Errors & Variations
Board Buzz: Must-read threads on Blowout Forums (March 10)
What's Buzzing: Jac Caglianone, new MLB pulls, a Sapphire WWE surprise, NBA cards, errors and more.
-
1 -- Checking in on the Jac Caglianone chatter
2 -- 2025 Topps pulls and more
3 -- Sapphire WWE box delivers a surprise
4 -- NBA cards are on their minds
5 -- Look for the one odd card mentioned here
6 -- Sell the Rays? (What about the Marlins?)--
Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.
Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.
Board Buzz: Must-read threads on Blowout Forums (July 11)
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: Checking in on chatter for the Derby champ, The National, Elly De La Cruz, Tom Brady the shop owner and more in today's edition.
Board Buzz: Must-read threads on Blowout Forums (March 5)
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: Pondering Han Solo's Rookie Card, a cool Action Packed error card, big pulls, a vintage decision (don't do it!) and ... a Target run coughs up a 1/1.
Making the Grade (March): A Ken Griffey Jr. RC, Bo Bichette, Sandy Koufax, bargain vintage & a new 1982 Topps Blackless?
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 ... it's a bit heavier on MLB and some vintage edition as I'm still awaiting deliveries.
CLASSIC BATTING LEAD-OFF ...
The Card: Ken Griffey Jr. 1989 Topps Traded #41T -- Rookie Card
The Reason Bought: I'm fine with nines and when I saw this one for $17.50 with no obvious substantial flaws despite its grade I grabbed it. Why? Slabbed early cards of all-time greats like him from the 1980s and 1990s are destined to be moving as slab-hungry buyers want more and more as the obvious other bigger cards just keep rising. I, myself, am not all that interested in chasing Griffey's Upper Deck RC at a meaty price in a high-grade slab (I have a couple around/below this mark and a few raw not worth slabbing) but this one always has a little more appeal to me since it's cheap ... and I actually had a few way back then.
The Grade: BGS 9Grade 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10 B10 Total Population 9 32 53 137 421 1,792 3,013 2,111 2,170 47 0 9,875 Reality Check: This card isn't the easiest grade with weird surface roller lines, centering and back edge chipping issues always possible based on what I've seen. While a BGS 9 or 9.5 isn't all that rare, I'm fine with it for the price -- a 9.5 will definitely cost more and the most-common grade is actually lower than this. That population of 10s is surprising but I'm not that surprised there are no truly perfect copies. I don't think its possible here.
Keep reading for more of this month's pick-ups and new slabs for Buzz.
Buzz Buys: An oddity-laced collection of unusual pick-ups
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 this time around it's an oddball edition of stuff I've picked up throughout the last year.
--
BERNIE BATTING LEAD-OFF
The Card: Bernie Brewer 2018 Topps Opening Day Mascot Relics
The Price: $8
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This one isn't all that unusual if you know Opening Day's inclusions through the years, but Mascot Relics are still odd in the big picture and mostly only found in this brand that gets a "for the kids" label slapped on it often when it's really one that's "for the collectors." So, what's the catch? Stuff like this has odds so long that you don't see them pop up unless you're ripping in bulk. How rare? This one was close to one in 5,000 packs. There are mascot auto Relics in there, too, at close to one in 94,000 packs. Only seven mascots had these cards in this particular set and I'd argue that this guy might be among the better ones.
Grab a box right here: 2018 Topps Opening Day MLBKeep reading for more interesting items ...
eBay Buzz: New NFL booklet cards, chasing Baby Yoda, legendary soccer ink, error cards & Mike Trout 1/1 lead way
Have you seen the latest cool or interesting items on eBay? If not, you just might see some of those here. We’ll spotlight some items that have a story or just wow us with how much interest it might have — and we’re not just talking baseball cards, either.
--
ANNUAL ARRIVALS
The Item: Jerry Jeudy 2020 Panini Playbook Vault booklet (/10)
The Price: $163.50 after 23 bids (four days remaining)
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This is a perfect example of some of the big stuff coming out of boxes of this brand this year. Playbook is a line where you typically get some kind of booklet in every box -- one per this year -- and I can say I've window-shopped this one hard through the years. (I've never been focused enough on any one player to commit and chase something like this, though.) Once the initial flood of cards like this hits eBay they will get a lot tougher to find for a lot of guys -- maybe not the biggest names with the biggest dollar signs -- and that's why watching what arrives right now can be important. Some crazy stuff can already be found on eBay along with this one -- hit that link below.
Similar Pieces: Other Panini Playbook booklets on eBay
The BlowoutCards.com Hunt: Click here for 2020 Panini Playbook NFLKeep reading for a few more interesting items in this roundup ...
Making the Grade (January): Dan Marino, Big Mac, Bo Bichette, Alice Eve, botched cardboard, vintage and ... El Generico?
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 ...
WORKS FOR ME
The Card: Dan Marino 1984 Topps #123 -- Rookie Card
The Reason Bought: I never really aspired to own a Dan Marino RC -- or a number of other notables from the past -- but this one presented itself on the cheaper side of things for this card (about $135) and considering how this one looks I grabbed it. Why? Go window-shopping for these cards raw -- it can be depressing to see how sloppy the printing and cutting can be for this set. (Want more proof of extreme possibilites? Click here.)
The Grade: BGS 9Grade 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10 B10 Total Population 238 415 649 1,156 1,518 1,883 1,617 628 347 68 0 8,864 Reality Check: I knew this was a strong grade for this card but I didn't look at the pop report for this heavily graded and iconic Hall of Famer RC. Just 415 check in at a higher mark out of nearly 9,000 graded -- less than 5 percent of the total grade higher -- and this one accounts for just seven percent of the total population for this card. My card isn't perfect -- there's a minor couple of spots in the black border line above "Dan" and some very, very minor specs here and there on the edges but at a glance there are not massive differences here vs. higher grades ... other than the fact that a BGS 10 copy of this card has sold on eBay for more than $4,500. I'll take mine all day long -- and getting a nine here is tough as it is.
Keep reading for more of this month's pick-ups and new slabs for Buzz.
Two 2020 Topps Heritage error variations have stories to tell
Two of the error-based variations in 2020 Topps Heritage (see all of them here) are based on mistakes in the original releases that it emulates from 1971.Juan Soto's card, No. 403, can be found with a version where the background of the image is bluer -- and if you look closely at the stadium, you'll notice that the pole for one of the venue's light towers has been removed.
This is a direct nod to the card No. 42 in the 1971 Topps set for Boots Day, a Montreal Expos outfielder who had a piece of the light tower poking out from behind his right ear on his card. It was lightened to help remove the distraction, making it one of just a handful of cards in that set with players involved (most errors were on checklists) to have a variation that year.
Buzz 12 in 12: Busting 1,000-plus 1990 Pro Set Series 2 football card packs (Hour 2)
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 2.
The packs: 1990 Pro Set Series 2 NFL (1,000-plus)
The cost: Too much but not that much (Buzz found a deal he couldn't refuse) Get your new NFL boxes by clicking here
What's inside this one? Keep reading ...
Panini revisits errors of past in 2016 Panini Classics football packs
When 2016 Panini Classics football cards arrive next week, they will carry with them a new (old) look for the long-running brand.
They'll come printed on oldschool cardboard, too.
But that's not all that will be a throwback in the retro-styled brand -- there will be errors and variations for collectors to chase.
Is your 1967 Topps baseball card set truly complete? There's a chance it might not be with this card ...
Is your 1967 Topps baseball card set complete? There's a chance it might not be now.
A funny thing happened when Buzz was working to confirm the various errors and variations in the 1967 card set in the weeks before the arrival of this year's homage, 2016 Topps Heritage.
There appears there could be a third version of Mike McCormick's card No. 86. When examining a group of 1967 cards, Buzz noticed a possible version (above) that's not cataloged anywhere among the various error & variations lists or noted on any population reports despite this set being 49 years old. It's a dramatically different version of the card for the Washington Senators pitcher who was traded to the San Francisco Giants, which is the reason for the variations to exist.
It turns out that this card is from the 1967 O-Pee-Chee set, though there is only one version cataloged there. Could a third version like this exist for the Topps card? Or are there two versions for O-Pee-Chee? Keep reading for the details.
Let's revisit 1967 Topps errors for a 2016 Topps Heritage variation primer
We're less than a month away from the release of 2016 Topps Heritage baseball cards, the annual trek to the past that includes errors and variations as an added homage to the past year within the new product.
In advance of the March 2 release, Buzz was wondering about which mistakes are found in the 1967 Topps set -- that's this year's throwback model -- and what might be found. We don't yet have a checklist from Topps for this year, but that will be telling. Why? Stars from the past teams will often match stars on present teams in the set if an error/correction is in play.
Here's a rundown of the mistakes found in 1967 Topps ...
12 Item(s)