This is a new department here on The Buzz ... Fast Five -- a quick list under a simple topic that might offer a basic starting point for a themed collection. It's a basic list of five items that could be fun for a starting collector or a new way to add to a stash that might already seemingly include everything when it comes to cardboard. For some of you, it's probably common sense. For others of you out there, it's perhaps something to ponder.

This time? Five reasons a sports card can be appealing ... beyond just value.

A STRONG PHOTO
We all know a lot of cards from any sports (or non-sports) set from the past that has a photo that's just so clean or different that it stands out from the rest of the pack every time we see it. It doesn't have to be a star, it doesn't have to be a bum ... it's just memorable. Sometimes cards like these can actually command more value than others around it (probably moreso in the years before hits and inserts) but that added appeal can't hurt. The card you see here? It's a simple portrait -- literally nothing but the image -- no design here -- and that's why I chose it. It shows the power of letting the photo have its moment. I own hundreds of Derek Jeter cards that I don't really want or need but the strong photo here makes me want and need it. It's rarer (/100) and from the 2019 Topps Transcendent VIP Party set, but this one would be a card I'd chase if it were from Opening Day. It's all about the photo.

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Today is National Puppy Day and for card collectors there are countless options if they want their collections to go to the dogs.

From one brand alone there are Pawtographs, Relics and plenty of inserts -- and that's just one of them as all kinds of things have made their way into packs in the last 20 years (and unusual non-sports sets were the norm in tobacco packs of the 1800s and later years).

That brand? It's Topps' Allen & Ginter, which has included canine cardboard since its debut in 2006 when it included cards and paw-print Pawtographs from Ch. Felicity's Diamond Jim, an English Springer Spaniel who won Best in Show honors at the 2007 Westminster Dog Show. In 2010 the brand included cards and Relics for Rory, who was "America's Most-talented Dog" -- a three-time disc dog world champion who dazzled with his skills. (The memorabilia is a piece of a used frisbee.)

But a simpler option for collectors? That came in 2012.

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