Buzz Buys: I am Groot, vintage Topps proofs, Stranger Things & WWE ink, a NASCAR icon, Japanese baseball stars & more

Buzz buys and busts a lot of boxes right here for Buzz Breaks, but one of my goals just might be to rip fewer blasters this year 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. Would they capture yours? I'd be interested to know -- sometimes they might, sometimes they won't and that's fine. It's a buyer's market out there with plenty of options and bargains as well as high-end gems to chase.

So, with all that said, here are a few Buzz Buys ... and this time around they're a little pricer than my normal pick-ups.

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I AM GROOT ... 
The Card: Groot 2018-19 Upper Deck Marvel Annual sketch card -- artist: Poognasty (1/1)
The Price: $21.25
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: I did a double-take when I saw the detail of this sketch card in comparison to its price. While sketch cards can get super cheap these days -- even for full-color comic sets -- that's often due to quality of the work. This one seems like it was seriously underpriced. Groot is one of the more unique characters in the Marvel universe these days, though he's more of a merch machine in his child years vs. adult years seen here. Either way, this one was striking and I had little hesitation picking this one up. That's easily the most I've spent on a sketch card but it's by far my best one, too.
Grab a box right here: 2018-19 Upper Deck Marvel Annual (when available)

Keep reading for a dozen more interesting items ...

UNIQUE HIGH-GRADE VINTAGE
The Card: Red Schoendienst 1974 Topps -- 1989 Topps Auction blank-back proof (BGS 9)
The Price: $19
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This one also jumped off the screen at me with its combination of age, grade and price but it's a small detail on that slab that makes this one even more notable. This card was from the 1989 Guernsey's auction of the Topps archives -- a landmark sale even decades before the Topps Archives of today existed. Also sold back in 1989 at this event? The original paintings used to make the 1953 Topps set. This Hall of Famer's piece is far closer to being in my budget than those. As a normal card, this one isn't pricey at all but the grade makes it an interesting one. A BGS 9 for those years is a very tough grade to pull off and this is the highest of the three copies of this card that are slabbed. The others check in at 5.5 and 3.5. Over on the PSA report, just 58 have a 9 grade and two are 10s out of nearly 250 graded. This one, of course, had a different path in life but it's still a razor sharp card. 
Grab a box right here: No boxes of this one but MLB boxes are here

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NOT MY STRANGEST BUY
The Card: Priah Ferguson 2019 Topps Stranger Things 2 Orange Autographs (/99)
The Price: $12.75
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This 12-year-old had some funny moments in the second season of Stranger Things and was one of the top characters in the newest season with a Die Hard air conditioning duct homage and plenty of one-liners that demolished her castmates at times. I picked this one off during my Season 3 binge thinking it could be a fun card to have later if she goes on to big roles in the future. The stock on these cards, especially the color parallels, can show off flaws as it's on the softer side -- these will make for tough grades -- but I still felt like grabbing one.
Grab a box right here: Both Stranger Things series boxes can be found here

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END OF THE RIOTT SQUAD ... MEAN A NEW BEGINNING?
The Card: Liv Morgan 2018 Topps WWE Women's Division Silver Autographs (/50)
The Price: $18.25
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This young WWE star was part of a fun three-star faction that's been disbanded and she will be returning soon with a new persona. The antics of the heel group she was in ranged from traditional wrestling to slapsticky backstage promos as a group -- and they are funny to follow on social media accounts at times, too -- but what's coming next could be interesting since she's not been a solo act since being promoted to the main roster. I picked this one up before the solo development since it's on the rarer side and it shows her with her more recent look. She's been on cards for a few years but the photos have often lagged behind the current stuff. 
Grab a box right here: 2018 Topps WWE Women's Division

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PLENTY OF INK
The Card: Tyler Skaggs 2013 Bowman Chrome Rookie Autographs
The Price: $1.78
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This Angels pitcher's untimely death at age 27 on July 13 was a shock to the baseball world and it led to one of the most-memorable games of the year when his team took the field all wearing jerseys with his name and number on the back and recorded a no-hitter. Skaggs signed a lot of autographs in his prospect and RC years, so I picked one up. I wasn't sure if I already had one or not.
Grab a box right here: 2013 Bowman brands are here

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HALL OF FAMER FOR HOW MUCH?
The Card: Billy Williams 1961 Topps RC (PSA 2)
The Price: $15.70
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This Hall of Famer isn't a super-pricey one -- even for this, his Rookie Card -- but the price was right at the moment I looked. It might be overpriced, too, as a PSA 4.5 has sold for as low as $12.50 on eBay earlier this year (oh well), but his card also looks a little better than a PSA 2 at a first glance. (That's probably what got me.) More than 3,000 copies of this one have been graded by PSA but only 23 are in this grade. Even fewer have graded lower. (The most-common grade is a PSA 7.) The eBay high? Somebody paid $475 for a PSA 8 in June. Williams is a Hall of Famer you can collect on a budget for both vintage cards and his autos. This is a perfect example of that.
Grab a box right here: No boxes of this one but MLB boxes are here

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NOT OFTEN SLABBED ...
The Card: Yu Darvish 2005 BBM Rookie Edition Promo (BGS 9.5)
The Price: $21
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Well before this guy suited up for the Texas Rangers or any of his other MLB teams, he was a member of the Nippon Ham Fighters and this product was where one of his Japanese Rookie Cards could be found. BBM made plenty of this series -- even Buzz has opened a box in the past and pulled the Darvish RC -- but this one is a little different and, again, that slab and the price got me to notice. While there are more than 120 copies of this standard card in this set graded (that one has a green RE logo on the front), this is one of just two promo versions of the card found in BGS slab. (According to the pop report, the other has an incorrect back, making this one a pop 1/1.) I don't exactly know the origin of this promo, but it might have been from a copy of Sports Card Magazine, which BBM supported in the past and it always had a promo-card presence. I'm not sure if this card is all that rare but the other BGS 9.5 is on eBay with an asking price of $69.99 ... so I feel pretty good about my buy.
Grab a box right here: No boxes of this one but MLB boxes are here

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BIG SWATCH, SMALL PRICE
The Card: Shohei Ohtani 2018 Panini National Treasures Colossal Rookie Materials (/99)
The Price: $7.90
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This card seemed like a fun pick-up for the price considering that a year ago Ohtani was all the rage in MLB -- and he's still playing pretty well in this follow-up campaign to his Rookie of the Year season. National Treasures sets often have simplicity in their design but a few more touches than, say, Immaculate, so I look at memorabilia card options there from time to time -- more for Hall of Famers, but the price was right on this one. Fun fact: While he's got around 1,300 autographs and 4,430 total baseball cards, he's got fewer than 700 different memorabilia cards.
Grab a box right here: National Treasures boxes (all sports, all years)

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MEMORABLE INK
The Card: Jared Lorenzen 2004 Bowman Chrome Rookie Autographs 
The Price: $4.99
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: The Hefty Lefty was a star for the Kentucky Wildcats before his short NFL career, but it was his recent death at age 38 that got me wondering about his cardboard since I knew I didn't have any. This was one of a couple autographs I picked up for less than $5 -- this one being his Chrome auto and another showing him in his Kentucky uniform. Lorenzen only appeared on about 150 cards and not even a third of those were autos despite being a relatively high-profile college name (though he went undrafted). He was a member of the Giants' Super Bowl winner in 2008 but only played in four games his entire NFL career.
Grab a box right here: No boxes of this one but NFL boxes are here

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A PIECE OF THE KING
The Card: Richard Petty 2006 Press Pass Legends Racing Artifacts Gold (hat) (/99)
The Price: $3.66
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: His NASCAR race victories record won't ever be touched, so he'll always be The King, but he could end up second on the career season championships list if Jimmie Johnson grabs one more before he's done. I hadn't ever grabbed a memorabilia card for Petty, though I have met him and pulled autographed cards in the past so this one was a no-brainer for the price. Also cool? It's a card with a piece of one of his famous hats and, in fact, the swatch appears to be from it band of snakeskin rather than the standard fabric, making it extra cool.
Grab a box right here: Check out NASCAR boxes

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A FIRST FOR ME
The Card: Mike Singletary 1988 Pro Set Test 
The Price: $7.25
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This Hall of Famer was the first NFL player that Buzz ever met back in the day and this is a promo card testing the design for the first football card set that I seriously collected because of its availability, its having plenty of variations and big cards to chase and because it was part of a game-changing year for NFL collectors. This promo set has gotten pricier in the last decade or so and I always passed on these, figuring there might be some stashed out there that could lead to cheaper prices. That hasn't happened. Yes, the corners on this one are weak but so was my willpower when I grabbed it.  There are a number of of differences between this design and the final one used for the first Pro Set release -- but the most-dramatic ones might be on the card back.
Grab a box right here: No boxes of this one but NFL boxes are here

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A REMAKE OF A FIRST
The Card: 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings 2010 TRISTAR Obak Black parallel (/50)
The Price: $2.75
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This is the first pro baseball team on the first baseball card -- a re-built homage to the advertising piece issued by Peck & Snyder back in the day. TRISTAR included this card in one of its Obak sets after it purchased one of the originals and showed it off it at card shows. With the 150th anniversary of the team being this year, this squad has been seen on a few cards in Allen & Ginter and will probably be seen again. The parallels for this Obak card are for the ink colors on the back, which uses the same design as the original card.
Grab a box right here: No boxes of this one but MLB boxes are here

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MINOR-LEAGUE MEMORABILIA? YEP ...
The Card: Jonathan Papelbon 2008 Choice Lowell Spinners game-used card
The Price: $2.25
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This is something you don't see every day -- a memorabilia card that was part of a MiLB team set. Collecting MiLB sets, which can ultimately be very rare in compared to stuff in packs, is an overlooked niche for top prospects so that gets me to look from time to time. I grabbed this cheap card of an established MLB player from the past simply to say I had one -- I was surprised to see that it existed.
Grab a box right here: No boxes of this one but MLB boxes are here

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Follow Buzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz or send email to BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com. 

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