Seattle Sonics
Making the Grade (Jan.): Iconic moments, early autographs, legendary stars, vintage greats and more for a new year

Like many collectors, Buzz is a fan of grading ... so here's this month's grading diary.
MJ's MOMENT
The Card: Michael Jordan 2008 Goudey Hit Parade of Champions
The Reason Graded: This moment turns 35 this year and this insert card is one that ... came out of a box of baseball cards. It's a throwback to a 1951 set with stars from a little bit of everywhere in this Goudey version. These cards are smaller -- allowing for them to bounce around inside the wrappers -- but the only even close to deterring issue for grading with this copy was an irregular spot in the card stock itself ... but you can't even see it in this image. This finally made it into a grading submission of mine last year because it's an iconic moment for one of biggest names in sports history. The moment? This was Jordan's first championship.
The Grade: CGC 9Grade 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10 P10 Total Population 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 4 Reality Check: Behold! The worst of the four graded. Doesn't matter to me ... I just like the card and nines are fine.
Keep reading for more of this month's pick-ups and new slabs for Buzz.
Buzz Buys (Sept.): New oddball cards, vintage finds, Ozzy, Shotzi, Bo Bichette and plenty more of my usual suspects

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 ...
Former NBA All-Star Shawn Kemp is latest Panini VIP Party guest

There is reign in the forecast for Saturday night in Atlantic City, N.J.Panini America will guarantee that with the addition of former Seattle Sonics star Shawn Kemp as the latest guest at the company's much-watched VIP Party.
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