Book of Bell

2013 Topps Five Star La'veon Bell Auto/Triple Patch /15

I recently received another package from Collecting Cutch as a thank you for unloading some of my high end Cutch cards to him last month.  I think this constitutes as a WOW card.  This La'veon Bell instantly becomes one of the best Steeler cards in my collection. Of course Brian didn't stop there, but the rest will be shown in future posts.  This card deserved a post all by itself. 

Part of me misses actively collecting the Steelers, but I had to cut off a few of my collections when I got married. Now I rely on my blog friends to pass some my way via trade to keep new additions coming in.  

If you play fantasy football La'veon Bell is a household name.  His unique running style and excellent receiving ability makes him one of the best players in the game.  It's so cool to have a high end rookie card in my collection now.  Thanks again Brian! 

Prelude

I recently completed my first ever trade with Brian from the Cutch-centric blog Collecting Cutch. It was a BIG trade.  He has already discussed the five cards I sent his way. 

You probably remember Brian's old blog, Pirates Treasure Room.    Around the beginning of the year he decided to refocus his collection to where the majority of his effort would be devoted to Cutch. This opened to door for Brian and I to do some trading.  

While obviously I like to collect the Pirate star myself, I'm by no means a super collector.  My Cutch collection is relatively large, but it has been dormant in terms of high end autos/relics since he became a bona fide superstar.  I enjoy variety too much to spend big dollars on one player.  I'm sure I can speak for Brian and that we miss the days a Cutch auto would cost  in the $5-10 range.  

A few weeks back Brian sent an email with a list of Cutch cards I owned that he would be interested in trading for. He had six cards in mind and I ended up trading 5.  Because I knew Brian had an awesome Pirates collection I gave him free reign to build the return package.  I was not disappointed.

This post is only showing the Gerrit Cole portion of the trade package.  Brian sent a priority mail box full of great cards that I will showoff over time. He wasn't joking when he said he could give me a years worth of blogging material for the Cutch cards I sent his way. 

If you read my drivel on a somewhat regular basis you know that I love the framed Topps parallels. I found a decent amount of them when they were numbered to /20 and /16.  For some reason Topps decided to make them 1/1's which ultimately stopped my hunt.  Thanks to Brian I now can finally add a 1/1 silver frame to my collection.

This was the WOW card of the return package.  Nice patch, high end set.....this card has it all. 

A very nice /25 auto!

Last but not least is a dual auto from Platinum featuring another very good pitcher in Sonny Gray.  Lots of cool combos from this Bowman Platinum set.

This was such a fun trade Brian.  I'm glad we were able to break the ice.  In the coming months I'll continue to show off some of the cards you sent my way, but I wanted to make sure to show these Cole's right away.

Thanks for reading.

A Vast Array of Parallels and Inserts: Cutch Happens

I stopped shopping for Andrew McCutchen cards a long time ago.  Once he officially broke out as an MVP level player his card prices went through the roof. I'm lucky to add one or two a year now.  I'm sure I can speak for Brian of Collecting Cutch fame that if you wanted a complete collection you had to buy in early.  Parallels of some of those early rookie cards are very expensive now.  Cutch also stopped signing several years back so that added to the value of some of those early releases.  

The other side of the coin is that since Cutch did stop signing it made it easier for super collectors like Brian to fill in holes.  While Cutch cards always carry a premium it is much easier to buy a /99 parallel than looking for a /10 patch auto.  Brian is such a big collector of Cutch that he ended up with some doubles of higher end parallels that he shipped my way as part of a contest win. Our community is the best! 

Check these out. 

I only have a few Gold Label cards from the recent versions of the set.  The late 90's version was always one of my favorites. This card is gold framed and has a considerable amount of weight to it.

 Immaculate is one of the best sets you can buy on the secondary market. Of the non licensed sets it is in my top 3. It is hard to see but this a very nice parallel /25.

Sets like Heritage is where I would probably lose all interest in being a super collector.  Brian probably needs to take on an employee just to keep track of all the variations every year. Trying to find parallels of cards that are already short printed has to be maddening.

Optic is another set I haven't done much with so getting this Diamond King of Cutch is really cool. I don't know why Panini doesn't try to get more shots of guys in plain clothes or more head shots without hats or helmets. Panini products have great value and checklists, but for whatever reason they are just happy to airbrush something out.

This card is a much better non licensed cards.  You still have the blank helmet, but this looks like a Pirates card with limited airbrushing.

It is always awesome to receive high end base parallels. To this day I've still only opened one high end product and I just didn't enjoy the process.  Thank goodness for blog trades and eBay!

Catching a batter in midswing helps hide a lot of licensing issues! Prizm is a set I opened a lot of a few years back.  To this day I've still haven't seen a set have such a great auto checklist for the price of the box.

Another high end base card!

Now this is a good looking card.

Thanks for all the Cutch cards Brian! I'm in awe of your collection and appreciate you sending some extras my way.  You are the craziest Cutch collector I know! Are you aware of any other Cutch super collectors that are on your level? 

Thanks for reading! 

Potpourri

I've been gone the better part of the last two weeks so I feel like I'm about a month behind scanning and organizing cards. So if you sent me cards in the last couple of weeks I'll be getting things scanned and posted in the coming days. Off the top of my head I know I have stuff from GCRL, Bo, John Miller and JBF. 

This post will feature some more great cards from Brian (Collecting Cutch).  Brian sent me a great sample of cards that I had to divide up in multiple posts because of the shear quantity.  This batch is the potpourri section as it features a variety of hits of well know Pirates. 

The Pirates somehow managed to keep their heads above water while Marte served his 80 game PED suspension.  Since his return they have been playing very good baseball. I have a weird obsession with All Star relics so this is a welcome addition.

The Pirates struck gold with Melancon in a variety of ways.  When he came as part of the Joel Hanrahan trade he was thought more as a throw in, but he had a big time resurgence.  After three and a half years with the Buccos he was traded for the Nats for Felipe Rivero and Taylor Hearn.  Rivero has developed into one of the best relievers and baseball and Hearn prospect status has really risen since the trade.  

I love the Nashville Sounds uniform!

Last, but not least is a low numbered auto of Gerrit Cole.  Lots of rumors of Cole being a big trade candidate at the beginning of the year, but with the team playing better it is hard to imagine the Buccos trading him away.

Thanks for all the great cards Brian.  I'll sprinkle in a couple more posts here soon to finish out all the great cards you sent my way.  

Thanks for reading! 

We Love Oddballs

Oddballs are universally loved in our little community.  While not as prevalent today, if you look hard you can still find some regional food releases and team issued sets.  I know a few local food makers in the Pittsburgh area still release cards.  I featured this Jack Wilson a couple years back. That card is still one of my favorite additions in recent memory. Not to many obscure donut cards being released today! 

Below is a lot of Pirate cards featuring the Pirates Charities logo.  I'm not sure how these were distributed so I'll get Brian from Collecting Cutch to comment below as he is the one who sent me these. Pirates Charities hold a ton of events in the area so it wouldn't surprise me if these were given out as prizes during some of their races or possibly an opening of one of their many Miracle League Fields. 

I featured the Gaby Sanchez first because he is the most obscure player featured.  Nothing to fancy about the cards themselves, but sometimes less is more. Thanks a ton Brian for the new oddball addition. Hope you can shed a little more light on how they were given out.

If you love oddballs please follow Tony's new blog Collecting the 1980's.  It is an awesome read from a man who has given me a ton of fun oddballs over the years in trade.  He knows his oddballs!

Thanks for reading.

Chicle Proof

2010 Topps National Chicle Zach Duke Artist Proof /10

I have a weird fascination with sets that come and go after only one or two releases.  Not so much the high $ hit based, but the releases that are priced right but never catch on with collectors.  Sets like 2010 National Chicle are a good example. 

From what I remember the release was well received by set collectors, but the lack of quality "hit" cards likely caused the downfall.  It is so hard for card companies to make a set that makes everyone happy.  I've always been a sucker for painted cards so I was a fan of this set.  The problem is if people are going to gamble $60 to $100 on a product they will want to at least have a chance for a big card.  Whether you think that is the right train of thought or not, it is the box busting thought process of many collectors. 

This artist proof autograph came courtesy of Brian from Collecting Cutch.  It features Zach Duke and the picturesque Clemente Bridge outline. The card itself is signed by the artist Chris Felix. There was a fair amount of backlash that this set had too many artist proof cards in it.  Box busters claimed that they didn't hold enough value. Maybe that is the case, but I'm happy to own a unique Pirate card courtesy of the craziest Cutch collector in the blogosphere. 

Thanks for reading! 

Underappreciated Cardboard Legend

I've harped on this several times since I started BWTP, but I figured I would throw out some more visual proof that Jason Kendall has some of the greatest cards. It is rare for a modern player to have so many cool shots in era focused more on the auto/relic.

The cards featured came as part of my runner up contest winnings from Collecting Cutch.

 Kendall was not afraid to get dirty as you will soon find out.

 Stadium Club rarely disappoints.

 Cool Wrigley Field Shot made even cooler that a pitcher is about to have a play at the plate.

 Some of the 90's and early 2000's Fleer sets were underrated. Quality interleague shot here.

 This would be tough to prove, but I feel Kendall has more shots of a catcher camping under or catching a flyball in cardboard history.

 When you have a cool card and like to take acid this is what you get.

 This card always reminded me of Jake Taylor running out the called shot bunt at the end of Major League.

 This looks to be the beginning of a PICKLE

 catcher face

 Side note story.  I took my daughter to her first baseball last year.  When she noticed the catching squatting she said at the top of her lungs that he was pooping.  Our entire section got a kick out of that.

 More camping under pop ups.

 Looks to be a close play at first.

 Kendall looks to be running towards the Pearly Gates

 Very unique Pinnacle shot.

 I think Geoff Blum is out.

 Appropriate set name.

 A personal favorite.

 More camping under and catching.

 Point of impact from a long forgotten Topps set.

Here is a picture of all the cards Brian from Collecting Cutch sent.

I still have plenty more from Brian to showoff, but this ends the Jason Kendall portion of the winnings.

Thanks for reading.  Now go find all your cool Kendall cards.