- Great looking card I was able to add on my last COMC order. 84 cents for a card numbered to 500 isn't bad in my opinion.
- Added this card to the Trading Card Database. This will move me into a tie for 7th as far as McCutchen images go on the site. Still doing my part...
- Career homer #95 was the first of 2 dingers hit on 7/22/2013 against the Nationals Dan Haren. Both of the homers were 2 run shots propelling the Pirates to a 4-0 lead. The Bucs hung on to win 6-5.
- Robert
- Boy, it's been quite a long time since I've seen any cards from this set on the blogs.
- I always liked this design, nothing fancy but everything that you need is on the front and doesn't overwhelm the card.
- Bio on the back: "...he was the Baseball America rookie of the year that season." Andrew was 4th in ROY voting that season, finishing behind Chris Coghlan, J.A. Happ and Tommy Hanson.
- Robert
- Just imagine the card landscape today if Topps hadn't started releasing Heritage back in 2001.
- I added this card to my collection at the TCDB, and noticed that there were several ebay auctions at the bottom of the page of this card, for $1 apiece. Card still going strong after all these years.
- Career home run #247 was hit 6/4/2001 off of Joe Mays. The Tribe was down 8-3 at the time, and started a comeback that fell short as the Twins won the game 11-10.
- Robert
- Love the amber background; I can't recall seeing an amber parallel over the years.
- As with many other cards lately, this has been added to the Trading Card Database. It is also serial #'d 74/125.
- You're probably going to see a bit of a run of McCutchen cards here on the blog in the next couple of weeks. I have 9 more from the last COMC order to scan/add/put away.
- Robert
- Sleeveless jerseys will always have a place in my heart. If the Pirates could have found a way to put some gold/yellow in there, these would have been perfect.
- I guess the code on the back isn't good anymore, as the toppstown.com website is no more.
- Career home run #92 was hit 7/13/2013 against the Mets David Aardsma. The solo shot tied the game at 2-2, and the Pirates would go on to win 4-2 with reliever Justin Wilson getting his 4th win of the season.
- Robert
- As I mentioned, here and there I'll be getting into the $1+ cards of Sakic. This card set me back $1.24 (the horror), but it's one step closer to finishing off the Nordiques cards of Joe that I need, which is still too many.
- I was surprised that this wasn't added to the Trading Card Database. As is the norm, I took care of that little chore.
- Career goal #261 came on 1/4/96 in a game against the Flyers that ended in a 2-2 tie. Garth Snow was the victim that night.
- Robert
- More fabulous photography care of Stadium Club. Love the "Semi" overhead shot.
- If I had to be critical, remove the baseballs on the bottom. They aren't needed. Otherwise a great looking card.
- Bio on the back: "does not get cheated at the plate". The photo certainly says that.
- Robert
- Post #700 for this blog is the final card that I needed for the 1993-94 Upper Deck portion of my Sakic collection. Anytime I can find a Sakic insert for less than I buck, I'm happy. This was bought for 89 cents.
- Seeing the initial success of the Golden Knights makes me want to see another team back in Quebec. The league needs to stop worrying about East/West equality and put teams in locations where they will succeed.
- Career goal #260 for Joe was scored on 12/29/95 vs. the Maple Leafs. It was the first goal of the game; Joe would go on to assist on the Avalanche's two other tallies in a 3-2 win over the Leafs.
- Robert
- I had not seen any of these canvas collection cards until I received the Cutch you see above. Had to take a look at the others, and these are really nice cards IMO. Would love to have the Jose Bautista card someday.
- Surprised at how thick the card was. Also love the feel of the canvas on the front.
- Career home run #91 was hit 6/28/2013 off of Milwaukee's Mike Gonzalez. It was the final nail in the 10-3 coffin that the Pirates buried the Brewers in that day. Gerrit Cole pitched 6 innings to win his 4th of the season.
- Robert
- Had to turn the card sideways on the scanner in order to get a decent scan. Thank goodness for the rotate feature on the scanner software.
- Got this as part of my latest COMC order. Was surprised to get it for just 68 cents. The time is going to come very soon where I'll be paying $1.50 to $2 for Sakic singles/parallels since a lot of the base cards have been added to my collection.
- Frustrating: 14 cards so far for Sakic in 2017-18. All of them serial #'d; a couple of the black parallels #'d to 1 and 2. More and more cards that probably won't make their way to me. Oh well....
- Robert
- Love how this card scanned. The gold really jumps out at you. I also like the bulls eye effect on the left hand side of the card, it looks great to me.
- Since I last talked about the number of scans on the Trading Card Database (which was within the last few days), the number has jumped about 12,000. A long way to go to hit 3 million, but I helped a little more today with this card.
- No bio on the back: The back actually lists 3 pitchers who Jim had good career numbers against (at the time). Bobby Witt was the one that jumped out at me; Jim at the time was 10 for 24 against Witt with 6 HR and 16 RBI.
- Robert
- Part of the recent COMC order, I didn't think that this was a bad pick up at 89 cents. I've always liked the Bowman set from 1992 (92-93 for hockey), even with some of the glamour shots.
- I was quite surprised that this hadn't been scanned into the Trading Card Database yet. I took care of that this evening.
- Career homer #90 was hit 6/22/2013 against the Angels Jerome Williams. The Pirates were already ahead by 4, and won comfortably 6-1. Francisco Liriano pitched 6.2 innings for his 6th win of the year.
- Robert
- Part of my most recent COMC order. Had it in the cart for quite a while, and to me it was cheap at 46 cents.
- Love how it scanned with the gold background. You have to really tilt the card to get any kind of gold to shine.
- Career homer #244 was hit 5/30/01 off of Detroit's Chris Holt. It was a 2 run shot to put the Indians ahead by 3; they would go on to win 8-4. It would be the first win of the season for Cleveland's Jaret Wright.
- Robert
- Boy this card takes me back a few years. The sleeveless jerseys that the Pirates sported a few years ago looked great. I'd love to see teams start using them again.
- I had a couple of these 2020 cards a few years ago; I'd forgotten the weird feel of the front of the card.
- Bio on the back: "Along the road to 2020, it would surprise no one if he challenged the Pirates single decade records for outfielders of 177 HRs and 862 RBIs set by Roberto Clemente in the 60's." Andrew already has 191 HRs this decade. A couple of good seasons and his 671 RBI will pass Clemente.
- Robert
- Finally obtained the base card of the Paramount rainbow. I believe I only have 2 colors left to pick up.
- 3 copies of this card currently on COMC, all between $1.20 and $1.25. I remember these packs being expensive back in the day, so the singles seem to be priced about right.
- It's a bit hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that this is the base card. I'm so used to gold cards being parallels that seeing one as the base doesn't make sense...
- Robert
- I've never been a big fan of inserts, but this photo of Cutch in the on deck circle with a great view of the Clemente wall is fantastic.
- This was part of my latest COMC order. The group of cards I picked up for Cutch will bring me over 100.
- Bio on the back: "In 2015, sales of his jersey on MLB.com Shop ranked 10th among all players." Not bad for a small market star...
- Robert
- Yes Virginia, that is the longest post title I've ever had to type.
- Another card added to the Trading Card Database. I'm closing in on 80 Sakic images added to the site.
- This was part of a big group of cards sent to me by fellow Sakic collector @johnnychimpo68 on twitter. Very generous for sure. I'm going to have to do a rough count soon, I'm closing in on 700 Sakic cards in the collection.
- Robert
- Can't believe how grainy this scan looks. Replacing my scanner might be another project for this weekend.
- Black and white photo, a good idea at the time, but I don't think anyone has tried it since?
- Jim's card is #297, 3 cards later in the set, card #300 is the rookie card of one Boof Bonser, probably the greatest name to play baseball in the 21st century.
- Robert
- Happy 31st birthday to Andrew McCutchen!!
- Have had this sitting at the top of my jersey/bat card pile for all of my player PC's for a while now, finally decided to get down to scanning and showing on the blog.
- Added this card to the Trading Card Database, and was surprised at how many of these had not been scanned yet. There are 47 cards in this particular insert set, and just under half haven't been added.
- I'm not a big fan of the WAR stat; how does one account for 9/10 of a win?
- Robert
- The scanner did not do this card justice. The emerald green in the logo and the sun ray is a lot deeper in hand than on the scan. It really is a nice looking parallel.
- I mentioned the other day that Joe had 13 points versus the Oilers in 96-97. The back of this card mentions one game in particular, where Joe tallied 6 points (5 assists).
- Added this card to the Trading Card Database. The site is well past the 2 million scan mark now. My goal is to keep helping the site as it approaches 3 million scans. It has been an invaluable tool for me with my collection and I plan to keep on supporting it as I can.
- Robert
- Now, here's the base. I thought I only had 2 versions of this card, but then I looked through the gracious envelope of Sakic's I received recently, and there was this version.
- Guy in the front row behind Sakic, looks a little like Michael Imperioli, no? Couple of rows behind him, is a guy wearing shorts. I've been in a few hockey rinks during my days, can't say that I've ever worn shorts. Even down here in Florida.
- If I can keep pumping posts out for the rest of the year, it looks as if I'll hit 300 Sakic's on the blog. Stay tuned.
- Robert
- Having a real tough time with Pacific products. For years, I thought this was the base card of this set. Turns out the base is in gold foil, and that this is the silver parallel. Sheesh.
- Despite my mistaken identity, I really like this card. Full bleed photo, and the sun ray type of design from the team logo is appealing to me.
- Just received 20 more cards of Joe from a fellow Sakic collector in Canada. The march to 700 Sakic cards continues.
- Robert
- The majority of the 2001 Topps Stars set had already been added to the Trading Card Database, but Thome was one of the few that hadn't been scanned until now.
- The front of the card certainly doesn't hide what set it belongs with. Stars all over the place. Chief Wahoo in silver looks kind of spooky.
- The back of the card doesn't have any stats or a write up of Jim. It has the traditional 5 tools (hitting, power, speed, defense and arm) and rates every player on each. Jim's only 5 star rating is for power, with the others being rated mostly 3 (speed is rated a 2, but you don't have to be fast running the bases after a homer.)
- Robert
- Love how the red really stands out on the card. Almost looks like a stage curtain.
- Unlike this morning's card, this has suffered a bit of warping. But still not bad for a 20 year old card.
- Just looked up prices on COMC for this parallel, and they're not bad. 4 copies, cheapest at $1.19, highest at $1.50.
- Still need the Mirror Gold, Mirror Red and Mirror Blue parallels of this card. The one I found on ebay this morning was the mirror blue, priced at $40. Yikes...
- Robert
- Nope, don't even ask. I'm not peeling off the protective layer. Ever.
- Very nice for a shiny card. It has also stood the test of time; unlike most shiny cards this hasn't hardly succumbed to warping.
- Stats on the back: No bio this time, all there is on the back is stats versus each team he played against in the 96-97 season. The Oilers were the biggest victims, as Joe scored 13 points against them in just 5 contests.
- Robert
- Thought I had finished the Paramount rainbow with this and another recent eBay purchase, but the emerald green that the seller sent me turned out to be the ice blue. Oh well, not a major deal.
- This will be the final "single" card post of Sakic for the 97-98 year. I have 6 cards left, 3 sets of parallel cards.
- Paid $1.49 for this on ebay with free shipping (PWE of course). No current copies of the red on COMC right now, so I'm glad I didn't hesitate on pulling the trigger.
- Robert
- Very grainy scan. Might be time to update to a new scanner.
- Cartoon on the back: Vintage used cartoons similar to the ones Topps used in the early days. "Thome is among the most powerful hitters in the game". Indeed.
- Career home run #241 was hit 5/25/2001 against the Yankees. Orlando Hernandez was the victim, and it was a 2 run shot to put the Indians out of reach, ending up with a 6-4 win. Bob Wickman struck out the side in the 9th for his 9th save.
- Robert
- I don't know if it's just me, but it looks like Jim hadn't washed his face and rolled in the dirt before having this photo taken.
- With all the hoopla about the Indians changing their logo and removing Chief Wahoo, the glasses covering the old logo might be appropriate in today's PC age, no?
- The back of the card looks a bit like an excel spreadsheet to me, having 10 years of Jim's stats to go along with a trio of bar graphs. Interesting that in 2000, Jim had a slugging percentage of .937 on the first pitch. Wow!
- Robert
- I'm hoping to show a jersey card of my PCs each time I hit a card # that ends in 50 or 00. This is one of the earliest jersey cards I bought of Joe.
- Joe's card mate, Milan Hejduk, shared the Stanley Cup with Joe in 2000-01, and led the league in assists during that playoff year with 16.
- There are different copies of this card; there's a combo's card with Brendan Shanahan ($20 on COMC), and a Spectrum version ($10 on COMC) of this card #'d to 99 copies. The Spectrum version is especially cheap considering there are a few cards from 07-08 going for twice the price of the Sakic/Shanahan combo.
- Robert
- Had a heckuva time scanning this card and keeping it somewhat straight. Then I realized that I could rotate the scan, so I placed the card upside down on the scanner bed. I scare myself sometimes...
- I have always loved these gold crown die cut cards. Can't say how many cards though over the years that I've nipped an edge and created a ding. Just have to be extra careful.
- 3 copies of this card on COMC, all at $1.49. Not bad. I need the emerald green parallel of this card; the 1 copy on COMC of the green is $9.25 and none are to be found on ebay right now.
- Robert
- The red on Jim's socks really stands out on this card. In person, they stand out even more. Wonder why the difference between the socks and the other red's on Jim's uniform.
- The green border on this card has grown on me over the years. When I first bought packs of 2001 Topps, I didn't care much for the design. Now, I like it. Softening in old age I guess...
- Bio on the back: " Twenty home runs is tough for most but routine for Jim." Once he hit his 20th homer in 2001, Jim became the first Indian to ever hit 20+ in 8 straight seasons.
- Robert
