2014 Quarry Unlimited - #5 Pittsburgh Pirates Part 2

YELLOW

RED

ORANGE

ROOKIE PROSPECTS

My Top 5 Pirates Cards
1. Starling Marte (red)
2. Andrew McCutchen (purple)
3. Clint Barmes (purple)
4. Jordy Mercer (orange)
5. Josh Harrison (green)


I'm not 100% sure, but I think it is safe to say that the man on Starling Marte's card is guilty of fan interference.  The variety of expressions in the crowd is what really makes that one great.  There are two main things that I think of when thinking about Andrew McCutchen.  First is his upright batting stance that shouldn't work but does and second is the fun that he seems to have on the field.  This card really showcases the latter.  The Barmes is a nice in your face shot of a base runner taking third.  It is just an interesting angle.  Even with the unnecessary throwback uniform that is not even from the Pirates franchise, the Mercer card works.  Finally, the Josh Harrison really has timeless look about it.  That photo could have easily been taken in 1940 or 1970 or today and it would have the exact same look.  I love that.




Coming tomorrow - #6 Minnesota Twins

Thanx for reading.

2014 Quarry Unlimited - #5 Pittsburgh Pirates Part 1

Here we have last year's Royals, the upstart group that had been losing forever.  This year the Pirates were playoff experienced and for the majority of the season it looked they were going to be a one year and done playoff squad.  It took a massive collapse by the Brewers coupled with a really hot August and September (primarily because they were playing the Brewers a lot) just for them to sneak into the playoffs in 2014.  Then unfortunately they ran into the hottest playoff pitcher since Josh Beckett in 2003.  The Pirates dropped a couple of places this year, but that was more a case of other teams catching my interest than the Pirates losing my interest.  I still enjoy watching the Pirates whenever I can.  The thing I like the best about the team is probably their stadium.  PNC Park is by far my favorite in the big leagues.  It is just a gorgeous stadium.


Before we get to the trivia and the first half of the Pirates, I need to explain just a bit about the 2014 Quarry Unlimited set.  As you may have noticed, instead of the using the same order (Purple, Blue, Red, Green, Yellow, Orange) for the colors as 1988 Score I divided the colors into darks (Purple, Green, Blue) and lights (Yellow, Red, Orange).  My minor change was inserting both green and red in between the somewhat look alike colors just to break them up a bit.  But the major change was the logos for the lights and darks.  For some teams, I have used a different colored logo for the dark borders and the light borders because the main logo didn't show up well on one or more colors.  The Pirates are the first such team, although there will be several others over the next few weeks.  You won't have to wait until tomorrow to see the difference because the manager's card uses the light logo.  Sorry for running off at the mouth a bit, but in addition to just showing off the cards I want to share my mindset from the design process as well.


Let's get back to the show.

PIRATES TEAM TRIVIA

Total # of Pirates in 2014 - 45

# of new Pirates in 2014 - 15

Best score in 2014 - June 6 vs. Pirates 15-5

Worst score in 2014 - May 31 at Dodgers 12-2

Border color that worked best with this team - Purple

Border color that worked least with this team - Blue

Position on last year's list - #3 = DOWN 2

Let's take a look at the first half of the 2014 Pittsburgh Pirates with the manager's card leading the way.

PURPLE

GREEN

BLUE

I'll be back tomorrow with Part 2.  As usual, your thoughts are always welcome and encouraged.

Thanx for reading.