A Couple More 2014 Stadium Club Members Only Parallels

I was going to post my usual NASCAR post yesterday, but I didn't get around to it. The season is over, so there isn't much going on there to write about. I did grab a couple big lots of Danica Patrick cards recently, so I have some new material in my Drafts folder for whenever I get around to posting about NASCAR again.

For a while I was worried that the Denver Broncos would lose their game with Miami and ruin my birthday (I turned 33 yesterday), but they hung on and came away with a 3-point win. Things still don't look good for them when they run up against the best of the AFC in the playoffs, with New England suddenly looking unbeatable after a mediocre start to the season. I am looking forward to seeing how yesterday's games affect the projections over at the Tenets of Wilson blog. The other NFL thing that happened yesterday was Odell Beckham Jr.'s ridiculous one-handed touchdown catch, which is probably one of the greatest catches of all time. It's too bad they lost the game, because that was crazy.

He hauled that ball in, and managed to land in-bounds for the Touchdown.

And on the NBA front, I was looking at the standings and realized that if the current top teams in each conference made the Finals, it would be a Toronto Raptors - Memphis Grizzlies matchup. I can't imagine the league would be happy about that, as pairings of marquee teams like Celtics vs. Lakers or star players like Lebron James vs. Kobe Bryant are much more profitable than Finals featuring two small-market clubs. Can anyone outside of Sports Cards from the Dollar Store even name a current member of the Toronto Raptors or Memphis Grizzlies? If you guessed Vince Carter you'd be right, but you'd also be wrong, because you were thinking of him as a Raptor and he is currently a rotation member on the Grizzlies. If you guessed Bryant "Big Country" Reeves, then I have some late 90's basketball cards I'd like to sell you. Anyway, those teams are pretty good and should be in contention for playoff spots alongside all the other usual suspects.

This was one of my favorite wins of the year. I've recently decided to add Jon Singleton to the list of players I collect, but his cards are caught up in the wave of popularity enjoyed by all the other young Astros players. I fully expected it to go well outside my budget because I've been outbid on every other Singleton card I've tried for, but because the auction closed on the evening of Halloween there weren't even any competing bidders and I won this 2014 Topps Stadium Club Members Only parallel for the opening bid of $0.99. I'd really like to add an autograph of Singleton to my collection, but I haven't stumbled on the right one yet.

Around the same time I added this Wilin Rosario Members Only parallel, although I wasn't lucky enough to grab it for $0.99. I combined it with a few Rosario items that I forwarded on to Zenus at The Prowling Cat blog so I could save on shipping. I couldn't bring myself to part with this card, though. Sorry, Zenus. There's a bit more Scrooge in me than I let on.

I'm not exactly sure how many of these cards I have now, but I've been able to add a handful of them to my collection. There are a lot more that I haven't been able to get because I don't allow myself to get into bidding wars for them. There was a Babe Ruth that sold today for under $10. I thought it was pretty crazy that a Babe Ruth card with a print run under 10 could go for so little. Nolan Ryan drew nearly $20, and that was a card I really wanted. But I guess I didn't twenty dollars want it. I still am a little bummed that I missed out on that Babe Ruth card. But after going a little overboard on eBay the last month or so, I am in a position where I have to cut back. There are actually a few things I need to sell in the near future to get a little coin for Christmas shopping. Anyway, I can't go bidding on everything that catches my eye.

I'm pretty pumped about getting that Jon Singleton card for that price. I usually feel a twinge of empathy for the seller in those situations, because I've had auctions go for disappointing prices before and it sucks. But I place a little blame on the seller for having the auction end on the evening of a holiday when most folks are out with their kids, attending Halloween parties, or are otherwise engaged. If you sell things on eBay with any frequency it makes a lot of sense to read a few articles on selling strategies and listing optimization.