Jon Singleton and George Springer Panini Cards

I want to blog about cards, but I also kind of don't want to do anything at all. I am currently in Spokane, Washington, for some job training. That doesn't really have much to do with my lack of motivation, though. I've been feeling the same way at home lately, too. I guess it's just a symptom of my depression. I am normally pretty down anyway. My baseline mood is other people's low. I am used to it, though, and manage to be pretty functional and relatively happy a lot of the time. It seems like every 5-6 years, though, I go through an extended period where I just can't seem to get going on anything for a few months, and I barely function. I guess it's more of a physical depression than a mental one. I'm right in the middle of one of those periods now. I've been meaning to get to my doctor to see about a medication adjustment or something, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. It's all just part of the fun of managing a chronic illness, I suppose.

Speaking of a chronic illness, it seems like the Astros' offense can't generate any run support this year. I just got done watching Justin Verlander do everything he could (8 IP, 14 K, 0 BB, 3 H) to keep the team in a game against the Yankees, and the bats couldn't even generate a single run to back him up. Of course, the bullpen immediately gave up 4 runs after Verlander left the game, but I have to imagine things could have been different if there were a couple runs on the Astros' side of the scoreboard.

I think I already have at least one copy of all the cards in this post, but how can I turn down dirt-cheap relic cards of player collection guy Jon Singleton, especially when some of them feature George Springer, too? These all come from 2015 Panini Elite baseball.

This last one is pretty cool because it's a Christmas Card, bearing the coveted # 12 / 25 serial number. I think I have # 14 / 25 on the way to my house as we speak, because I have a hard time saying no to these things. This one has a pretty cool patch embedded in it, though, so I have that going for me.

Blog Bat-Around: What I Collect

I don't think I've ever participated in a Blog Bat-Around before. I tend to do things on my own schedule, and by the time I am ready to participate in something like this, everyone else has moved on. I think most people have already moved on from this one, too, but I'm posting about it anyway. I think credit goes to Night Owl for starting/inspiring this one, entitled 'What I Collect.' It's basically an excuse to list your various projects and collecting interests. Some people listed theirs in order of preference, but my collecting habits are too random for me to do that.

I'll start off with baseball. I mainly focus on player collections, although there are some other things I chase. I would say the primary player I collect is R.A. Dickey, but Jon Singleton is up there and I also have tried to put together a decent Josh Reddick collection. Evan Gattis is a guy I've tried to start an accumulation for, but I get distracted from that one too easily. He's probably one of my favorite players to watch, though, outside of Jose Altuve. Singleton's available cardboard seems to be drying up, as it doesn't look like he's going to pan out anytime soon. Maybe I'll change my focus to Gattis or someone else once I feel like I'm done getting Singleton cards. I also pick up Munenori Kawasaki cards when I can, but I think he announced his retirement in the last few days, and he doesn't really have a lot of cardboard out there anyhow.

Because I can't reasonably expect to get all of the cards of any given player, I just try to get the ones I like best, and the ones that are available at a reasonable price. I will grab random hits and cards featuring other players I like, such as Max Scherzer, but when it comes to single cards I am usually pretty focused on a handful of guys. I did pick up a whole lot of Topps Now cards from last season, mostly the ones featuring Astros. I also like to get some of the oddball cards that Topps prints for the Now program, like the card that talked about the Royals' Rally Mantis. I will generally grab any that include a donation to charity. A couple that come to mind are one Topps did for Hurricane Harvey relief and another donating to veteran's charities for Memorial Day.

I usually buy a factory set of Topps and a set of Update from eBay. In most years I collect the blue foil parallel set out of Opening Day. Sometimes I buy a set of Heritage after busting enough of it to realize that I can't possibly build a set without spending a whole lot of money on packs full of doubles. I typically buy a box of Allen & Ginter for Gint-a-Cuffs. Usually I find one other product that I buy a bunch of. Last year it was Bowman Platinum. There are other collections that I sometimes add to, like Wally Moon, Rollie Fingers, Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, vintage sets, Fan Favorites autographs from Topps Archives, and oddball releases.

One big focus of mine has been sketch cards and full-size artwork. I have a few main character collections. The primary ones are DC Comics' Power Girl and Leia from Star Wars. I also have small collections of Marvel characters She-Hulk, Squirrel Girl, and Scarlet Witch. I've accumulated quite a few Captain America sketches, as well as a small number of M.O.D.O.K. sketch cards. I will pick up sketches of other subjects, too, if they catch my eye.

I also collect Star Wars cards, but not all that obsessively. I just get what interests me. Topps puts out a lot of Star Wars products, and keeping up with them all would be a full-time collection. I don't have that kind of focus. I gather cards featuring Leia, interesting relics, and autographs from other characters that I like.

I like wrestling cards. They are a lot of fun. Again, I collect just about anything that catches my eye. I don't try to get all of the Topps Now WWE cards, but I get one or two every few months if a wrestler I like is featured. I like autographs of classic guys like Sergeant Slaughter. I also have collections for Nia Jax and Bayley. I started a Charlotte Flair collection after I met her last year at a book signing, but I don't have an autographed card from her yet. John Cena is too popular for me to collect, but I should really track down an autograph of his.

I've gathered a couple of Iron Sheik hits over time, and I went out and got that Trish Stratus autograph recently. Most of my collections are grab bags of single cards that I pick up on eBay, with the occasional box break or group break thrown in.

I also collect trading cards of Japanese women wrestlers. BBM puts out an annual set that covers a wide range of promotions, and the Stardom promotion puts out their own card set every so often. The Stardom packs are really hard to get, so usually I am limited to whatever singles pop up on eBay. I have a pretty good source for unopened BBM True Heart cards, though, and between eBay and Yahoo! Auctions in Japan I am able to get most of the cards I want. I have a full run of Command Bolshoi (the masked wrestler up top) autographs dating back to 2003. That's my best Japanese wrestler collection, but there are several other wrestlers that I collect. I am currently waiting on a large shipment out of Japan, which includes the complete 2004 set, which almost never comes up for sale. A couple of high-level Japanese wrestlers have transferred to the WWE recently, and that has driven up interest a little bit in these cards. 

I collect UFC cards, too. I have a couple of fighter collections. Neil Magny is one of the primary ones, and Randa Markos is one of the others. I really just like to collect a little of everything, though. I will usually grab just about any relic or autograph if it is cheap enough, and especially if I don't already have something featuring that fighter. I gather up low-numbered parallels if I can, from just about any product. It seems like every year I go pretty hard on at least one product. Last year it was Museum Collection and Chrome. This year I might go after those same products.

I chase NASCAR cards, mostly focusing on a handful of drivers. Most of my favorite drivers have retired, so I am looking for new people to collect. I haven't settled on anyone yet. In reality most of my racing card money goes to Danica Patrick cards and the occasional box break. I am thinking about starting a Darrell 'Bubba' Wallace collection, or maybe collecting one of the Busch brothers. Other racers I collect are Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Josh Wise. I also have a small collection of drag racing stuff, with the main focus of that collection being the Force family (John, Courtney, and Brittany). 

I guess this scan represents pop culture celebrities and other sports. I gather autographs, relics, and other cards featuring people that I've heard of from outside of mainstream sports. Goodwin Champions is a good source for those, as are Panini's various celebrity offerings. I've got a fair number of cards featuring Olympic gymnasts, a decent Felicia Day collection, some singers, some authors, and some people who are mostly famous for being famous or being related to someone famous.

Basketball cards were the main thing I collected during my teen years in the 90's. It is mostly a fringe collection now, but I still gather cards for my main player collections (Hakeem Olajuwon, Gheorghe Muresan, Manute Bol). I will also pick up any Houston Rockets cards I can find, but I don't often go out of my way to track them down. 

Football cards are pretty far down my list, but I still have a couple of NFL collections. Most of the cards I add picture former Broncos' tight end Shannon Sharpe. I like getting Terrell Davis and John Elway cards. I will collect just about anything with Tim Tebow on it. I also recently started a Jake Butt collection, because how often does someone named Butt play for your favorite team? I've picked up one or two Von Miller cards over the last couple of years, too, but I have a hard time focusing on football. The careers are so short, and the sport just hasn't been as exciting for me as it was previously.

That's a quick rundown of my collecting world. I am not a very focused guy, so I bounce around from thing to thing as new products release and my interests change.

Contested Shots 32: World Series Door Prize from Collector's Crack

Cynical Buddha of the blog Collector's Crack held his 7th Annual Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web last year. I guessed the right participants and the winner, but I was off on the number of games it would take, so I didn't win the contest. I did, however, win the random door prize drawing, so I got a prize package anyway. It was mailed out promptly, and I have unfortunately delayed posting about it until now, as the new baseball season is about to get under way.

First up is this winter-themed parallel from Topps' 2017 Holiday offering. I went hard after this set last year, trying to get the accidentally short-printed Cole Hamels card by busting blaster boxes. I think I opened at least 10 blasters before I gave up and bought the Hamels card on eBay.

That Jon Singleton relic card out of Gypsy Queen is a welcome addition to that player collection. He also included some shiny Astros and a retro Yulieski Gurriel insert from Gypsy Queen. The Joe Musgrove card is numbered # 032 / 250. That Randy Johnson Upper Deck Artifacts card is especially nice, and numbered # 01 / 50. There is also a Nolan Ryan phone card, a collectible that went on a pretty big run in the 90's.

The Nolan Ryan phone card is unused, but the one minute of air time expired a little over 17 years ago. Even if the minute hadn't yet expired, it might be a chore to find a pay phone to make the call from. I'd have to search for nearby pay phones on my smartphone.

Closing things out are a Harmon Killebrew / Mike Schmidt Classic Combos card numbered # 160 / 400 and a Future Phenoms relic card of Edwin Jackson, who has played for 12 different teams in his 15 season career so far.

Thank you so much for the prize package, Cynical Buddha! There was a lot of really cool stuff here, and I really enjoyed these cards! I'm sorry I took so long to post about them.

Care Package from Fuji

When I got home from New Jersey I had a veritable mountain of mail sitting on my desk. Among the mailers was a package from Fuji over at The Chronicles of Fuji. Inside I found a whole bunch of items that hit many of my different collections.

First up is a number of Hakeem Olajuwon cards. Those Upper Deck holograms were huge for me back in the day. These are the cards I coveted in the 90's. There's also a Manute Bol card hiding down there in the lower right.

I like lists, and those NBA Jam Session cards take a list and put it on cardboard. There's a lot of star power on those cards. The Trading Places insert at the bottom was new to me. I got out of collecting around the time that Olajuwon went to the Raptors, so I haven't seen most of his later cardboard.

Fuji also hit up my Nolan Ryan collection. I'm not a very good Ryan collector, but I like getting his cards when they show up. Out of this lot, I especially like the O-Pee-Chee in the upper right and the Starline card in the lower left. It's also nice to see a couple appearances by the Astros' rainbow uniforms.

There were plenty of Astros in the package, including the Killer B's, player collection guy Jon Singleton, and World Series hero George Springer.

Hologram technology makes another appearance here, with a Denny's oddball of Jeff Bagwell. I've probably eaten at Denny's three or four times in my life, so I wasn't ever exposed to these until I started reading card blogs. There's also a nice-looking Craig Biggio League Leaders card here.

My R.A. Dickey collection got a little boost, too, with a few different things, including two different Bowman Platinum parallels, a shiny foil Stadium Club card, a Little League card (from a Sports Illustrated for Kids magazine), and some Museum Collection and Ginter to round it out.

This slightly over-sized Kellogg's Raisin Bran card was one highlight of the package. I don't think I'd ever seen this one before, so it was a welcome addition to my Olajuwon hoard. It highlights his college career.

This 2017 Topps Series One Jackie Robinson Logo card of Alex Bregman is a solid chunk of cardboard. These were a one-per-blaster inclusion in the retail release of this product, so the card for a given team would be a pretty difficult find.

The last card in the package was this Jason Lane patch relic from 2002 Leaf Certified. This is the Mirror Blue parallel, numbered # 68 / 75. Lane played outfield in parts of 6 MLB seasons, with his only full season being 2005. That means he's played in four more World Series games than most of us have. He fell out of the MLB after 2007, but bounced around the minors and came back as a pitcher, throwing 10.1 innings for the Padres in 2014. I thought that was pretty wild, especially with the long gap in between. I believe he is currently a hitting coach in the Brewers organization.

Thanks for the package, Fuji! There was a lot of variety in here, and I enjoyed looking through all of the cards you sent!

2013 Bowman Platinum Jon Singleton Auto Relic

I missed most of last night's Game 5 of the World Series. I had to be up early in the morning, so I went to bed after Cody Bellinger hit his big fifth-inning home run to put the Dodgers up 7-4. I kinda figured the game was over at that point, so it was a pleasant surprise to wake up in the morning and see that the Astros had tied it back up right away and gone back and forth to win in extra innings. Now they only have to win one of two in LA, which is an admittedly tall order. I hope Verlander can lead them to the trophy in Game 6.

I picked up this nice autograph-relic card of Jon Singleton from eBay recently. The card comes from 2013 Bowman Platinum. It's a shiny card. I was surprised to see that it didn't have a serial number, but that doesn't matter too much. I didn't spend a lot on it. 

The back of the card is your standard hit card fare. I don't know if I'll be able to watch Game 6, but I hope the Astros can seize the opportunity and close this thing out. A Game 7 would be exciting, but I'd rather have them put it away as soon as possible. 

2014 Panini Elite Die-Cut Jon Singleton

I've been pretty quiet on the blog lately. I'm attending an Army course in New Jersey, and there's no internet access in the barracks. My phone's data plan is less than forgiving, which is the price I pay for having a $25 phone bill each month. I've been pretty busy, but we got a day off today and I walked up to the coffee shop to get some internet, update my apps, pay my bills, and write a blog post. The Army has been a good career for me, but every so often I am inconvenienced by having to spend a month in a place that is relatively Spartan compared to my usual standard of living. 

I believe this card is an eBay purchase from a few months ago. I've got a couple versions of this Jon Singleton die-cut autograph from 2014 Panini Elite, but I think this is my first copy of the Red parallel. This one is numbered 17 / 25.

The Astros and Dodgers are making quite a World Series this year. I wish Houston would have gone up 3-1 last night, but they didn't and will probably need to win at home and once on the road to pull this thing off. The Dodgers are a tough team, though, so it's going to be a battle.

A Miniature Red Singleton

I am looking forward to playoff baseball, but along with that anticipation comes the fear of the Astros' inevitable collapse. Only one fan base out of ten will be happy at the end of it all, and there are a lot of dangerous teams in the way of a Houston World Series win.

One player who won't be a part of it, win or lose, is Jon Singleton. He spent 2017 down at AA, and hasn't had an MLB at-bat since 2015. He was among the team leaders for the Corpus Christi Hooks in Runs, Home Runs, and Runs Batted In, but probably didn't do enough to earn a promotion to AAA, let alone the big-league club. He could be a replacement-level guy on a weaker roster, but there's not any room for him on the Astros after several other corner-infield/DH-type guys leapfrogged him.

I still keep plugging away at my Singleton player collection. This card comes from the 2014 Bowman Chrome Mini factory set. Each factory set came with 30 parallels of various colors, with these Red Refractors being limited to 5 copies apiece. My Singleton card is # 2 / 5.

2015 Topps Tribute Jon Singleton Autographs

Last night after class was over, I decided that I was going to try catching a Padres game at Petco Park. The Mets are in town and I wanted to see as many teams as I could while I'm here. The Padres' next series is against the Pirates, and I already have tickets for one of those games on Saturday. The Twins are in town next week, so I'll see if I can make it to the Tuesday night game.

I made it to the ballpark with relative ease. My seat was up pretty high, but the ticket was cheap and the view was pretty nice. The home team won the game 6-3, thanks in large part to Luis Torrens' 3-run triple in the 3rd inning. That hit was soooo close to being a grand slam, but it bounced off the wall just short of going over. I thought the ballpark was pretty nice, although there wasn't a big crowd. You can only expect so much from a Padres game on a weeknight, I guess. There wasn't as much in-game promotional stuff as you'd see at a Reds game, but I was generally entertained.

The Topps Tribute product from 2015 had some issues with streaky autographs. The complaints were so heavy that Topps actually recalled the product, offering to replace cards from the set with other cards. Some cards obviously didn't get sent in to Topps for replacement, so you can still find them in the wild. I picked up a couple of Jon Singleton autographs from the product on eBay a couple of months ago. You can see on this Orange Tribute Autograph parallel that the autograph skips and streaks due to the coating or the type of pen used. This one is numbered # 65 / 75.

The same issues exist on this Green parallel of the card, with flaws in the signature. This one is numbered # 11 / 99. These didn't cost an arm and a leg to pick up, and they still count as unique cards for my player collection, so I was happy to get them. I may have been less happy if I'd pulled them at full retail price, though.