of outlived their usefulness. N'est ce pas?
- Robert
- I don't know which scan came out worse, the Sakic #100 or this one. Poor Lenny Harris looks like just a shadow in the background of the card. It's amazing the flaws you see in a foil card once it's scanned...
- A pair of 2 a days got both the Sakic and Thome posts up to 100, but it still hasn't made up for all the days I lost this month without a post. I'm going to end up about 5 shy once it's all said and done, unless I do something crazy in the next 3 days.
- I didn't expect to see '97 Score listed in Beckett. Surprise! The 551 card set is listed (card #551 is the Hideki Matsui RC), and is priced at $40. The Showcase series parallels are listed with multipliers of 1.5 to 4x.
- Robert
- It just worked out that the 100th card for both Sakic and Thome here on the blog are parallel versions of their 99th card. Happy accidents I guess?!
- Joe's 100th career goal was his 2nd goal of the game against the NY Rangers on 3/7/91. It came at home in a 4-2 win; Mike Hough had both of the other goals for Les Nordiques.
- I've got to get better with the scans on the foil cards. As you can plainly see, the Nordiques logo and Sakic's name are pretty much wiped out with this scan.
- Robert
- Believe it or not, the foil at the bottom of the card is actually gold, not silver as the scan makes it out to be.
- The player checking Sakic is unfortunately obscured enough by Sakic that he can't positively be identified. We can tell that the player shoots left, and has the #4 as one of the numbers on his jersey. Unfortunately, there were 3 Lightning players that shoot left and had the #4 as part of their uniform (Cory Cross, Mikael Andersson and Roman Hamrlik).
- Bio on the back: "One of hockey's best playmakers, he heads a diverse group of Quebec centers that includes Mike Ricci, Peter Forsberg, Bob Bassen and Claude Lapointe." No wonder they won a Stanley Cup a couple of years later.
- Robert
- Instantly I was curious to find out who the player for the Reds was sliding into third. I'm pretty sure that is Lenny Harris with what looks to be a very awkward slide. Did you know that Lenny Harris played for 8 teams during his 18 year career, but didn't spend one day on an American League roster? Arizona, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, New York Mets, Florida, Chicago Cubs, Colorado and the Dodgers were all the teams that Lenny was a part of.
- Bio on the back: "After finishing third in on-base percentage in '95 and fifth in walks, Jim smashed two homers in Games 4 and 5 in the ALCS." Interesting segue.
- Home Run #99 for Jim came 5/7/97 vs. Robert Person of the Toronto Blue Jays. It was a solo shot, and proved to be the decisive run in a 7-1 win.
- Robert
- Last Brett Lawrie post was July 28th, almost a month ago. Seeing all these similar looking Bowman cards kind of made me shy away from posting would be my guess.
- I'm still waiting for that one break out season from Brett to put him into a higher category of 2nd basemen. Same old problem for Brett again this year, having problems staying healthy.
- I have 2 more '13 Bowman cards of Brett to post, his Chrome refractor and the hometown parallel. Those are going to wait for a while I work my way through the Topps cards from '13.
- Robert
- For Collectors Choice, this is a pretty decent insert card of Jim. The foil didn't scan perfectly, but the card really does look good in hand.
- Bio on the back: "Jim highlighted his career season of '96 with a .407 average, 11 homers and 32 RBI in August." Believe it or not, those stats didn't get him player of the month! Alex Rodriguez won POTM with a .435/9/28 line.
- I'm looking forward to hitting the 100 post mark with Thome and Sakic this weekend. That milestone should mark about 20% of each player's collection being posted on this blog. Slowly but surely I'm getting there...
- Robert
- A little bit out of order having this card next up when there's still quite a few 94-95's left to post. This card and the next 2 finish the page and get the Sakic post total up to 100.
- Bio on the back: "Over the past 5 seasons, he's never failed to tally under 92 pts., hitting the 100 mark three times." Consistency, thy name is Sakic.
- 4 copies of this card are currently listed on COMC, ranging anywhere from 50 cents to $1.25. The 50 cent card is actually priced at 60% off, so the range is reasonably tight on this card. Makes sense...
- Robert
- Totally ignored: the last post for Felix the Cat was on July the 1st. Need to do a better job of keeping him in the rotation.
- This photo is from the 90-91 World Junior championships, the only time that Felix was part of the Canadian Junior team. Held in the province of Saskatchewan, the Canadian team won gold for the 5th time. The other goalie on the squad was Trevor Kidd.
- The power of the goaltender collecting community: This card is listed for $2, which is a buck more than Scott Niedermayer. Imagine if Potvin had won a Stanley Cup and became a Hall of Famer...
- Robert
- Bio on the back: "Jim finished fourth in the AL in on base percentage (behind only Mark McGwire, Edgar Martinez and Frank Thomas)." Pretty good company I would say.
- I just noticed: The writing in the gold portion on the bottom of the card. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Rocky Colavito, Municipal Stadium, Bob Feller, Nap Lajoie Lake Erie. That's pretty cool in my eyes. I'm going to have to look for some Blue Jays cards from the '97 Pinnacle set to see what is written on the bottom.
- Seeing as Beckett doesn't list prices on Pinnacle sets, I turned to COMC to see what this particular Thome card is listed for. 2 copies, both at 55 cents each. A tad expensive maybe?
- Robert
- Design=fail for me. Maybe one of the worst designs on a hockey card ever. It just reminds me of a large phallic symbol. There, I said it.
- Bio on the back: "Joe has led the Nordiques in scoring in four of his six seasons with the club, topping the 100-point mark on three occasions." That trend would continue over the next decade or so...
- This is also another set that is not listed in the Beckett Hockey Magazine. Not surprising though, it really isn't that great and probably doesn't sell on the secondary market at all.
- Robert
- Would love to know what everyone thinks about cards in a can. Good idea? Bad idea? For me, I really didn't care for the concept. Imagine the storage issues for someone that wanted to collect the entire set, all those cans!!
- Cans aside, I don't mind the card itself. I think the color/B&W photos on the front was well executed here, although the position being noted twice was a little bit of overkill.
- Much like this blog, the back of this card features several bullet points about Jim. Thome's hobby is hunting (didn't know that was a hobby), and he feasts on low fastballs. I was the same when I played baseball, a left hand hitter that loved the low heat. Couldn't hit a curve ball to save my life though...
- Robert
- Amazingly, this card wasn't added to the Trading Card Database website. That problem has been solved by yours truly.
- Not too often you see photos where the puck is actually on its edge instead of flat on the ice. It also looks as if the blade on Joe's stick is suffering from some kind of deformity.
- I need the die cut version of this card, which is a little pricey for me right now. The 2 copies on COMC are priced all right, but paying $14-$15 for the die cut version is not in the wheelhouse at the moment.
- Robert
- If it weren't for the protective coating, this card would be magnificent. There's no way that I even dare try to peel off the coating after nearly 20 years. I've had bad experiences trying that with cards that aren't half the age of this one.
- It looks as if Jim is chasing a ball while playing 3rd base. at least that looks to be a 3rd baseman's glove. 1996 was the last season that Jim was full time at 3rd in Cleveland. The move to first in '97 was precipitated by the Indians acquisition of Matt Williams from the Giants.
- All I have to say is thank goodness I don't chase any of the players that have Gold cards in this set. Guys like Griffey, McGwire, Ripken et al still fetch quite a bit of money for singles from this set. Thome is priced much more reasonably for this collector.
- Robert
- One of my favorite cards in the Sakic collection. The dual photo on the front is great, perfect for a borderless card.
- This is another set that held its value over time. It was just a 225 card set, but still lists for $50. The Sakic itself is $1.50.
- Goals #94 and 95 for Joe were in the same game, a 4-4 tie with the Buffalo Sabres at Le Colisee in Quebec City, 2/12/91. Daren Puppa was the victim for those 2 goals.
- Robert
- I took a quick look at the Trading Card Database website because I knew that there were variations made of many of the cards in this set. This card isn't one of them. It was interesting to see that the autographed versions of McCutchen's cards in this set show him with a slightly different photo, from the shoulders up.
- Bio on the back: "Andrew did it all for Pittsburgh in 2011, leading the club in RBI, SBs, HRs, BBs, 2Bs, and Rs." If that doesn't scream team MVP, I don't know what does.
- I keep reading that Andrew was the 11th player taken in the 2005 draft, so I finally decided to look at the top 10. It's a pretty solid group...
- Justin Upton
- Alex Gordon
- Jeff Clement
- Ryan Zimmerman
- Ryan Braun
- Ricky Romero
- Troy Tulowitzki
- Wade Townsend (never made it to the majors)
- Mike Pelfrey
- Cameron Maybin
- Robert
- Love the photo on this card. It reminds me that Thome was a home run hitter and that swing produced 612 of them. The logo is not overbearing and his name is easy to read. All good things.
- Career homer #94 for Jim was his first of the 1997 season, a solo shot off of Oakland's Buddy Groom. The opening day blast extended the lead for the Indians to 9-7, which is how the game would end.
- Also, congratulations go out to Jim for getting a plaque added to the Phillies Wall of Fame today.
- Robert
- Now that the insanity of a move is largely done with, I can get back into the swing of things on this blog as well. Unfortunately I didn't post far enough in advance, and the 2 day gap is the largest so far on this blog. And hopefully the last.
- It's amazing how much a scan can point out all the flaws on the surface of a foil based card. Look at the dots and spots. If they were all numbered we could play connect the dots...
- This card was part of a 180 card insert set from UD that year. The Sakic runs for $3, and the most expensive card listed is the Gretzky (of course) which still has $10. There are currently 21 copies of this card on COMC, ranging in price from $2.24 down to $0.82.
- Robert
- This card commemorates the 3 HR game that Andrew had versus the Nationals on 8/1/2009. Not a bad way to double your career output.
- This is the 3rd horizontal card so far of Andrew on the blog. Looking through the current collection I have, there's only 3 more horizontal cards to show. I'm only in the 60's now right, so approximately 10% of my McCutchen collection is horizontal...
- I prefer the game used versions of this card, where the jersey is actually cut in the shape of home plate and replaces the logo on the left. The "base" inserts are a little boring to be honest.
- Robert
- Everyone loves the '71 Topps Design, and when it comes out in 2020 as the Topps Heritage design, I have a feeling that sales will be strong. The black borders are fantastic.
- This is one my favorite cards of Cutch, the photo of him just about to swing shows an intensity you don't see on many of his cards.
- I would love to get one of the '77 cloth patches cards from this release, maybe on the next COMC order I'll add one...
- Robert
- It almost looks as if Andrew was pulled off the beach for this photo. Those don't look like baseball pants, they look like shorts.
- Talk about exclusive, the base set is just 25 (!) cards. I guess the real chase for this release was all the autographs. Lots of prospects signed for this set. It's almost as if the autographs should have been the base set and cards like the McCutchen above should have been the inserts.
- Bio on the back: "McCutchen is a true multi-dimensional player and can be an effective hitter at just about any spot in the order for the Bucs." Well, Andrew hit 3rd for the team for the past few years, and when the Pirates moved him to 2nd in order this year, he just wasn't the same.
- Robert
- One of the best scans I've had for a card in a while. If I had any kind of complaint about the card, it would be that the border is too big. Otherwise the card is great.
- A fly ball for sure that Jim's watching, wonder if it's one that left the yard...
- '97 Leaf is two series of 200 cards each. The whole set lists for $40, with the only RC that's listed being of Brian Giles ($1.50).
- Robert
- Take my word for it, the foil is gold. I also never noticed that Joe's position of center is behind the foil. I guess I never really paid much attention to it.
- I was still in Canada at the time, and was able to send away for this set. The back is different from the cards that were inserted into packs. The bio mentions just about every other person on the Nords except for Joe. Wonder why?
- I guess that there must be a lot of these gold sets floating out there, because the 2 copies on COMC are both listed for under a buck. Cheap in my opinion.
- Robert
- Rushed: I'm in the middle of getting ready to move, so trying to put a bunch of posts together in a very short amount of time means I've rushed scans. That's why this card looks so dark when it's actually quite bright in hand.
- Not very many cards to chase from this set as far as Thome is concerned; the only other card I need is the gold stars version. No hurry for that right now...
- There's only 3 copies of this card currently on COMC as of this writing. They are listed from 75 cents to $1.24, which isn't too far off of what they are listed for in Beckett.
- Robert
