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. 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 the biggest roundup ever (in volume, not price).

--

A UNIQUE SURPRISE 
The Card: Tony Gwynn 2015 Panini Immaculate Collection Collegiate Memorabilia (/99)
The Price: $16.25
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: It took me a while to find one of these (only casually looking), but this card of the Baseball Hall of Famer is one of a few that show him in his other sport, basketball, which he played at San Diego State. His estate auctioned off a number of game-used pieces and other memorabilia in 2015, generating more than $217,000 partly going to the Tony and Alicia Gwynn Foundation to help kids in need. His first Aztecs basketball uniform went for $11,858 in that SCP Auctions sale and the buyer was Panini America. These cards aren't all that plentiful in this release -- and they certainly aren't the only place the swatches went as there are just 99 standard cards and a second one limited to five copies with a much larger prime swatch. The follow-up release to this one had a few more, including prime cards, and he also had posthumous autographed cards (stickers) showing him in his basketball uniform in a National Treasures release. Spoiler alert: you'll see one more of these here at some point.
Grab a box right here: 2015 Panini Immaculate Collection Collegiate (when available)

Keep reading for more ...

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Big pulls, collecting goals for 2020, a beginner talks grading and more.

Continue reading →

What: 2020 Panini Diamond Kings baseball cards
Arrives: April 29 June 10
Box basics: One autograph and one memorabilia card per 12-pack box (24 boxes per case)
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: Diamond Kings will take to the field once again with an insert in every pack and plenty of notable names from the past and present inside, too.

Keep reading for more and a full gallery of images.

Continue reading →

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The pack: 2019 Topps Mini baseball cards
First Buzz preview: Click here
Where to buy: Click here when available (only initially offered via Topps.com)

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Nothing but new breaks and pulls from around the collecting world in today's edition.

Continue reading →

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: 2019 Panini Elite Extra Edition baseball cards (blaster box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (for hobby)

Continue reading →

The box is simple and oldschool -- and the play might be, too.

It's the home of Topps 52-Card Baseball, a new release from Topps that was created by ESPN's Kenny Mayne and his uncle, Bud.

"Remember back when you didn’t have electronics or smart phones and you invented games and played them for hours and hours with your uncle? Probably not. But then you never met my uncle Bud and didn’t live right where I did," read an intro from Mayne. "Too often these days we’re all a little guilty of being in the same room with friends and family and engaging only with a device we hold in our hands. This game is different. It’s a chance to connect with the people in our lives and the sport many of us love."

Continue reading →

Panini America revealed on Thursday that it's looking toward blockchain ... next month.

They will be "the first officially licensed trading cards featuring blockchain technology," according to the company, and Panini Blockchain will showcase 100 notable players from the past and present into a release that will pair the technological to a physical card as well. They will arrive on Jan. 6 with a first wave of releases and each of the cards will be a 1/1 sold via Panini's site in U.S. funds only.

“We were very thorough and a number of factors were considered in selecting the players that will be released in our Panini trading cards that utilize blockchain technology,” said Mark Warsop, CEO of Panini America, in a prepared statement. “There is not a more iconic trading card than the rare 1909-11 Honus Wagner T206 baseball card. To be able to produce the first-ever Honus Wagner blockchain card, along with all of these other players utilizing blockchain technology and ensuring that these cards will now live forever in the digital realm, is truly an honor.”

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Chasing new Zion Williamson cards, pondering value of grading, Panini Prizm developments, new Star Trek breaks and more in today's edition.

Continue reading →

What: 2020 Panini USA Baseball Stars & Stripes baseball cards
Arrives: March 11
Box basics: Five autographs or memorabilia cards per five-pack box (20 boxes per case)
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: Next year's USA Baseball release will once again include a mix of past and present players' autographs, memorabilia and more with some new touches.

Keep reading for more as well as a full gallery of images.

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: One Topps Mini pack with not one, not two, not three but four 1/1 parallels, the future for prospects and other big pulls in today's edition.

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Madison Bumgarner heads to Arizona, Corey Kluber packs for Texas, big pulls, even more Zion Williamson cardboard and checking in on the historic Houdini Superfractor pulls thread.

Continue reading →

Game-used collectors have been seriously spoiled since the arrival of the MLB Authentication program back in 2001 (I'm one of them), but there are still items that are fully authenticated that require more research for their full story to be known.

This is one of those pieces.

Sometimes, items can't be photo-matched to photos or videos because there are no obvious features or personalized touches that can make them stand out from others. However, for my final item of the year in this Collecting Game-used series, I present to you an item that I recently found that needed a little more research despite it having the coveted MLBA sticker -- but it has those obvious features. In fact, it's a piece that has so many unique features that I was able to track those touches and decipher its lifetime of use. (Well, at least as much as one can without official word from a player to know their uniform habits or info from an equipment manager, who would have been responsible for inventory and replacement of pieces when requested.)

In the case of this Cleveland Indians batting helmet, it was authenticated merely as a "team-issued" piece by MLBA in April 2014. However, the obvious use it shows is from continued play and a distinct lack of maintenance and cleaning (as likely requested by the player). It turns out to be from the entire previous season -- and that was a successful one for the team as it made it to the postseason for just the third time during the 2000s at that point. This helmet's grass, chips, impressive layers of pine tar and other marks can be documented in photos before it was taken out of storage and into collector hands.

Keep reading to see the details ... and the item in action.

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Big pulls from recent NFL, MLB and non-sports breaks (Star Wars, Stranger Things and a high-ender) and more.

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Big break highlights, bargain-hunting, Bowman Draft Sapphire and a talker of a thread.

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: New breaks -- big and small -- as well as Panini Prizm, collectors react to a new type of NFL scandal and ... players who you thought were good but were not.

Continue reading →

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The pack: 2019 Topps Mini baseball cards
First Buzz preview: Click here
Where to buy: Click here when available (only initially offered via Topps.com)

Continue reading →

Have you seen the latest cool cards from a new release? With so many options for collectors of all kinds arriving every week it's possible you haven't. That's where Buzz comes in -- well at least on one brand you'll see here from time to time in what we're calling Buzz's Pick Six. Simply put, here are six cards from a new arrival that seemed interesting to this collector and we think they might interest you, too.

This week's list: Six 2019 boxes that I'd rip (or maybe even stash) right now ...

--

SAFETY IN NUMBERS -- AS IN A BOATLOAD OF ROOKIE CARDS
The Box: 2019 Topps Update Series Baseball Jumbo Box
The Price: Click here
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This year's rookie crop is a strong one -- and there might be more potential than the 2018 class that sparked serious interest in this release last year. It was seemingly plentiful all year long and then poof -- the rocketship took off. This year's isn't super-cheap (right now) but some of that fuel seemingly has gone to Series 2 since it has earlier cards for a couple of high-profile guys -- Series 2 is pricey and surprised me -- but this one has some of those guys' cards as well as a number of others. Topps Chrome also seems to have some very good potential in my mind, too, but these jumbo boxes include a ton of stuff and the chances you get at parallels and other stuff here - in volume -- put this one at the top of my list. (And if you're on a budget and don't want to swing hard on this one -- you might look for blasters of Series 2 and Update both here and at retail ... those can still be found. These won't last as long as those, though.)

Keep reading for five more interesting items in this week's roundup ...

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Anthony Rendon heads to the Angels, Prizm NBA breaks, big pulls and more, including a Superfractor sighting.

Continue reading →

What: 2020 Topps Tier One baseball cards
Arrives: June 5
Box basics: Two autographs and one Relic per box (12 boxes per case)
Checklist: Click here
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: This hit-driven brand hits the field for another season with new players, new inclusions and more all in one spot in a hits-only release.

Keep reading for more as well as a full gallery of images.

Continue reading →

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: 2019 Topps Chrome Update baseball cards (mega box)
Checklist: Click here
Where to buy: Click here

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Gerrit Cole chooses the Yankees and big pulls from MLB and NBA breaks rule the day.

Continue reading →

What: 2019 TRISTAR Hidden Treasures Diamond Stars autographed baseballs
Arrives: Jan. 29
Box basics: One autographed baseball per box (12 boxes per case)
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: TRISTAR's autographed baseball chase brand takes the ink into the new year with a number of notables and rare legends' ink all in one place.

The biggest chase of them all this year? Keep reading for that and a gallery of what's in this one.

Continue reading →

Have you looked at your 2019 Bowman Draft card backs yet?

It's fine if you haven't -- we know you're busy looking for the new big names, their colorful Chrome parallels and, of course, their autographs -- but there's always one part of this Bowman release that can surprise with either basic stuff one might not know (since the players are new to cardboard) or some downright trivial things that mean nothing when it comes to the field of play.

It's those "Up Close" blurbs that are worth a look.

The card of top pick Adley Rutschman actually has one of the simpler and more straight-forward items on his card. He's not one of those cards who drops references to Fortnite, Taylor Swift, Coke vs. Pepsi, Chick-Fil-A, Game of Thrones or even an interest in nuclear engineering. One card even notes a top prospect who had a specific walk-up song at age 10 ... what were you doing at that age?

Let's take a look at the backs of some 2019 Bowman Draft baseball cards ...

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Nothing but highlights from breaks in today's edition.

Continue reading →