Buzz Buys: Legendary memorabilia, early football autographs, Tiger Mask, Kobe Bryant, Jerry Maguire, The Joker and more

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 ... and this time around there's a little bit of everything.

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RARE STUFF 
The Card: Addie Joss 2019 Panini Flawless Legendary Jumbo Materials Sapphire (/7)
The Price: Just under $80
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: I don't pony up this big for single cards all that often, but something grabbed my attention here. Actually, it was a mix of a few things (beyond just the price) for a Hall of Famer who only has memorabilia cards in only a few releases (Diamond Kings, Flawlesss, National Treasures) from just the last two years. First, price. Second, this one has a huge swatch and based on the look of it, I'd bet big money that the material came from a $12,426 pair of game-used pants sold by Lelands in late 2017. Third, Joss played just nine years -- 1902 to 1910 -- won 160 games in that span and fell ill in spring training the following year and died at age 31 from tubercular meningitis so it's not some decades-later coach-worn piece. (Learn more about his career here  -- and there's a ton more here that's also interesting.) For memorabilia and cardboard, there's just not much to go around for him and my gut feeling about this one's price felt even better when I checked eBay completed sales to see easier versions of this card pushing $200. With the price of those pants -- and the fact that there are no known jerseys out there beyond anything hanging out at the Hall of Fame per the auction house -- there could be fewer jumbo cards like one this made in the future and a finite volume of memorabilia cards in general for this notable name from the past. I'd grab 'em while you can if you have any interest.
Grab a box right here: Panini Flawless (all years)

Keep reading for more interesting items ...

RAZOR-SHARP THROWBACK
The Card: Ryan Leaf 1998 Topps Autographs
The Price: $15
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This card just jumped out at me when I saw it -- it looks like a high-grade specimen and a flawless card save for some minor back-corner spots and some very slight ink flow lightness on the "L" in his sig. You'll see this one in a slab in a future Making The Grade piece for sure as it's a classic card from, yes, a notable NFL bust. He's been entertaining at times as a college football analyst for ESPN -- he'll admit the whole bust thing now in Tweets (even to me) -- and, well, I'm not landing a high-grade copy of this card for That Manning Guy. (Way too pricey there.) I was way too busy with school back then to dig in hard chasing Leaf or Manning stuff back in the day, but I knew people who saw him play in-person then and witnessed his story as a high-schooler. There have been plenty of ups and downs, too, which only make his career even more interesting. To me, Leaf is an autograph to own in NFL history.  
Grab a box right here: Newer NFL boxes are here

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TIME TO SHINE (AGAIN)
The Card: Henry Ruggs 2017 Leaf Metal U.S. Army All-American Bowl Purple Autographs (/25)
The Price: $18
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This former Alabama star ran a 4.27 40 at the combine this year -- the fastest -- and figures to be a high pick in this year's NFL Draft. (He should figure to be an in-demand player on cardboard, too, as a likely first-rounder.) New draft picks sets are just arriving or getting close, so there will be more to come, but awhile back I grabbed this early card for him from the annual prep All-Star event since it was on the rarer side and cheaper. (Not the best photo here, but it was first.) We'll see how all the new cardboard looks soon.
Grab a box right here: Leaf U.S. Army All-American Bowl (all years)

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LEGENDARY BARGAIN
The Card: George Mikan 2009-10 Playoff National Treasures All-Decade Yellow Printing Plate (1/1)
The Price: Around $7.50
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This premium-brand Hall of Famer printing plate was released in a later release -- something that might hurt the plates' appeal -- but for the price I still jumped on it. This Minneapolis Lakers center was one of the first big stars in NBA history averaging a league-leading 28.3 points a game in 1948-49 and 27.4 and 28.4 a game (also both league-leading) in his next two seasons. He played just seven seasons, retiring at age 31, but was a four-time All-Star and a member of five championship teams. He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1959 and was among the league's NBA at 50 team's players, too. Meanwhile, he was priced like Tyronn Lue. 
Grab a box right here: National Treasures (all years)

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WHY SO SERIOUS?
The Card: The Joker's Philosophy -- 2019 Cryptozoic DC CZX Super Heroes & Super-Villains
The Price: About $5
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: I'll admit I overpaid for this card from a high-end release (I grabbed it early vs. waiting) and I had an eye on slabbing it as it's one of few cards showing Heath Ledger in the classic role -- easily the best of all Batman movie performances if you ask me and perhaps (likely) for all comic movies, too. This set is strong as it has many DC movies all in one place -- a big plus in the long-term unless Cryptozoic does it again and again and again -- and for a lot of people (well, at least me) the movies are a primary way of checking in on the characters vs. comics and TV/cartoons that are out there. That makes these cards appeal more than others -- and The Joker has plenty. A small surface spot issue nixed my elite-grade visions here -- at least that was my gut feeling/first impression -- but I think some key actors' singles here could sell well in high-grade slabs.
Grab a box right here: Cryptozoic DC CZX Super Heroes & Villains

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DOUBLE DRAFT
The Card: Julio Jones & Mark Ingram 2011 Panini Limited Draft Day Player Combos Materials Prime (/25)
The Price: $11.50
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: New examples of this kind of card will be coming soon with the NFL Draft next month. I've picked off one of these players often in the various sets like this -- Ingram as he's cheap -- but decided to get one of his teammates, too, as this was not an awful price for a patch version. It's not the flashiest card but mem cards of this type are oddly more appealing to me than the Rookie Premiere memorabilia cards.
Grab a box right here: Newer NFL boxes are here

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ODDBALL KOBES
The Cards: Kobe Bryant 2017-18 Panini NBA Hoops 
The Price: Pocket change
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Ignore my attempt at showing the front and back here ... I thought I'd try it and I failed. (And I put my cards away after my assembly line photo session and didn't shoot it the regular way.) After the news of Bryant's untimely death, I only picked up a few cheap cards for him -- samples of a few where he's shown in his draft night Charlotte Hornets cap. There aren't many of them and these are really different in my mind -- and they are often far cheaper than they probably should be given their unique circumstances. I added a few details about what Hornets cards he has in a past piece right here if you're curious about others. This is from a simple 10-card subset within the regular set that year so it should be cheap.
Grab a box right here: 2017-18 Panini NBA Hoops 

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NOT IN THE DRAFT ... AND TIME TO BUY?
The Card: Najee Harris 2017 Leaf Metal U.S. Army All-American Bowl Blue Autographs (/50)
The Price: A couple of blasters 
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This guy's autograph isn't the greatest -- that's why I waited to grab one until this past season after a huge game -- but with all of the talent his Alabama team has lost this year a good showing in this coming campaign could have him among really serious draft-pick chatter this time next year. He could have been a strong pick this year, anyway, after a 13-TD, 1,224-yard season, but those stats figure to potentially be even better as his team will look a lot different in the season to come as he's a go-to player who might get the ball even more.
Grab a box right here: Leaf U.S. Army All-American Bowl (all years)

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LEGENDARY SWATCH
The Card: Michael Spinks 2014 Panini Golden Age Museum Age materials
The Price: Less than $4
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This boxing legend and former Olympic gold medal winner is like a lot of guys from the past in his sport -- he doesn't have much cardboard. In this case, nearly all of his cards are found in this product and that includes autos and memorabilia cards. A lot of those mem cards don't look like this, though, and I grabbed it for the price and the swatch, which looks like it's probably from some embroidering on a robe. This is his only memorabilia card, too, from a set that's heaviest on baseball but includes a lot of, well, everything. I didn't need it ... I just liked it.
Grab a box right here: Newer MLB boxes are here

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LEGENDARY INK
The Card: Tiger Mask 2019 Topps Allen & Ginter Full-size Autographs
The Price: $15
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This Japanese wrestling icon was one of the surprise inclusions in packs of Allen & Ginter last year, and, while it was a bummer to me that he didn't sign minis, (I'm a big fan of those) I knew I was grabbing one of these. I waited to see if I could find a good price and pounced on this one not long ago. Active eBay auctions for the few still out there are carrying prices between $50 and $100 so it still feels like a solid deal. For those who don't know, Tiger Mask is a long-running character that's been brought to life by several wrestlers and Satoru Sayama was the first. He was also the only star to be the WWF junior heavyweight champ and NWA world junior heavyweight champ at the same time. His matches vs. the Dynamite Kid in and around 1982 were legendary in that time and are still very impressive -- check out this one ... and remember that's from 1982.
Grab a box right here: 2019 Topps Allen & Ginter

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... GOTTA WEAR SHADES
The Card: Lowell Palmer 1970 Topps (BVG 7)
The Price: Under $5
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This vintage card is perhaps best remembered for the dark sunglasses Palmer wears and in last year's Heritage set Topps revisited it with collector/pitcher Pat Neshek's card as an homage. I never grabbed a copy of this one in the past -- it's just this version, so there's no chase -- but when I saw it in a slab with a respectable grade for a vintage card at a really modest price (less than half of what it would cost me to slab one if I had one), I bit. Even better? It's one of just two copies of this card graded by BGS and both are this grade. (This was slabbed 10 years ago!) Simple cards with simple stories are always worth a look in my book.
Grab a box right here: Newer MLB boxes are here

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COMMISH CAMEO
The Card: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar & David Stern 1985 Star
The Price: About $8
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: The former NBA Commissioner who helped transform the league never had a whole lot of basketball card appearances despite 30 years in the role -- literally a handful and some of those are even really cameos on other peoples' cards. This is among his earliest appearances, so I grabbed it considering how clean it looks -- and the price was quite a bit lower than others were after his death on Jan. 1. Star worked him onto cards a few times in its NBA run and this same image was used on a card the previous year. Stern's only cards of his own were from Panini around the time of his induction into the Hall of Fame in 2014.
Grab a box right here: Newer NBA boxes are here

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YEP, ANOTHER SIGN THE DRAFT IS COMING
The Card: Trevon Diggs 2016 Upper Deck USA Football Autographs
The Price: Under $2
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: His big brother is Minnesota Vikings star Stefon Diggs and he could end up playing there, too, as one ESPN analyst predicted he could go with the 25th pick in this year's NFL Draft. This card appears here more as a reminder that there are USA Football cards as well as U.S. Army All-American Bowl cards to consider, too, for a lot of new prospects. Diggs also had ink in the 2015 release (no parallels just standard autos for both) but this one was good enough for me for the price. Cheap dabbling works every time.
Grab a box right here: Newer NFL boxes are here

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AUSTIN 3:16 SAYS ... WHAT?
The Card: The Hollywood Blonds 2016 Topps WWE Undisputed Tag Teams Blue (/25)
The Price: About $1
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This is not the Steve Austin you are probably used to -- this is "Stunning" Steve, not "Stone Cold" -- and it's one of only a few times that you can find him with hair on a Topps WWE card along with his past tag team partner, Brian Pillman. In fact, these are the only cards that I know of from Topps for the team. I grabbed it for the chuckle-factor here -- that hair! -- but the price for a card limited to just 25 copies wasn't bad, either.
Grab a box right here: Newer WWE boxes are here

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'DO YOU KNOW THE HUMAN HEAD WEIGHS EIGHT POUNDS?'
The Card: Jonathan Lipnicki 2017 Leaf Pop Century Autographs 
The Price: $3.25
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This autograph is one of the classics that can be found in Pop Century -- and that is the home of the only cards ever made for this former Jerry Maguire star who turns 30 this year. (Feel old? He was around five back then.) The kid might not have stolen the show in that one -- Cuba Gooding Jr. did -- but they were all part of a classic sports film. I can't say I know Lipnicki from anything else, but his list of credits is actually quite meaty in both TV and film and he's had a few award-winning roles, too.
Grab a box right here: Pop Century boxes (all years)

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A THROWBACK
The Card: Paul "Bear" Bryant Sports Illustrated Aug. 15, 1966
The Price: About $15 (shipped)
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This magazine has been around since 1954 -- with copies of Topps cards on paper sheets in the first issue -- and it's been one that's been targeted by collectors in many, many ways since then, too. Some people out there try to get issues autographed by the cover subject, while others look to grab those showing stars from their teams or schools. I've never really chased them -- too many for my niche -- but this one got my attention since it was cheap and appeared to be in solid shape for the era. (Typically price tags can get too lofty in the case of some stars' early appearances -- and I'm pretty sure this is this legendary coach's first cover.) I popped this one here as I'm aiming to work in some non-traditional (or at least non-card) items from time to time to offer some of you some alternative collecting ideas for fun. Here's a thought ... with new ownership for this publication and plenty of controversy, you have to wonder how long it might last as a magazine. It has always been a huge photography showcase, which is a plus as visual appeal equals collectable items, but if its story comes to an end, there could be more people looking for key issues with key names more than ever. Just a thought.
Grab a box right here: Football boxes are here

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