The Card So Nice I Bought It Twice

Today's card has a story that dates back to November of last year. To recap, in November 2016 I purchased this 2014 Topps Supreme autograph of Jon Singleton on eBay. It is the Red parallel, numbered # 03 / 10. It took me about a month to get to scanning the card and processing it for a blog post. I was surprised to see that my scan was for an Orange parallel, numbered # 02 / 15. So I went back and looked at the card, searched my collection a bit, and eventually determined that the seller had sent the wrong card and I hadn't noticed when I opened the package and added it to the stack of cards to scan. I needed the Orange parallel anyway, so I didn't make a stink about it and kept the card.

A while later, I was browsing cards on COMC and I saw something familiar in the Jon Singleton listings. It was the Orange parallel, numbered # 03 / 10! The seller's COMC name matched the eBay handle from the original purchase. I sent the seller an offer for the amount I had won the original auction for, which he rejected. I then sent a message explaining what had happened and asked if he would be willing to cut me a deal. He relented and accepted my offer. Hooray! The card arrived with my next COMC shipment, and I finally have the card so nice I bought it twice nestled safely in my Jon Singleton player collection.

My wife's computer has been driving her crazy lately, as it was kind of a cheap stopgap machine to get her by for a while after her old laptop gave up the ghost. She ordered a new laptop early this week, which ought to be a nice upgrade for her. I was pretty jealous, as my laptop is three years old now, and the new models we looked at were shiny and fast. The problem was that my laptop was still in pretty good shape, so I couldn't justify the cost of a new machine. I settled for an upgrade from 8 to 16 GB of RAM, which seems to make a difference in my computer speed when I have a million internet browser tabs open at the same time. I also used my Ebates account to order her computer, because Ebates was offering 10% cash back on the Dell website. I have to wait until November to get the cash back payment, but at that time I'll have about $100 sent to my Paypal account that I can spend on cards or sketches.

Not What I Was Expecting, But I'll Take It (The Problem With Parallels)

Last month I purchased a 2014 Topps Supreme Red Jon Singleton card from an eBay seller. It had been on my watch list for a very long time, and the price was low enough that I eventually caved in and picked it up. 

Here is the picture from the auction. It's numbered # 03 / 10, with a sticker autograph. This product had a lot of parallels, and they all blend together after a while. I think I was getting ready to leave for my two weeks in Utah when the card arrived, so I tossed it on the card pile and scanned it along with the other cards I received during that time. It was only later, while I was cropping images to upload into my blog, that I noticed something off about the card. The serial number didn't match the card I remembered purchasing.

These are the scans I had in my folder. This is the Orange parallel, numbered # 02 / 15. I went back and checked the auction listing to make sure I'd purchased what I thought I'd purchased, and saw that I had indeed purchased the Red # 03 / 10 card and not an Orange # 02 / 15 card. Then I went through and tried to find out if maybe I'd purchased both cards and somehow inadvertently switched them. I am pretty sure I never purchased the Orange variation, and I couldn't find a Red variation in my collection anywhere. All signs pointed to the seller sending me the wrong card. I don't know if I can blame them too much. Aside from the serial number and a slight difference in background color, these cards are pretty much identical.

Since the price was so low and I didn't already have an Orange card in my collection, I decided just to keep the card without going through the trouble of filing a complaint. I've been watching for the # 03 / 10 to pop back up for sale, but it hasn't yet. This might be a bigger deal to me if the player/card value were different, but at Singleton's popularity level there isn't a lot of difference between low-numbered parallels. Maybe fifty cents or something. Certainly not more than the price of postage to send it back and forth across the country a couple of times.

Jon Singleton is Clear, Vintage, Negative, and Supreme

I've picked up a few Jon Singleton cards over the past couple of months. He hasn't played at all with the Astros this year, and hasn't really done all that much in AAA. I have to wonder if he's ever going to get back up to the major leagues. He's still pretty young, but there are a lot of roadblocks for him and his play hasn't helped his case at all. I'll probably keep the Singleton collection going, but the card companies have plenty of other Astros to print cards for and he'll likely be limited to a couple of base cards, if he even gets those.

First up is this 2016 Topps Baseball Series 2 Clear acetate parallel card. These acetate parallels are pretty cool, probably one of the better parallels in the base product from Topps. They can be hard to find, though, as each is limited to a print run of 10 copies. This one is # 03 / 10, and displayed here it looks like regular Singleton is offering a fist-bump to monochrome Singleton.

Sticking with parallels from 2016 Topps, this is the Vintage parallel of Singleton's card from the set. These look similar to the base cards, but they are printed on thicker cardboard and carry an old-school Topps logo on the front. This one is numbered # 73 / 99. I actually wound up with two copies of the Vintage parallel, as I lost track of what I already had in my collection.

And this is the Negative parallel. I bet most kids these days have never even seen a photo negative, but they are probably familiar with the look because of apps with filters and photo manipulation software. I think these parallels look kind of creepy. It might be interesting to build a full set of these and put it in a binder to flip through.

In addition to all the 2016 Topps parallels, I also ran into this autograph from 2014 Topps Supreme back in July. I guess this is the Black parallel of the card, as evidenced mostly by the serial numbering but also maybe those splotches in the background. It is numbered # 1 / 5, and Singleton got the whole autograph onto the sticker. I think I've got a few of his other autograph parallels from this set, but this might be the best one I've found so far.

That pretty much brings my Singleton PC up to date. He's got too much MLB time to show up in the prospect sets anymore, and he's spent too much time at AAA this year to show up in the pro sets, so I don't know how much future cardboard he'll get unless something changes. There are still plenty of cards from the past to chase down, but those don't pop up much anymore. My baseball collecting has slowed down a bit anyway, so I guess it's not too horrible that there isn't much for me to chase lately.

I was happy to see the Denver Broncos win the first game of the season tonight against the Carolina Panthers. The Broncos defense did just about all it could there in the 4th quarter to give the game away, but Graham Gano missed the potential game-winning field goal and the Broncos escaped with a 1-point victory. The only bad part about it is that Gano is the kicker on my fantasy football team, and I could have used those points.

Doubling Up with Topps Supreme

I picked up a couple of Topps Supreme autographs recently. In what has become a recurring theme lately, one of them was an example of a card I already had in my collection. This first one is nearly the same as a card I already had, but it is at least a different parallel which means those little triangular swooshes at the bottom of the card are a different color and the print run is different. This one is the Orange parallel of Munenori Kawasaki's 2013 Topps Supreme autograph card. It's got a nice low print run, being # 06 / 15.

Kawasaki recently signed a deal with the Cubs. I hope he gets pictured on some cards next season, although I have to wonder if he will get any playing time. The Cubs are pretty well-stocked with talent. I am a fan of Kawasaki independent of any loyalty to the Blue Jays, so the move doesn't have much effect on me either way. I just think that he had room for more playing time on the Blue Jays roster.

Here is the card I already had a copy of, a Purple autograph of Jon Singleton from 2014 Topps Supreme. This one is numbered # 16 / 25. It's a cool card, but I don't really need two of them. I can take some consolation in the fact that it was cheap, selling to me for the opening bid of $0.99 + shipping. I don't know what I paid for my original copy, but I can be pretty sure that it was more than that.

Jon Singleton Supreme Autograph # 05 / 25

I wanted a Topps Supreme autograph of Jon Singleton, and now I have one. It didn't cost me a whole lot, and it's a nice-looking card. I imagine that purple background means that this is some kind of parallel, but who even knows? This one is numbered # 05 / 25, so it's a pretty low-numbered card. There's one out there on eBay right now with the serial number # 04 / 20 that I want because Singleton got busted for smoking weed and my juvenile sense of humor thinks that 4/20 jokes are funny. I don't know yet if that joke is worth the seller's asking price to me.

School started up this week, which seems to actually increase my posting rate. I think it's because I need excuses for procrastinating on my homework, and writing blog posts is a great way to put off an assignment. My wife is starting school again this semester as well, so that is going to be an adventure as we try to fit it all in. This should be the last semester before I graduate, though, so that is a bonus.

The Denver Broncos lost their game with the Indianapolis Colts this week and got themselves an early exit from the playoffs. Now their head coach is gone and people are saying that Peyton Manning might not come back for another try. I was at work when the game started, and by the time I got home the score was so lopsided that I didn't even bother turning the TV on. I guess that makes me a bad fan. I hope that Manning comes back next year, but I would understand if he doesn't. He's probably got enough money in the bank, so now it is all about trying to add on the the legacy and put another Super Bowl ring on his finger. Maybe that stuff isn't worth the grind of another season to him. I just don't want the Broncos to go back to being a team with quarterback questions. I thought for sure that they'd get one ring with Manning under center.

Breaking it Down 18: Supreme Springer

I joined a group break for the new 2014 Topps Supreme set, which is a higher-end dump for sticker autos. Topps didn't even pretend like base cards matter for this set, as each 'box' contains two cards which are guaranteed to be (sticker) autographs numbered # / 50 or less. What I was really hoping for was some sort of Jon Singleton action, as I kind of want to start a PC for him. He is a hot young player, though, so his cards cost more than I want to pay for them. A Nolan Ryan auto wouldn't have hurt, either.

Instead I got a card of one of Houston's other promising young players, George Springer. Since there is a version of this card out there numbered out of # / 50, this must be the Green parallel. It is # 09 / 45 and features an autograph.

I have received some packages from other bloggers over the past few weeks that I haven't blogged about because they usually contain more than one card and I have a hard time getting scans done and writing up posts for lots containing more than one card. I also have not been very good about e-mail response times. Sorry if you are waiting on a response or acknowledgment. I probably read your e-mail / received your package, but haven't made time to get back to you about it.