Mystery Box Buzz Break is a new series here on The Buzz -- it's essentially a Buzz Break but only for "mystery boxes" that seem to be everywhere these days -- and not just in the sports realm. Like this and want to see more? Is there a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The mystery box: High Spots Virtual Gimmick Table -- Autographed Funko Pop! mystery box
Where to buy: Via High Spots (on a weekly live stream) ... find new wrestling cards at BlowoutCards.com

Keep reading for a full breakdown and a gallery of what was in this box.

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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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BROADWAY JOE
The Item: Joe Namath autographed 16-by-20 Sports Illustrated "Broadway Joe" cover photo (BAS witnessed)
The Price: $249
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: I don't normally include the actual price when I make a bigger buy, but in this case a sale price was too strong for a piece so nice ... so I am. Why? A typical price for an item like this is substantially higher than what I paid (around $400-600) and peak asking prices are sometimes even nuttier than the normal range. This was my big Black Friday buy and I landed it via Mill Creek Sports (this is their scan as I struggled to photograph mine thanks to size/glare on my top-loader) and one reason why I grabbed it (beyond the price) was that I liked this horizontal version of the photo and its autograph placement infinitely more than the vertical version. Atop that, it's also a piece where I had a chance to land one for just $150 long ago at The National but I didn't as I didn't have a way to safely get it home. This is the iconic photo that led to the nickname for the eventual Super Bowl winner and icon who helped change the game forever. He turns 83 this year, too, and I don't think demand will lessen over time.
Grab a box right here: Nothing for this ... but NFL cards are here.

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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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TWO OF BLACKHEARTS
The Card: Shotzi Blackheart 2025 Panini Instant MLW Autographs Water parallel (/10)
The Price: $39.99 each via Panini
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This former WWE star is taking over a prominent spot in indy wrestling with appearances downright everywhere these days but with only a handful of card appearances to show for it (at least for now). Panini's newer foray into cardboard for Major League Wrestling has so far spawned a trio of base cards with parallels and some with autographed versions. I've been lucky enough to be plugged in and online to land ink for a couple of those drop days and in this case landed a pair of these autos where only eight others exist. Generally speaking, I'm not that big of a fan of the elemental parallels used in Instant these days, but they are an upgrade over the previous year's parallels that merely colored in one of the stripes in a design similar to this instead of the border as it is here. Either way, this one I'm a fan of as she's arguably my top collecting target these days as WWE stuff has gotten too pricey to comfortably dabble/rip boxes and have fun with the typical returns. In this case, the only angst is battling bots -- cards like these vanish in seconds and end up on eBay with prices three (or more) times higher. At least when I plunk down the money for these I know what I'm getting. (For those curious, the auto stickers here are older when she was signing in higher volumes for WWE releases -- her auto is back to an every-letter sig now.)
Grab a box right here: Nothing for this ... but wrestling cards are here.

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Mystery Box Buzz Break is a new series here on The Buzz -- it's essentially a Buzz Break but only for "mystery boxes" that seem to be everywhere these days -- and not just in the sports realm. Like this and want to see more? Is there a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The mystery box: High Spots Virtual Gimmick Table -- Autographed Funko Pop! mystery box
Where to buy: Via High Spots (on a weekly live stream) ... find new wrestling cards at BlowoutCards.com

Keep reading for a full breakdown and a gallery of what was in this box.

Continue reading →

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

--

BOOK IT, BARRYMORE!
The Card: Drew Barrymore 2024 Leaf History Book Pop Culture Edition Chapter 1 A-List Magazine Purple Autographs (/10)
The Price: A lot less than some others have paid for her booklets
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: I'm not a big fan of how her abbreviated autograph looks on a sticker -- but since she has a long name I understand why she signs that way -- but I do casually collect some of her stuff, mostly 1990s-on (like in this photo), when it presents itself. Why? Just for something different ... so that's why we're here. Until Leaf's recent signing sessions with her, she's never had a certified autograph despite a lifetime on film and on cardboard since the early 1980s starting with Topps' E.T. set. Rather than obsess about her ink, I waited out a good price on this booklet and crossed it off the list. It's an unusual design -- not the typical kind of book -- but prices on her signed stuff have been steep with a lot of them being lower-volume cards. Many of her autos -- even solo ones -- can sell for $100 and up and combo booklets can be even steeper. I found this for less than that ... so it was a win for me.
Grab a box right here: Non-sports cards are here.

Keep reading for more interesting items ...

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Mystery Box Buzz Break is a new series here on The Buzz -- it's essentially a Buzz Break but only for "mystery boxes" that seem to be everywhere these days -- and not just in the sports realm. Like this and want to see more? Is there a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The mystery box: High Spots Virtual Gimmick Table -- Numbers Box
Where to buy: Via High Spots (on a weekly live stream) ... find new wrestling cards at BlowoutCards.com

Keep reading for a full breakdown and a gallery of what was in this box.

Continue reading →

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

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RETRO RECORD-HOLDER
The Card: Roger Maris 2014 Panini Classics Home Run Heroes Jerseys (/25)
The Price: $30
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: I ponied up a little bit for this one vs. my typical range for Maris mem cards since it's a rarer card, has a material (jersey/pants) swatch vs. a bat and is from a brand that packed a lot of potential for big names back in the day. Yet, at the same time, that price was a bargain. Yes, its centering is just slightly off, but otherwise it's clean -- that errant spot on the right side is part of the printed design on all cards here. It was an easy addition for a player I collect and pick off stuff for a few times a year. Those top corners are really clean on this one, which might not always be the case with those bold colors.
Grab a box right here: Nothing for this ... but MLB cards are here.

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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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CROSSING HIM OFF 
The Card: Joe Montana autographed 1988 Topps card (BAS slabbed)
The Price: About $65
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Rewind the clock to the early/mid 1990s and Montana is the unquestioned top QB on cardboard with perhaps only a small number of RBs or WRs even coming close to competing with him for popularity on cards. Back then, in a new era of certified autographs from brands such as Pro Line and Classic or mail-order autographed items, there was ink to chase but Montana was never, ever on my radar. Why? Look at that auto ... there's still not much going on there that would have sparked me to pay a premium price for a glorified initialgraph with a slight more added on. Fast-forward to now and the Hall of Famer still has all those rings and all those MVP awards, but he's been surpassed on the stat sheets and cards ... it happens. The 68-year-old has done a lot of signing for Leaf for its releases and buyback brands -- I think this was one from there -- in recent years and it had been on my radar for literally months as I really like the look of many of his 1980s Topps cards. A relatively clean copy with an on-card auto is a no-brainer if the price is right and I got this one for about half of the asking price of man identical copy I'd been watching. All these years later, I can cross Montana off my ink-needed list.
Grab a box right here: Nothing for this ... but NFL cards are here.

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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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GOING HIGH-END ... 
The Card: Bo Bichette 2020 Bowman Transcendent (/100) -- Rookie Card
The Price: Less than some retail mega boxes ...
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: While this comes from one of the most-expensive brands ever made and he's a past All-Star, a bad season apparently prompts easy sell-offs these days and in this case I was a buyer. While I'd like his RCs from these releases in slabs (the frames and Chome-like surfaces here can show smaller flaws easily) this one was too cheap to pass up in comparison to slabbed cards that weren't even in elite grades. This cost me half or even a third of common asking prices for the graded cards with no obvious, blatant flaw to make it feel like it would check in lower ... though it's not perfect. It's a perfect start for me here -- I'll likely add more if The Big Bo Slide of 2024 keeps going. Why? I collect Bichette.
Grab a box right here: Nothing for this one, but MLB boxes are here.

Keep reading for more interesting items ...

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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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BATTING LEAD-OFF ... THE PITCHER
The Card: Tatum O'Neal (as Amanda Whurlitzer) 2013 Panini Golden Age Exhibit Box-topper
The Price: $14
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This is a modern take on the old Exhibit postcards and this one is one of a few cards in a huge set that stands out to me. Why? It's one that shows an actor in character as she was the ace of The Bad News Bears. The key here? This is a box-topper set that had 40 cards in it ... so that's a lot of boxes to open to complete a set -- just one per box -- and the collation could be quite repetitive in my experience as I ripped a ton of these over the years. While a lot of sets from even a decade ago have dried up in wax form and gotten perhaps too steep for the typical return, these are still very affordable and include some good stuff. The only drawback? A wide array of inclusions may not be for everybody and now all these years later some of the good autograph redemption cards (only a few) can't be redeemed for that ink. (Points now as they are long-expired.) There are a lot of on-card autos in this release that have no equal -- including autos from her and other Bears.
Grab a box right here: 2013 Panini Golden Age

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