The Chicago Cubs' World Series championship has prompted plenty of memorabilia and, of course, with that success comes high demand and higher costs for companies to get players to sign.

That's the price of doing business.

But for Fanatics there's plenty of business -- and plenty of autographed memorabilia -- for Cubs fans to chase including high-dollar ticket items like this 12-baseball shadowbox as part of an impressive  and deep array of World Series memorabilia that might not have been seen before for a championship squad.

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The SI Curse went the way of The Curse of the Billy Goat -- and Sports Illustrated is taking advantage of it.

The Chicago Cubs' World Series win gets not one but four different covers for the long-running and long-collected magazine's commemorative issue -- and they're already available to order now in advance of their arrival on newsstands very, very soon.

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It's a simple piece of memorabilia, but it's one that's part of a collection lasting more than 60 years.

It's the cover of Sports Illustrated and Arnold Palmer graces the cover of the latest issue.

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Today is Sports Illustrated's birthday -- the first issue arrived today back in 1954 with baseball Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews on the cover -- but since we're in the here and now there's still a relatively collectable news nugget today.

Katie Ledecky, Michael Phelps and Simone Biles share the latest cover along wth their medal haul as of a few days ago, giving Olympic collectors something new to chase.

In case you missed it here on The Buzz, we've recapped how Ledecky has little cardboard, how Phelps has plenty of certified autographs and how Biles and her "Final Five" teammates have been heating up on cardboard.

The SI cover will be one of note for autograph collectors wanting something beyond a card or photo and it's an affordable option for a simple piece of Olympic memorabilia highlighting three of the nation's biggest stars so far in the Rio Olympics. It's Phelps' 13th SI cover appearance.

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"The Big Fundamental" has a big Sports Illustrated issue all to himself.

The long-running magazine has released a Tim Duncan retirement issue, which is available now for $12.99. A print of the cover also is available for $19.99 along with issues that can be purchased directly from SI.

A star for the San Antonio Spurs for 19 seasons, Duncan retired on Monday as a five-time NBA champ, a two-time league MVP, a three-time Finals MVP and a 15-time All-Star. His next stop will undoubtedly be the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

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Hey, Sports Illustrated ... what took you so long?

As legendary broadcaster Vin Scully winds down his 67-year run as the voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers this season, the 88-year-old Hall of Famer finds himself on the cover of a 62-year-old weekly (and highly collectable) magazine for the first time.

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The SI Cover Jinx is on. (Just kidding.)

Three notable quarterbacks taken in this year's NFL Draft will be found in their new uniforms on the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated in a series of solo covers.

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Sports Illustrated is paying tribute to Peyton Manning ... and you can collect them all.

The 104-page Sports Illustrated Peyton Manning Retirement Tribute Issue examines the life of the future Hall of Famer who retired after 18 seasons in the NFL on Monday, and it can be found with covers for all three of his stops as a nationally known player. There's one cover for the University of Tennessee Vols, one for the Indianapolis Colts and one for his time with the Denver Broncos.

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She may not be the champ, but she's still in big demand -- and that was enough for Fanatics Authentic.

Ronda Rousey is the latest exclusive athlete for Fanatics, the company announced on Thursday afternoon. She joins a roster that already includes Kris Bryant, Peyton Manning, Stephen Curry and Alexander Ovechkin.

"We’re really excited to partner with Ronda and create a collection of unique UFC memorabilia that caters to her widespread fan base,” said Ross Tannenbaum, President of Fanatics Authentic. "As one of MMA’s most-decorated stars, we couldn’t be more proud to add Ronda to our list of exclusive athletes."

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One of the challenges of collecting once you reach a certain level (either in years or cards) is how to keep yourself engaged in a hobby that can be full of obstacles.

Cost can be an obstacle. A limited number of releases including your player or team -- or scarcity of cards within those releases that are made -- can be an obstacle. A player retiring can be an obstacle. These aren't the only ones, either.

Once you have a certain number of cards for a player or a team, though, maybe it's time to consider adding to your collection in a few simple ways that are already around you. They can be just as challenging as cards, too.

Here are a few options ...

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It's February and that means that we're set for the Super Bowl and some mass-marketing from SI.com over the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

And in reality the hype for both already has begun.

The last time we saw Ronda Rousey, she was suffering the first loss of her UFC career. Up next she'll be in the annual issue for the second year in a row. More publicity won't hurt her already-in-high-demand cardboard. She's one of a long list of athletes to appear in the issue and part of an even longer list of models who appear on cards and have certified autographs and even memorabilia cards for collectors to chase.

For the traditional models, there actually were SI Swimsuit card sets released each year from 2003 to 2009 from Stellar Collectibles and then a later retrospective set. In those sets, we got autographs, memorabilia cards and even paint cards from photoshoots. Meanwhile, for many of the athletes who have appeared in the issue since, there are autograph appearances in sets like Topps' Allen & Ginter (and many other sets) where collectors can also sometimes find the models. Kate Upton and Chrissy Teigen have been found there for example, and they sell very well.

Here's a rundown of a few sports stars who we've seen in the issue.

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Buzz has spent a lot of the off-season watching MLB Network because there's plenty going on when it comes to transactions, baseball chatter and there's always time for documentaries.

And there's Intentional Talk, too.

But watching a lot of the Network also got Buzz wondering about autographs of many of the people on the air bringing the news to us. Many are former players who have certified autographs that were placed into packs of baseball cards -- but there are some who have far fewer cards than others. Who might cost you the most between Billy Ripken, Kevin Millar, Sean Casey and Peter Gammons? It might be surprising -- but the first challenge is to just find a signed card from some of them.

It's surprising that a card company hasn't attempted some type of card set focusing on the Network (signed or not). An unsigned set would immediately become a favorite of through-the-mail autograph seekers -- and probably a good piece of marketing for MLB, too.

Keep reading for a rundown of the MLB Network roster when it comes to certified autos ...

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If you've watched any NFL games this season, you've likely heard the word "concussion" many times as the league has implemented new tests on players to help prevent future problems by assessing the here and now immediately following a hard hit.

On Christmas Day, a film about the issue of concussions in football called Concussion opens in theaters. You've probably seen the commercials for the film during NFL games.

Will Smith stars as Dr. Bennet Omalu, who discovered the degenerative brain disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. It's a real-life issue that has affected more than 80 former players -- many you've seen on football cards and might have collected. The movie is an important one and Sports Illustrated has Smith on its cover this week to discuss the movie.

Is it the first time a celebrity has appeared on the cover of the highly collectable sports magazine?

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One of Sports Illustrated's regional covers for its 2015 College Football Playoff special issue will be reprinted after it misidentified the coach of the Michigan State Spartans.

Coach Mark Dantonio was incorrectly called Mike on the error version. A corrected version appears here.

Naturally, some collectors might wonder if there's a market for an error and variation combo like this.

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