What's Buzzing: The National is here, eBay watchers, celebrating affordable cardboard, Andrew Vaughn, new pulls and ... does MLB have a gambling problem?

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1 -- The National is here

2 -- Fake watchers?

3 -- Does MLB have a gambling problem?

4 -- Celebrating affordable cardboard 

5 -- Andrew Vaughn might be worth the look

6 -- New MLB pulls are here

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If you're one of those baseball collectors who's been all about the anime, this one's for you.

Buzz was busy today adding a bunch of cardboard to the preview gallery for the forthcoming 2025 Bowman release (click here to see all of those and order your boxes), but this one -- all 30 cards in the 2025 Bowman Anime insert set -- gets its own standalone.

Why? These baseball cards are unique and they're a popular style of artistic card inclusions from a few companies in a few sports in recent years. This time there are 30 standard cards for stars of the past, present and future -- and then four Japanese icons will have Kanji Variations to find as well.

You can learn more and see the 30 standard cards after the jump.

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Second verse, same as the first -- well this time with a little less Lava.

It's apparently National Hat Day today, so I figured I'd get this Collecting Game-used series back on track (I missed doing one last month) with another game-used cap from down on the farm and this time it's from a specialty game and a player who actually did play in a pair of big-league games last year after spending the summer for the Columbus Clippers. If you don't recognize the logo, this one's from a game where they were the Veleros de Columbus during MiLB's Copa de la Diversión games.

As I noted last time, sometimes, unraveling the mystery is part of the fun with gamers ... and that mystery part doesn't happen as often with MLB stuff where it's as if everything that's used can get an MLB Authentication sticker and have a place in a database forever before it hits a collection or gets chopped up to live inside a baseball card. But down on the farm? It can be a different story. Sure, stuff gets documented and sold with a team letter or certificate often -- especially at the end of a season when the players are gone (and might not come back) -- but not everything.

Most of my items in this series are MLB or other things that are ironclad in their documentation or I have been able to photo-match the item exactly to a photo, video or event. This time? Not so much (though I admittedly ran out of time to really dig), but it did have some features and some mystery that worked out for a bargain price and it turned out to be another player who got a taste of the major leagues this past season and has played in The Show for a few years.

Keep reading to see the details this time.

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Sometimes, unraveling the mystery is part of the fun with gamers ... and that mystery part doesn't happen as often with MLB stuff where it's almost as if everything that's used on a field or during a game can get an MLB Authentication sticker and have a place in a database forever before it hits a collection or gets chopped up to live inside a baseball card.

But down on the farm before they are big-leaguers? It can be a different story. Sure, stuff gets documented and auctioned/sold with a team letter or certificate quite often -- especially at the end of a season when the players are gone (and might not come back next year) -- but not everything. Baseballs? Nope. Caps? Not often. Helmets? Sometimes. Buzz did some on-the-cheap power-shopping in recent months and landed a few game-used caps from MiLB action and this first one is from the Columbus Clippers, the Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians.

Most of my items in this Collecting Game-used series are MLB or other things that are ironclad in their documentation or I have been able to photo-match the item exactly to a photo, video or event. This time? Not so much, but it did have some features and some mystery that worked out for a bargain price -- cheaper than some packs of cards out in the retail wild -- and it turned out to be a player who got a taste of the major leagues in 2022, too.

Keep reading to see the details this time.

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If you want to know how simple things in the everyday for sports have changed over the years -- just the recent years -- then this month's item is a perfect example.

It's less than a decade old, but there's no irrefutable video to show this one in action over on the MLB Film Room (at least not yet) database of video clips. And there are no added stats attached to this one -- at least on its MLB Authentication entry -- to offer up advanced into on stuff that some people love. (No biggie for me, spin rates aren't needed.) At a glance it's perhaps one officially from the stone ages.

What's this one's deal? Well, you can probably guess with those stitches ... it's not a bad photo, it's a specialty ball.

You can keep reading to see the details ... and maybe the ball in action.

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It may not happen, but Aaron Judge in a new uniform is a possibility Yankees fans should be ready for.

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: The World Series is set, Tua is back, best 1980s MLB designs, new pulls, Christian McCaffrey and ... Aaron Judge on a new team?

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With these Ticket Stud or Ticket Dud stories I'm turning just a tiny bit of that energy just a few degrees away from cards (we'll still have plenty of them here) for a different kind of cardboard. What am I doing? Simple ... this is an occasional dip into some random ticket lots -- a show and tell showing something small with a story.

This time? An MLB match-up that was in the headlines in the last few days.

Keep reading to see the details this time ... and tell me if you think it's a Ticket Stud or a Ticket Dud.

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I've never read up on how many baseballs MLB uses in a year, but given the volume of game-used balls up for grabs from teams regularly -- to the point where they'll sell them in mystery boxes on the cheap -- they are readily available.

Yet, at the same time, they're not all the same.

The big dog is, of course, the home run ball and right up there are other hits and then strikeouts for pitchers. But for any one of any of those bigs there are plenty more -- maybe dozens more -- baseballs that were pitches in the dirt, called strikes, foul balls  and line-outs (though I think those are better than others here) and then other stuff like beanballs and wild pitches among others. Ultimately, the biggest piece of the puzzle for appeal -- and especially for value here -- is which players' names are attached.

This month? Not the biggest names and not the biggest moment -- but it's a one-pitch, one-swing kind of ball that's perhaps not the most common -- and, the best part, it only cost me $10 despite the fact that I can video match it using the MLB Film Room along with its MLB Authentication.

You can keep reading to see the details ... and the ball in action.

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Fast Five is a quick list that might offer a basic starting point for a themed collection or new focus -- five things that could be fun for a beginner or a new way to add something to your stash if you're a grizzled veteran.

This time? Five MLB names I'm watching in the postseason ...

THE NEW KID ...
Julio Rodriguez, Seattle Mariners (prospect cards since 2019, RC in 2021)
I've been sold on him since early in the year, but the postseason and anything this newcomer does will get a lot more attention with the Mariners' successes already surprising some and with more prime time attention to come. His first season in The Show got him a new monster deal (12 years, $209M) before it was even over -- so he'll be a key in Seattle for some time -- after a year that had him hitting .284 with 28 homers and 75 RBI in 132 games. His RC logo cards this year have been trickling out in SP form for the most part but there will be more to come -- and then there's his Rookie Card and prospect cards to look for, too, from past years. He's hyped and he's pricey but if he and his team can get things done in the postseason -- something the Hall of Famer called Kid didn't -- he'll be a money guy even more than now and for some time. (I'm not sure that'll happen, though, but it could.) I'm not a big fan of how his autograph looks so I won't overpay there, but I think we'll see a lot of good cardboard coming for him to go with fun stuff from the past.

Keep reading for four more making up the list this time.

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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: Logofractor box breaks, MLB postseason match-ups, a Halloween-related question, this week in the NFL 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: Postseason baseball, NFL chatter, Logofractor breaks, Bray Wyatt and WWE's white rabbit and plenty 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: Jalen Hurts, NFL Week 3, an MLB prediction, new pulls and will anybody else hit 700 homers?

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Sometimes, there are no extra visuals to photo-match a piece

Forget sometimes ... that's almost always the case with pretty much everything that's game-used before the advent of the MLB Authentication program in 2001. That was the year MLB started stickering and databasing items from the field of play creating a whole new playing field for memorabilia. But this month's piece in this Collecting Game-used series isn't from that past era, either.

This one is from just 2014 ... an item that's newer, but one from when the capture-every-play MLB Film Room and complete data with authentication for every pitch where a ball was used didn't exist. It's stickered but short of finding a pirated game video online (I did a brief search and found nothing), it's a ball that I can only show here and then offer up from info from a game's summary to help tell its story.

You can keep reading to see the details.

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If you want to collect 'em all, you'll have to hit an MLB team shop.

Topps and MLB Players Inc. revealed this morning that the 2022 Topps Players Clubhouse baseball card line, which will get a pack of cards into your hands if you buy at least $149 in "officially licensed MLB Players products displaying the MLB Players logo, in a single transaction, at this team store location" beginning on selected dates -- starting today -- while supplies last with a limit of one pack per person.

Packs will not be sold at the participating team shops, according to the announcement.

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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 ... and it's once again the biggest Buzz Buys ever. (A collection of pick-ups from recent times as well as in the past year or so.)

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A RECORD-SETTER, BUT ... 
The Cards: Wander Franco 2022 Topps Living Set (/68,228)
The Price: Direct from Topps (10-pack price)
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This one re-wrote the new Living Set record book with its sales volume and I did a 10-pack to hopefully land a copy without centering issues and to maybe grade one or two. It turns out 10 wasn't enough as the front card is closest to centered but it has a cardboard blotch that should nix some top marks and any immediate grading from me. I still might but not right now. With so many made, there likely will be plenty graded in the coming months ... so without an obvious gem I'll wait. This might have been my first Living Set lot direct from Topps since Vladimir Guerrero Jr., so it will probably send me back to hibernation on that brand. We'll see.
Grab a box right here: No boxes for this one ... but MLB boxes are here.

Keep reading for more interesting items ...

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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: The Wander Franco chatter isn't letting up, new pulls, the Cleveland Guardians, AEW cards 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: The National nears, normalcy returning to retail (maybe), The Bucks, Cleveland Guardians and ... Kris Bryant to the Phillies?

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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: The Cleveland Guardians arrive in 2022, inside the Topps Transcendent party, The National, big pulls and more as we head into the weekend.

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