Minor league baseball cards from the past can include some weird stuff ... stuff you wouldn't imagine to be found on a baseball card. Here are some some new oddities in this latest edition of MiLB Madness. 

BO KNOWS MiLB
The Card: Bo Bichette 2018 Topps Heritage Minor League (image variation)
The Buzz On This: My most-collected active player bats lead-off this time as I just wanted some MLB star power here -- he has that despite a down year in 2024 -- and this one also is a reminder. Of what? That, while the MiLB options in packs are not what they used to be right now, you can find a lot of today's younger stars on Heritage MiLB cards that ran from 1962 to 1973 on cardboard -- that's 2011 to 2022 in reality -- before the line was shelved last year. This was a slightly pricier pick-up vs. my typical stuff dropped here (oddball finds from team sets) as this is a photo variation SP ... a little tougher find but not an impossible one. What might be impossible finds at some point soon or the next few years? Unopened Heritage MiLB boxes and perhaps even some earlier editions of Pro Debut ... they have to have the smallest print runs of anything from Topps in recent years. No new stuff to open in box form has had me looking at singles more and more, despite many older MiLB boxes having affordable prices ... I may dabble with both more next year.

Keep reading for more examples of some weird or fun baseball cards you can find in MiLB.

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Like many collectors, Buzz is a fan of grading and knows that there are many reasons that collectors choose to slab cards. Sometimes it's to enhance the appeal and protect them when selling. Other times it's to protect an investment for the long-term or to protect for sentimental reasons. Or, it might be just for fun or curiosity about a potential grade.

Here's this month's grading diary here on The Buzz ...

THIS IS WHY YOU GRADE ...
The Book: The Amazing Spider-Man #361 -- first full appearance of Carnage (Marvel cards here)
The Reason Graded: As you probably read in a past piece where I previously graded my other newsstand copy of this iconic issue, I have a stash of early 1990s books that are all quite clean as I was picking off stuff from a bookstore without rack damage. I was more of an art fan/collector than a reader -- it was all about art and condition -- and this cover-price pickup came at a time where cards were starting to get too expensive to me in 1992 so I dabbled. I have had this stashed all this time and while the pop report here is heavy for sure ... how many of them can be newsstand 9.8s? I suspect it's a definite minority of that 5,000-some books.
The Grade: CGC 9.8 (Universal)

Reality Check: When I graded my other copy of this its pop was at 20,179 and there have been big gains at 9.4, 9.6 and 9.8. The eBay asking prices on this one for newsstand include $6,999 (not getting hit), $2,500 for a pair, just under $2,200, $2,000 and a bunch down to $750. Not that helpful. Actual eBay sales? Highs around $1,200 down to around $600 ... so definitely still a little all over the place. Recent sales are also still in that range for this key issue. No matter the timing or the price paid ... this is an example of why you grade good stuff. All it cost me $1.25 and grading fees.

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

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: MLB's cheaters, talking 1981 Topps, MLB licensing and breaks, NFL scandals and more.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: New pulls, missing the obvious, cutting down a collection, a sketch card question and stockpiling cheap Zion Williamson Rookie Cards.

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From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: 2018 Topps Archives baseball cards (blaster box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com

Packs per box: 8 (seven standard packs, one coin pack)
Cards per pack: 7
Cards in this box: 58 (56 cards and two coins)
Base set completion: 
50 of 300 (17 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Notables on base cards – Mike Trout, Johnny Bench, Derek Jeter, Sandy Koufax, Warren Spahn, Andrew Benintendi, Yasiel Puig, Manny Machado, Miguel Cabrera, Nolan Arenado, Jim Bunning, Richie Ashburn, David Ortiz, Randy Johnson, Tom Glavine, Harmon Killebrew, Willie Stargell, Rod Carew

Rookie Cards (3) – Alex Verdugo, Jesse Biddle, Tomas Nido

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Nothing but NFL, NFL and NFL today as we try to survive a Sunday without football. (Does the Pro Bowl count?)

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The high-dollar auctions aren't just for high-grade Mickey Mantle cards.

While "The Mick" has dominated the auction block in recent years -- and did so again last weekend via Heritage Auctions -- there were two six-figure NFL sales of note in that Heritage sale, too.

And they weren't alone as a number of graded football cards topped the $10,000 mark.

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Three new Hall of Famers, 21 new Topps Now baseball cards.

That means fans of Tim Raines, Ivan Rodriguez and Jeff Bagwell don't have to wait for their first commemorative cardboard thanks to Topps' on-demand baseball card platform.

Only initially available on Topps.com, the three standard Topps Now cards are printed to order and available for just 24 hours at $9.99 per card with quantity discounts available. Each of them also will sign six different cards, including one where all three will be shown.

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Update: Raines was voted into the Hall of Fame Wednesday night along with 1991 rookies Jeff Bagwell and Ivan Rodriguez.

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If Tim Raines makes it into the Baseball Hall of Fame later today, he just might be one of the easier Cooperstown residents to collect based on his early cardboard.

He's got just four regular-issue cards and one team-issued release from his Rookie Card season of 1981 and all but one of them can be easily found for a few bucks. These quickly printed and often roughly cut gems of the past are not easy finds in high grade, though -- even straight out of packs opened today -- so graded copies have been where the biggest action has been of late.

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