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 ...

A FIRST FOR ME ...
The Card: Bo Bichette 2022 Topps Chrome Logofractor Edition Blue Refractor (/150)
The Reason Graded: If you're a regular reader, then you know that Bichette is perhaps my leading active player who I collect (casually ... as he's expensive). That means I dabble merely with what I like, what's a bargain and so on. In some cases, I'll grab a striking color of parallel or an appropriate shade from a certain brand that stands out from the rest and this Blue parallel fits right there along with this being a Logofractor parallel. Why did I grab this and then slab it? Well, the price was right (under $10 during the season) and it was one of few centered copies I saw and it was one that avoided a possible pattern gap in the logos that seemed to land on his cards often. When I grabbed this, it also became my first COMC pick-up to go directly to CGC for grading while all in their hands rather than starting out in mine.
The Grade: CSG 10

Reality Check: It came back with an ideal mark, which is what I had hoped for, though you never know with surfaces of cards ... that's about the only big risk of buying/subbing stuff there at the moment other than corners, which should be a smidge more obvious on screen -- but not always. My total cost for card and grading here? Under $24 and it only took about a month to get it back. That's a move I've actually done a few times late last year as my goal of sending in some new stuff for slabbing didn't happen on the card side of things before 2023 had ended. There will be plenty more in 2024 -- cards, comics, coins magazines ... and more.

Keep reading for more of this month's pick-ups and new slabs for Buzz.

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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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FINALLY LANDED HIM
The Card: Roger Maris autographed 1975 Topps MVPs card (PSA/DNA authenticated)
The Price: About $200 less than I figured it would cost me
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: For several years now, something on my want list for when I'd head to The National was to find a clean and slabbed Maris autograph of some sort. They're rare but not impossible as the former single-season home run champ who hit 61 homers in 1961 died in 1985 just as doing autograph shows was about to truly explode for past players. Had he died a decade later he'd probably be an easy autograph to find -- or at least an easier one -- but still in high demand. A typical signed and slabbed plain 3-by-5 card of him typically was around $500 when I was looking in the past and I've seen many of them but that was still a little too much to swing for me if I wanted to keep shopping while at a show. Signed and slabbed cards from his career are often a lot pricier depending on the condition of the card and the year ... some are quite impressive and many are not having been signed in ballpoint pen. Like pretty much everything, prices on his autos have jumped in the last few years but I still had been looking for something like this ... and then one day late last year I woke up and checked emails to see this one on the block with a buy price that made it an instant grab. It's not a perfect card, it's not a mangled card ... but it was an affordable one for me as it's a lesser card from just after his career ended (last cards as an active player were in 1968). As a bonus to me, he's seen alongside pretty much the other player I actively collect from the era ... but his auto is easy to find. I've crossed a big one off my want list.
Grab a box right here: No boxes of this one ... but MLB stuff is here

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