I'm still plugging away at my Jon Singleton player collection, even though he's headed in the wrong direction on the career progression path, toiling away in AA after playing at AAA in 2016 and splitting time between AAA and the MLB in 2015. He's doing pretty well down there in AA, though. His batting average is still in the cellar, but he draws a lot of walks and that gets him on base at a pretty good clip. I just don't see that translating to the MLB level, except maybe on a team that isn't stacked with talent.
I am still holding out on getting an MLB.tv subscription for the year, as they usually make a pretty big cut to the price around Father's Day. Combined with the discount they give to military/students, I am usually out the door for the price of a couple blaster boxes, which is worth it to me for the amount of baseball I usually get to watch during the season.
I've been thinking about getting a subscription to the WNBA streaming service as well. It's not expensive at less than $20 for the season, but I don't know if I will actually use it. I have good intentions, but I didn't wind up using my trial WWE membership more than once or twice during the month I had it, and I think my WWE interest is even higher than my WNBA interest.
The first pickup from this colorful pair was this 2015 Topps Chrome Orange Refractor, numbered # 19 / 25. I like colorful Chrome cards a lot, a fact that Topps uses to separate me from my money on a regular basis. I especially like the brighter colors, like orange, yellow, green, and pink.
This card also hails from 2015, but it comes from 2015 Bowman. It's the Gold parallel of Singleton's Sophomore Standouts autograph card. It's numbered # 31 / 50. The back of the card discusses his ability to draw walks. The signature itself looks pretty good. I don't know how Singleton usually signs, but a lot of his autographs have really thick lines that run together, like he is just mashing the markers into oblivion when he signs the cards/stickers. I tend to have a pretty heavy hand when I write, but no one is paying me to write my name on something.
2017 Topps Heritage came out today, which is a pretty big event in the baseball card collecting world. I like Topps Heritage, and went out of my way to collect the full set in 2014 and 2015. In 2016 I meant to collect it, but the price tag on the short-prints scared me off and I never got around to it. This year there are 25 more short-printed cards in the set (100 instead of the usual 75), and I just can't see myself paying what it would take to get a complete set, either through pack-busting or purchasing from a case breaker.
I am thinking that my next big baseball card project will be completing the # / 2017 parallel set from 2017 Topps Opening Day. I've built the parallel set from Opening Day for a couple of years in a row now, and it's an attainable project that I enjoy. I typically set some kind of target, like trying to acquire the full set for less than a dollar per card. It's pretty easy to get a few lots at much less than that mark, but it can get pretty complex as I try to fill out the last few cards, which are invariably superstars and rookies.
I recently picked up this Cyan printing plate of Jon Singleton from 2015 Topps Chrome for my player collection. He hasn't had much going on in trading cards the last couple of years, so I am mostly limited to base and parallels from Topps' standard annual products. I think this plate looks pretty nice, and it didn't cost a whole lot. Singleton has had a couple of Spring Training at-bats. He's in the competition for 1B reps, but there are at least three other players (A.J. Reed, Yulieski Gurriel, and Tyler White) in the mix, and the Astros are arguably higher on all of them than they are on Singleton, who has already been given his chance to break out. I guess I'll keep collecting his cards until no more are being made, though, because I already have those searches saved in my eBay profile.
Argh, the Astros and Royals played Game 4 of their series in Houston yesterday. The Astros pretty much had the Royals on the ropes, but then they turned the game over to their bullpen and the whole thing blew right up. The Astros weren't expected to even make the playoffs this year and you kind of have to figure they'll blow it at some point, but even when you're expecting them to fall apart you hold out that hope that they won't actually do it. Now they have to try winning an elimination game at Kansas City. I am trying to balance my expectations so that if they lose I can be happy that they even made the playoffs and if they win I can be glad it was such an exciting series. It's very possible that they go out and lay an egg, but I am hoping they can be competitive and / or steal a win.
I didn't need to worry so much about R.A. Dickey against the Rangers, because the Blue Jays jumped all over Derek Holland early in Game 4 of that series. Dickey put up a few solid innings and then gave the ball over to David Price and a couple of relievers to finish it off. I'm glad Dickey was able to have a good playoff outing, although it sucked that he got pulled just one out shy of becoming the pitcher of record for the game. Now, back to the scheduled post:
According to my calculations, this is my 666th overall post on this blog and my 111th Pack of the Day post, which tells me that 1/6 of my posts to this point are of the Pack of the Day variety. A couple of weeks ago I grabbed this 2015 Topps Chrome hanger box off of the peg. Here's what I got:
Strasburg has been pretty good, but he hasn't quite lived up to the hype and expectations placed on him. I don't know how anyone could have lived up to the expectations, though, as he was projected to basically pitch 162 complete games a season while striking out 15 batters per 9 innings. The Nationals as a whole have had a rough go of it when compared to their talent and potential. I think it's a bit of a curse leaking over to them from the toxic behavior of their local football franchise. Ian Kinsler found new life as a Tiger after seemingly wearing out his welcome on the Rangers. Stanton hits baseballs really hard and Micah Johnson is a new guy.
Rizzo is the big name here, I suppose. Not much going on as far as player or team collections. I am told that Kiermaier is pretty good on defense. La Stella and Rizzo are on the Cubs' playoff roster, although La Stella hasn't yet played in the NLDS. Wheeler is recovering from Tommy John surgery. Kiermaier's team didn't make the playoffs.
Manny Machado is a good player but I haven't ever liked him much for some reason. Maybe he doesn't play baseball according to my unwritten rules. Lorenzo Cain is the first of four Pink Refractors that are exclusive to these hanger boxes.
Here are the other three Pink Refractors and the hit of the box, a Green Refractor of Albert Pujols. I don't have much to say about the Pink Refractors. They are cool to look at, but I didn't pull any players that I have opinions about.
The Pujols Green Refractor is a pretty good pull for a retail product, but he's not the draw he once was. No one likes veterans with long lists of Hall of Fame credentials. Not when they can chase cards of Stephen StrasburgBryce HarperYasiel PuigJose Abreu Kris Bryant and Carlos Correa.
Even if the Astros make the postseason, Jon Singleton won't be there to help out as he's not on the eligibility list for MLB postseason play. But he did provide some heroics last night for the AAA Fresno Grizzlies in their series against the Round Rock Express for the PCL championship. With his team facing elimination, Singleton hit the tying RBI single in the 3rd inning and hit a 6th-inning home run to bring the score to 2-1, which was the final tally. The win extended the series for a deciding game 5 today, which the Grizzlies won 7-3 to clinch the 2015 PCL Championship.
Today's card is another single I picked up from eBay for a couple bucks. It is Singleton's Gold Refractor from 2015 Topps Chrome. Much to the consternation of collectors and case breakers, Topps changed up some of the colors and print runs for Chrome parallels this year, but the Gold Refractors stayed the same with 50 copies printed of each. My copy of the Singleton card is numbered # 38 / 50.
I feel like I should post something about 9/11 today, but I don't really know what to say. It's a day that changed the course of my life in many ways. I honor the memory of those who died in the terrorist attacks and the ensuing conflicts, but I hope that we do not let the actions of a few madmen cause us to live in fear indefinitely. I think that by going on with our lives we prevent the bad guys from winning.
Baseball cards are a good temporary escape from the cares of the world. I picked up this 2015 Topps Chrome Orange Refractor of Josh Reddick recently for my player collection. I've kind of slowed down on picking up his cards as it is difficult to keep up with everything I want to collect, but I still pick up some things here and there.
This card is numbered # 24 / 25 and cost just a few dollars on eBay. I got a lot more value out of this than I did the blaster of Chrome I bought on a whim today, which had a whopping 0 cards that were of any interest to me. Chalk one up for buying singles over buying retail packs.
It's been a rough week. The wildfires in the West have poured a lot of smoke into the air, so my allergies have been on full-blast for a while now. My sinuses are just burnt out. There is a process at work that got switched from an upload-based program to a web-based program, and the programmers didn't consult with users so it doesn't display information we need in a useful way. On smaller error listings it only adds a couple of extra hours to processing, but we have one very large report that the web-based system can't handle. Instead of taking seconds per line, it takes 3-4 minutes per line, and there are 3800 lines on the list. I worked the thing all week and only got through around 450 lines. There are just enough button-clicks required that you can't effectively multi-task, so I am looking at working this same stupid report (that would only take a day or two under the old process) until the end of September, with higher headquarters nagging the whole time because it is past due. But they won't roll out a fix for it or let us revert to the old process for just this one file because the whole process is changing again in December anyway and they are working on that. My eyes hurt from looking at the same spreadsheet for nine hours a day, and my brain hurts from thinking about doing the same thing every day for the foreseeable future. I don't drink, so I bought a blaster of 2015 Topps Chrome to help me deal with it. It's got 7 packs of Chrome plus a bonus pack of Sepia Refractors.
Here are the odds taken from the back of one of the packs. I don't know how they compare to the odds on regular Retail packs or Hobby packs.
First up is the pack of Sepia Refractors. While opening this I felt like there were an awful lot of Red Sox in this box. I am going to track the teams and see if this was true or just my perception. I guess these are all right, although it kind of bothers me that they changed up the numbering on all of the Refractors again. Sepia Refractors are supposed to be numbered out of # / 75. I've heard that the case breakers are frustrated at the relative lack of colored Refractors in this year's product. I could imagine that taking out even one or two layers of serially-numbered parallels does really hurt their bottom line, as that one good pull could be the card that brings a case from a loser to a winner.
Seattle Mariners - 1
Boston Red Sox - 2
Texas Rangers - 1
I got the base version of David Ortiz in this pack to go along with the Sepia Refractor from the last pack. Kris Bryant is the rookie to get from this product, although Carlos Correa would be my preference. Correa, though, was only included in the set as a last-minute short-print so it is unlikely that I will get his card. Any of the 5 short-printed rookie cards would pay for the blaster if sold on eBay, though. This Kris Bryant rookie card seems to be making brisk sales for a few dollars a pop even in base form. Moustakas gets one of the more unique photos in the set, with a 'falling over the rail' fielding shot.
Seattle Mariners - 1
Boston Red Sox - 3
Texas Rangers - 1
Tampa Bay Rays - 1
Chicago Cubs - 1
Kansas City Royals - 1
I guess the Sean Doolittle card is my favorite here, with him looking a lot like Groundskeeper Willie. The Kyle Lobstein card is a base Refractor. They are harder to spot in this year's set with the colored borders as opposed to the silver borders of previous years, and Topps removed the 'Refractor' label from the backs which collectors had used as a crutch in recent years. Now you have to do the time-honored 'wiggle your cards around under a light source' maneuver to identify your Refractors, just as The Hobby's Founding Fathers intended.
Seattle Mariners - 2
Boston Red Sox - 3
Texas Rangers - 1
Tampa Bay Rays - 1
Chicago Cubs - 1
Kansas City Royals - 1
Atlanta Braves - 1
Detroit Tigers - 1
Oakland A's - 1
I don't have a lot to say about this pack. Melvin Mercedes is a Prism Refractor, which I guess replaces the X-Fractors of yesteryear. So now Panini has Refractor-y Prizms and Topps has Prism-y Refractors. Mark Teixeira has been surprisingly productive in fantasy baseball this year, although he is currently battling a leg injury which is really more along the lines of what I expected from him.
Seattle Mariners - 2
Boston Red Sox - 4
Texas Rangers - 1
Tampa Bay Rays - 1
Chicago Cubs - 1
Kansas City Royals - 1
Atlanta Braves - 1
Detroit Tigers - 2
Oakland A's - 1
San Diego Padres - 1
New York Yankees - 1
The Salvador Perez card is a Refractor. These fall 1:3 packs, so I would expect about two of them in a blaster, and two is what I got. Doug Fister is having a down year after several years of pretty consistent success. I guess it is nice to get a Blue Jays card, even if Russell Martin doesn't even make my top 5 (maybe not even top 10!) players on the roster.
Seattle Mariners - 2
Boston Red Sox - 4
Texas Rangers - 1
Tampa Bay Rays - 1
Chicago Cubs - 1
Kansas City Royals - 2
Atlanta Braves - 1
Detroit Tigers - 3
Oakland A's - 1
San Diego Padres - 1
New York Yankees - 1
Washington Nationals - 1
Toronto Blue Jays - 1
I like getting Johnny Cueto cards, although I probably like him less as a Royal than I did when he was a Red. Brandon Phillips is an interesting case to me. He's been a Hall of Pretty Good-caliber player since basically 2007, but most of the Reds fans I know don't seem to like him very much. Also, this:
The Future Stars insert of Joc Pederson is a nice enough card, although it looks like it belongs in one of the Topps Finest sets of the last couple years. They are seeded 1:12 packs, so I guess I beat the odds a bit with it. Pederson's family has had one of the better feel-good stories of this season, as the media has tracked his brother's struggle to decide whether Joc or Albert Pujols is his favorite player.
Seattle Mariners - 2
Boston Red Sox - 4
Texas Rangers - 1
Tampa Bay Rays - 1
Chicago Cubs - 1
Kansas City Royals - 2
Atlanta Braves - 1
Detroit Tigers - 3
Oakland A's - 1
San Diego Padres - 1
New York Yankees - 1
Washington Nationals - 1
Toronto Blue Jays - 1
Cincinnati Reds - 2
Los Angeles Dodgers - 1
St. Louis Cardinals - 1
Madison Bumgarner is a Prism Refractor, which makes two for the box and is another slight win over the printed odds. Not a bad player to pull a parallel of, either, although he's probably not on track for a Cy Young award this year in spite of his ace numbers.
Seattle Mariners - 2
Boston Red Sox - 4
Texas Rangers - 1
Tampa Bay Rays - 2
Chicago Cubs - 1
Kansas City Royals - 2
Atlanta Braves - 1
Detroit Tigers - 3
Oakland A's - 1
San Diego Padres - 1
New York Yankees - 1
Washington Nationals - 1
Toronto Blue Jays - 1
Cincinnati Reds - 2
Los Angeles Dodgers - 1
St. Louis Cardinals - 1
Pittsburgh Pirates - 1
San Francisco Giants - 1
Baltimore Orioles - 1
The final pack of the blaster holds the biggest hit, with a Purple Refractor of Mookie Betts, numbered # 216 / 250. This is the most common of the serially-numbered parallels, falling at 1:38 packs. It's also my 5th Red Sox card, showing that my impression was correct. I did pull a lot of Red Sox relative to other teams, as the next-most-represented team was the Detroit Tigers with three cards in the box. The Purple Betts card actually gets outsold on eBay by the base Kris Bryant rookie card, so I guess it's a bit of a toss-up as far as which card wins the MVP of this break. It was fun to bust this open, but Topps Chrome is kind of like the Chinese food of baseball cards. It's pretty good, but ten minutes later you're hungry again.
