Buzz Buys: Mark McGwire ink, little patches, an NBA Big Shot, Star Trek, WWE stars, The Rookie, Michael Jordan & 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.

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BIG INK
The Card: Mark McGwire 2017 Topps Tier One Tier One Autographs (/30)
The Price: $45.75
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: For years, my only Mark McGwire autograph was one on a somewhat average-condition Oakland A's World Series team-signed ball that I found in an unusual way and got via a trade. (In short, it was sitting in a mug on co-worker's desk. He didn't know what team it was ... it was just his dad's ball that had been brought in for some reason. There it sat ... until I happened to pick it up and look. Then I picked up my jaw.) I added a similar and different item in recent years -- a bat -- and both pieces are 100-percent legit but without authentication. (That happened back in the day when teams signed items ... without merch deals and MLB Authentication around.) This time, though, I added a fresh McGwire release that's on both the rarer side and the cheaper side since the price was right (and dramatically lower than others out there for comparable cards). McGwire has always been a pricier auto -- he didn't sign much during his career except for very early on (before certified auto cards) -- and then became an Upper Deck guy after his record-setting years. Topps got him back in the fold in 2014 releases and he's also been in Panini stuff. I liked the price and the look of this one, which has him watching a homer from late in the 1998 season.
Grab a box right here: 2017 Topps Tier One baseball cards

Keep reading for more interesting items ...

EIGHT TIMES THE PRIME
The Card: A.J. McCarron, Jadeveon Clowney, Jarvis Landry, Jeremy Hill, Odell Beckham Jr., Aaron Murray, Donte Moncrief & Mike Evans -- 2014 Panini Absolute Tools of the Trade Eight Player Prime (/15)
The Price: $10
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: These eight-player mem cards maximize what you can find on a card pretty well and I had grabbed cards like this a few times back when they arrived but never had a patch version. Now that most of these players haven't panned out or are guys who are established but not real players on cardboard these days, it's a cheaper card. I've always been a sucker for Absolute, so I check these cards from time to time for some players. 
Grab a box right here: 2014 Panini Absolute football cards

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BIG SHOT ROB
The Card: Robert Horry 2018-19 Panini National Treasures Clutch Factor Signatures (/99)
The Price: $9
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: There was a time when Horry didn't have very many certified autos at all, but once he decided to sign (post-career) he's become more available and more affordable. I grab his ink with certain teams within certain price ranges and this one hits those marks -- it also doesn't hurt that it's an on-card sig from a premium-priced brand.
Grab a box right here: 2018-19 Panini National Treasures basketball cards

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TO BOLDLY GO TO THE SET
The Card: Chekov 2017 Rittenhouse Star Trek: Beyond Uniform Relics
The Price: $7.75
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This memorable cast member of the recent Trek films, Anton Yelchin, is no longer with us after a freak accident ended his life at age 27. I've never really chased much Trek ink -- though there is plenty for most everyone -- but the memorabilia cards are interesting to me as they haven't been massively over-done. This one notes specifically that it was worn by Yelchin, too, so that's a plus in my mind for the price. (There are a lot of ambiguously labeled movie mem cards out there.) This brand can deliver very well for the price with two autos and a mem/pin card in every box. 
Grab a box right here: Star Trek: Beyond trading cards

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FAMILIAR PHOTO
The Card: Ronald Acuña Jr. 2018 Bowman's Best 1998 Best Performers (BGS 9)
The Price: $9
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Cheap slabs for key young players always get my attention, especially in the off-season, and this is a prime example of that. It doesn't hurt that it uses the photo from his super-popular Topps Update RC, either, though the design here overwhelms that photo in comparison. This one has been slabbed just 20 times ... and it was a bit of a bummer to see that mine is the lowest of them all. I'm fine with nines, though, so that's why I grabbed it.
Grab a box right here: 2018 Bowman's Best baseball cards

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MELLA IS MONEY
The Card: Carmella 2016 Topps Heritage WWE Silver (/50)
The Price: $5
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: She's been an entertaining and top name in WWE for a few years now (in varying ways) and now she might be back in the title picture, too. This isn't a first NXT card but it's close (her only 2015 cards were in the higher-end Undisputed set) and it's a rarer parallel. It also looked that it could be slab-worthy, which is not easy at all for this brand. Fun facts here: She's the daughter of a former WWE jobber (enhancement talent to make the names look good) back in the day, a former New England Patriots cheerleader and also a former Laker Girl who was on the cover of one of its first calendars. (Does that count as a Rookie Card?) This card is also a reminder of how her character has come a long way in just a few years.
Grab a box right here: Topps Heritage WWE wrestling cards (all years)

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JUST KEEP LIVING
The Card: Shohei Ohtani 2018 Topps Living Set (BGS 9)
The Price: $9.99
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This is perhaps the most-iconic Topps Living Set card of the last few years. It wasn't the first, it isn't a record-holder for sales, but it was a very popular one. It's also a heavily graded one and I picked this one up awhile back since it finally dropped under $10 in this grade. I think he might have the kind of season that could re-ignite interest in his cards this year, too, as he's likely going to be back at the whole double-duty thing.
Grab a box right here: No boxes for this one but MLB boxes are here

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🎶20-20-20-FOUR CENTS OR SO ...
The Card: Richie Ramone 2018 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions Goudey Memorabilia
The Price: 75 cents
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: He's not the only member of The Ramones to appear on a trading card or in Goodwin -- in fact five of them have had card appearances. Joey Ramone, for example, had his only memorabilia card in the 2014 Panini Golden Age set. There have been appearances in 2011 Topps American Pie for the band as a whole and then Marky (2017 Goodwin) and Richie here. I know I have at least two of the three on mem cards and have the American Pie card in a stash somewhere, too. I'm a sucker for unusual card appearances like these and pick them off when cheap.
Grab a box right here: 2018 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions

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PERFECT DESIGN
The Card: Antonio McDyess 2018-19 Panini National Treasures Peerless Signatures Bronze (/25)
The Price: $4.25
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: I didn't even realize this was from the same set as the Horry card above because its design is so much different -- but it's close to a perfect look. It's also on the rarer side of things for a super-cheap price but not the kind of Luka Doncic-Trae Young mojo people are cracking open those wooden boxes to find. The design approach taken here should and could be done a ton more in any sport -- that's how much I think this works.
Grab a box right here: 2018-19 Panini National Treasures basketball cards

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PERFECT VINTAGE
The Card: Nolan Ryan 1980 Topps (PSA 7)
The Price: $12
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: No, the condition isn't perfect here -- that centering and slight snow derailed things -- but this card is a perfect one in my mind as it's got a perfect photo of a big-name star, a cleanly placed facsimile auto that doesn't junk up the card (and I generally don't like those) and I'd put up this banner-driven design against anything made in the history of Topps MLB cardboard. The poorer-quality stock/cuts are about the only things that can evoke complaints here outta me ... though some photos in the set can be stinkers. I've always wanted to find a high-grade raw copy of this card and slab it, but that's easier thought than actually done. The centering nails this one pretty bad ... otherwise it would look to be a stronger grade than that.
Grab a box right here: No boxes for this one but MLB boxes are here

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A CAREER IN SIX CLICKS
The Cards: Reggie King various 1980-85 Topps & Star NBA cards
The Price: About $11
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: I wouldn't expect many of you out there to know this former NBA player who was nicknamed "The Mule" in college, but he was the 18th-overall pick in the 1979 NBA Draft. I popped this here as a reminder of how lean and mean the collecting options are from certain times in the past. Six clicks made this happen -- and this is a career on cardboard save for a single police-issue card that's pretty obscure but not all that expensive. This is all he has other than that one card -- and that price is only where it's at because the Star stuff is a tad tougher to find ... so they'll cost you a little more.
Grab a box right here: No boxes for this one but NBA boxes are here

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THE ROOKIE
The Card: Jim Morris 2000 Team Best Rookies Authentic Autographs
The Price: $5.31
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Morris' story is the basis for the Disney film The Rookie, and his cardboard options are pretty limited despite making it to The Show for parts of two seasons. He only has about 30 baseball cards -- you'd think he could be a prime guy for products like Topps Archives -- but he does have six certified autos. This is his only MiLB auto with the rest coming from Upper Deck -- all of them 20 years old this year. Two of those cards are relatively rare parallels, too, with just 63 and 25 copies apiece. Morris' movie hit screens with Dennis Quaid playing him -- watch the trailer here -- less than three years after he made his MLB debut at age 35 in 1999. Morris played in a total of 21 games over two seasons, pitching 15 innings with 13 strikeouts and a 4.80 ERA.
Grab a box right here: No boxes for this one but MLB boxes are here

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BUZZ LET HIM IN
The Toy: "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt 2020 WWE Funko Pop! 
The Price: $14.99
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Cue the eerie music and drop the lights ... this WWE Shop exclusive is my oddball inclusion for this edition of the Buzz Buys series. He's here because this unique new character in wrestling is hopefully going to make his in-pack card debut soon and that could ignite some new interest here and there. The Fiend seems to be a march-moving machine and a viral one for sure with the weird segments always getting attention. He also has wrestled matches under red lighting in the ring ... so the background here felt correctly mis-matched compared to my normal backdrop. This toy was originally announced as an Amazon exclusive and it sold out fast there -- I'm not sure if there's some subtle difference between that one and this one only available directly from WWE. Card-wise, I'd keep an eye on his first few appearances as The Fiend or even as the more surreal childish Firefly Funhouse version of Wyatt. Both could be popular if you pull ink or rare versions.
Grab a box right here: No boxes for this one but WWE boxes are here

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RAZOR-SHARP JORDAN
The Card: Michael Jordan 1994 Upper Deck Minor League Baseball insert 
The Price: $3.24
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This was one of a few Jordan baseball cards that were a big deal back in the day. This one was an insert that was found in packs for the 1994 UD MiLB release, but he was not among the players in the standard set. I picked this one up because it was razor sharp and I'm a bit of a sucker for his baseball cards. I didn't notice that the card back has some foil residue from the vertical foil stamping of another card ... but I still might slab it at some point since that as that's the only issue here. I'm not sure how much that hurts the grade, though. Anybody know?
Grab a box right here: No boxes for this one but MLB boxes are here

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BUY IT SLABBED VS. SUBMIT
The Card: Ben McDonald 1990 Donruss Rookie Card (BGS 9)
The Price: $7
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This is one of those scenarios where I just decided to grab a slab rather than submit a freshly pulled copy to chase 10s. It's not easy to do ... and this was cheaper. Why? I always liked this card back when it arrived and he was a big deal as the No. 1 overall pick. If you're curious about the pop report as I was, there are only three copies of this card slabbed by BGS ... one checking in at 5.5 (ouch!) and one at a 9.5. Meanwhile, more than 14,800 cards from the set have been graded. Of those, just eight -- eight! -- BGS 10 cards exist. And, oddly, seven of those are Sammy Sosa Rookie Cards.
Grab a box right here: No boxes for this one but MLB boxes are here

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AN UNUSUAL LOT FIND
The Card: Leilani Kai 1985 O-Pee-Chee WWF Series 2 in-person autograph 
The Price: Pocket change
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: I recently picked up a small collection/lot of WWE cards since it included a number of earlier sets -- most notably the 1985 and 1987 sets that were the first and only in-pack wrestling sets for a long time. This O-Pee-Chee set was a couple cards short, but when I took it out of its pages, this in-person auto card was tucked behind a regular card in the pocket. This set was the home of her Rookie Card and she really doesn't have a lot of cardboard in general and, atop that, and this one is also interesting in that she's shown alongside WWE Hall of Famer The Fabulous Moolah. This former WWE women's and tag team champ isn't a pricey auto -- about half of all of her cards are certified sigs from just the last few years -- but it was a surprise in the midst of a simple oldschool lot buy.
Grab a box right here: No boxes for this one but WWE boxes are here

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