From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post 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 packs: 1981 Topps Giant (New York Yankees & New York Mets home series) baseball cards
Where to buy: Will take some looking ... hit BlowoutCards.com for newer MLB cards

Keep reading for a breakdown and gallery for what was in this one.

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I can't match this gamer to any specific play, but that's not why it's totally appealing.

This month's item in my Collecting Game-used series is my second -- but not my last -- piece of on-field history for the traveling road show and pop culture phenomenon that is the Savannah Bananas baseball team.

What does that mean? Think baseball meets a circus with side helpings of Zubaz-era WWF and some Talladega Nights-style NASCAR bombast -- but with game rules even quirkier than both. (For a taste, click that link.) It fits perfectly in my game-used collection for my player, former World Series winner, MLB All-Star, first-round draft pick and Moneyball standout Nick Swisher.

Keep reading to see the details this time.

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What: 2025 Topps MVP Collection baseball cards
Arrives: TBD
Box basics: Five encased cards (/99 or less) & one auto or Relic (/75 or less) per box
Checklist: TBD
Odds: TBD
Order: Click here (when live)

What's buzz-worthy: This year's MLB MVPs, Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, team up for a high-end release on the way soon from Topps.

Keep reading for more info.

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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. 

THE DUO FROM DURHAM
The Cards: Tim Robbins & Susan Sarandon 2024 Leaf Vivid Strike a Pose & Colorful Combos Autographs Clear & Prismatic Pre-Production Proofs (both 1/1s)
The Buzz On This: One of the favorite baseball films of many, Bull Durham has popped up in a few spots in a few baseball and non-sports sets from Leaf Trading Cards in recent years. These blank-back proofs are test runs for the series where this baseball set included autographs from some other baseball-related areas. There are varying colors and textures in play, so all cards are a 1/1 of that type but there are multiple versions. That has softened prices on these, but I like them and have picked up a number of them for very little. Why? I'm a collector.

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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What's Buzzing: The Dodgers and Yankees in MLB postseason chatter, awaiting Topps NBA, NFL Week 5 and four-time league MVPs.

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1 -- Talking the Dodgers and the postseason ...

2 -- MLB threads are here

3 -- Running down a list of four-time league MVPs

4 -- NFL Week 5

5 -- Topps NBA discussions

6 -- Cam Schlittler makes a little history + more Yankees reactions

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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.

What's Buzzing: Cam Schlittler makes some Yankees and MLB history, NFL Week 5, Topps NBA and more in this Friday edition.

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1 -- Cam Schlittler makes a little history + more Yankees chatter

2 -- MLB threads are here

3 -- NFL Week 5 is upon us

4 -- Topps NBA reactions 

5 -- Showing off some Disney Chrome sketch cards

6 -- Inside a high-end NBA case

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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.

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

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GOING FOR THE GOLD
The Card: Shotzi Blackheart 2022 Panini Select WWE Gold Wave Prizm (/10)
The Price: Around the price of a blaster box at arrival
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This brand is my favorite of the Panini years for WWE, and in the case of this star who I collect I have seemed to found her rarities on the affordable side at times with this release. This is a perfect example of that with it being one of the rarest parallels in there but it cost me not much more than the price of a retail box. It was arguably underpriced, so I grabbed it quickly when I spotted it. Will I grade it? It's a possibility, though this release's centering issues can create some surprises (that aren't totally surprises) as I found out with a different parallel of this card. Poke around in Making The Grade last month for an example.
Grab a box right here: WWE cards are here.

Keep reading for more interesting items ...

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What's Buzzing: Modern vs. vintage, talking Aaron Judge, fake cards, Big Dumper, little details and more in this Sunday edition.

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1 -- A modern vs. vintage question 

2 -- Talking the Yankees ... and talking Aaron Judge

3 -- All about the details?

4 -- Watch out for allegedly fake cards

5 -- Still talking Big Dumper

6 -- All your NFL chatter as the season nears

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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.

Via @tristar1 ... Bo Jackson

This year's National Sports Collectors Convention is nearly here -- it's set for July 30-Aug. 3 in Chicago with a strong roster of autograph guests ready to sign for collectors who get a ticket and get in line for their moment beyond the ballpark.

Some signers are free if you attend the VIP reception on opening day of the show or buy a VIP ticket package -- a bonus for taking the time to hit every day of the show -- but landing other signers will take some planning and a few bucks.

It's tough to see everything at The National -- it's that big -- and the time it takes to work through autograph lines is valuable in that it impedes your shot at seeing it all. But, if you have wanted to meet a player and get that ink, a number of past and present stars are on the list this year. With that said, here are my picks -- skewing toward the best names for the lowest prices possible -- to grab off the autograph list during the full days of the show this year. (Keep reading for the full signers list at the end ... and, remember, times are always subject to change.)

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Auction Buzz is a monthly look at some of the variety found out there on the auction block ... check 'em out.

It's going to be a busy second half of the year for Dallas-based Heritage Auctions with a number of regularly scheduled events as well as some showcase auctions with high-profile stuff all on the calendar. This time, we look at a few things from a few active sales this month.

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DARK KNIGHT IN DEMAND
The Item: Batman tin robot with original English box (Nomura Toys, 1966)
The Price: $5,250 after 29 bids (ends July 11)
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This vintage Japanese toy is a foot-tall prime piece of pop culture with an obvious 1960s feel yet with some aspirations of something more for the future -- it's a battery operated tin toy and it's complete with its Adam West-styled box and fabric cape. This one is "an iconic fusion of superhero flair and vintage tin toy charm" per Heritage and it's one of two known styles -- this one has the serious face and one with the switch button in red. Heritage calls this "a standout from the golden age of Batman collectibles, blending Japanese craftsmanship with Gotham nostalgia."

Keep reading for more interesting pieces up for grabs right now.

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Ichiro Suzuki’s 2001 MLB arrival didn’t just change the game on the field — he helped feed growing international demand for baseball cards via plenty of new premium brands that helped pave the way for the ultra-deluxe stuff of today.

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A legendary career and baseball journey on two continents makes its final stop this month in Cooperstown, N.Y., and the Hall of Fame and there’s a lot that can be said about that in several directions. 

Ichiro Suzuki changed the game with his arrival in MLB, eschewing the longball in favor of speed and hits — lots and lots of hits. But, “hits” are also the story of all those years when it comes to baseball cards with the prized rarities found in packs with autographs on them — or pieces of memorabilia in them — being an unstoppable force in those years. 

Of course, hits didn’t start with the Japanese star’s arrival, but many of his cards in sets alongside another now-legendary 2001 rookie, Albert Pujols, helped change the cardboard world even faster. Demand for their stuff prompted several new brands from several companies making MLB cards back then to try new things, capitalizing on their new stars who could move packs and boxes of cards -- just like they could move players around the bases and move butts into seats to watch games. One could argue that 2001 was in part a big piece in the evolution of what we see in today’s sports card landscape -- a focus on rarities with small print runs and with premium prices that weren’t like the wax paper-wrapped pocket-change treasures of not that many years before. 

Now, what’s to come here is absolutely not a definitive list of top cards — and it’s not one purely based on volatile values or one limited solely to Rookie Cards. Why? There’s a lot to choose from for Suzuki on all fronts — there could be several ways to take on this challenge. He has more than 50 different Rookie Cards between his 1993 Nippon Professional Baseball and 2001 Major League Baseball debuts (depending on how you want to argue about RC definitions) and he had roughly 500 cards in 2001 alone. Many of them are rarer cards where it is impossible to own them all thanks to small print runs and rare serial-numbered versions. 

In all, he appears on more than 19,000 different cards made over the years between NPB and MLB -- and even though his playing career ended in 2019 his cardboard career has not. He’s got a place in the game in seemingly every new baseball card set on the way and that figures to be the story for the rest of cardboard eternity. He’s not just a Hall of Famer … he’s an international icon.

Here’s a small sampling of 25 Ichiro Suzuki cards that are both fun and notable.

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It's a ball that had a short life in The Show, but the one bit of contact was worth it.

This month's entry in the Collecting Game-used series is another that came to me via a blind grab bag where all I knew was the date of the game -- that's pretty much my bargain-bin way of hunting these days -- and yet this was another win. The star player this time? Current New York Yankees ace Max Fried -- though this one from before he put on those pinstripes and is from a game from last season.

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

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What: 2025 Leaf Bronx Legacy baseball cards
Arrives: Sept. 2025
Box basics: Four "premium hits" per box (10 boxes per case)
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: Leaf's brand documenting New York's premier baseball franchise arrives for a third time with the biggest legends in the history of the game and so much more to be found.

Keep reading for more info and a full montage of cards released so far.

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With these Ticket Stud or Ticket Dud stories I'm turning just a tiny bit of that energy just a few degrees away from cards (we'll still have plenty of them here) for a different kind of cardboard. What am I doing? Simple ... this is an occasional dip into some random ticket lots -- a show and tell showing something small with a story.

This time? A game from this week -- but back in the day -- in New York.

Keep reading to see the details this time ... and tell me if you think it's a Ticket Stud or a Ticket Dud.

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If you're one of those baseball collectors who's been all about the anime, this one's for you.

Buzz was busy today adding a bunch of cardboard to the preview gallery for the forthcoming 2025 Bowman release (click here to see all of those and order your boxes), but this one -- all 30 cards in the 2025 Bowman Anime insert set -- gets its own standalone.

Why? These baseball cards are unique and they're a popular style of artistic card inclusions from a few companies in a few sports in recent years. This time there are 30 standard cards for stars of the past, present and future -- and then four Japanese icons will have Kanji Variations to find as well.

You can learn more and see the 30 standard cards after the jump.

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What's Buzzing: The New York Yankees' torpedo bats, MLB pulls and chatter, WWE, LeBron vs. Stephen A. Smith and more.

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1 -- Talking Yankees torpedo bats

2 -- More MLB chatter here

3 -- WWE chatter as Mania nears

4 -- Make it stop?

5 -- New pulls in the baseball section ...

6 -- Still talking Heritage High Number

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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.

What: 2025 TRISTAR Hidden Treasures New York Pinstripes Autographed Baseballs
Arrives: April 30
Box basics: One autographed baseball per box (12 boxes per case)
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: TRISTAR's Hidden Treasures brand hits the diamond for another year with its focus on one of MLB's most-historic franchises, the New York Yankees.

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What's Buzzing: 2025 Topps chatter, Wembanyama, WWE chatter heading toward Wrestlemania, hot takes and ... the Yankees beard rule?

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1 -- Inside a 2025 Topps case

2 -- Yankees beard rule reactions

3 -- Hot takes on the health of the hobby and more 

4 -- The Rock wants Cody Rhodes' soul ... Chrome WWE chatter

5  -- Victor Wembanyama reactions

6 -- Still talking 2025 Topps

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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.

What's Buzzing: NFL chatter, a printing plate pulled years later, 2025 Topps and more in this one.

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What's Buzzing: The Dodgers win the World Series, more MLB chatter, Allen & Ginter pulls, NBA discussions and more.

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What's Buzzing: The World Series is here, Topps Update breaks, Judge vs. Ohtani and more in this Friday edition.

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The MLB postseason has already had its share of moments with big names attached ... and as promised here's a second gamer with some big names attached.

This month's ball in the Collecting Game-used series is the second 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 a pair of teammates now with the New York Mets and a pair of All-Stars. 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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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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What: 2024 Leaf A Bronx Legacy Series 2 baseball cards
Arrives: Nov. 15
Box basics: Four "premium hits" -- at least two autographs -- per box (10 boxes per case)
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: Leaf follows up on last year's look at New York's biggest baseball team with a second series packed with the biggest legends in the history of the game and plenty more.

Keep reading for more info and a full montage of cards released so far.

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With these Ticket Stud or Ticket Dud stories I'm turning just a tiny bit of that energy just a few degrees away from cards (we'll still have plenty of them here) for a different kind of cardboard. What am I doing? Simple ... this is an occasional dip into some random ticket lots -- a show and tell showing something small with a story.

This time? A big night for one rookie six years ago tomorrow night in The Bronx.

Keep reading to see the details this time ... and tell me if you think it's a Ticket Stud or a Ticket Dud.

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