Combined Shipping Leads to Buying Stuff 10: Combined Shipping is a Powerful Drug

The first card in this post is the only card I meant to purchase, but things got a little out of hand when I saw that the seller offered free shipping with the purchase of  items. I am usually able to pass up on these offers because sellers often don't have enough cards I want. This time I did track down 10 items from the seller's inventory to purchase.

Here is the card that started me down this path. It popped up in my feed at a very low price for a low-numbered UFC card. It is the Gold parallel of Jessica Penne's 2015 Topps UFC Champions card, and it is numbered # 16 / 25. As a bonus, it features a cameo by one of my PC fighters, Randa Markos. Penne would win that fight by decision. I will pick up nearly any UFC parallel card that is # / 25 or less if the price is right.

The problem with my Randa Markos collection is that, to my knowledge, she doesn't have any relics or autographs out there. I am lucky if she gets into lower-tier products with a base card and some parallels or maybe an insert. She is absent from the checklists of most hit-driven products, so I have expanded my player collections to officially include Julianna Pena. As part of the combined shipping lot, I picked up this Fight Mat Relic Card from 2016 Topps UFC Knockout. It is numbered # 076 / 188, and you can see in tiny print under the disclaimer that this relic piece comes from the TUF 18 Finale, a tournament that Pena won.

Randa Markos' next opponent is Carla Esparza. They will fight at UFC Fight Night: Browne vs. Lewis in February. This card is Esparza's Gold parallel from 2016 Topps UFC Knockout, numbered # 44 / 99.

I also picked up this Green parallel of Leslie Smith from 2015 Topps UFC Chronicles. It is numbered # 088 / 288. Smith has had an up-and-down career in the UFC so far, last defeating Irene Aldana in December.

The last UFC card in this lot is this Silver parallel of Tecia Torres from 2016 Topps UFC Knockout. It is numbered # 022 / 227. Torres lost a fight to Rose Namajunas in April 2016, and has an upcoming fight against Bec Rawlings in February.

I closed out the order with a couple of Hakeem Olajuwon and Shannon Sharpe cards for those particular player collections. I think the top left Olajuwon is from 1999-00 Skybox E-X, and the top right Olajuwon is from 1997-98 Flair Showcase. On the bottom are a 1999 Topps Gold Label and a 1998 Flair Showcase card for Sharpe.

There are apparently only nine cards in this post. There is a 1997 Pinnacle Shannon Sharpe card that should be here, but I don't see the scan for it, and the Leslie Smith Green parallel was from another order and ought to be replaced by a Cat Zingano card that also isn't in the scans for this post. I was twisting my brain around trying to match the cards in that order to the cards in this post. That's what happens when you let cards pile up before you scan them. Either way, I originally went to buy the card at the top of the post and wound up ordering 9 more to go with it, including some of the cards pictured here.

Combined Shipping Leads to Buying Stuff 9: Jon Singleton Gypsy Queen Relic

Here is the final card in the 9-card lot I've been posting about over the last week. It's a Jon Singleton relic from 2015 Topps Gypsy Queen. The swatch is a pretty basic plain white swatch and the card isn't numbered. I think my favorite part of this card is the photo, with Singleton at the plate in a nice rainbow throwback uniform. It's too bad the relic piece doesn't have some nice rainbow striping on it. That would be awesome.

Unfortunately as I type this on Wednesday night, Scott Kazmir has just given up back-to-back home runs to Kyle Seager and Nelson Cruz in the 5th inning to give the Mariners a 6 - 3 lead. If the Astros manage to lose this game they will be all but eliminated from the Division race and also fail to capitalize on the Angels' loss today that opened the door back up for that last Wild Card spot. Yuck. I guess there are 29 teams each year that disappoint their fans, but I hate it when it's my team doing the disappointing.

A While Later...

Well, the Astros managed to squeak that one out and grab a 7 - 6 win from the Mariners, giving them a half-game lead over the Angels for that second Wild Card spot. The Astros get a day of rest and then finish out the season with a 3-game series at Arizona. The Angels go to Texas to play a 4-game series against the Rangers. If the Astros can win their series 2 - 1 or 3 - 0 they have an excellent shot at getting through to at least the Wild Card game and a very long shot at the AL West title if they sweep the Diamondbacks and the Angels sweep the Rangers.

It would take a pretty extreme set of circumstances for them to get the Division lead back, but as long as they can handle business against Arizona they should be able to get into the tournament play-in game and at least have a chance. That is what I'm hoping for. I just want them to get their feet in the door. There are some awfully tough teams in the bracket, though, so I don't know how deep of a run they could make once they got in. But given that Houston wasn't even supposed to contend this year, just getting to the playoffs would be a big cause for excitement.

Combined Shipping Leads to Buying Stuff 8: R.A. Dickey Bowman Gold

Well, yesterday's post imploring Daniel Norris to pitch well didn't work out. He only lasted 1.2 innings on his 75-pitch cap as the Rangers beat the Tigers in a 7-6 game. To make things even worse, the Angels won and the Astros lost, dropping Houston to a half-game deficit in the race for the second Wild Card spot.

R.A. Dickey takes the mound for the Blue Jays tonight in the second game of a double-header. It looks like they will clinch the AL East based on the result of the first game, but I still hope that Dickey pitches well and takes them to a win. Dickey's numbers aren't that great this year overall, but he really turned a corner once June rolled around and has pitched very well since. The knuckleball still betrays him here and there, but he has put together a lot of good starts.

Today's featured card comes from the same eBay lot I've been discussing for the last few days. It's Dickey's Gold parallel from 2015 Bowman. It's numbered # 32 / 50. Again, not a card I would pay the asking price plus $3 shipping for on its own, but combined shipping brings the unit price down enough for me to justify it.

Combined Shipping Leads to Buying Stuff 7: Daniel Norris Stadium Club Auto

Continuing with the combined shipping lot I've been posting about lately, here is a Daniel Norris autograph from this year's Stadium Club set. I briefly started a player collection of his cards when he was with the Blue Jays earlier this year, but his cards were too expensive and I found I couldn't maintain another player collection. Then he got moved to Detroit and I really lost interest. This card had a decent asking price. I wouldn't pay the seller's price plus $3 shipping just for this card, but splitting up that $3 between 9 different cards makes the per-card price tolerable.

I really need Norris to pitch well today, as he's getting the start against Cole Hamels and the Texas Rangers. I need the Rangers to lose another game so that my Astros can (hopefully) win and gain another game in the pennant race. So just for today I am a huge fan of the Tigers.

I guess now that he's with Detroit, that makes him Daniel Tiger.

Combined Shipping Leads to Buying Stuff 6: Denver Broncos from the Glory Days

As part of the combined shipping lot I've been posting about recently I picked up a few cards for my football collection, which is even more neglected than my basketball collection, if such a thing is even possible. All of these are serially-numbered, but the numbers are pretty high, I think just about anyone who wants a copy should be able to get one. First up is a Shannon Sharpe Immortals card from 2013 Panini Certified. It's numbered # 487 / 999. Sharpe has always been my favorite Bronco, and I don't know if anyone will ever take that spot. I like Tim Tebow and I like Peyton Manning, but Tebow didn't stick around long enough and Manning did most of his work with the Colts. The one big knock I have against Sharpe is that he played for the Ravens. I hate the Ravens. I'll overlook that in his case, though, because I can.

I have an old Sharpe knockoff jersey that I get compliments on pretty much every time I wear it in public. He's popular even here in Idaho. This card is from 1998 Collector's Edge Masters. I am not sure how the parallels are set up in this set, but this card is numbered # 1076 / 3000.

Finally I have a nice shiny John Elway card from this year, a 2015 Panini Certified Immortals card numbered # 055 / 499. I like this one because of the old-school Broncos logo and uniform. Elway had a great career as a quarterback and a Super Bowl win would cement him as a great football executive, too. He's made some huge moves in bringing Peyton Manning to Denver and building a superb defense for the Broncos, but they haven't been able to cash that in and get a ring. With Tom Brady, Gronk, and the rest of the Patriots playing the way they have been this year I don't know if the Broncos can even get out of the AFC bracket, let alone beat whoever comes out of the NFC playoffs. I am afraid that the Broncos' window will close and Manning will miss out on getting a ring in Denver. It's really too bad they laid that huge egg against Seattle in the Super Bowl a couple of years ago.

Combined Shipping Leads to Buying Stuff 5: Hakeem Olajuwon Prizm Relic

I am going to be away from my computer/cell phone for a couple of days, so I'm throwing out a couple of quick posts to fill time until I get back. Today's card comes from the lot of cards I started posting about yesterday. The seller had a variety of cards on sale from multiple sports, and I couldn't pass up this relic card featuring my favorite basketball player, Hakeem Olajuwon. It's from the On Hallowed Ground insert set in 2014-15 Panini Select Basketball. The relic swatch isn't all that exciting, but at least it's a colored bit of jersey and not a PWS (plain white swatch).

This is the Copper Prizm parallel of the card, and it is numbered # 36 / 49. I am surprised a little bit that I don't have more relics and autos of The Dream, because they are very plentiful and pretty cheap. Maybe that's the reason. It seems like there are about 40,000 of them on eBay all the time, so I pass them by in favor of bidding on other things that I feel like I might not see again. I did snag this one because of that combined shipping offer. At list price plus shipping I wouldn't have given it a second look, but at list price with combined shipping it was a reasonable deal for an addition to a somewhat neglected part of my collection.

Combined Shipping Leads to Buying Stuff 4: R.A. Dickey 2013 Topps Tribute WBC Patches

I picked up a lot of 9 cards from a seller on eBay; largely because of the two cards in this post. I have had my eye on R.A. Dickey's 2013 Topps Tribute WBC cards pretty much since the product released, but had never quite felt like paying the asking price. I finally broke down and grabbed a couple of them for my collection. This first one is the more limited of the two, being the Red parallel of the Prime Patches Relic set. My copy is numbered # 07 / 10. It's got a nice little chunk of jersey number or something on there and is suitably shiny.

The card backs are about what you expect from a high-end patch card. The card companies figure you are going to be so transfixed by the glitz and flash on the front of the card that the back will be an afterthought, so they also make it an afterthought. At least the authenticity certification ties the relic piece to a specific time period instead of Topps' usual vague statement.

I find it interesting that the more common version of the card has a (subjectively) much better patch piece embedded in it. This one's got all kinds of colors and levels of patch stepping down to the jersey material. It's shiny and silver and my copy is numbered # 011 / 131. 

The back of the card is identical to the back of the rarer card. I am glad to finally grab a couple of Dickey's cards from this set. I didn't get a great deal on them, but it was an acceptable price especially with the shipping split up nine ways.

Combined Shipping Leads to Buying Stuff 3: NASCAR Parallels

After adding the NASCAR quad relic, the R.A. Dickey auto/relic, and the George Springer Panini card I still needed two items to qualify for free shipping. I eventually settled on a couple of parallels from the 2014 Press Pass Total Memorabilia NASCAR set. One is a Gold parallel of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and it is numbered # 019 / 175. The other is a Black & White parallel of Josh Wise and it is # 91 / 99. I tend to focus mostly on my Danica Patrick player collection when it comes to NASCAR, but it is nice to pick up a card or two featuring the other drivers I follow. 

Earnhardt Jr. is 6th in the driver standings right now and has made the Chase for the Cup playoffs for this season. I don't know what his chances are, though. I haven't been paying a huge amount of attention to NASCAR for the last few months, but my impression is that he did better at the start of the season than he has in the last little while. Looking at the race by race results tells me that he's been pretty consistent all year.

Josh Wise changed teams in July and has a couple of races with his new team. It seems like his new car is pretty similar in quality to his old car, and he is qualifying and finishing in about the same spots as usual, spending a lot of time in the 30's. He does have a 10th-place finish this year, but is currently in 37th place in the points, far out of the Chase for the Cup.

That does it for my current batch of cards that I bought just for free/combined shipping. I usually try to limit my additional purchases to cards that I want anyway, but a good deal on shipping will often give me that extra little push I need to make a purchase. I have another big batch of cards on the way that I bought from one seller after noticing that anything after the first item shipped for free. I searched their inventory and came up with some good gems for my collection.

Combined Shipping Leads to Buying Stuff 2: George Springer 2014 Panini Black Friday

This is another card I picked up in the lot I talked about in my previous post. The seller offered free shipping if I bought five items, so I went through their inventory to see what I could pick up. This George Springer card from the 2014 Panini Black Friday set isn't as exciting as an R.A. Dickey auto/relic or a NASCAR quad relic, but it was a nice enough card and it was cheap. I'd rather spend a dollar on this card than $3 on postage.

The Astros let the Rangers take over the division lead today, losing again to Derek Holland and company. It looked like the Astros might pull it out after they came from behind to take a 5-4 lead, but the Rangers pushed a run across to tie the game and then apparently won the game on a sacrifice fly in the later innings. My kids were annoying the heck out of me, so I didn't actually watch all the way through to the end. Hopefully the Astros can win a game in this series. George Springer is back from being injured, although I couldn't tell you how he's done since he returned. I haven't been paying attention to his stats. Looking at the back of this card I see that I missed an opportunity to turn this into a birthday post, as his birthday is in just a few days.

Combined Shipping Leads to Buying Stuff 1: R.A. Dickey Triple Threads Auto Relic

I didn't set out to buy this card, but when I ordered this NASCAR quad relic I saw that the seller had a combined shipping offer (buy 5 items and get free shipping, if I am remembering correctly) and I decided to see what else they had in their inventory. This Emerald R.A. Dickey Unity Autograph Jumbo Relic is one of the extra cards I bought. I haven't added a lot of Dickey relics or autos to my collection recently, so it was nice to get another one for an okay price. This one has a sticker autograph, a plain white swatch, and it is serially numbered # 31 / 50. Dickey has been playing well enough for the Blue Jays, although I think he probably benefits quite a bit from having a ton of run support from that ridiculous lineup.

The Astros lost to the Rangers today and have very nearly let Texas take over the division lead. The Rangers are just a half-game back now, with the Angels not that much further behind. I don't really expect the Astros to get past many tough teams in the playoffs, but it would be pretty cool if they found a way to hold on to the division and at least play a series.

The Denver Broncos barely won against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, and it was only because their defense came up with a touchdown. It's probably still too early to panic, but it looks like the AFC West could be pretty tough to win this year (outside of the Raiders). If the Raiders beat the Broncos then it will be time to panic.

My fantasy football team did well this week, beating the pants off of my opponent. I have a pretty good roster, but football is so crazy from week to week that it's hard to win a championship. Football is probably my favorite sport to watch even though I don't really collect football cards much. I like football cards, but for whatever reason they always fall off my radar.