Card #89: Football Is Back

Today marks the return of a full schedule of NFL games with the Steelers playing in the Sunday Night Football matchup vs. The Patriots.

Like so many others I joined a Fantasy football League again this year.  After 3 Championship Game appearances in a row from 2014 to 2016, I have failed to make the playoffs for back to back years.  It is a redraft annual standard PPR league.

Time will tell how my team plays out this year as I took a lot of high risk, high reward guys.

I found this Fantasy Goldmine insert to be a little strange in 2018 Allen & Ginter.

This 2018 Allen & Ginter takes a look at Clemente's Total Zone Runs (TZR).

Who has played in a fantasy league where TZR is calculated?  That is a hardcore fantasy GM if those stats get taken into account.

Card #88: Cameo Appearance

In the Pirates Clubhouse is a quote by Roberto Clemente.  It says "when I put on my uniform, I feel I am the proudest man on Earth."

2019 Opening Day had an insert short print set called Dugout Peaks.  Corey Dickerson received the SP treatment for the Pirates and has him walking under the Clemente quote.

The back features the standard stats you can find on Topps Opening Day cards.

Corey returned from the injured list today since going out the first week of the season.

Let's Go Bucs!

Card #87: 150 years of baseball fun

The Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds got into another near altercation yesterday when Clay Holmes of the Pirates hit Eugenio Suarez on the hand.  Reds manager, David Bell, believed it,was on purpose and would eventually be tossed for arguing about it.

The Reds and Pirates have had a lot of skirmishes in the past and in 2012-2016 no two teams hit more batters than these two against each other. 

The Reds and Pirates had some battles in the 70s too when the Pittsburgh Lumber Company would be competing for the NL pennant against the Big Red Machine. 

The Reds are celebrating their 150th anniversary this year as being a professional major league team.

Last year Topps celebrated 100 years for their Topps Heritage release.  That's because the 1969 designed cards were celebrating 100 years of baseball.  This year, 2019, Topps is celebrating 150 years of baseball.  In addition to every flagship base card having a 150 year stamp parallel to,chase there is an insert set celebrating the first 150 years.

150 Years of Fun is the insert set to chase

The back goes on to show how much of a great humanitarian Clemente was as just a few days before his passing he was holding a baseball clinic for young kids.

On a completely unrelated note, please pray for the family of the little girl hit at the Astros game yesterday.

Card #86: Cannonball Coming!!!

Famous Pirates announcer, Greg Brown, has a saying "Clear The Deck, Cannonball Coming!"

Had he been around in 1964, he surely would have said it many times during Roberto Clemente's career.

485 FEET!!!!

That is a shot!!! The only problem with such a homerun happening so long ago is that it depreciates over time.  You see in 2015, the homerun was calculated at 492 feet according to the 2015 insert Topps made.  I wrote about it here.

I don't have the complete sets of either Long Ball Leaders (2018 insert) or Tape Measure Blasts (2015) so I can't confirm if any other cards feature questionable distances.

Card #85: Batting Practice with The King?

Nick Kingham has a rookie debut card in 2018 Update.  It is number US9.  Topps has been using legendary players in their recent releases of the past decade to get retired players on current designs. 

The Pirates pitcher was replaced with a Roberto Clemente SP photo variant.

This is a shot of Roberto that hasn't been used over and over again.  Love the pregame batting practice.

Here are the front and back of the Kingham card.

Card #84: 1984 design

Roberto Clemente appeared in the 2012 Archives release using the 1984 design.

1984 Topps is most memorable to me for the Darryl Strawberry rookie card.

The original card numbered 185 in the 1984 set belonged to Sixto Lezcano.  To say Clemente had a better career than Sixto would he the understatement of the century.

I don't own a Sixto card so I had to take this image from COMC.

Looks like he had a decent big league career.

Card #83: Snow Day in May?

It's been a long,time simce I posted on here and I probably have at least 100 more cards that need to be scanned. 

The other day I was watching The Rundown on MLB Network and I couldn't believe that Colorado is still cancelling games because of snow in May.  That weather is relentless.

If I were to ever live out there I know I,would be sporting a great beard like one of my current favorite big leaguers, Charlie Blackmon.

Charlie has started getting red hot at the plate lately.  It's a shame he started his career at an older age and was never a top prospect.  All he does is do professional at bat after at bat.  The guy knows how to hit.  At age 32, he doesn't look like he plans on slowing down any time soon either.

Card #82: On This Day in 1973

March 20, 1973
Roberto Clemente was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame

In 2012, Topps made a manurelic of Hall of Fame Plaques that were released in the Update Series.

The checklist consists of 25 players and can be found for less than the price of a blaster.

Card #81: I am Batman

2018 Stadium Club

Base version

Card #80: Archives

From 2015 Archives is a great looking card of Roberto Clemente that unfortunately due to his tragic death, we didn't get a chance to.

This 1976 design features all the great things about Archives that I love. A chance to see players on cardboard from designs they couldn't appear on using photos that aren't used for many other releases.

Card #79: Upper Deck

Upper Deck 2001 Cooperstown Collection

Simple and basic card.  I like it.

Cards #77 and 78: More 1998 Tributes

Here are another pair of Clemente Tribute cards from 1998

Interesting enough Cutch wasn't used for either of the Heritage cards.

Card #76: Museum Base

Another Museum base card

The back discusses how Clemente was slow to build his reputation in the league, but once he did he was one of the best.

Card #75: Golden Moment

Topps celebrated their 50th year in 2001 by having an part of their flagship set called Golden Moments.  It featured great moments in baseball history during Topps baseball card producing years.

Roberto Clemente was spotlighted for getting his 3,000th hit in his final regular season at bat of his career.

Card #74: Another Rookie Reprint

For card number 55 I showed off a metal frame rookie reprint of Clemente.  You can revisit that post here.

Here is another rookie reprint from 2012 Archives.

I would love to one day own an original.

Card #73: Bat Relic for 1973 HOF Induction

Roberto Clemente was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973 following his tragic and untimely death.

I have a few dozen bat relics of Clemente.

This Topps Tribute is one of the nicest though.  The refractor design really pops amd the bat relic being included as a piece of the year is a really nice touch.  Topps should consider doing something like this again.

Card #72: a miniature. styled 72

Same concept as yesterday, but it's a 1972 mini today.

this insert is from 2013.

Card #71: a mini reminiscent of 1971

2013 Topps had an insert set consisting of 1971 designed cards.  Clemente was one of the few retired legends to appear in the set.

The set contained 50 cards and can be found fairly cheap on eBay.

Card #70: Canvas Collection

 This is a 2013 Reproduction Sketch card from 2013 Topps Museum Canvas Collection.

Card #69: A True National Treasure

Gavin shocked the blogging world by showing off his dual cut auto with Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell.

If you missed it, check out his post here.  He's been laying low since that incredible post.

I can't compete with that.  Instead I can only show off a boring relic of the Hall of Famer.

The National Treasures 2014 release was the absolute best in my opinion.  The overall design was extremely classy and the checklist was stacked.

The cut autos included great looking cards like this Willie Stargell cut auto booklet seen below.

Card #68: Pizza Pizza!!!

Today is National Pizza Day.

I recently purchased this oddball of Roberto Clemente. 

It hails from 1976 Shakey's Pizza.

Copies of this card can range from $7 to $200 depending on condition and how much the seller values oddball food release products.

Shakey's was the first franchise pizza restaurant in the United States.  Before Pizza Hut, Little Caesar's, Dominos, Papa John, etc there was Shakey's!

Founded in 1954, the chain rose to immediate fame and by the late sixties it had almost 400 chains across the United States.  Currently the chain has 500 locations globally of which only 51 are operated nationally.

Shakey's made a cameo in the movie Wayne's World when Benjamin and his girlfriend are eating Shakey's in the bedroom.

Shakey's produced two series of baseball cards in the seventies (1975 and 1976). 

Both card series feature some of the game's greatest players.

Card #67: R.I.P. Frank Robinson

Yesterday on Collecting Cutch I highlighted black history month, but one guy who deserves a lot of credit for making black history is another Robinson who wasn't named Jackie.

Frank Robinson is the ONLY player to win MVP in both leagues.

He was the first black manager.

He won a triple crown award.

He was top 10 in Homeruns at time of his retirement.

He was one of the best and yet is one of the most underrated players in the history of the game.

I got this rag of a 1975 card for only a quarter a few years ago at a flea market.