Parallel-o-grams

You're scared.

You think I'm going to start talking about math, aren't you?

Come out from under that table.

No, silly, I'm not talking about THAT kind of parallelogram.

I'm talking about "parallel-o-grams!"

Parallels that come in the mail!

Cards like this:

I'm sure folks have noticed how easy it is to accumulate parallels in 2013 Topps.

I have managed to land these three Kershaws not even a month into the set's release, and I still don't have the Walmart or Target parallel of Kershaw's 2012 Topps card.

I'm sure the reason for this is that there are more parallels per pack this year than previous years. I suppose this is "bad" for the market-watchers, people who sell cards or care about "scarcity" and all that yaaawwwwwwwnnnnn!

But all I know is I have been scrambling around trying to get as many Dodger parallels as I can and it's been great fun! If Topps is going to up the count on its parallels, this was a good year to do it. Someone like me who loves crazy contrasting colors (think 1975 Topps) can't get enough of the border color bouncing off the diamond design color. Blue with orange? Red with green? Green with orange? Yes! The louder the better. You don't like it? Send them to me.

And people have.

This terrific green ... I mean "emerald" ... parallel arrived from 2 by 3 Heroes. I had to have it. Now I has it.

Here is "nowhere man" Dee Gordon all shiny and emerald, retiring someone appropriately named "Moss" since there appears to be moss growing all over this card.

Gordon arrived from Community Gum, who couldn't resist adding another parallel:

The terrific landscape Ted Lilly Target card.

It goes nicely with the Walmart blue Lilly that I pulled a few days ago when I grabbed a rack pack with the 5 dollars I cobbled together through saving a week-and-a-half of coins. (lately I've been having flashbacks to being 8 years old and counting allowance money).

Community Gum also sent a couple of inserts, but I'm not talking about inserts today. Yes, I know these inserts have their own parallels, but those are evil parallels. Best avoided. Or shot down with lasers.

No, today I'm talking about fantastically colorful parallels!!!!

This great Gonzalez parallel arrived from Steve E.

Some of you who aren't on Twitter may not know Steve E. But faithful blog readers will remember him as the one who sent me my 1971 Topps Thurman Munson card in one of the odder trades I have ever made.

Through all of this parallel transacting I have yet to turn up a gold-paralleled Dodger (although a gold Kershaw has just been spotted and saved for me. Phew!).

No matter. I'd rather have the colors anyway.

I know that several collectors dismiss parallels as not their thing. But when you're not collecting the set the traditional way, parallels give you something fun to find that's "new," and I'm sure Topps knows this.

Through spending little money on packs, I've already surpassed the number of Dodger parallels I accumulated from 2012 Topps. That's a tribute to my enthusiasm but mostly a factor of Topps making them more plentiful.

Even with all this 2013 parallel-chasing, I still haven't forgotten my vintage vow.

There was another card that came from Steve E. with the A-Gone red card.

That's a 1955 Bowman Gil Hodges, of course.

I love the aged look. It reminds me of the TV my folks had in the early '70s when I was just a youngster. Scuffing and everything. Except for the creases, of course. It's quite difficult to crease one of those old wooden television sets.

Now that ... THAT is a parallelogram.