Buzz buys and busts a lot of boxes right here for Buzz Breaks, but one of my goals is to rip a little less 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.

So, with all that said, here are a few Buzz Buys ... 

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SIX-PACK OF SHOTZI
The Cards: Shotzi Blackheart 2022 Panini Impeccable WWE Indelible Ink autographs (/99)
The Price: Between $30-40 each (but mostly on the low side of that)
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This card is easily among my favorites from the entirety of the Panini WWE run so far with an on-card auto, a unique photo and simple crop for a colorful high-energy star who's known to bark at the moon and come to the ring on a miniature tank wearing a horned Army helmet atop her long neon green hair. (Really.) I picked off these on the lower side of things over recent months and need to find more, but opening of boxes seems to have slowed some recently with more new releases popping up. I like this one with its thick stock, too. Ideally, I'd like to run up my total to maybe nine or 10 ... maybe more if I spot them with the right prices.
Grab a box right here: 2022 Panini Impeccable WWE

Keep reading for more interesting items ...

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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 ... and it's one of the biggest months ever.

A MONSTER MONTH ...
The Card: Bo Bichette 2020 Topps Archives Snapshots Archives Autographs
The Reason Graded: I've been buying up Bo Bichette cards relatively heavily by my standards -- second perhaps only to some top favorites and people with school ties -- but of all my pick-ups only one was an autograph. These were, I believe, via a redemption and that's how I landed mine -- at least in a sealed Topps top-loader -- and I opted to slab it in a recent submission. (Even though I generally don't grade a lot of autos as I don't want to get a dreaded grade on a card I like.)
The Grade: CSG 9

Reality Check: I'm fine with nines, but this one seemed like a slight bummer as I didn't see anything dramatically wrong with it -- so there must have been a couple of minor issues that dropped it down in tandem. The design here is one that doesn't have a lot of perfectly center-able features ... so maybe part of that was just a judgment call, too.

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

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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 boxes: 2021 Topps Mickey Mantle Collection (five boxes)
First Buzz Preview & Checklist: Click here
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (when available)

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery for what was in this one.

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Normally with items I've collected for this Collecting Game-used series what you see above is an image of an item in use with definitive photo-matched proof that the item I've found was in Player X's hands on X date.

In this case? Well, this 2014 Topps Alex Avila card shows him with a bat that could be the one I have ... or it may not be. There's no definitive proof here, but the start of the wear and tear on the top of the bat -- cropped off on the card -- that can be seen on this card's original photo taken by MLB Photos' Mark Cunningham on Aug. 3, 2013, in Detroit could be the start of things.

Why do I say could? Like many of Avila's sticks, my bat got used and abused. Like really used and abused. I'm not sure what his routines are or whether his best bats got used for all aspects of play (games and BP) but the bat I landed earlier this year was absolutely mashed -- and it's unlike any I have ever seen in person or have in my stash. It's also a bat that could have survived the off-season, too, based on images I have examined from July 30, 2013, and forward. Why do I say that? Well, that's this merely this bat's born-on factory date.

Keep reading to see the details in this month's CGU piece.

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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 ...

The Card: 2017 Donruss Rookie Gridiron Kings #2 Patrick Mahomes II
The Reason Graded: His break-out campaign started off so strong I had to revisit my past pulls from Donruss last year -- I busted a ton -- and I submitted a trio of his cards. You saw one last month, you see this one here and you'll see another in March. (Call that a spoiler.) This insert isn't the most-striking of cards but it looked very clean in my pre-examining of cards so it made the cut.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: None have graded higher but this one is not alone on the pop report. That surprises me a bit as grading seems to be all about standard RCs, rare numbered parallels and the ol' big mojo hits, but it seems that a season like the one he had could be prompting anything from his first year on cardboard to get another look. (Ironically you can still grab boxes of this one and others relatively cheap, too. To me that all spells fun ... and wax will dry up over time.)

Keep reading for the rest of this month's new grades and additions.

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Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today's your day then as we launch 12 in 12 -- a series of a dozen breaks of past wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We'll post one every hour on the hour all day long today ... this is Hour 7.

The box: 2014 Topps NFL Mega Box
The cost: BlowoutCards.com

What's inside this one? Keep reading ...

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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.

For the first grading diary here on The Buzz, it will be a mix of cards graded for a few reasons.

The Card: 1993 Upper Deck #449 Derek Jeter
The Reason Graded: This was pulled straight from an underpriced factory set and looked very clean except for a tiny spot on the back -- Buzz figured it might push into the high grades even with the gloss issue. These cards are also not easy to pull from wax or sets cleanly because the high-gloss cards often stick together, peeling away specks of paper. Another reason? This is an iconic card that's worth grading if you own a clean one.
The Grade: BGS 9

Reality Check: The SP Jeter rookie is the one people chase, not this one. This one's $20 on eBay -- and perhaps undervalued considering how they grade on the pop report. BGS 9s and higher are really much rarer than people think.

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