Buzz Buys: Vintage legends, notable NFL rookies, Domino's ink, Aerosmith, Charly Caruso, Ronald Acuña Jr. & plenty more

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 they're oldschool, newschool, high-end and low-end in price -- a little bit of everything.

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A PIECE OF SWEETNESS
The Card: Walter Payton 1976 Topps Rookie Card (PSA 5)
The Price: $155
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Football season is here and I decided to go big with an oldschool pick-up that presented itself with a close-to-typical price but a not-typical look for the grade on a Rookie Card of an iconic Hall of Famer. It's generally not a super-pricey card as you can still find stuff from this timeframe with some ease. This also is a card that can be found relatively clean and sharp, too. What's the deal with this one's condition? Well, that's part of the reason I grabbed it -- there are some minor spots on the top and bottom edges and perhaps a corner lift that's not obvious but it's still far stronger looking than its grade says. There are no creases but there could be a couple of minor surface spots -- still nothing that scared me off of this one. This is a card that was reasonably always on my want list -- there's not that many things out there I've wanted to grab but hadn't within realistic (easily doable) budget limits.
Grab a box right here: No boxes of this one ... but NFL boxes are right here.

Keep reading for a dozen more interesting items ...

ALWAYS A FAVORITE CARD ...
The Card: Peyton Manning 1998 Fleer Ultra Rookie Card (PSA 8)
The Price: $15
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This is another card that always grabbed my attention because I like the look of a not-that-mobile QB in his skinnier years rolling out to make a pass while on one foot. I think it's a great photo with a design that's all about the images. I wasn't all that worried about the grade here, so I grabbed this one awhile back and was holding onto it for an in-season version of this series. (I wanted one in a slab because Ultra had some super-chippy stock back then and high-gloss ... both can be problems, especially together.) I'm actually not even sure I own a single other Manning RC -- I collected NFL relatively heavily up to this point but for some reason stopped buying NFL that year (probably school and other sports grabbing my interest) despite a rookie class that delivered up to its hype in the record books. 
Grab a box right here: No boxes of this one ... but NFL boxes are right here.

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NOT THAT SEASON JUST YET ... 
The Card: Calvin Ridley 2018 Panini Black Friday Happy Holidays Santa Hat Relics (/50)
The Price: $2.25
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: A new NFL season being here means that Black Friday promo packs are getting closer to reality on the calendar this year with unusual memorabilia cards like this santa hat worn by a guy who could have a solid sophomore season. I grabbed this card for at least three reasons -- the price, the player and the swatch. You've seen weird mem cards from Panini's promo packs here a few times during the life of this series -- and this one won't be the last
Grab some right here: Promo packs section (all years)

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A DIFFERENT KIND OF HIT
The Card: 2017 Topps Star Wars Masterwork Original Animation Cels (1/1) 
The Price: $7.45
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Animation cels aren't all that rare in a lot of instances -- they used to use a lot of them creating cartoons -- but in other instances like legendary Disney releases they can command some insane money. While this is now a Disney franchise, this isn't one of those instances -- it's just something fun and different with a little Ewok action. The high-end Masterwork releases have added cel cards into their hits mix -- each piece embedded into the card is a one-of-a-kind -- and I grabbed one of these when the price finally dropped under $10 ... just to say I had one. 
Grab a box right here: Star Wars Masterwork boxes (all years)

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AN INTERESTING STORY
The Cards: Brian Banks 2013 Topps Orange, Topps Mini & Topps Chrome parallels (Pink, Camo, Blue Wave) 
The Price: About $7 total
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: If you're a regular Buzz reader, then you might have read the story about this player's football cards as a new movie arrived telling his story last month. These were all ultimately pocket-change pick-ups except for the rarest of them, which I figured might have the most interest over time so I grabbed it despite some funky vertical centering. The Orange factory set parallel (/82) was about $4. The rest were under $1 and three of the five here are serial-numbered. I generally like grabbing movie-related cardboard in most forms, whether it's real-life players who have ended up on the big screen or fictional characters who have ended up on real cardboard. There's a ton out there to collect across the sports world
Grab a box right here: 2013 NFL boxes

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WHOA, DOMINO ...
The Card: Zazie Beetz 2019 Goodwin Champions Autographs
The Price: $15.25
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This year's Goodwin Champions release has more than a few surprises on the checklist for the base set and that translates to the parallels, inserts and the autographs and memorabilia cards, too. Beetz played Domino in Deadpool 2 and that, combined with an affordable price, made this first-time signer one to grab in my mind if you're a fan of the Marvel franchise. She has just four autos in Goodwin -- this one, a Splash of Color auto and then a pair of inscribed autos (/25 each) that look just like this but have two character names inscribed along with her sig. The "Domino" inscription might be a fun one to grab but it's not worth the dramatically higher price in my mind ... yet. If I ever try to track down her nearly 40 cards in this product, I'd need it.
Grab a box right here: 2019 Goodwin Champions boxes

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A VOICE OF WWE & ESPN ...
The Card: Charly Caruso 2017 Topps WWE NXT Autographs Silver (/25)
The Price: $15.25
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: If you watch some ESPN programming or online segments, you may know Charly Arnolt -- but she's also an interviewer for WWE (there she's Charly Caruso) who asks questions of the company's stars on a regular basis to further their storylines and prompt their promos. I paid a little more than I remembered for this one but it's because of the scarcity of this parallel and also because she doesn't have a ton of different autographed cards. This is a parallel of her first ink and it's on-card, which is not the norm for WWE releases where she might be found. She's pushing toward 80 overall cards but has fewer than 20 autos in just three products (2018 Topps Heritage WWE only on Kiss Cards and this year's Raw set). I think there could be more interest here over time if she has a bigger role with ESPN -- her role with WWE has also grown over the last couple of years. If you have a stash of reporter/news personality auto cards like I do, there's a ton of WWE mic-holders' cards out there like this. (If you don't? I get it ... I collect odd niches sometimes.)
Grab a box right here: WWE boxes are right here

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HAMMERED HANK ...
The Card: Hank Aaron 1976 Topps (PSA 4)
The Price: $6.99
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This isn't some razor-sharp vintage find -- it's simply the final basic in-career card for the former MLB home run champ and I really couldn't pass it up for the price since I didn't have one. (In fact, I'm not sure how many low-grade vintage-year Aarons I have ... maybe five? They're from the 1960s and earlier 1970s where I just liked the designs better.) It's got a decent look for its grade and it's a card showing him with his final team -- not the Braves -- and it has 745 of his 755 home runs noted on the back. A raw card in roughly this grade wouldn't cost you much less than this, by the way.
Grab a box right here: No boxes of this one ... but MLB boxes are right here.

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AN AFFORDABLE PARODY
The Card: "Bob's Pig Boy" 2015 Topps Wacky Packages Panoramic Sketch Card Books (1/1)
The Price: $11.80
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This long-running brand is one that takes pieces of pop culture -- brands and products -- and turns them on their heads in chuckle-worthy ways and it's been doing just that for decades. What hasn't been done in a lot of those years? Sketch cards, and this one takes a shot at the mascot of the Big Boy Restaurants chain. Something about this struck me as amusing -- I do remember going to a Big Boy once as a kid so that could be it -- so I grabbed it since it was on the cheaper side for a two-panel sketch. (Note: I don't know the artist here since the back is signed but not ultimately readable.)
Grab a box right here: Wacky Packages boxes (all years)

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GET A GRIP ... ON THIS CARD
The Card: Kyle Petty & Aerosmith 1994 Action Packed 
The Price: About $1
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Ever randomly search for a name just to see what cardboard might exist? This is 100 percent the result of one of those searches. I had no idea this card existed, though I've ripped into a ton of NASCAR packs in the past and even boxes from Action Packed -- but not apparently this set. The back of this card tells the story of how this photo op came to be with the legendary rock band and the NASCAR King's son, but it's not all that interesting of a story. It remains a somewhat interesting card if you know the band and its countless hits, though. This isn't Aerosmith's only card appearance and that's something I might look into in a future month here or in Making The Grade ... if I can find the different card out there that I now know exists.
Grab a box right here: No boxes of this one ... but NASCAR boxes are right here.

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WHY? ... WITH LEATHER
The Card: T.J. Yeldon 2018 Score Red Zone (/20)
The Price: About $3
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This is a pretty rare parallel card but it's otherwise not all that notable in the big scheme of NFL things but there's an absolute reason it caught my attention and I had to grab it. Why? I own the ball Yeldon is carrying in the photo and this was during a TD run, too. Read all about that here ... and here's a second past story where I noticed something else about football cards thanks to this card.  I pulled the base version of this long ago but figured I'd grab this one since I probably wouldn't see another and it was cheap. I'm hoping I can find some cards to match to my only other NFL game ball for Baker Mayfield and Nick Chubb -- you can help me out by scouring new NFL cardboard after checking out all of the details right here.
Grab a box right here: 2018 Score NFL boxes

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A CLASSIC ...
The Card: Jay Buhner 1996 Upper Deck V.J. Lovero Showcase
The Price: $1
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: I remembered this card when Buhner was mentioned in Edgar Martinez's Hall of Fame speech and figured I'd grab one since I have no idea where my one pulled back in the day might be in my stash of stuff. This is totally a card I'd want graded (9.5/10) because it's fun and unique -- a portrait of a slugger and his son, Chase. This isn't the only card where this photo by V.J. Lovero appeared -- he had it in a Sports Illustrated set from Fleer because the photo (or at least a version of it) graced a SI cover back in the day. Back story on the photographer: He died from pneumonia after fighting lung cancer at age 44 back in 2004. His career included work with the California Angels and he befriended Rod Carew during that time -- and it was the Hall of Famer who was the subject of his first photo that appeared in the magazine. Lovero later became a staff photographer for SI -- after this card set was made -- and, according to his obituary, his company, The Lovero Group, was the sole provider of images to Upper Deck around this time. I didn't notice the top-left corner on this one but I'll find one to slab at some point -- there has never been a single copy graded by BGS.
Grab a box right here: No boxes of this one ... but MLB boxes are right here.

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RED-HOT ROOKIE CARD ...
The Card: Ronald Acuña Jr. (and others) 2018 Topps Heritage High Number Baseball Extra ad panel box-topper
The Price: About $10
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Shohei Ohtani is on the back of this one to add some star power, but it's the Acuña Rookie Card that takes this oversized box-topper panel to the next level in my mind. His RC can be found with relative ease in raw form and can cost you a decent amount if graded and with elite marks ... but this one? It's not super-tough to pull -- there are 15 different toppers based on the back panels for this one and they were found one per hobby box unless a different type of topper was under the lid. (I'd imagine one per every third case at worst.) This was the first of these I've landed and I'd grab more if clean and around this price. Why? They simply can't be that plentiful and could be far rarer than people think. I'd also love to slab one if not in some massive oversized magazine case but I'm not sure if that's possible. This specimen is razor sharp on its front though the back edges of these might burst some bubbles out there if graded. I'd do it no matter what.
Grab a box right here: 2018 Topps Heritage High Number hobby boxes

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