You should know by now that Shohei Ohtani is having another historic year with dominating performances on both the mound and at the plate ... it's stuff that could only be called Ruthian -- and yet Babe Ruth didn't do it all at the same time.

Right now, on June 28, he leads the league in homers (28), RBI (64), slugging percentage (.654), total bases (200) and other offensive stats, while also having. 7-3 record on the mound with 127 Ks in 95 innings and a 3.02 ERA ... in short, he leads his team in pretty much everything. This kind of showing could mean serious headlines by year's end, too, with that home run pace alone.

The Japanese icon and pitcher-slash-DH's 2018 Rookie Cards are ones you should be thinking about right now as there's been a serious uptick in interest -- and it was already high. But, thanks to there being plenty of sets that year and with him in most of them, there's still a lot to choose from that's not priced out of many collectors' budgets. Things do get quite interesting with basic cards in slabs, too. (Prices should surprise you ... they did for me just prepping this.)

Ohtani, who had a ton of cards during his career in Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan starting in 2013, appears on literally thousands of unique baseball cards -- he'll probably hit around 15,000 by year's end or this time next year. More than 3,000 of those are from 2018 alone. His time in MLB releases started almost immediately as he never needed MiLB time and arrived in almost everything in the 2018 lineups from Topps, Panini America and elsewhere -- Rookie Cards, parallels, autographs, memorabilia you name it he's had it all since then. And there will be plenty more to come, perhaps making those earlier cards feel more unique to some ... especially if they missed out.

For simplicity's sake here, we have carved out all of his Topps Now and several other small-set cards sold as online releases as well as Panini America's meaty lineup of Ohtani (about 30 basic RCs and tons more when it comes to hits and inserts). We've also punted all autographs and Relic cards to make this a starting point with the widest affordability and accessibility possible, though there are plenty of high-dollar cards in this roundup.

Keep reading for a rundown of Shohei Ohtani Rookie Cards ... and it won't even be all of his stuff you could dabble with from that key year as there are plenty of cards with RC logos that don't fall under the definition.

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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 ... 

GOOD AS GOLD ...
The Card: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin 2022 Panini Select WWE Gold Flash (/10)
The Reason Graded: If you recognize this card, well, there's a reason. Just a few weeks ago, I pulled it from a blaster box and thanks to CSG's quick, budget-minded services I turned this around fast and, well, this rarity pays for itself. This retail-only card is rare -- only nine others like it exist -- and it came back with a top mark since even the horizontal centering was clean. (That's not the norm from what I have seen with this release.) This is a pricey card right now so that was my main reason for slabbing, and now it's that much better.
The Grade: CSG 10

Reality Check: It's the only one that has been slabbed so far. How many might still be sitting in packs? Generally speaking, Select is a strong release worth your look in any format -- and I have other stuff here I intend to get graded.

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

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You should know by now that Ronald Acuña Jr. is having a historic year with the 30-30 Club already set to appear on his 2020 baseball cards -- and there's a serious chance he could become the youngest member of the elite 40-40 Club before the season is over, too.

But it's The Atlanta Braves outfielder's 2018 Rookie Cards that you should be thinking about right now as there's been a serious uptick in interest -- and there's still a lot to choose from that's not priced out of many collectors' budgets.

Acuña appears on more than 3,500 unique baseball cards since he arrived in prospect and minor-league sets back in 2016 and that number has gotten there rather quickly. Amidst his arrival and National League Rookie of the Year award-winning season last year, for example, he appeared on more than 1,700 new cards and more than 1,000 of those were made by Topps just last year.

For simplicity's sake here, we have carved out all of his Topps Now and several other small-set cards sold as online releases as well as Panini America's meaty lineup of Acuña RCs (those could be their own future rundown ... and likely will be). We've also punted all autographs and Relic cards from last year to make this a starting point with the widest affordability net possible -- though ink and parallels in the sets where he has basic RCs will get mentions. That said, even with this starting point, there's still a good mix of high-end and low-end cardboard -- and even the low-end stuff can generate some good Acuña Cash when professionally graded.

Keep reading for a rundown of Ronald Acuña Jr. Rookie Cards.

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Between everyday Buzz Breaks and the near-monthly Buzz 12 in 12 marathons, Buzz busted a lot of packs in 2018.

How many? Well, Buzz is almost afraid to count -- though it was seemingly news to me that the 12 in 12 marathons actually started early last year. (That's even more proof there's been a lot of wax to get these hands ... it's all a blur.)

It was a year of memorable pulls for me at times with some icons' autographs found in my packs. It also was fun one ripping into really old packs, too, with some cheap thrills there.

Breaks are among the most-popular items seen here nearly every day and Buzz knows that. So look for plenty of breaks in 2019 -- but, before that time comes, keep reading for links to not one, not 18, but 25 memorable breaks from 2018.

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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 wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We'll post one every hour all day long ... this is Hour 9.

The box: 2018 Topps Allen & Ginter X baseball cards 
The cost: Click here (for regular hobby)

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

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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: An expanded edition with plenty of big pulls and interesting chatter from the boards.

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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 Allen & Ginter X baseball cards
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (for regular hobby)

Packs per box: 18
Cards per pack: 8
Cards in this box: 144
Base set completion: 
115 of 300 (38 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Notables on base cards – Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge, Derek Jeter, Giancarlo Stanton, Jim Thome, Chipper Jones, Paige Spiranac, Mookie Betts, Bullpen Car, Method Man, Genie Bouchard, Lindsay Vonn, Ernie Banks, Roberto Clemente, Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Theo Epstein, Corey Seager, Anthony Rizzo, Buster Posey, Max Scherzer, Kyle Schwarber, Bob Gibson, Paul Goldschmidt, Sonny Fredrickson, Samesong Park, Alex Bregman, Justin Verlander, Jeff Bagwell, Don Mattingly, Dave Winfield, Jose Canseco, H. Jon Benjamin, Clayton Kershaw

Rookie Cards (15) – Shohei Ohtani, Rhys Hoskins, Erick Fedde (SP), Christian Villanueva (SP), Austin Hays, J.D. Davis, Parker Bridwell, Rafael Devers, Jack Flaherty, Ryan McMahon, Alex Verdugo, Andrew Stevenson, Francisco Mejia, Victor Caratini, Chance Sisco

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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: Big pulls, big games, big trades in this National Baseball Card Day edition.

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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: Mookie Betts' cycle, one mellow massive pull video, Ginter X and more in today's edition.

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