Here's this month's roundup of items that have recently caught my eye as a buyer ...

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MY BEAR NECESSITY
The Item: Paul "Bear" Bryant autographed & dated/inscribed (Oct. 18, 1976) 8-by-10 photo (BAS authenticated)
The Price: $219 ... high for me but it's the perfect item for me
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This was a jaw-dropper of a find for me during a random search of Mill Creek Sports' superstore for autographed stuff earlier this year and I've saved it for football season, specifically this month, to present it and tell its story. It's personalized and that makes it perfect for me this time ... and to top that, the signed date -- the legendary Alabama Crimson Tide football coach and football icon who won 323 games dated everything signed like this -- might as well be on Buzz's actual birthday. (It's close ... close enough.) The odds of this existing or one being signed on my actual birthday? Well, I'm sure there were a number of things to sign on this Monday and I'm also very sure he wasn't sitting down to sign requests on a gameday when I kicked things off in the world. So, this is perhaps as close as it can get. The quality and condition of the photo are perfect and the ink is perfectly legible, too. Now, is his autograph really rare? Not particularly, but he died in January 1983 well before sit-down and paid signing sessions were en vogue for sports legends and he's still in high, historic demand despite Nick Saban equaling him and/or re-writing the Alabama record book in more recent years. It's the perfect item at a perfect price and it will always be mine.
Grab a box right here: Nothing for this ... but football cards are here.

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The story of this baseball is a whole lot of ... Bananas.

This extra item in my Collecting Game-used series this month is easily the most-unique baseball in my collection -- and part of this appealing story happened absolutely thanks to some dumb luck. (Again ... some of my best finds have happened that way.) What's the deal? One day when looking into baseball cards for the traveling road show and pop culture phenomenon that is the Savannah Bananas -- think baseball meets a circus with side helpings of Zubaz-era WWF and some Talladega Nights-style NASCAR bombast with game rules even quirkier than both -- I stumbled upon a new part of the official team store. The Bananas now sell game-used stuff with full databased authentication and some supreme stickered specificity just like MLB.

While I picked off my ball simply because it was among the cheapest options, it's actually one with a story and some unique documented game-use that's quite unique within this spectacle on the diamond. In fact, it's absolutely one to chew on ... and when you do that you won't even be the first.

Huh? Keep reading to see the details this time ... and the ball in action.

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It was the moment seen around the world.

The Saga Of Phillies Karen & The Home Run Ball was just one week ago tonight down in Miami and if you don't know the tale here's a quick recap. A Harrison Bader home run went into the stands and put a run on the board for the Philadelphia Phillies as part of a rout of the Marlins. It bounced around on the concrete and ended up in the hands of fan Drew Feltwell, who ran down the row of seats below her to retrieve it and then ran back to his seat, proudly popping the ball into the glove of his 10-year-old son, Lincoln ... until there was a showdown.

"She definitely scurried on over," Feltwell told NBC10 Philadelphia. "And as she reached for my arm, she just yelled in my ear, 'That's my ball.' Like super loud. I jumped out of my skin."

"A lot, a lot of eyes on us by that time. And the ball was already in his glove and she just wouldn't stop. And I mean, I'm literally leaning back as she's in my face, yelling and yelling and yelling. And I pretty much just wanted her to go away. And because I had a fork in the road, either do something I was probably going to regret or be a dad and show him how to de-escalate the situation. So that's where I went."

The family ended up with gifts from both teams after the in-game negative attention -- after all, it was all caught on live TV and filmed from in the stands -- and they met Bader after the game where the kid ended up with one of his signed Victus Sports game-model bats and a moment better than just a baseball leading up to his birthday, which is why they were at the game. They ended up on Good Morning America talking about it all while her identity remains a mystery despite all kinds of angsty and, well, uncouth Internet reactions that are as abrasive as that moment. (Feltwell has asked the public to stop all that. We concur.)

Since then, our "firm and official" offer of $5,000 for the ball  -- as long as it's signed and inscribed "I'm sorry" -- that we dropped a day later has been around the world, too.

It's been covered by -- take a breath -- The New York Times, The Athletic, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo, Yahoo Sports, The Sporting News, cllct, The Philadelphia Inquirer, MSN, National Post, Fox News, FOX 29 Philadelphia, Cleveland.com, Hindustan Times, NJ.com, Times of India, The Independent (UK), Daily Mail (UK), New York Post, 104.5 WOKV, The Economic Times, Patch, Toronto Sun, The Tab, The Mirror U.S., Daily Express U.S., FanBuzz, BroBible, Whiskey Riff, TotallyProSports, EssentiallySports, Bounding Into Sports, VT, Breitbart, Bored Panda, Sportsnaut, Hypefresh Magazine, Bounding Into Sports, BVM Sports, inkl, NewsBreak, Finurah, EssentiallySports, Dexerto and we're sure even more than that based on the social media push-around we've seen. Some of it's been good, some of it's been bad, some of it's been confusing, some of them have been proud to see it.

We know he should have the ball.

And, now ... why are we here once again?

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It's not from The Big Guy, but it's not a bad baseball for the price ... and I've actually pulled this move off twice.

This month's ball in the Collecting Game-used series is another that came to me via a grab bag where all I knew was the date of the game. The baseballs from this game that were thrown by the reigning National League Rookie Of The Year (and future Cy Young winner) Paul Skenes command a big premium price over the rest of baseballs from this day, so I knew I wouldn't land one with his name attached. But ... I didn't get some meaningless ball in the dirt as this one was a hit in support of the phenom and part of a pretty solid day for the batter.

Keep reading to see the details this time ... and the ball in action.

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Here's this month's roundup of items that have recently caught my eye as a buyer ...

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PARALLEL POWER?
The Card: National League Wins Leaders (Spencer Strider, Zac Gallen, Justin Steele) 2024 Topps True Photo variant & Gold Foil parallel
The Price: About $11 total
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: The concept of this one is simple and it's striking -- knock off the border of a base card completely, using just its photo -- and I think it works. But there's also one thing here that's striking -- and not in the best way. These are arguably too rare to make that big of an impact with me and I think perhaps other collectors who might not bother to grab their players or even think about a team set or full set. How rare? They are one in 677 hobby packs and I'm confident they'd be more popular if people could reasonably collect a team run or set. Why? Because they're something dramatically different and you can compare the regular card and this version side by side. I also grabbed a Gold Foil parallel for this one this time after I bit on the variant ... just to say I had one. Even paying $10 for this was a stretch for me ... and those odds and that price might say that these aren't as popular as they could/should be. These are one in basically every third hobby case.
Grab a box right here: MLB cards are here.

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I didn't need it, but once I saw this ... I knew I had to have it.

This month's entry in the Collecting Game-used series is an item that sat out there on the auction block for some time. One day I noticed the name and wondered, given its unique look, whether it was the kind of piece that could be could be narrowed down to an exact when and where of it all and be photo-matched. It turns out that the piece is a one-of-a-kind item and any and all photos of the player from that day are, without question, that item.

Keep reading to see the details this time ... and the item in action.

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Not everything that's game-used comes from on the field.

This extra entry in the Collecting Game-used series this month is a simple kind of item -- one you can find these days quite easily and most often on the cheap -- and it's a little something that's a key piece in the game and it's straight from either one of the dugouts or one of the bullpens. It's the lineup card and it's a piece of affordable memorabilia that low-key documents some of the details like a box score does but without any of those pesky stats -- just uni numbers, batting order numbers and positions.

Keep reading to see the details this time.

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It's not match-used -- but it's been seen a whole lot more than that.

That sums up the item in this fifth chapter of a memorabilia series with a tweaked name -- a tank-driven tangent in my Collecting Game-used series. It's once again a piece from Shotzi Blackheart, who I collect rather seriously in the traditional realms involving Panini America and Topps cardboard, but this time it's something seen on cards as well as the small screen.

And that's just a part of what makes it a cool item.

This final memorabilia piece for this run -- at least for now (there will be more at some point) -- comes from her brief time with a distinctly different look, her spikes era. It's from 10 days before the memorabilia seen here last month but this time it's on Smackdown and not Raw. In WWE chronology, it's still from after she was attacked by Bayley who cut off chunks of Blackheart's trademark long green hair before she finished the job herself, she began to unravel and she joined forces with Charlotte Flair to take on Bayley's group, Damage CTRL, at Survivor Series.

Keep reading to see the item and all the details.

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Detroit Tigers rookie relief pitcher Chase Lee after making his MLB debut last month. (@DETAuthentics photo)

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You probably don't know his name as he's a 26-year-old rookie in an MLB bullpen with more big-league innings in his five career games than he has big-league baseball cards. That count? Four-plus innings and zero big-league cards -- in other words, nothing Bowman at all before he got the call.

His name is Chase Lee and his nickname is "The Viper" -- that part's pretty big-league, actually -- and he made his MLB debut on April 22 with the Detroit Tigers. That day, he became the 23,429th player in league history, closing out a 2-0 loss to the Padres that was started by Jack Flaherty. Lee walked two and struck out one in just under two innings of work.

Three weeks to the day before that happened during a deep dive of game-used stuff from a major dealer in that realm, I added my latest item for this Collecting Game-used series and I added it for a few reasons -- but especially after I was intrigued by his story. Read this, I'll wait. Lee went from an average shortstop riding the bench on a club team with zero scholarship offers to being a failed walk-on who later figured out how to pitch -- he throws side-armed -- and came back to open tryouts the next year, 2019. That's when he made the Alabama Crimson Tide squad to start a three-year run that finished with a 9-0 college record and a 1.87 ERA and as a sixth-round pick of the Texas Rangers in 2021.

That sounds pretty strong, right? Well, all that was still years ago. Lee's path to Detroit and his first strikeout ball he's holding up top had more than a few twists and turns with a 7-11 record in those last five MiLB seasons with no MLB-approved baseball prospect cards (what we care about most here) but with 249 strikeouts in 182 innings -- that part's pretty big-league, too.

So, what is there to collect? Well, I'm sure somewhere deep in my Crimson Tide stash is a small sample of something from of his few Panini Prizm or Elite Extra Edition cards from way back in 2021 -- he's got cards in those sets and nothing since save for potential MiLB team set cards and game-used memorabilia. So, when I spotted a gamer I opted to break one of my basic rules and dip down into the minors for a game-used piece of his story to join my collection, figuring I had some time to craft this item before his possible call from a new team. Meanwhile, to my surprise, that's already happened. (Here's a newer story about his path and this one is even better.)

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

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What's Buzzing: NFL Draft first-round reactions, Aaron Judge, Jac Caglianone, Topps Black, NBA postseason and more in this Friday drop.

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1 -- All your NFL Draft reactions are here

2 -- Aaron Judge is on their minds

3 -- PuddleMonkey (who collects harder than you) has a question ... (see, harder)

4 -- Checking in on the Jac Caglianone thread

5 -- Talking Topps Black

6 -- NBA postseason chatter

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Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.

Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.

Evan Longoria's playing days might be winding down, but his cardboard will be powering up this year.

As teased on his Instagram today, he signed a batch of baseball cards for Topps and the knob off one of his Charizard-powered baseball bats will have a spot in 2025 Topps Tier One, which will arrive later this year.

"A few beautiful hits I just signed from this years @topps @fanatics Tier One Baseball," the 16-year veteran wrote here. "I inscribed a few for you all. Whoever finds the Charizard bat knob, please hit me up! Happy hunting!"

So, what's the deal with the Pokémon appearance?

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Here's this month's roundup of items that have recently caught my eye as a buyer ...

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LEGENDARY INK
The Card: Ichiro Suzuki autographed 2001 Topps Rookie Card (BAS 10 auto)
The Price: Not as much as you might think ... but also not that cheap.
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Clean copies of this iconic Topps flagship Rookie Card are not easy finds in general with the boxes and sets likely bricked now if they remain unopened -- that means the gloss will be snowy if you're lucky to peel the cards apart at all -- and then the dark green border and high-gloss on soft stock here is always going to be problematic. When I spotted this card among many where Suzuki has signed for literally years (Mill Creek Sports) without a premium price, I bit on this just before his Hall of Fame results hit. (We all knew he was going in ... but I didn't know if his prices were going to rise.) This copy is super clean vs. many cards out there with some very light roughness on maybe one edge and a light touch on the bottom-left corner ... but some of what's seen in my photo is just how the light is reflecting. I generally don't do a ton of bigger buys for my collection, but this one's cost wasn't that much more than some of the hot and plentiful new release hobby boxes. I went with a safe and iconic bet for my (for me) premium spend and went with the sure thing on an iconic card for a living legend. I pulled his ink once from an unlicensed release -- and it was in one of my earliest Making The Grade posts here -- but a signed RC means I'll likely never need to sweat his stuff again. (Might window shop, though, or bite if price is right for a nice certified.) One more fun part of my card? If that label had a simple added line of Beckett/Fanatics witnessed instead of signed for Mill Creek and then slabbed, the price likely would be double what I paid. I wouldn't pay that -- and this one is a win in my book.
Grab a box right here: Nothing for this ... but MLB cards are here.

Keep reading for more interesting items ...

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Sometimes you have all the details thanks to an authentication sticker ... and sometimes you don't.

It's those don't times that can be work -- but often you can still photo-match an item's damage or other unique traits to photos from the on-field action. Other times, there's nothing. This month's item in the Collecting Game-used series is one of those "other" times and one where there aren't that many details ... yet I know it all. (And still can't prove a thing, either.)

Huh? Keep reading to see the details this time ...

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The MLB postseason is almost here, so I figured now's the time to drop one of a pair of baseballs I recently landed from that beloved time of year right here.

This month's ball in the Collecting Game-used series is the first of two I landed not knowing who would be attached, just knowing that they were from a certain date in the postseason's past with the teams known -- and in this case it's from Aaron Judge's first visit to the postseason but not with his name attached -- but some known stars are in play. (Not bad for a modest price that's less than some brand new boxes out in the retail wild, though.) How did they sit all these years since they're from back in 2017? Well, based on holograms, they were originally in Steiner Sports' hands after going through MLB Authentication and then into Fanatics' possession.

Keep reading to see the details this time ... and the ball in action.

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This is quite possibly my best grab-bag buy ever.

This latest ball in the Collecting Game-used series is one where there's a franchise icon attached, an entire at-bat and even an impressive hit all in one. I can't say that I've ever landed that from what's essentially a blind grab-bag kind of buy, but that happened for me with a ball that was pulled from the field less than two months ago before making its way into my collection this week for just $29.95 -- substantially less than a Chrome blaster box out there in the retail wild and perhaps substantially less than it might cost as a known hit ball with the big name attached. The only thing I had a choice in here? I picked the date -- so I knew the two teams that would be attached and that's it.

Keep reading to see the details this time ... and the ball in action.

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Buzz recently landed a grail item ... and here's its story.

My latest in this Collecting Game-used series is a game-used jersey for a player probably most of you won't know -- actually, I expect that -- and it's an item that's pushing 50 years old, too, so it's definitely not a piece with ironclad straight-off-the-back holographically stickered documentation with an authenticity statement that can be looked up in some database somewhere at any time on any day.

In this case, though? I can without any hesitation state that this 1976-77 Houston Rockets road jersey is as real as it gets, was on the back of small forward John "J.J" Johnson back in the day -- likely all season long when on the road and then during the playoffs, too. These days, postseason jerseys would have extra touches on them with specialty patches attached and in some cases a guy might wear a few jerseys per game. In this case it's just like any other jersey -- if there are any others.

How do I know it's legit, though? Some dumb luck, really, thanks to a publicly available photo database cross-checked with Johnson's game logs for his two seasons with the Rockets. It's mostly the luck part thanks to one photographer's work from back in the day, a photo that's not the norm at all from those years. It's also an ironclad match thanks to some quirky flaws on this jersey -- look closely at that "Houston" we'll come back to that later. It might have scared some people off of this one as this sat on eBay for weeks (if not months) before I made it my biggest hobby purchase ever in decades of collecting. Why? Some school ties -- Johnson was the first former NBA player I ever interviewed long, long ago ... and also the fact that vintage game-used memorabilia just doesn't pop up regularly. I doubt I'd be able to find anything comparable ever again if I passed it up.

Keep reading to see the details this time -- it's those weird flaws that make this photo-match a lock.

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It's always about the details -- and this time they spoke to me.

My newest item in this Collecting Game-used series is admittedly not game-used as in game action but it's pretty definitely used in its documented details and is unique ... as in I think it's perhaps the only one of its kind and a first.

It's an MLB Authenticated Alex Avila Detroit Tigers home jersey -- one that's tagged from back in 2009 but didn't get itself an MLBA sticker until after the 2022 season. How did that happen? Well, that's a mystery of its own -- and I can't solve that one -- but what struck me as interesting beyond that year, his first of 13 in MLB, was that uniform number for starters.

Keep reading to see the details this time ... and oddly enough it was documented in a different way for the first time tomorrow back in 2009.

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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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Not every item in every MLB game gets one of those special little silver stickers and not every moment is captured on film ... or at least film that is easily found. (Video? Maybe.)

In a nutshell, that sums up this month's item in this Collecting Game-used series. You can see a teaser of what's left of the pice above with pine tar and shards of what looks like maple left behind. Thankfully, while there's a lot of mystery to this one, the identifying side of the barrel remains in play ... and that is why I grabbed this piece for my personal collection.

You can keep reading to see the details.

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What: 2023 Onyx Authenticated Baseball Clubhouse Collection Authentic Game-used Batting Gloves
Arrives: Oct. 20
Box basics: One pair of game-used batting gloves per box (12 boxes per case via four mini-cases)
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: This MLBPA-approved product returns to collectors' hands with every box including a pair of used batting gloves from top young names, established veterans or all-time greats.

Keep reading for more info, including a full checklist.

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The Rookie of the Year wanted a piece of this pitch ... but somebody else got that.

My latest ball in this Collecting Game-used series is one that I picked up just like others in this series -- a blind grab bag buy of sorts just picking by date -- with the same teams involved as a past time ... but this time the eventual Rookie of the Year, Atlanta Braves outfielder Michael Harris II, is a great name attached.

That alone made it a simple highlight for me ... until I saw the highlight reel.

Keep reading to see the details this time ... and the ball in action.

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This ball was almost a bit of déjà vu ... and I didn't even notice it at first.

My latest ball in this Collecting Game-used series is one that I picked up just like others in this series -- a blind grab bag buy of sorts just picking by date -- with the same teams involved and with All-Star power attached.

While last month's piece was a little more in-depth in terms of how long the ball survived in the majors -- two batters -- this one is more traditional but from the guy who followed them in the Braves lineup. That was something I didn't even realize until I sat down to put this one together. Landing all of the baseballs used in an inning is probably an impossibility unless it's all one ball or if you're at a game and can pick them up in-person, but this was a fun discovery with good names attached.

And yet baseball trivia here all that is moot compared to the play that Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto probably remembered after the game.

Keep reading to see the details this time ... and the ball in action.

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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 ...

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A DIFFERENT DIRECTION ... 
The Cards: Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) 2023 Topps Throwback Thursday Star Wars Wave 4 (/3,039)
The Price: About $40 for lot of nine
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: A lot of the online small-set releases from Topps have tempted me the last few years, but at times when I have bit the actual finished product isn't as appealing for my main reason I'd grab something -- issues that hurt if you're grading. This line has been tempting but instead of buying a bundle for a card that jumped out at me (like this one) I instead picked off a singles lot from a re-seller. Why? Again, grading. I was looking back at all of the 1952s for this brand and this one was by far the best of the bunch with the colors and photo. The centering here? About as flawed as the times that annoyed me in the past, but one or two here were decent enough that I'll send one in for grading at some point. They probably won't land top marks but I'd still be fine with a slabbed copy of this one as Dawson is a relative newcomer to Star Wars cards and in a lot of memorable past roles elsewhere.
Grab a box right here: No boxes for this but ... Star Wars boxes are here.

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Sometimes, you can still get a surprise from the bargain bin.

Is that the case with this one this time? Perhaps ... but it's not something that will add much value per se. It is, however, something that could make a simple item like a game-used baseball seem a little more interesting than, say, the scuffs or dirt that pop up on them from time to time.

Keep reading to see the details this time ... and the ball in action.

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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 ... a mix of recent grabs and some older stuff, too.

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A SURPRISING SEASON
The Cards: Spencer Strider 2022 Topps Living Set (five-pack)
The Price: Bundle price via Topps.com
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: The defending World Series champs didn't have the finish they'd hoped for this year, but one big highlight this season was the arrival of this rookie seemingly out of nowhere. Strider flashed record-setting potential for strikeouts when on the mound as he went 11-5 this season with a 2.69 ERA and 202 strikeouts in 172 innings He reached 200 Ks in 130 innings -- an MLB record held by Hall of Famer Randy Johnson -- and he had 16 Ks in a single game to break the team record. The year also got him a new contract that will keep him in Atlanta along with a number of other young stars for several years. Strider had RCs in this year's stuff since early on but should have more to come in the later releases that have been delayed. I grabbed this pack with an eye on grading with mixed results -- one had big, nasty surface issues, two having unusual and not-good surface problems and then two that are yes/maybe for slabbing. One is in CSG's hands as I type this.
Grab a box right here: Nothing for this one ... but MLB boxes are here.

Keep reading for more interesting items ...

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