Auction Buzz is a monthly look at some of the variety found out there on the auction block ... check 'em out.

It's going to be a busy second half of the year for Dallas-based Heritage Auctions with a number of regularly scheduled events as well as some showcase auctions with high-profile stuff all on the calendar. This time, we look at a few things from a few active sales this month.

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DARK KNIGHT IN DEMAND
The Item: Batman tin robot with original English box (Nomura Toys, 1966)
The Price: $5,250 after 29 bids (ends July 11)
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This vintage Japanese toy is a foot-tall prime piece of pop culture with an obvious 1960s feel yet with some aspirations of something more for the future -- it's a battery operated tin toy and it's complete with its Adam West-styled box and fabric cape. This one is "an iconic fusion of superhero flair and vintage tin toy charm" per Heritage and it's one of two known styles -- this one has the serious face and one with the switch button in red. Heritage calls this "a standout from the golden age of Batman collectibles, blending Japanese craftsmanship with Gotham nostalgia."

Keep reading for more interesting pieces up for grabs right now.

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What's Buzzing: Pondering the future for some new MLB pitchers, The Miz, Aaron Judge, The National and more.

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1 -- Pondering futures for MLB pitchers

2 -- The (MLB) Miz is awesome

3 -- Talking Aaron Judge

4 -- Ripping into Topps Series 2

5 -- Thoughts on a blind-bag comic ...

6 -- All your National chatter

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Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.

Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.

Minor league baseball cards from the past can include some weird stuff ... sometimes stuff you wouldn't imagine to be found on a baseball card. Here are some some new fun cards and oddities in this latest edition of MiLB Madness. 

ONE MORE DURHAM NOD ...
The Card: Steve Dalkowski 2009 TRISTAR Obak T212 Minis Green (/25)
The Buzz On This: This set isn't one limited to MiLB players per se -- it's more about the history and oddities around baseball at every level in every direction -- and it's not one issued in team sets, either. But, this card popped up in my digging for unique and different stuff with a story and, well, this one has it. Dalkowski is a legendary minor-leaguer whose powerful arm -- and unruly control -- inspired Bull Durham creator Ron Shelton to create Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh. How unruly was he? As an 18-year-old in Class D- Kingsport in 1957 he struck out 121 batters in 62 innings. He also walked 129 while recording a 1-8 record in 15 games. That's 17.6 Ks per nine innings and 18.7 walks per nine. The next season, he went 4-10 with a 7.63 ERA, striking out 203 batters in 118 innings and walking 245. The final stats, though not complete due to it being MiLB and being way back in the day, are impressive. You can find his only MLB card in 1963 Topps among the higher-numbers (despite never actually pitching in MLB) and basically his cards in this release are the only other option. He was slated to sign certified autos for it, too, but they were never completed. This one will always be an add for me if I see them.

Keep reading for more examples of some weird or fun baseball cards (and other stuff) you can find in MiLB.

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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: 2024 Leaf Metal Signature Series Multi-sport 1/1 Pre-Production Proofs
Where to buy: Click here for other Leaf Metal boxes

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery for what was in this one.

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What's Buzzing: New Marvel Chrome pulls, inside an "insane collection," MLB All-Stars, Caitlin Clark, The National and ... investment talk?

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1 -- Highlights from some Marvel Chrome

2 -- Showing off an "insane collection"

3 -- Still talking MLB All-Stars ... and snubs

4 -- Caitlin Clark cardboard chatter

5 -- Would you?

6 -- All your National chatter

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Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.

Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.

What: 2025 Topps Archives Signature Series baseball cards
Arrives: Aug. 6
Box basics: One encased and numbered buyback autograph per box (20 boxes per case)
Player list: Click here
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: Topps' long-running brand arrives once again with "a curated lineup of autographed buybacks — each one a piece of hobby history reimagined."

Keep reading for more.

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Ichiro Suzuki’s 2001 MLB arrival didn’t just change the game on the field — he helped feed growing international demand for baseball cards via plenty of new premium brands that helped pave the way for the ultra-deluxe stuff of today.

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A legendary career and baseball journey on two continents makes its final stop this month in Cooperstown, N.Y., and the Hall of Fame and there’s a lot that can be said about that in several directions. 

Ichiro Suzuki changed the game with his arrival in MLB, eschewing the longball in favor of speed and hits — lots and lots of hits. But, “hits” are also the story of all those years when it comes to baseball cards with the prized rarities found in packs with autographs on them — or pieces of memorabilia in them — being an unstoppable force in those years. 

Of course, hits didn’t start with the Japanese star’s arrival, but many of his cards in sets alongside another now-legendary 2001 rookie, Albert Pujols, helped change the cardboard world even faster. Demand for their stuff prompted several new brands from several companies making MLB cards back then to try new things, capitalizing on their new stars who could move packs and boxes of cards -- just like they could move players around the bases and move butts into seats to watch games. One could argue that 2001 was in part a big piece in the evolution of what we see in today’s sports card landscape -- a focus on rarities with small print runs and with premium prices that weren’t like the wax paper-wrapped pocket-change treasures of not that many years before. 

Now, what’s to come here is absolutely not a definitive list of top cards — and it’s not one purely based on volatile values or one limited solely to Rookie Cards. Why? There’s a lot to choose from for Suzuki on all fronts — there could be several ways to take on this challenge. He has more than 50 different Rookie Cards between his 1993 Nippon Professional Baseball and 2001 Major League Baseball debuts (depending on how you want to argue about RC definitions) and he had roughly 500 cards in 2001 alone. Many of them are rarer cards where it is impossible to own them all thanks to small print runs and rare serial-numbered versions. 

In all, he appears on more than 19,000 different cards made over the years between NPB and MLB -- and even though his playing career ended in 2019 his cardboard career has not. He’s got a place in the game in seemingly every new baseball card set on the way and that figures to be the story for the rest of cardboard eternity. He’s not just a Hall of Famer … he’s an international icon.

Here’s a small sampling of 25 Ichiro Suzuki cards that are both fun and notable.

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What's Buzzing: MLB All-Stars (and snubs), collecting Tom Brady, Jazz Chisholm Jr. cards, The National and more.

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1 -- Talking MLB All-Stars ... and snubs

2 -- A thread back from the dead

3 -- Collecting Jazz Chisholm Jr. 

4 -- A Luis Ortiz issue?

5 -- Showing off Tom Brady cards

6 -- All your National chatter

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Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.

Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.

What's Buzzing: Showing off rare Tom Brady cards, pondering the best year for NBA cards, wondering how many "true" collectors there are and more in this Sunday edition.

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1 -- "How many true collectors are there?"

2 -- Showing off Tom Brady cards

3 -- "What's the best year in the history of basketball cards?"

4 -- Some new old baseball breaks here

5 -- Showing off Independence Day parallels

6 -- All your National chatter

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Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.

Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.

What's Buzzing: Old NBA boxes, Caitlin Clark cards, MLB chatter, The National and a pair of comic book topics.

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1 -- Still sitting on old NBA boxes?

2 -- All your MLB matters

3 -- Talking Caitlin Clark cards

4 -- Collecting Rogue & Gambit covers

5 -- What about the back covers of comics?

6 -- All your National chatter

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Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.

Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.

Simply put, this one is all about the best of the best.

Baseball's global icon and living legend Ichiro Suzuki takes his spot in the National Baseball Hall of Fame later this month in Cooperstown, N.Y., and just one piece of all that's to come with his history-making day is Baseball America's special issue that's precision-crafted with a little bit of everything inside when it comes to Japan's greatest player and an icon among the elite in MLB history.

The Ichiro Baseball America Hall of Fame Commemorative is 50 pages of full-bleed retrospective splendor that showcases all of the memorable moments, rarely seen photographs, historic analysis, other memories and stories from yesteryear, thoughts from opposing pitchers and, of course, it's even got some baseball cards inside.

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What's Buzzing: A Clayton Kershaw question, Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr., The Miz and more in today's edition.

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1 -- Clayton Kershaw and the 3,000-K Club

2 -- All your MLB matters are here

3 -- Checking in on the Aaron Judge chatter 

4 -- Talking The Miz in MLB

5 -- Still legit

6 -- The National chatter is heating up

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Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.

Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.

What: 2025 Onyx Rips baseball cards
Arrives: July 29
Box basics: Eight autographs per 16-pack box (four boxes per case)
Checklist: Click here
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: Onyx Rips hits the field for a sophomore season with a selection of young MLB stars and a bunch of promising prospects in the mix with autos in every other pack.

Keep reading for more info and a gallery of images.

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It started as a simple idea for some summertime filler breaks ... but this old pack turned out to be a reminder of something else to consider.

It's a 1993 Bowman jumbo with 22 cards inside -- 20 of them being shots at a Rookie Card for New York Yankees icon and Hall of Famer Derek Jeter as the big find. Jumbo packs also include a pair of foiled cards from the 708-card set that doesn't include a single thing otherwise.

It's all gas, no breaks -- at least if base cards are your thing.

There are no insert cards, no parallels, no hits ... just cards (a few with foil, but nearly all without). The only chase beyond landing your specific wanted name here are the RCs -- there are almost 200 names in the set (27.5 percent of it to be precise) being a first-year MLB card appearance.

So ... what did I find this time?

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What's Buzzing: NBA stars on collectors' minds, MLB, The National and more in this one.

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1 -- Will Giannis end up elsewhere?

2 -- All your MLB chatter is here

3 -- The Shai thread ... 

4 -- New pulls are popping here

5 -- Talking 2025 Topps Chrome

6 -- The National section is open

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Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.

Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.

Here's this month's roundup of items that have recently caught my eye as a buyer ...

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RETRO RECORD-HOLDER
The Card: Roger Maris 2014 Panini Classics Home Run Heroes Jerseys (/25)
The Price: $30
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: I ponied up a little bit for this one vs. my typical range for Maris mem cards since it's a rarer card, has a material (jersey/pants) swatch vs. a bat and is from a brand that packed a lot of potential for big names back in the day. Yet, at the same time, that price was a bargain. Yes, its centering is just slightly off, but otherwise it's clean -- that errant spot on the right side is part of the printed design on all cards here. It was an easy addition for a player I collect and pick off stuff for a few times a year. Those top corners are really clean on this one, which might not always be the case with those bold colors.
Grab a box right here: Nothing for this ... but MLB cards are here.

Keep reading for more interesting items ...

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What's Buzzing: Chrome, Dave Parker, NFL collusion, new wrestling cards, The National and signed books are today's topics.

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1 -- Talking 2025 Topps Chrome

2 -- An NFL issue?

3 -- Collectors remember Dave Parker

4 -- Wrestling cards are on their minds

5 -- Checking in on the signed books section

6 -- The National section is open as the show nears

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Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.

Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.

Like many collectors, Buzz is a fan of grading ... so here's this month's grading diary.

AS GOOD AS IT GETS
The Card: Caitlin Clark 2024-25 Panini Instant WNBA (/26,980) -- Rookie Card
The Reason Graded: I watched and waited for the most part with Caitlin Clark cards as Panini Instant stuff arrived regularly and her in-pack WNBA Rookie Cards arrived later in the year. But, when this award-winner card popped up with a clean and iconic studio photo? Well, I pretty much instantly (pun not intended as it's simply true) grabbed a 10-pack with an eye for a slab. It's in a past Buzz Buys (hit the archives) and this is the result a few months later.
The Grade: CGC 10 (Pristine)

Reality Check: This one is heavily made and should be heavily slabbed -- the number of Pristines has at least doubled just in the few weeks since I got these back from CGC -- but many won't be checking in at this top mark. I didn't slab to expect a perfect 10 but I thought this one had potential after going through my stack. Three of my 10 had solid centering and this one was first to make that cut ... with this mark I may not need to send in the other two. It's my lone Clark slab ... and it's strong enough it might stay that way just so I can say I went 1-for-1 grading here. We'll see.

Keep reading for more of this month's rundown of pick-ups and new slabs for Buzz.

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What's Buzzing: Tarik Skubal dominates, a new format for Topps All-Star flagship cards, Jac Caglianone is struggling, Talking Topps Chrome, Dave Parker and The National.

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1 -- Tarik Skubal dominates

2 -- New Topps flagship format for the All-Star Game

3 -- Jac Caglianone is struggling

4 -- Talking 2025 Topps Chrome

5 -- Collectors remember Dave Parker

6 -- The National section is open as the show nears

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Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.

Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.

What's Buzzing: Talking Topps Chrome, Dave Parker, The National, vintage cards and more in today's edition.

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1 -- Talking 2025 Topps Chrome

2 -- Vintage cards are on their minds 

3 -- Looking at a Roki Sasaki card from before MLB

4 -- Kevin Durant trade reactions continue

5 -- Collectors remember Dave Parker

6 -- The National section is open as the show nears

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Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.

Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.

What: 2025 Topps Chrome baseball cards
Arrives: July 23
Box basics: One autograph per 20-pack hobby box (12 boxes per case); three autos per 12-pack jumbo box (TBD boxes per case)
Checklist: Click here
Sapphire Checklist: Click here
Odds: Click here
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: The full Topps Chrome details are still to come but the basics and early teasers are here for when the latest flagship release hits colorful and flashy plastic with "an all-new lineup of jaw-dropping inserts and exciting Chrome parallels."

Keep reading for more and a full gallery of images.

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Yes, Bruce the bat dog got the call to be so close to being a big-leaguer ... but the official MLB cardboard hasn't happened yet.

Earlier this month, the Washington Nationals promoted the golden retriever from Triple-A Rochester for a day in The Show but he didn't see any in-game action. He arrived in his uniform bandana and his MLB Debut patch attached (click the MLB image at right for a closer look) for a pre-game ceremonial moment as part of Pups it the Park. But ... he didn't make the cut for Topps Now since, pawsumingly, he wasn't used in the game.

(Woof.)

No worries, though. This on-the-diamond superstar is a merch machine for the Rochester Red Wings where he made his debut just last September. He's got pawtographed parallel versions of his first MiLB baseball card -- they feature prints uniquely placed on each one -- that raise money for charity.

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What's Buzzing: New pulls, Junior Caminero, The National, storage and more in this Friday edition.

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1 -- What were they buying this month?

2 -- Talking storage 

3 -- Inside some Select NFL

4 -- Talking his cards as Junior Caminero hits 20 homer plateau

5 -- MLB chatter is here

6 -- The National section

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Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.

Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.

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: 2025 Topps Series 2 baseball cards (hanger)
First Buzz preview & checklist/odds: Click here
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (a few formats)

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of what was in this one.

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Not everything that's game-used comes from on the field.

This extra entry in the Collecting Game-used series this month is a simple kind of item -- one you can find these days quite easily and most often on the cheap -- and it's a little something that's a key piece in the game and it's straight from either one of the dugouts or one of the bullpens. It's the lineup card and it's a piece of affordable memorabilia that low-key documents some of the details like a box score does but without any of those pesky stats -- just uni numbers, batting order numbers and positions.

Keep reading to see the details this time.

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