Making the Grade (March): Iconic cards, newcomers, legends and more star power from all around the collecting world

Like many collectors, Buzz is a fan of grading ... so here's this month's grading diary.

SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMANTE
The Card: Roki Sasaki 2025 Topps Series 2 Diamante -- Rookie Card parallel
The Reason Graded: In my mind, this parallel that arrived for the Topps flagship sets last year is one of the most-dynamic options in an over-foiled lineup and this one made the cut for a grading sub after I found it in a hanger box. (These parallels are only in hanger boxes -- two at a time, every time.) The textures here can make cards look funky or even mangled to the naked eye on some corners or edges thanks to the texture and pattern, so your best bet for grading these (and other stuff, of course) is to make sure you have a loupe.
The Grade: CGC 10

Reality Check: Lone copy graded and only one slot on the scale ahead of it that could top it ... works for me. I need to scout these singles more -- that’s how much I like them -- and they are back this year.

Keep reading for more of this month's pick-ups and new slabs for Buzz.

GRADED THE ICON
The Card: Ken Griffey Jr. 1989 Upper Deck -- Rookie Card
The Reason Graded: I pulled this guy out of packs -- or a factory set, I can’t remember -- and I’ve done that two or three times in recent years. This one made the cut for grading like many, many others out there via CGC and other companies. Why? While this card is not rare, it can be pricey in a slab because this one is never an easy elite mark as you can see among the stats. People land them and people grade them far more often than not.
The Grade: CGC 8.5

Reality Check: I was admittedly bummed by this grade but looking at the pop report there are not a boatload of higher cards and the most-common grade is actually lower than my copy. I feel better about this one now.

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FOUND IN A BULK PACK LOT
The Card: Kimbo Slice 2010 Topps Main Event UFC The Ultimate Fighter -- RC-year insert
The Reason Graded: I pulled this insert in a bulk lot of 100 packs back in the day and I didn’t think much of it all this time. But, when I revisited some of the stuff found here, I noticed that this copy was really clean and that there was still high demand for the former street brawler turned UFC fighter who was briefly on this TV show.
The Grade: CGC 10

Reality Check: I was glad to see this one check in so high as there’s a combo of foilboard and some soft stock can easily mean fuzzy back edges and corners. The next-best (other) copy checks in at two spots lower than mine.

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TIFFY TIME
The Card: Tiffany Stratton 2025 Topps Now WWE Orange parallel (/25)
The Reason Graded: This parallel was a nice surprise in a Topps Now lot buy last year and it did take some (Tiffy) time to get this one into a slab for me, despite the former champ being high on my radar. Why? I had already graded a number of her cards and I wanted to make sure I had more variety in my monthly lineups here.
The Grade: CGC 9

Reality Check: I was admittedly bummed about a nine ... but at the same time nines are fine. Besides that, there are only 24 other copies out there as it is.

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LAST SEASON'S BREAKOUT STAR
The Card: Pete Crow-Armstrong 2024 Topps Heritage Mini -- Rookie Card
The Reason Graded: This full release found in packs -- this is not a parallel -- was a nod to the original Mini set from 1975 and I have, to this day, never seen a pack or box of this one in-person. I won’t be ripping into any based on some of the prices I have seen, either. Why? That price really doesn’t jive with the typical returns in a box if you ask me. (No guaranteed hits, just some parallels.) With that in mind, when PCA got hot last year I picked off this RC and slabbed it up as it looked quite clean for a Heritage card.
The Grade: CGC 10

Reality Check: Heritage isn’t a given for high-grade copies, so landing a 10 here was a success in my mind. Hopefully he’ll improve upon his 30-30 Club campaign in 2025 with an even better one this year.

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SOMETHING REALLY DIFFERENT
The CD: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 20th Annual Election Nominees sampler disc
The Reason Graded: Oddball slabs get my attention -- an it’s not just for cards. I landed this sealed CD as part of a lot of mail for a very modest price -- I’ll write about all of that later this month -- and I knew this would make for an interesting bare-bones slab. What is it? It’s a disc sent out to each of roughly 1,200 voters each year for the Rock Hall’s voting along with a ballot and booklet for them to cast their votes and, in this case, this was the disc for that back in 2005. This being something that was not sold and kind of a prototype-level kind of item, I sent it into AMG ... just for fun.
The Grade: AMG 10 (sealed)

Reality Check: This is the only one of these graded in the newly launched AMG pop report and the 10 was a nice surprise as this is simply a cardboard sleeve with the CD inside and it’s just shrink-wrapped. A lot could have gone wrong here in the mailing and handling of this ... but it came back with a top mark.

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COLORFUL ATOP COLORFUL
The Card: Shotzi Blackheart 2024* Panini Select WWE Ringside Action Signatures Tie-Dye (/25) (* -- label has wrong year)
The Reason Graded: Just like I said with my slabbed 2023 card of her -- subbed at the same time as this one -- this brand was my most-ripped during the Panini WWE years and once the cheaper-format boxes got harder to land I opted to pick off some singles of stars I like instead of ripping pricier packs. The Tie-dye parallels have been on my radar, especially for this colorful star who is ultimately my top collecting target these days for a number of reasons, despite her WWE days being over. (For now.) I picked off two years of this one -- 2023 and 2024 -- and subbed them together only to, oddly, have them both end up slabbed as a 2023 card despite looking totally different. (The set name and even the card numbers were, however, identical, so that's likely one reason it happened.)
The Grade: CGC 10 (10 auto)

Reality Check: Just like my other card, the pop report for this shows a pair of cards but, like I said, the other one is also mine and not from this year. Errors happen and really the only place this is an inconvenient issue for me is on the registry as it reflects what's on the pop report. I'll survive.

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HOLOGRAM POWER
The Book: The Amazing Spider-Man No. 365 (1992) -- newsstand edition
The Reason Graded: Yep, another Spidey holorgram issue with a newsstand UPC. ... Back in the day, the run of these hologram covers across all of the Spider-Man titles was hot -- and in some ways (graded ways) they still can be. Their thick size  is battling with a cardboard cover when it comes to the spine quality and all that color can make for tough grading. This one has more issues on the spine than I would have normally done for grading but it’s my only copy. Why grade this? Newsstand copies are seemingly in more demand in slabs.
The Grade: CGC 9.4 (Universal)

Reality Check: The number of restored copies (not seen in the stats here) is also relatively high for a modern book -- a lot of black Sharpies probably came into play with spine marks -- but the overall pop report here is crazy, too. That’s a lot of slabs. How many are newsstand copies? It’d be nice to know ...

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NEARLY PERFECT EXCEPT FOR ...
The Card: Billy Ripken 1989 Fleer error card (obscenity on bat)
The Reason Graded: This is, without question, one of the most-legendary error cards (and baseball cards in general) of all time and I’ve pulled a few from packs over the years. I’ve graded at least two other copies but when I revisited my stash of raw copies this one also jumped out at me with perfect centering. Really the only flaw is a nick toward the top left edge right across from “second” -- it’s more of a rough cut spot than a man-made flaw -- but I sent it in, anyway, out of curiosity.
The Grade: CGC 8.5

Reality Check: Anything higher than a nine here is a definite rarity, while an 8.5 is the most-commonly found mark. This card will always be in demand -- perhaps for several of its versions -- so even this grade is OK.

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NOT HIS BEST ROOKIE CARD ...
The Card: Shaquille O’Neal 1992-93 Topps -- Rookie Card
The Reason Bought: What’s Shaq’s best RC? Good question ... I have a few that always stand out to me but none of them are perfect in my mind. The best brands from back then? Those perhaps don’t have the best photos. The best photo? That might actually be from a draft picks set and that’s not a Rookie Card. This set was the return of Topps to the NBA after many years away but this one also has a Gold parallel that trumps it. Other brands are arguably better, too, but I liked the photo of this one perhaps most. What I liked even more for this slab was an affordable price, so I grabbed it.
The Grade: CSG 9

Reality Check: Most cards check in at a nine here -- all good -- but the overall volume of copies graded was nice considering he’s arguably not an elite name for cards overall during the CGC years. It shows he’s still popular, despite not being a big-money RC.

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A TIMELESS DEBUT
The Book: “Timeless” Toni Storm -- Pro Wrestling Illustrated, March 2024 (first PWI cover appearance)
The Reason Graded: Her “Timeless” retro persona is some of the best stuff on all fronts in all of wrestling today -- and really all time -- so this cover was on my grading radar from the moment it arrived. The magazine’s issues are printed on light paper and have scratchy high-gloss paper for their covers, too, so grading isn’t the easiest thing here, but I opted to grade this and some other first covers more recently no matter what.
The Grade: CGC 9.4 (Universal)

Reality Check: I didn’t press this -- I probably should have for a chance at a higher mark -- but at the same time that costs more and takes more time ... so I can live with this result. I bought a few copies but all have smaller issues. I have other months here where I am 100-percent slabbing and pressing, so once I see how those go I’ll consider whether I want to revisit one of these or other debut covers for my graded stash. Why? I really like debut covers.

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NORMALLY HER ICONIC COLOR ...
The Card: Shotzi Blackheart 2025 Topps Chrome WWE Neon Green Geometric Refractor
The Reason Graded: My favorite wrestler’s signature color is green and in normal circumstances any kind of green parallel helps make for the perfect card. But this one comes from a short-lived run -- one I call her Spikes Era -- after she was attacked, had her trademark long green hair cut, got out the clippers herself and finished the job and then she lost her marbles for a bit and took it out on her opponents. This one doesn’t have the pop for a color match, but I picked off a Sepia (really a black and white) parallel here that seemed like a better fit, but the edges on those were flat-out bad. (That’s why I opted to grade this color.)
The Grade: CGC 10

Reality Check: A 10 was a nice surprise here as I’m not confident that a lot of 2025 Chrome will grade well between edges, back corners and surface funk from stock/glue/plastic moisture issues -- things I have written about here before. While I’d want to grade more from this -- certain colors at least -- that might not happen, so a 10 makes me worry about those risks a bit less.

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A PORTRAIT OF AN ICON
The Book: John Candy -- Marquee, April/May 1985
The Reason Graded: This is a Canadian TV/movie magazine that’s as skinny as it gets -- it’s smaller than some newspaper magazine supplements and even some comic books -- but that portrait is so crisp and clean that it drew me in. I initially thought this cover of a comedy icon was from around the Uncle Buck years but this was actually earlier than that and then I knew this would be perfect for a slab once I got it in hand. Why? It’s so clean -- so clean that I didn’t press it -- but ultimately its grade didn’t matter that much to me as I think it’s cool no matter what. I found this years ago from a Canadian magazine seller and almost everything I picked off there was so clean that most of it has been graded -- the only one that wasn’t is actually too big to slab. If they ever make larger slabs? I’d be in.
The Grade: CGC 9.4 (Universal)

Reality Check: Lone copy graded isn’t a surprise. The 9.4 was perhaps a small surprise to me -- it would be higher had I pressed it -- but it’s all good. (The spines on these super-skinny mags are perhaps the riskiest spot since the paper isn’t heavy and they are skinny.)

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EARLY CARDBOARD FOR AN AEW STAR
The Card: Harley Cameron 2024 UD AEW UD Canvas -- RC-year insert
The Reason Graded: As I’ve mentioned in a few items here in recent times, this Harley is driving some wrestling fans crazy with her antics in and around the ring with a skillset that’s far more wide than the norm. Among them? Ventriloquism -- and she mocks her opponents with that skill (this is an entire reel of segments). This insert is from early on in her AEW time, so her look is different (as were the storylines) but this was among my earliest options for grading. Another reason I graded? Some years of these Canvas inserts are really, really clean and can grade really, really well.
The Grade: CGC 10

Reality Check: A 10 here was not a surprise -- and a perfect 10 isn’t out of the realm of possibility -- but I’m good either way. Once I get more Cameron cards in hand, there will be more slabbing action to be seen here later in the year.

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PREMIUM ISSUE WITH A RETAIL PREMIUM?
The Book: Guardians Of The Galaxy No. 25 (1992) -- Collector’s Edition (newsstand edition)
The Reason Graded: This newsstand copy of a premium-foil version of this book was never a favorite of mine -- I only bought one back in the day -- but I’ve had it all this time and everything on the front here looked remarkably sharp for a cardboard cover with foil etching. This series was newer back then when I was buying regularly, but my feel for it changed more with the movies in more-recent years. I subbed this as a prime example of a gimmick cover from that era. The reason? The 25th issue of a relatively young series?
The Grade: CGC 9.6 (Universal)

Reality Check: If I remember correctly, there’s a minor curl here on the bottom edge of the back cover that probably dropped me down. How many of those in the stats are newsstand copies? Another good question ... I’d bet there aren’t a ton.

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THE SET NAME IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT ...
The Card: Shohei Ohtani 2018 Topps Future Stars -- RC-year insert
The Reason Graded: I’ve slabbed a number of my Ohtani cards from 2018 and in some cases I’ve graded inserts where, while I’m not that much of a fan of the card, I can’t deny the interest or potential future importance of any of his rookie-year cards. This one is pretty simple visually -- not bad, but not that strong -- but this copy looked really clean.
The Grade: CGC 10

Reality Check: With the skinny stock on these cards, this was a win as well as a bit of a surprise. Most of the copies graded do check in at this spot but also note how low they have dipped.

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ANOTHER MIRACLE, MAN
The Card: Ozzy Osbourne 1991 Pro Set SuperStars MusiCards
The Reason Graded: As I said last month with a different Ozzy from this same release, in some ways, a nine here is a miracle -- and anybody who has opened anything Pro Set from 1990-1992 knows how the blades weren't always sharp when cutting sheets and the stock here can be as chippy as it gets. I ripped a case of these just for fun and on the cheap probably a decade ago and 99.9 percent of the cards there were pulled with trashed edges or other flaws -- and if fronts are clean like they are here then the backs might not be. Atop that, just sleeving these cards -- if you dare 00 can destroy the edges. With Osbourne's death last year, I finally pulled out a pair of his cards from this iconic (but cheap and available) set and slabbed them no matter what.
The Grade: CGC 9

Reality Check: Just like last time, the back here is very clean but not clean enough to check in with an elite mark ... though at the same time a nine is a bit of a miracle. I was simultaneously bummed and yet happy it got a nine, too, as it could have always been worse. Only one card has barely topped it.

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GOOD AS GOLD
The Card: Najee Harris 2021 Score Lava -- RC parallel (/575)
The Reason Bought: I liked a lot of this guy’s cards at arrival but never really bit on much since I didn’t like the prices and the team he went to. Meanwhile, he’s about to be on his third NFL team. That said, my buy price here (already graded) was still high ... but I was OK with it this time. Why? I like the photo and the simple design -- and this set is big one meaning all those parallels get spread out.
The Grade: CGC 10

Reality Check: All have checked in at this mark, which should be surprising, but all of the parallels I have seen from this one popped out of packs pretty clean. Works for me.

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CLEARLY COOL TO ME
The Card: Tua Tagovailoa 2020 Panini Chronicles NFL Clearly Donruss -- Rookie Card
The Reason Bought: Where might he end up next? Anywhere might be better than Miami with all of the team’s exits but you never know. I picked off this on the relative cheap for a 10, though the case probably needs replaced as it’s got some light scuffing from a previous handler clearly not using sleeves. While I’m going to always be a collector of Tagovailoa thanks to school ties, you should check out his stats over his NFL career ... they aren’t shabby. A fresh start in a new place might lead to some surprises if he arrives in a good spot. If not? He might be winding down.
The Grade: CSG 10

Reality Check: This is a nice grab for me as the stats on this show how acetates can be a challenge with grading -- nothing checks in higher here and this mark is just over 10 percent of all copies stabbed.

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FUNKY CARD, FUNKY INK
The Card: Mark Sears 2024-25 Bowman U Best Let It Rain Relic Autographs
The Reason Bought: The sticker auto here is a bit of a botch -- but the price was fine for a slab -- and that let me check off a name for my school ties part of my collection. He wasn’t a draft pick but he’s played in the league and was a star for Alabama -- plus it’s an auto-mem card. This is about all I’d need for him, maybe a simple NBA-uni RC and I’m good.
The Grade: CGC 9 (9 auto)

Reality Check: Lone copy graded ... not surprising.

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CRISP VINTAGE
The Card: Gene Upshaw 1979 Topps
The Reason Bought: This Hall of Famer and two-time Super Bowl champ has far more accolades that I could mention here but this was an easy grab for a cheap price for what is the top copy graded by CGC. In some ways, 8s might be 10s for some vintage years and this was too clean to pass up at a steal of a price for an already graded card.
The Grade: CSG 7

Reality Check: It’s the best copy of two graded -- probably since he’s not a super high-demand name -- but, still, it’s clean.

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A PERFECT FINALE
The Card: Dylan Carlson 2021 Bowman -- Rookie Card
The Reason Bought: I picked off this card as it’s one of the rare Perfect 10 cards on the original CSG scale. I didn’t pay too much for it, but the original label and the top mark got me to bite out of pure novelty.
The Grade: CGC 10 (Perfect)

Reality Check: Only two perfect copies will ever exist and this is one of them. There won’t be more as the Pristine 10 is now the top mark and I doubt more will be graded, anyway, as his 2025 season was pretty rough and he’s on a new team (maybe) this season.

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