Making the Grade (Dec.): NFL newcomers, Wrestling All-Stars, vintage Hall of Famers, musical legends, Ja & Zion and more

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 ... it's a bit of a super-sized edition.

DOMINATING THIS YEAR
The Card: Jonathan Taylor 2020 Donruss #317 -- Rookie Card
The Reason Bought: If it's not my main collecting focus within the sport I'm at best a dabbler when buying football -- and this is a recent example. I grabbed this since it felt like the cheaper side of things as Taylor has had flashes of brilliance this season (and last year) -- in fact, this was less than $12 not long ago and he's put on some real shows in the weeks since. That's why I have him leading things off here over some far-pricier pick-ups and new slabs I have gotten back lately. (Keep reading for those.)
The Grade: PSA 9

Reality Check: I liked this for the price but I'm not sure I'd go higher based on the pop report -- or pay up for a 10 when they're seemingly checking in there at a heavy clip. (Yet, he seems like the real deal -- so if you're solely focused on NFL he's a must-look.) This isn't my favorite of his RCs, but the brand might be my No. 1 for the last few years. Why? The simplicity. I liked the design for this one but the images can be a little limited for the RC crop with all the COVID issues that were seen on cardboard last year. I was a little surprised to see so many copies graded for this one as cheaper cards like this shouldn't be submitted for grading with steep processing fees -- at least right now. (There were probably a lot of them sent before PSA halted submissions as he was impressive late in his rookie season.)

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

NOT BAD, BROTHER ...
The Card: Hulk Hogan 1982 Wrestling All-Stars Series A #2 -- "Rookie Card"
The Reason Graded: This card is very clean and sharp for the grade -- in fact, other than maybe some slight centering issues it's quite nice. (Why did it grade this way and was that a surprise? Keep reading.) What was really nice about this card is that I landed it absolutely free about 13 years ago when I bought a signed copy of his autobiography off of eBay. It was tucked into the book (about $50) along with a photo of him from the signing. I took the risk of buying an un-authenticated auto -- I did my research and was comfortable with it -- and the risk paid off ... in this different way. This card is an iconic monster from its era that is worth a ton in top condition -- but it wasn't that big of a deal back then.
The Grade: CSG 3.5

Reality Check: I knew this one wouldn't grade well, but I was fine with that when I sent in a number of the top cards from my Series A set to be graded. (So, yes, I own two of these.) My set was perhaps around $100-150 back then -- maybe less -- and it's not perfect, but I didn't really worry about condition ... I just wanted one. So what's the deal here? This card has a surface crease/wrinkle in the middle but it's only noticeable when you tilt it toward light. It presents far better than its grade and, over time, as the high-grade prices grow unrealistic for buyers other nice copies like this should appreciate some.

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GOING OLDSCHOOL
The Card: Frank "Home Run" Baker 1940 Play Ball #177 (regular back)
The Reason Bought: This Hall of Famer's playing career ended after the 1922 season with a .307 average and 96 homers in 1,575 games -- a dead-ball era star for the Philadelphia Athletics who led the American League in homers four straight years with 11, 10, 12 and nine. (No, that's not a typo.) He had 100 RBI three times to lead the league there as well but, the Triple Crown wasn't happening with That Ty Cobb Guy around. Baker was a member of the Athletics' "$100,000 Infield" and they won three World Series during his power stretch, too. I've always thought of finding a low-grade copy of his T205 card that I like, but those have gotten steep like so much other tobacco-era cardboard. I did like the looks of this post-career card, though, and for around $100 I bit.
The Grade: PSA 4.5

Reality Check: This is a really nice card with corner/edge and minor-centering issues that don't bug me at all. Seven cards check in at this grade among the 26 total that have a .5 grade added (not noted above) and overall it's a pretty evenly graded card with realistic upper-echelon populations. This is about the max I'd go for something like this -- I don't need it but always wanted something for him -- and lower grades can and have sold for more than what I paid. Baker has a lot of cards from back then but that's the kind of stuff, at least in high grade, that's collected by those in higher tax brackets. I'm a one and done here but it's one I dig. For a big name from such an old set, the pop report here seems a little low.

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COOL GRADE
The Card: Ja Morant 2019-20 NBA Hoops Winter #259 -- Rookie Card
The Reason Graded: It's all a blur for me and basketball cards the last couple years but when I did get my hands on wax in that big year it seemed that I found Morant more than Williamson ... and I'm OK with that when they come back looking like this. I picked out some of the cleaner/better cards I pulled for the duo and slabbed a few with this being a card that I think might get overlooked compared to others. It's from the retail parallel release where ice/snow/whatever was added to the look ... something just odd enough that it appealed to me.
The Grade: CSG 9.5

Reality Check: Panini's paper-stock cards can be hit and miss if you're more of a grader between texture or corner lifts during packaging but this one looked quite clean to me -- and I was right. It's a card with a simple pose -- perhaps not as cheesy as some of them out there or some to come later in this piece -- but I liked it. I also think once a pop report appears (coming soon*) cards like this one might have decent pops but not as many in slabs as, say, PSA. Over the long term, I'm also very fine with that, too.

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LITTLE CARD, BIG GRADE
The Card: Ronald Acuña Jr. 2017 Bowman Chrome Mini #BCP127
The Reason Graded: Before he went down with a season-ending injury I had a ton -- a dozen or two -- of his cards set aside to maybe be slabbed. I may have graded this before he was hurt -- I did a few -- but the rest that I had on the tarmac got pushed back. Why? I figured time away might soften some of his prices and we might see slab prices drop. (I'd be a buyer if the price is right, but right now I am buying more for a different name.) This card made the cut as I only had one of these -- and it looked a little cleaner than my larger versions pulled from packs or grabbed online.
The Grade: CSG 9.5

Reality Check: I did well here as you never know what kind of surprises they might find under intense review. I do loupe stuff myself but there are instances where I'll just send in the copy I have if it strikes me as a card I'd want slabbed. This is one of those situations.

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A THROWBACK
The Card: Colin Powell 1991 Bowman #533 -- "Rookie Card"
The Reason Bought: His recent death got me curious about his cards from back in the day in slabs. He was a regular though-the-mail signer, so two I had from then are inked, but this card from the 1991 MLB set got my attention as it was pretty cheap. (Less than a blaster.) I didn't need it -- and I don't really collect cardboard with potential political ties -- but this was a memorable card from back in the day as it was a different find in a baseball set. Why is he in there? Well, it's from his first pitch at a Yankees game on April 15, 1991, and it followed all of his Desert Storm cardboard which was quite popular for Topps back then. There are a few odd cards in 1991 Bowman that I'd grade or grab in a slab ... maybe this is the start of that.
The Grade: BGS 8.5

Reality Check: I didn't check the pop report but this is surprising. It's a very clean card for an 8.5 with its centering and perhaps registration the only things that are "off" here -- and there are none graded higher. That actually makes me like this pick-up a little more.

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TWO OF A GOAT
The Card: Tiger Woods & Michael Jordan 2013 SP Authentic #69
The Reason Graded: These two all-time greats actually share a decent amount of cardboard as UD spokesmen through the years but most of those cards are on the rarer side or immensely pricey as autographs and memorabilia pieces can be involved. This one? Well, it didn't used to be pricey but slabbers and flippers have latched on to this one with decent asking prices -- it's just a base card -- for it and its retail/other parallel colors. I had at least a couple of these -- I need to figure out where I put my others -- and sent one in a bulk grading order earlier this year. Why? I liked its potential in a slab as Jordan is always popular.
The Grade: CSG 9.5

Reality Check: High-grade copies of this card are relatively pricey while raw copies can be but probably shouldn't be ... but it's that whole supply and demand thing. Per the eBay sellers, there are about a dozen PSA slabs for this card (I didn't check that) but I bet my high-grade CSG slab is one of a few with a smaller number involved. (I'm not selling, so it's no big deal either way.)

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BO THROWS
The Card: Bo Bichette 2020 Topps Opening Day Red #173 -- Rookie Card parallel
The Reason Bought: If you think this is "déjà vu all over again" as Yogi Berra would say, well, it kind of is. I've been picking off various parallels and versions of this Bichette card and the flagship version in the last year as he's a player I'm chasing down a bit. This one is a parallel of a card that has been slabbed a lot ... a lot. It's the Target mega box-only parallel and I figured it would be a better slab to pick off price-wise vs. the regular ones that are getting cheaper and cheaper as more and more people are getting their returns back from months ago.
The Grade: PSA 9

Reality Check: The OD base card here is pushing 700 copies -- flagship more than 21,500 copies (yikes!) -- but this parallel is at a teeny, tiny 70. Meanwhile, my Purple I wrote about here last month is still at 16. Pop numbers should grow but I seriously doubt that there were anywhere near 20,000 copies of this card made. so it's way safer in comparison.

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BEFORE THE BIGS
The Card: Prince Fielder 2003 Multi-Ad Sports Beloit Snappers Prospects #1
The Reason Bought: Dabbling in cheaper MiLB cardboard -- especially the rarer stuff that wasn't in packs and isn't plentiful -- has been one thing I have done as a lot of the standard stuff has lofty prices ... despite being standard. This isn't a big card but he was kind of a big deal in the past and I found this for $4 -- I couldn't pass. There can't be that many out there in general, let alone slabbed copies.
The Grade: BGS 9

Reality Check: It not having an "elite" grade probably helped the price here but with only 12 total graded I felt good about this grab -- and I'm fine with nines. Fielder did plenty in MLB and has a good amount of cardboard one can chase ... and you can collect his dad, too.

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NEAR-PERFECTION
The Card: Rhea Ripley 2020 Topps WWE Undisputed Gold -- Rookie Card parallel 
The Reason Graded: I ponied up a little bit to land this card compared to most of my buys because this unmarked Rookie Card in parallel form is from one of my favorite sets of last year. (The photography on cards here is good, though this one isn't a classic, but the color added to the design makes them even better in my book.) Undisputed card stock is the perfect format if you ask me and it tends to grade well, so I submitted a few of my favorites -- and I have more waiting. She arrived on the main WWE roster and already has had a singles title as well as a tag title run, so things are looking good for a unique female persona in wrestling. (Translation: She's a badass and that should continue.) The crazy part here? A recent eBay check has this one (raw) with asking prices more than $150 and a second one near $90. (I guess I didn't pony up too much after all.)
The Grade: CSG 10

Reality Check: This card is a badass as well -- grade-wise -- as 10s aren't easy from CSG and, well, there are only nine others out there that could try and equal it (or go for the perfect 10 designation with subs, which I didn't do). This was not my only Gold that I sent in and it won't be the last.

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A CAMEO THAT ISN'T
The Card: Shadowman #19 (Valiant Comics, Nov. 1993)
The Reason Bought: I recently went through my early 1990s comics stash to check out stuff for possible grading -- you'll hopefully see stuff here from that next year -- and this book in raw form was a definite candidate for grading. My copy from back then actually looks cleaner than this one but I only know that after grabbing this on the relative cheap. (I'm still getting a feel for comics grading standards.) It's a bit of a gimmick one-shot -- I couldn't tell you a thing about the Shadowman character -- but the legendary rock band Aerosmith is in there for the whole story, not just a cover with some branding.
The Grade: CGC 9.6 (Universal)

Reality Check: This copy checks in at the lower-end of the pop report -- only one worse -- but I was a little surprised to see so many graded as it's not that big of a deal. (Though I guess cameos have appeal to others like they do for me.) I did a lot of the indie stuff around this time -- at least the stuff that was interesting to me or had a name artist attached.

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A VINTAGE FAVORITE
The Card: Birdie's Young Sluggers (Ed Bailey, Birdie Tebbets, Frank Robinson) 1958 Topps #386
The Reason Bought: I own a few raw copies of this card and a few slabbed ones, too, as it's a second-year appearance for the Hall of Famer and a favorite of mine. I landed my first one one eons ago and at just $11 I did this one. (Too cheap to pass up.) It's a perfect example of how combo cards like this are easy ways to land big names at bargain prices -- in or out of slabs. 
The Grade: BVG 6

Reality Check: I didn't check the pop report -- didn't need to at that price -- but seeing that there are just three total cards at a BVG 8 or 8.5 makes me like this pick-up more. This is the most-common grade -- at least for those showing on my partial table here -- and only 10 of the 50 are better. When a lot of the "hot" slabs of today are soft in price with high volumes or careers that didn't pan out later, there's a good chance that older stuff like this should still be in a relative amount of demand -- or at least be harder to find slabbed or found in slab-worthy raw shape. I'm not saying "go vintage" but it doesn't hurt to dabble in all areas of collecting if you're doing this for the long haul.

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REMEMBER ME?
The Card: Zion Williamson 2019-20 Donruss Optic #158 -- Rookie Card
The Reason Graded: I probably did Mosaic more than anything else made in the big year for Williamson and Morant, but half of my Zion cards arrived with surface cuts. (I'm still waiting for damage replacement there.) Meanwhile, I graded others that were slab-worthy and this is an example -- it's only Optic pull for him and it graded better than I had expected. 
The Grade: CSG 9.5

Reality Check: I had figured a nine here was my most-likely scenario as the Optichrome stuff in the last couple years has seemed to have back stock that's rough or chippy. This one was clean. It's centering is a smidge off but that may be one of its only flaws.

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SO MUCH SWAGGER
The Card: Jerry Glanville (with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings & Kris Kristofferson) 1992 Pro Line Profiles #269
The Reason Graded: The musical genre here isn't really my favorite, but this pocket-change card of the former Atlanta Falcons football coach has some serious swagger. Cash is a three-genre music Hall of Famer who sold more than 90 million albums and is a recording icon. Jennings sold another 40 million in his "outlaw country" career and Kristofferson was a very notable songwriter and musician before adding actor to his résumé. (He was in the 1976 version of A Star Is Born and wrote "Me and Bobby McGee," which Janis Joplin took Platinum for starters.) Want more? The card back shows Glanville with MC Hammer as it talks about all of the things that he is involved with beyond football.
The Grade: CSG 9.5

Reality Check: This is the perfect kind of odd slab to me -- a cheap card that has a lot of weirdness or interesting things that make it different -- as long as it's in a top grade. Pro Line (and Pro Set) cards can be all over the place quality-wise with their edges and corners arriving rough or chipped right out of fresh packs. A grade on a set like this isn't easy elsewhere so I suspect they won't be here ... if others dare to slab oddities like I do.

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A BEEFY SLAB
The Card: Bodacious 2018 SportKings #18
The Reason Graded: "The World's Most Dangerous Bull" is easily one of the weirdest cards in the newer wave of SportKings cards and this was another oddity I knew I'd slab. This is pure novelty -- though it's not his only card -- and the card tells his story well. I also like the little silhouetted action shots that are used in the typical SK design but a little differently here. Bodacious was a bull who was retired from competition because he was too dangerous to ride -- he was in the pro ranks for just a few years but is in a few Halls of Fame -- see all kinds of details here. It reads like a rock star bio. 
The Grade: CSG 9.5

Reality Check: The graders weren't too mean with this one as it checked in pretty well. I might have to find and slab a mini parallel to go with it at some point. (Why? Why not?)

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BRINGING THE FUNK
The Card: Terry Funk 1982 Wrestling All-Stars Series A -- "Rookie Card"
The Reason Graded: His name might not come to mind first from this legendary card set, but he's a legend and a Hall of Famer for a career that was both lengthy and influential in terms of hardcore style and badass schtick that probably wasn't that at all. (The schtick part.) He first wrestled in the 1960s and then worked around the world for seemingly every promotion in almost all of the decades since, doing all kinds of crazy things in places like the original ECW where stuff like barbed-wire matches happened into his 50s before he officially retired for good just four years ago. I was a little surprised at the prices paid for some of these cards, so I put this one in my grading stack.
The Grade: CSG 7.5

Reality Check: It came back with a respectable grade with no major funk to the card just some minor corner spots and light spotting on the back. Over time, I'll probably grade more of my cards from this set beyond those that I have already done -- you'll see those right here in the coming months.

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PROVOCATIVE CARDBOARD?
The Card: "Golly Jack ..." 1978 Topps Three's Company Stickers #40
The Reason Bought: I picked this one up cheap along with some other slabs from a dealer who specializes in stuff far older than this. I want to say it was under $10, which is low compared to some asking prices out there for his heavily graded release that apparently has its fans. I remembered seeing this episode (Season 2, Episode 2) in re-runs long ago (as a kid), wondering what the deal was with him pondering a "spot" in a magazine but instead selling encyclopedias to make some money on the side. This kind of oddball storyline hitting cardboard struck me as something we probably wouldn't find in a card set today -- even if it was in a comedy. I also liked it since it showed all three main members of the cast.
The Grade: PSA 9

Reality Check: That slab total is interesting as these cards -- in sets, packs, boxes etc. -- aren't all that rare and the show is an old one off the radar of many vs. other franchises. But I guess that's the power of Jack Tripper.

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A CLEAN THROWBACK
The Card: Carl Yastrzemski & Orlando Cepeda 1975 Topps Minis #205
The Reason Bought: I am a sucker for minis and cards from this set in slabs with some names attached -- two Hall of Famers this time -- will get my attention if the price is right. It was on this one as I got it for less than $4. Simple as that. 
The Grade: PSA 5

Reality Check: Sure, this is a low grade but it looks really, really good on the front with the centering and corners and it doesn't even really have any bad color spots that 1975s seemingly always have. All I could figure is that there's a surface wrinkle or light crease on the card back that nailed it -- I didn't see anything really obvious when I got it in-hand. For the price, I didn't mind ... it looks sharper than the slab says.

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DRYING UP?
The Card: Nick Swisher 2002 Bowman Chrome Draft Refractors #BDP16 (/300) -- Rookie Card parallel
The Reason Bought: I pretty much grabbed this at the instant I saw it, not even really looking at the centering. It was a mere $9.99 and with only 299 others (some of those in my stash) I figured I'd not see another for a while. (Once I got it in-hand, I noticed the centering.)
The Grade: BGS 8.5

Reality Check: This is one of the worst copies but apparently there's one lower based on the numbers. The centering is a dog for sure but that's OK ... it can have a home with my better ones.

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