Buzz Buys: USA Baseball game-used gems, more Muhammad Ali, vintage Neil Armstrong, WWE and AEW star ink & 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 it's a mix of hits and basics.

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A SMALL USA BASEBALL GEM
The Card: Tony Zych 2009 Upper Deck Signature Stars USA National Team Premier Materials Cap Flag Patches (/4)
The Price: Under $10
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: USA Baseball products have some types of hits you just don't see elsewhere and they aren't all one-of-kind creations, either. Zych was still a college player here but he did make it to The Show for three seasons with the Mariners but he's ultimately not why you see this one here -- it's because it's a unique patch from a cap that's a small version of a larger chase that USA sets are known for. This USA crop in this particular release is stacked between all of the USA ink and mem cards and a strong list of names who have made MLB. Other players with cards like this one in those cheap boxes? Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Trevor Bauer, Gerrit Cole, Sonny Gray and Kolten Wong. There are 27 players with these cards, though not all have four copies. Either way, this one is a gem to me as I have always had a soft spot for prime USA stuff. Why? Because I've actually pulled some -- they're far from impossible finds and they're not from high-end boxes price-wise.
Grab a box right here: 2009 Upper Deck Signature Stars

Keep reading for several more interesting items ...

A PIECE OF THE GREATEST
The Card: Muhammad Ali 2011 Leaf Metal Ali Material Event Worn Silver Prismatic (/70)
The Price: $17
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: The memorabilia cards for Ali are seemingly available out there, though normally not this cheap. You can typically expect to pay around $25-30 (or more) for an Ali where I typically shop depending on the type of swatch in the card. They note event-worn, training-worn or fight-worn material from the few Leaf sets -- and they're all gems to me as Ali stuff can easily impress. (Hopefully not just me.) I previously landed one of his rarer mem cards and jumped on this one when I saw its price. 
Grab a box right here: Boxes are gone but you can find other sports' boxes here.

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HE'S NOW APPARENTLY CURSED ... MY BAD
The Card: Brandon Nimmo 2019 Topps Heritage Mini parallel (/100)
The Price: $7.75
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Not long ago, I sort of talked up this guy's stuff after last season (17 homers) but clearly I've cursed him as he's hit just .200 in 43 games this year and is battling injury issues right now. My bad. I'm a bit of a sucker for Heritage Minis because they are rare and from a product with a pretty wide print run that includes these cards in both retail and hobby making them even tougher to land. I don't think I have pulled any Minis this year but I did pick this one up earlier this season -- it's probably been all downhill from then. Again, my bad. I still like the simplicity of this card, though.
Grab a box right here: 2019 Topps Heritage 

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COLLECTING KIT
The Card: Lori Petty 2008 Donruss Threads Baseball Americana Position Materials (/100)
The Price: Just under $3
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: A League of Their Own has a number of notable names and characters as part of the Rockford Peaches roster, but Kit Keller -- well, Lori Petty at least -- is the only one to appear on a baseball card, sign autographs and have memorabilia cards in the same release. (She has signed for a few sets though the years.) If you're a regular reader then you know I pick cards off from these sets (regular insert, autos, mem) from time to time as it's got a pretty good crop of baseball movie actors in it. 
Grab a box right here: No boxes of this one left ... see MLB boxes here, though.

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AN ANNIVERSARY IS COMING
The Card: Neil Armstrong 1969 Topps Man on the Moon 
The Price: About $3
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: With the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing coming up later this month, I finally satisfied my curiosity about this card by grabbing a low-grade copy that at a glance looks pretty good on its white borders but does have creasing and scratch issues on the surface. I'm fine with how it looks for the price and would want to grab a slabbed one at some point -- but even decent-grade raw copies can have stiff asking prices despite it being a set issued more than once in 1969 and 1970. Want a sign there's even more interest with this card and the first man to walk on the moon as that anniversary nears? Parallel versions of this card's reprint from the 2013 Topps 75th anniversary set have sold for more than $50 raw and $100 graded on eBay.
Grab a box right here: No boxes on this one these days ... but non-sports boxes are here.

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A BIG USA BASEBALL GEM
The Card: Julio Borbon 2007 USA Baseball Patriotic Patches (/20) 
The Price: $24
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: The serial-numbering here is misleading. Each player had just 20 Patriotic Patches cards that year but only No. 1/20 had a full USA flag patch, flying as it appears heading into battle directly from a game-used uniform sleeve. These patches were found a few times per case (it was a pretty big case) that year, but the flags are tougher to find. There are some big names in this year's USA set -- Clayton Kershaw, Brandon Crawford, David Price, Freddie Freeman and Matt Harvey among them -- but I picked up this one more due to the price than the fact that Borbon did make it to The Show. You can find lesser names for cheaper prices as prospectors who might have landed these have just moved on from guys whose playing days are over. I like them enough to pick them off when close to blaster-priced.
Grab a box right here: None of these sets are in stock now ... but plenty of other USA Baseball sets are.

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AN OLDSCHOOL ROOKIE
The Card: Andre Agassi 1991 NetPro Tour Stars (BGS 9)
The Price: Less than $2
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This is his Rookie Card from a relatively obscure release from way back in the day -- one from a brand that didn't get revived until 2001 after a three-year run in the 1990s. It's Wimbledon month so I figured I'd grab one considering the ridiculous price for this slab. One reason it's so cheap? Unless it's a typo in the pop report, there are somehow more than 2,700 copies of this card graded -- just over 1,000 in this grade and more than 1,300 9.5s. Pete Sampras' card also is heavily graded (about 1,200 copies). Meanwhile, the entire product only has about 4,200 cards graded. Do that math and it's a two-card show -- and I'd bet they were graded for a company's product in the past or to sell somewhere. There aren't a ton of tennis sets out there in general, but I had never seen one of these in person ... so I picked it up. I really just thought you needed to see all that hair and the headband.
Grab a box right here: No boxes of this one -- tennis boxes can be found here

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HALL OF FAME MEMORABILIA
The Card: Joe Sewell 2018 Panini National Treasures Relics (/99)
The Price: $12.25
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: I was a bit surprised to see this Hall of Famer on a memorabilia card but I grabbed it since it was on the cheaper side (I'm all about that) and it fit some personal collecting criteria for me. There's a reason I hadn't seen a mem card for this guy before as this is from the year where his first cards of that type arrived. He's only got mem in three Panini brands and just over 30 cards. Most of those cards are in National Treasures but also has appearances in 2019 Diamond Kings and 2018 Panini Flawless. He's got an interesting career, particularly what led to his call-up and that event's place in MLB history, and you can read more about him here.
Grab a box right here: 2019 Panini Diamond Kings

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GAME-USED LETTERS
The Card: Ryan Weber 2008 Upper Deck USA Baseball Teams 18U National Team Letters (/5)
The Price: About $11
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This guy also made the majors and is in his fifth campaign this year -- a Red Sox player now but a Brave, Mariner and Ray in the past. This card carries a full letter from one of his game-used jerseys from his USA stint -- the final letter from his nameplate as it's 5/5. There are not five R's -- just five letters in his name. Like the flags, I've pulled a few of these in the past and I'll pretty much pick these off when they get this cheap. I don't look for them often, but jump on them when priced like this.
Grab a box right here: None of these sets are in stock now ... but plenty of other USA Baseball sets are.

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IT'S WNBA SEASON ...
The Card: Chamique Holdsclaw 2001 Fleer Ultra WNBA Feel The Game
The Price: Under $1
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: No, this isn't a certified autograph card of the former Tennessee star but it sure looks like one. Panini's takeover of the WNBA license means we'll see new cardboard soon and this one is a throwback to two companies ago when Fleer was in charge of the women's game. I've pulled a few good hits -- autos and mem -- from the Rittenhouse years, so I'll give WNBA a glance when the box prices are right ... just to add to my autograph stash that has some big names in it already from affordable past boxes. I wasn't sure if I had actually pulled any mem cards from these Fleer years so for less than a dollar I grabbed one.
Grab a box right here: WNBA boxes are right here.

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THE BRIDE OF CHUCKY
The Card: Jennifer Tilly 2006 Razor Poker
The Price: Under $1
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: All those Child's Play reboot commercials got me wondering about the prices on cardboard for one of the franchise's past stars. You may not remember professional poker being a big cardboard trend more than a decade ago -- certified autos a big driver in a few releases -- and one of the celeb inclusions in a few of those sets is Tilly. She's also got autos in Poker releases as well as in Family Guy Season 2 and 2008-09 Champ's hockey sets. I'll pick one off eventually but I didn't see one with an ideal combo of design and auto quality for the price I liked ... not yet at least. I grabbed one of these for now with the possibility I might throw it in a grading order and gamble on a high-grade result. Why? A chuckle. (No, not Chucky, chuckle.)
Grab a box right here: Poker boxes (and a NASCAR release with poker inclusions) are here when in stock.

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AN UNDERPRICED PICK-UP
The Card: Steve McNair 1995 Flair RC (BGS 9.5)
The Price: $7
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This card seemed underpriced for its grade, especially for a Rookie Card of a guy who came from a small school and made a mark in the NFL. He was the third pick in the 1995 NFL Draft out of Alcorn State and was the 2003 NFL MVP during a 13-year career that included 31,304 passing yards, 174 passing TDs and 37 more on the ground. He played in one Super Bowl and was a three-time Pro Bowl player. He retired in 2008 and died at age 36 a decade ago today. I liked this card because the design includes nods to both college and pro levels and the grade is strong. In fact, no copies of the card have graded higher. There are 17 9.5s out of 36 copies graded. He has a lot of RCs -- and others probably look better than this -- but Flair was popular back in the day.
Grab a box right here: No boxes of this one ... but NFL boxes are here.

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COULD BE A BIG MONTH ...
The Card: Bray Wyatt 2015 Topps WWE Undisputed Autographs Black (/50) (BGS 9/10)
The Price: $16
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: We still haven't seen the in-ring return of this unique competitor who has traded in his Cape Fear-esque persona (that shirt and fedora) for something more like Mr. Rogers meets Slipknot meets some Zombieland or maybe Tucker & Dale. We'll see and know more how it all might work once he's in the ring soon. Google "Firefly Funhouse" to see his recent videos re-introducing him to the world -- they've been talkers. (My money says he arrives at this month's pay-per-view.) He's always been unique and he may stake ultimate ownership of that in today's WWE with his new look. Even Newsweek has gotten in on the viral chatter about what might be coming here. I grabbed this awhile back but this seemed like the time for it to be presented here -- it's one of his rarer cards from about 150 autos without a rarer-card price.
Grab a box right here: No old Undisputed but you can find WWE boxes here -- and he's signed a lot, too. 

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UNUSUAL CARDBOARD?
The Card: Don Mattingly 1986 Renata Galasso Don Mattingly The Hit Man
The Price: Under $3
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This oldie is from a set that focused on the life of Mattingly who was coming off an American League MVP award at this time and was one of the biggest names in the game. This set includes baby photos, Little League photos, high school photos, a wedding photo and then plenty more of the typical stuff you'd expect to see. This unusual card caught my attention because ... check out this story (albeit from well after this card). We don't see wives or girlfriends on cardboard often -- even though they might sell well, especially in this Twitter-driven viral age where more than a few reality shows can showcase them. I'd bet MLB licensing would nix something like this now for likeness rights alone but also since you never know what might make a league not look good down the line. This is a different and affordable set -- even for cards in slabbed form.
Grab a box right here: No boxes of this one ... see MLB boxes here.

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AN ALL-ELITE RARITY
The Card: Kenny Omega 2018 Leaf Metal Sports Heroes Kings of the Ring Pink Autographs (/7)
The Price: $22
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This one might have been an in-the-moment purchase during a recent All Elite Wrestling pay-per-view event. I paid a little more than I might have had it not been so low-numbered but I didn't have any ink for this internationally popular wrestler I'm just starting to see more of via the new WWE-rival promotion. Since it's rarer, I figured why not and picked it off. He doesn't have a ton of ink -- fewer than 40 autos and all from Leaf Trading Cards. Even better? Most of them are serial-numbered and low volume like this one.
Grab a box right here: 2018 Leaf Metal Sports Heroes

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