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Minor league baseball cards from the past can include some weird stuff ... sometimes stuff you wouldn't imagine to be found on a baseball card. Here are some some new fun cards and oddities in this latest edition of MiLB Madness. 

98 DEGREES ON THE DIAMOND?
The Card: Nick Lachey 2009 TRISTAR Obak T212 Minis
The Buzz On This: His musical genre isn't on my radar, nor are the reality shows ... but the baseball card? Now we're talking. The pop star was among the ownership group of the Tacoma Rainiers baseball franchise (a Mariners farm team as you can see on the card) for about five years and that got him an appearance in this MiLB-celebrating oddity of a card set from TRISTAR. His 10 baseball cards in this release (this is one of the parallels) are all there are for him when it comes to sports cards ... unless the team snuck him into a set and nobody noticed. Obak is a fun one full of weird stuff and I've trotted some of them out in this series a few times ... and there will be more.

Keep reading for more examples of some weird or fun baseball cards (and other stuff) you can find in and around MiLB.

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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 9

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.

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From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and break down the results here. Like this and want to see more -- or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: 2013 Panini Cooperstown baseball cards (hobby box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (when available) -- see other baseball boxes here

Keep reading to see what can be found here and a gallery of highlights.

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