Making the Grade (April): A Fernando Tatis Jr. classic, Sasha Banks' ink, Toni Storm's first, vintage legends, Steve Austin & Jay Leno Rookie Cards and ... an unthinkable Pro Set grade?

Like many collectors, Buzz is a fan of grading and knows that there are many reasons that collectors choose to slab cards. Sometimes it's to enhance the appeal and protect them when selling. Other times it's to protect an investment for the long-term or to protect for sentimental reasons. Or, it might be just for fun or curiosity about a potential grade.

Here's this month's grading diary here on The Buzz ...

BIG BAT LEADING OFF ...
The Card: Fernando Tatis Jr. 2019 Topps Chrome Gold Refractors #203 (/50) -- RC parallel
The Reason Graded: Buzz found this rarity of a top RC in the absolute same box as the card that batted lead-off here last month -- and when that one graded really well I knew that this one would end up in a slab, too. Easily one of the best boxes I've seen for any non-premium product in years of collecting. I figured they needed to be slabbed together and matching grades would be cool, too.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: A matching pair is what we ended up with here -- and this also reinforces the fact that this was one of the best boxes I've ever seen. I was a little surprised to see only six copies of this card graded, but they're all at least a 9.5 with only one topping this mark. Meanwhile, 14 of them have been graded by PSA -- five 10s -- so perhaps some of Tatis' big-spending fans are also PSA fans, too. (Looking at you, Phil Hughes.)

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

FIRST GRADED ... STRONG START
The Card: Toni Storm 2019 Topps WWE Women's Division #50 -- First NXT Card
The Reason Graded: This Australian star -- via NXT UK -- really hasn't gotten to the premier levels of WWE just yet but her first autographed card in last year's NXT set (her only ones so far) was one of the pricier sigs in all of WWE lately. With that in mind, I had this first card on my grading radar and figured I'd get ahead of the curve and get one of my many copies of this basic RC slabbed. (Grading more WWE RCs is something I want to do more of.)
The Grade: BGS 10

Reality Check: How's that for a first-graded copy of a card? It came up just a half-sub short of a perfect Black-label 10 and honestly I'd be impressed by anything that's a 9.5 or higher from this release as the stock is seriously skinny and the bold colors here really help flaws stick out like a sore thumb. I didn't expect a 10 but knew it was clean -- this one was a solid surprise. Landing 10s for paper-stock cards like this can be tough -- you can easily damage cards just pulling on the seam of the pack to open them -- or you can easily damage things simply with a penny sleeve.

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WAY TOUGHER THAN MOST BLACK-LABEL 10s
The Card: John Lennon 1991-92 Pro Set Superstars MusiCards #15a (logo on top left)
The Reason Graded: I did a double-double-take when I pulled this card from a pack of this nearly worthless but really good set from back in the day from a company that was known for its overwhelming print runs, plenty of variations and a lot of smart inclusions that were ahead of their time for football cards. The Legends subset in this one with its metallic-ink borders can be awful right out of packs, but I finally found a home that might be more promising than others when it comes to maybe finding high-grade cards ... jumbo packs. I didn't even remember Pro Set making them, but the packs essentially look the same but with a higher price and a larger volume of cards inside. I'm not sure if the cards protect each other better there or whether the cutting blades were just sharper when they did that part of the pack-out, but this card seemed like it was close to the impossible ... a BGS 10.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: This is the highest-graded copy of this card and it's one of only two from this set to get a 9.5 -- out of 15 cards graded (yes, it's not a high-priority set) with nothing higher. For the graded promo cards from this release, nothing grades higher than a 9 and, out of curiosity for 1991 Pro Set NFL there are almost 1,000 cards slabbed by BGS with just one 10 and 129 cards getting a BGS 9.5. (The NFL set had its rough spots on those edges but I do remember some cleaner runs, too -- far, far better than this one.) This might be one of my last few cards I slab from this one -- I have some at PSA that might work if I land 10s that might scratch the final itch. Or, perhaps I'll do a couple more of my favorites ... the cards from jumbo packs are the key here in my mind. I just don't see 10s being possible from this release -- edges and corners can be shredded with penny sleeves if they aren't rough right out of the pack -- but I still might try.

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STONE COLD STUNNER
The Card: "Stunning" Steve Austin 1995 WCW Main Event #29 -- Rookie Card
The Reason Graded: I sent my top copy of this card in to BGS last year and got a stunner of a grade back then -- and that was enough to make me wonder about this one's potential via PSA as it looked just as clean but likely had something minor here or there that scared me off for a BGS sub. It's Austin's RC in that it's his first pack-issued card and it's from a time where he's perhaps not as well known -- pre-WWE -- and to me that makes it feel even cooler (just not Stone Cold Cool).
The Grade: PSA 9

Reality Check: I didn't look at the pop report for this one before I sent it and, while the PSA 9 wasn't a "wow" from me after my BGS slab, the pop report shows that this is a very solid card. Just two PSA 10s? Man ... I ripped a box of this one more than a decade ago on the cheap (less than $1 a pack) and it's definitely a forgettable set save for this and a couple other cards. Meanwhile, I don't think I've ever seen a wax box since.

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FINISHING OFF MY RUN
The Card: John Johnson 1975-76 Topps NBA #147
The Reason Bought: This past NBA All-Star was the very first draft pick of the Cleveland Cavaliers back in 1970 (seventh overall) and due to some school ties I have with him I've been picking off slabs for his limited run of cards from the past. I ponied up a bit for this one late last year -- I'll admit it ... $45 -- because I think this was the final of his Topps cards I needed in a slab. (I target PSA 8s and prefer 9s on vintage, knowing that both can be tough in a lot of instances -- or get too stupidly pricey.)
The Grade: PSA 10

Reality Check: This one is a pretty tough 10 and it was worth it to me. Would I do it a second time? Nope -- and at the same time I'm not sure I had ever seen an 8 or 9 to even ponder. At some point, I'll get organized enough to pull them all together and figure out whether I'd need to upgrade on some copies. Right now, I'm just not there -- all my slabs are in slab boxes but not together. (Do I try and create an organizing series of stories? Kidding ... most of you clearly do that better than I do.)

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CHEAP HALL OF FAME ROOKIE SLAB
The Card: Willie McCovey 1960 Topps MLB #316 -- Rookie Card
The Reason Bought: I found this Hall of Famer RC for about the price of a blaster. He's not the most-expensive RC in general but I just couldn't pass it up for the price. This comes from the first crop of Topps All-Star Rookies and I'd argue that this former Rookie of the Year is easily among the most-overlooked Hall of Famers out there. His 521 home runs still rank 20th on the all-time list even though his career ended 40 years ago -- and the game has changed a ton since then.
The Grade: PSA 2

Reality Check: Hall of Famer RCs are all heavily slabbed via PSA and the look at the pop report here shows it. You can find some decent-looking low-grade cards (PSA 2-5), and, while this one has its issues, I still think it's a solid buy.

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NEW CHAMP? BANK ON IT ...
The Card: Sasha Banks 2015 Topps WWE Undisputed NXT In Line Autographs #NASB -- first-year auto
The Reason Graded: It's WrestleMania season -- well, kind of -- and I had this one slabbed last year and held onto it until now since I think the time is right for The Boss to be back in the title picture in WWE. She's in the multi-fighter match for the Smackdown title and would be one of my top two picks to win it with an obvious feud with Bayley to come after that. (It probably won't happen ... but we'll see.) Undisputed is a brand that has slabbed very well for me in the past -- that thick stock holds up well -- so I knew I wanted this first auto to be graded.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: I was happy with my grade but didn't realize that most have graded that well. I don't generally grade signed cards -- I just don't want to be disappointed on a card I like with a low grade -- but this one was an exception. I also have a rarer Black parallel I might also slab -- 0nly a single copy of that one has been graded.

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HAD IT FOR YEARS
The Card: Willie Mays 1972 Topps MLB #49
The Reason Graded: Rewind the clock about 25 years and you'd find Buzz taking all of his rarer "hot" pulls of players he simply didn't care about that were fresh from packs and trading them for lower-grade vintage stars of Hall of Famers in volume. I don't remember any specific deal that landed this card in particular, but I remember trading "big" cards back then like Frank Thomas Stadium Club inserts and Michael Jordan baseball cards for stuff like this -- and getting bulk in return as they weren't mint. Even when vintage is low-grade (and not that pricey) they're just more interesting to me compared to a lot of stuff that was in-demand then (andtherefore easily sell-able by the shop I would trade with). I flipped through some of my boxes from that time awhile back and this one, while not perfect, did jump out at me as a card with some decent potential compared to others.
The Grade: BVG 6.5

Reality Check: The centering got me a bit here but I figured this one would be around a 7 and it was -- just short of the most-commonly assigned grade for this card. Late-career cards of Hall of Famers in high-grade can really surprise you -- they can be serious money-makers -- so if you know of a shop or person with a vintage stash that's available they might be worth a look. A quick eBay search shows a PSA 10 of this one with an asking price of $9,000. Actual sales? Not quite as lofty but $350 for a PSA 9 ain't bad as this isn't a tough card to find. (My grade? About $35 on a good day for actual sales ... maybe closer to $100 among asking prices.)

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NOT SURE WHY, BUT ...
The Card: Mickey Mantle 2007 Bowman Heritage MLB Mantle Rainbow #3
The Reason Graded: I went digging into some of my boxes of name pulls from the past and for some reason this foilboard parallel of an insert set of this Hall of Famer caught my attention. Looking at the centering, I probably shouldn't have slabbed it, but it did look very clean otherwise, which isn't as easy as it might sound with these thick-stock oldschool-style cards. I figured I'd give it a try since it was Mantle.
The Grade: PSA 9

Reality Check: The Rainbow parallels of this set seem popular compared to others, but none are serious heavily graded cards. Mine checked in like most do not only for this card but also for all of those graded from this set. These don't photograph all that well in a slab but the photo on this 1954 Bowman-inspired card looks pretty good in person. That's probably what got me.

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TOUGH GRADING, BROTHER
The Card: Hulk Hogan 1985 Topps WWF #1 -- Rookie Card (sorta)
The Reason Graded: Lemme tell you something, brother, this is not a Rookie Card in most wrestling collectors' eyes but it really is as it's from the first in-pack release ever made for the WWE. Most people (and I'm still probably among them) see his 1982 Wrestling All-Stars card as a RC but this one is closer to the traditional definition with its mainstream distribution. (The All-Stars set was available via mail order and not in packs ... it would be more of an XRC.) This set, while tiny -- just 66 cards -- could be found in 26-card rack packs (do that math) as well as wax packs.
The Grade: BGS 9

Reality Check: I wasn't unhappy with this grade as these cards can be all over the place right out of packs and the quality control of 1985 was just as bad here (or maybe worse) than it was for baseball and other sets. Centering is always an issue here -- and I'm sure that photo credit messes with some minds. (It does mine as to whether it counts or not.) I went with this one as it was the cleanest of the 15 or so that I own -- I was able to rip a bulk lot of packs long ago before these packs got pricier -- but I think your best bet for all of the condition variables might be to rip into rack packs instead of wax packs if you're chasing high-grade copies. Only five copies of this card out of 90 graded are better -- so looking at that I'm even more satisfied with a BGS 9. He's got a second card in this set that looks very similar to this one and we'll see that one in a future MTG. (As Paul Heyman says, that's not a prediction, that's a spoiler.)

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AN ODDBALL BUY
The Card: Ken Griffey Jr. 1993 Stadium Club Master Photos Members Only #26
The Reason Bought: I actually picked this one up quite a long time ago since it was a cheap MLB slab and a simple card that caught my attention for the price (less than $8) -- something different. It's actually a parallel version of the Hall of Famer's card in this one. The standard ones were available via redemptions or as box-toppers, while the Member's Only version was only available to those who ordered via that club. (The only difference is the small foil logo in the corner.)
The Grade: BGS 8.5

Reality Check: Between both versions of this card, just five have been graded and only one of the five is better than this one, despite it having a relatively modest grade. It's not that big of a deal -- and I'd bet the added cost of grading these over-sized pieces has dampened the interest in even contemplating slabs. For the standard one, nothing has graded better than a BGS 8.

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LITTLE MEMORIES
The Card: Jim Abbott 1989 Topps MLB #573 Rookie Card (sorta)
The Reason Bought: His 1988 Topps Traded card is his Rookie Card if you ask me (some will call it an XRC) but this one also still jumps out at me as a memorable dirt-cheap card in a few ways. First, I remember my first hunt for 1989 Topps coming in the basement section of a small-town Woolworth's store. It was in a bulk bin with rack packs piled high near a row of aquariums in a room that all smelled like mothballs -- how I found out what mothballs smelled like. I found Abbott on the top of rack pack after a short hunt and I think that was my first pack. What I think is perhaps a little more memorable about this cheap card now is the design -- those colors -- and the fact that this is one of those rarer occurrences where the Topps flagship set showed a player in his NCAA uniform. (It happened but it didn't happen a lot -- then Classic showed up and changed everything.)
The Grade: PSA 9

Reality Check: I didn't see how inverted the pop report is for this one -- it shouldn't be that way if you ask me -- but it does happen. For the $5ish price, though, I don't mind. This isn't some money pick-up -- this is just one that's a decent example of card that I liked ... back when I would work the basement of a junk store with a couple dollars in my pocket. (There was so much stuff that store used to have that I'd love to be able to find now. The toy section was amazing by today's standards -- it still had 1970s stuff on the shelf in the mid-1980s.)

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NO LAUGHING MATTER
The Card: Jay Leno 1998 Topps WCW/nW0 #41 -- "Rookie Card" (?!?)
The Reason Bought: I ponied up a bit for this one because, while the action involving WCW was awful around this time, the fact that comedian Jay Leno appears in a wrestling card set is classic. It's also, based on my quick searches, his only traditional in-pack trading card appearance that would be authorized by him ... so I'd call it a Rookie Card with big fat air quotes. The back story on this? Leno teamed with Diamond Dallas Page in the main event of the 1998 Road Wild pay-per-view against Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff ... a match that is just best forgotten. (One cool part of the photo? You can see Hogan on the projected big screen behind him.)
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: This is the highest-graded copy of the card from a somewhat forgettable set that's perhaps not the easiest to grade. (I remember these as being slightly glossy with cards that can stick together -- and the black background of the photo here could easily be trouble with the cutting.) It's also something I probably wouldn't open as the hobby boxes can be pricey/rare because of possible autographs ... and retail boxes are really bland. But as a novelty slab? I'm all over it.

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MODERN FINALE
The Card: Ronald Acuña Jr. 2018 Bowman's Best '98 Best Performers Refractors #98BPRAJ
The Reason Bought: Like most of my slab buys, the price got me here -- and the fact that it's from his rookie year. For just $9 I added this one and I'm sure that price was aided some by the fact that there are no sub-grades here but I'll admit I'm not as against non-subgrade cards as long as there's no obvious flaw to distract one's attention. I've picked up more than a few Acuña slabs around this price and grade ... because they are comfortable.
The Grade: BGS 9

Reality Check: I didn't check the pop report before buying this one, but most Chrome-stock cards seem to grade well these days so it doesn't surprise me. For the price difference between a 9 and a 9.5, I'm fine with this one even though it's one of the "worst" copies out there. Interestingly, only seven of the 20 copies of this card have even been slabbed with sub-grades.

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