Buzz Buys: Ronald Acuña Jr., New Yaz, Satchel Paige, Ferris Bueller, Aubrey Plaza, WWE stars & Ted Williams goes fishing

Buzz buys and busts a lot of boxes right here for Buzz Breaks, but one of my goals just might be to rip fewer blasters this year and talk more about cardboard that I -- and you -- might like. One way to do that? Simple show and tell -- present a few pick-ups and say why they captured my attention. Would they capture yours? I'd be interested to know -- sometimes they might, sometimes they won't and that's fine. It's a buyer's market out there with plenty of options and bargains as well as high-end gems to chase.

So, with all that said, here are a few Buzz Buys ... and this time around it's a super-sized edition to clear out some cardboard that's been waiting for its turn here.

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BATTING LEADOFF ... AGAIN
The Card: Ronald Acuña Jr. 2018 Panini Chronicles Score Rookie Card (SGC 10)
The Price: $10.60
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Is it really a shocker to see this guy batting leadoff here once again? If you're a regular reader you'll know this is the third straight time I've picked one of my Acuña pick-ups to start things off here -- and this time it's a high-grade copy from an affordable (for now) release that's jam-packed with Rookie Cards. I haven't ever submitted anything to SGC for grading, but I have picked off a few cards in their slabs when the price is right and the card is noticeably clean. In this case it was an affordable one picked off in a top grade just before he started heating things up this season. Boxes of many 2018 releases have picked up steam and this one is among them, especially on the hobby side where they are jam-packed with good stuff. I couldn't find this card in the pop report, but the price was right for me.
Grab a box right here: 2018 Panini Chronicles baseball cards

Keep reading for many more interesting items ...

THE NEW YAZ
The Card: Mike Yastrzemski 2015 Bowman Chrome Prospect Autographs (BGS 9/10)
The Price: $4.50
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This is one of those recent cheap pick-ups that I bought simply because of the trivia here, but it turns out to be timely after this weekend. He's the grandson of Hall of Famer and Boston Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski. I hadn't even looked at his career stats, figuring he'd toiled in the minors and was done, but it turns out he made his MLB debut on Saturday after seven years riding buses. He went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a run as his Giants lost to the Diamondbacks. Why did I think he hadn't made it far in the minors? His first autos came way back in 2013 Elite Extra Edition and his ink in this set are the only other option -- so it's a first Chrome auto without the label. He's got about 70 different cards and fewer than 25 certified autographs and those are stats that help make this one feel like a little better buy, especially after his weekend. On Sunday the 28-year-old went 3-for-4 with a run and he's batting .429. For the record, he's 3,416 behind gramps on the Yaz hit list. His late dad, Carl Jr., who went by "Mike," also appears on MiLB baseball cards from the 1980s.
Grab a box right here: 2015 Bowman Chrome

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GONE FISHIN'
The Card: Ted Williams 2017 Topps Update photo variation
The Price: $1.45
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This Hall of Famer was a serious fan of fishing when he wasn't busy being one of the greatest hitters ever and a successful fighter pilot. This unique short-print isn't a tougher find out of Topps Update, but it's so unique visually that I had to finally pick one up. Ironically had I waited a few days I could have picked one up slabbed (and on sale) for about $5 more in the exact same place I found this one. 
Grab a box right here: 2017 Topps Update baseball cards

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THEIR SALES MIGHT SURPRISE YOU ... 
The Card: Satchel Paige 2018 Topps Series 2 MLB All-Star Logo Patches
The Price: $7.71
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This price is a little more than some of my typical cheap buys that I often showcase here, but these manufactured Relics are so different that I figured I'd grab one to spotlight it here. These were in some types of 2018 Series 2 blasters and showcase a number of players with All-Star appearances from the past. It's not a design that always works out well, but I liked the looks of this one other than how the black bar extends across the card a little too much. The 1953 Topps design is where Paige made his MLB card debut, too. The prices on blaster-only inserts can surprise at times, especially when the blasters aren't easy to find any longer.
Grab a box right here: 2018 Topps MLB blaster boxes

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NO DAYS OFF ... DOWN ON THE FARM
The Card: "Ferris Bueller Night" 2017 Topps Pro Debut Promo Night Uniform Gold Relics (/50)
The Price: $5.69
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Shake it up baby now ... Topps Pro Debut always includes some interesting memorabilia inclusions and you have seen a number of them here because I'm a sucker for unique mem cards. This one? It's a parallel of a card in the the promotional jersey set. Ferris Bueller's vest was replicated on players' jerseys for one Midland Rockhounds game in 2016 and this card shows that and tells you about it on the back. Ironically, the parallel is about half the price of what the standard one can go for right now, so I got a decent price. 
Grab a box right here: 2017 Topps Pro Debut baseball cards

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THE COACH & AN AGENT ...
The Cards: Tom Condon & Marv Levy 1981 Frito Lay Kansas City Chiefs  Police and Tom Condon 2018 SAGE Sportkings Single Memorabilia
The Price: $3.10 combined ($1.60 for the older one)
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This sports agent's presence in the return of Sportkings got me wondering whether he had any previous cardboard. While he's got 20 cards in the new set, he played 12 seasons in the NFL and all but one game was with the Kansas City Chiefs. Condon's only cardboard came in team-issued or regional sets and this one seemed extra interesting as it's just the second time that Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy had a card. It's one of only two cards for Levy as a Chief and he didn't have an in-pack card until Pro Set arrived in 1989. These weren't pricey finds -- just interesting ones ... at least to me. I learned a bit about both of them via their cardboard with this one.
Grab a box right here: 2018 Sportkings 

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GRABBING A GRAPPLER
The Card: Paul Pons 1908 Ogden's Pugilists & Wrestlers (PSA 3)
The Price: $11
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Give that card a glance ... does it look like a PSA 3? That was my immediate reaction and it was priced to move so I figured why not considering its price and the cost of others from the set where I was looking. Given the era of this one I had no idea about anything particular to the wrestler, but it turns out he's an interesting one, though his Wikipedia page sells him pretty hard. Read more about him here. Just 18 copies of this card have been graded and most fall between PSA 3 and 6. This card is bent near the bottom (right-side shoulder level) but the crease didn't wrinkle the front surface. Asking prices on eBay are around $10 for raw copies -- it's not that plentiful -- but all things considered this looked like an interesting card for the price and considering it's more than 100 years old.
Grab a box right here: No boxes were made here ... Wrestling boxes

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TWO OF A KIND
The Card: Bryce Harper 2018 Topps X Bryce Harper 220 Second to None Bat Relic
The Price: $5.5o
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: I mentioned a different one of these Relics last time and this one was picked up right there with it. This is one of the hits from a set selected and built by the former Washington Nationals slugger that was available in a pair of formats. The big draw in the deluxe edition of this set? Possible autographs from Harper, while other boxes include Relics of a few types. I picked this one up since it was going for less than half of what looked like the norm at the time and it went well with the jersey Relic I showed last time.
Grab a box right here: 2018 Topps X Bryce Harper 220

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AN IMPULSE BUY
The Card: Byron Leftwich 2003 Topps Finest autograph (/399) (BGS 8.5/10)
The Price: $7.60
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: When the Tampa Bay Bucs hired him as their offensive coordinator in January, I wondered how pricey his autographs might be these days. He was a pretty popular player on cardboard coming out of Marshall and he played for four teams in nine seasons after being a first-round pick in 2003. His playing career ended in 2012 and he's been in the coaching ranks since 2016. Now he's got a pretty big role. This card seemed like a decent buy for a slabbed and serial-numbered card with an on-card auto, though I thought I had paid a little less than I did when looking back at my records. The grade is about as low as I'd go for non-vintage cards but this one was more about just saying I have his ink in my stash.
Grab a box right here: Long gone but ...  NFL boxes can be found here

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TWICE AS NICE
The Card: Maryse 2018 Topps WWE Undisputed Orange Autographs (/99)
The Price: $11.60 total
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This WWE veteran is now more regularly seen on the funny Miz & Mrs. reality show along with her WWE husband The Miz and other family members, but that recent development is not why you see this pair of cards here. This former WWE Divas champ has had a modest amount of certified autos in her career but most have come in recent years from Leaf and Topps. I pick them off when they present themselves on the cheaper side -- one of these dropped in my lap at less than $5 after I had picked up one that seemed cheap. (I had to grab the super-cheap one, t00.) Her first autos arrived back in 2009 but three-fourths of her 120 or so certified cards have come in just the last three years. That means there's a lot to choose from and prices can drop. Boxes of this one -- with an auto in every pack -- have dried up a bit with a new edition coming soon.
Grab a box right here: Wrestling boxes

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A MEMORABLE BUYBACK
The Card: Miguel Fuentes & Dick Baney stamped 1970 Topps buyback from 2019 Topps Heritage 
The Price: $3.50
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This year's Heritage continues the tradition of buybacks in box-topper packs and this was one of the first cards I thought about when it comes to originals from back in 1970 that I'd want if it presented itself in stamped form. It did. One reason? It's the Seattle Pilots in uniform on Topps cardboard -- something revisited in this year's Heritage with autographs involved. A bigger reason? The players' stories. Fuentes' place in baseball history is one without an encore as he was a September call-up who went 1-3 in eight games -- then he was murdered in his native Puerto Rico the following January. Baney also had a short career but he's been influential helping past players get better pension deals. Google him.
Grab a box right here: 2019 Topps Heritage

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SO MUCH GOING ON HERE ...
The Card: Curt Brackenbury 2011-12 In the Game Enforcers Autographs
The Price: $1.25
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This dirt-cheap card has so much going on. It's from a set that does something that NHL cardboard won't -- celebrating the sport's enforcers (or goons for recent hockey comedy fans) whose main role just might be fighting for their teammates. It's got a blood spatter as part of the design and that autograph presence sure offers up a Band-Aid feel to me. I couldn't tell you a thing about Curt Brackenbury or his career but check those NHL stats (goals vs. games). One thing also stood out with me ... are we sure he wasn't part of the Happy Days cast? This is one of those weird sets -- one of two with the theme -- that I've been tempted to find a box of just to see how it breaks down but I started with this super-cheap pick-up.
Grab a box right here: Long gone but ... NHL boxes

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INTERNATIONAL FLAIR (BUT NOT FLAIR)
The Card: Kelly Kelly 2008 Lamincards WWE
The Price: $1.37
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: If you haven't seen one of these cards before, don't worry you're not alone. This one is here as a small reminder of how WWE fans have a lot of international cards out there that we don't often see. This was my first Lamincards pickup and I was impressed with the printing quality here, especially considering that these cards are printed on acetate. (There also have been some bad WWE releases between cards and stickers with big errors, too, so my expectations were low.)  This is one of 162 cards in a set released just four cards per pack in Germany. These boxes (24 packs per) seemed to be easier to find in past years than they are now and you'll need at least two to complete a set if the collation is perfect.
Grab a box right here: Wrestling boxes

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DESTINED FOR A SLAB
The Card: Tony LaRussa 1964 Topps RC
The Price: $9
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This card was a bit of a jaw-dropper for me when I saw it as it's the Rookie Card of this former player and Hall of Fame manager and it seems very sharp and very clean. There is some ink staining down the left side of the photo but it all looked very, very good for the price. This is one I will be sending into PSA. It's a compelling card to me and I'm curious how it will grade. Recent PSA sales on eBay include $228 for a 9 and two recent highs of $57 for an 8. This one won't get that top grade but I think it could do well.
Grab a box right here: Long gone but ... MLB boxes

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QUICK, DOES HE HAVE A LOT OF CARDBOARD?
The Card: Will Smith (Jay) 1997 Inkworks Men in Black
The Price: $1.25
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: You ever type a random name into your card site of choice just to see what pops up? I think that's what happened here after I caught this movie for the first time in a long time on a weekend replay. At least a pair of Men In Black sets are out there and I'm sure there are other appearances for him considering his lengthy film résumé. The card I didn't find on that search that I probably wanted to grab to slab, though, is his 1991-92 NBA Hoops card -- an appearance for the NBA All-Star Jam and a "stay in school" push during his Fresh Prince days. That would be a fun card to slab and land an elite grade. Right now there isn't a single one on the BGS pop report. That would be my top choice for a Smith slab but this character card from this set is also closer to a card I'd grade from a non-sports set. We'll see if it makes the cut in the future.
Grab a box right here: Long gone but ... Non-sports boxes

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CHUCKY'S NEW NEMESIS?
The Card: Aubrey Plaza 2016 Topps Update First Pitch 
The Price: 75 cents
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Have I mentioned recently how I kind of miss the First Pitch insert sets that we saw in basic Topps releases from 2015 to 2017? I've graded a couple of these cards and there are others I'd pick up if they existed in a slab (they generally don't). This quirky actress and comedian has a few cards in the Parks and Recreation set but this one spotlights a Dodgers highlight. She's been in a ton of stuff but you'll be seeing more of her soon in the reboot of Child's Play. While Star Wars icon Mark Hamill voices Chucky, she plays the mom who buys the kid the doll -- and this time around he's gone all high-tech with smartphone-controlled features. It could be epically stupid and just as twisted -- and I think she'll help make it a fun one.
Grab a box right here: 2016 Topps Update

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