Making the Grade (Feb.): Grabbing Rookie Cards, NFL slabs, Mickey Mantle, Trish Stratus & slabbed mem-card challenges

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 mix of some new, some old and some football since that season is winding down fast.

NOW'S THE TIME TO BUY ...
The Card: Gleyber Torres 2018 Topps Heritage High Number #603 -- Rookie Card
The Reason Bought: I grabbed this one some time ago because it was on the cheaper side of things and a key Rookie Card in a key release. I own a bunch of these raw but landed this for literally less than it likely would have cost me to grade one (at least if I wanted to get it back in hand this year). The cost? Just $10. So, why do I have this one batting lead-off? A reminder that now is the time to be buying up younger baseball guys ... not when there's hype from spring training (even if that might be delayed).
The Grade: BGS 9

Reality Check: I'm fine with nines and I didn't check the pop report when grabbing this one, which checks in under the most-commonly landed grade. No biggie ... I'm sure the 9.5s that don't always look obviously better cost a lot more than what I paid. There are no sub-grades here, but it seems pretty obvious that the centering is slightly off on this copy but everything else looks pretty good.

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

PREMIUM-BRAND INK
The Card: A.J. McCarron 2014 Topps Translucent Sepia Autographs #AJM (/5) -- Rookie Card parallel
The Reason Bought: This is from a brand that was released online so you don't necessarily see cards from it all that often, but this is one I had wanted to find. Why hadn't I ripped to dabble? The boxes (link above) are merely two cards and they are still premium priced. These acetate cards were never cheap to make and never dropped substantially since that online release meant they weren't in the hands of many dealers needing to move them. I didn't check the pop report to see if a standard version even existed in a slab when I saw this rare card already slabbed in a prime grade ... for about a third of the current box price.
The Grade: BGS 9.5/10

Reality Check: It's the only one graded for any of his cards in this release ... so this was my only option. These cards don't really scan or photograph that well but look pretty solid in person.

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BARGAIN-PRICED MANTLE
The Card: Mickey Mantle & Maury Wills 1975 Topps #200
The Reason Bought: This one seemed pretty cheap for the price -- $12.99 delivered -- and I figured it would be a solid bargain-priced vintage grab to show here as an cardboard from Mantle's career (1951-1969) wouldn't be in this price range in a slab. The colors showcase flaws well and you can see a couple of print spots on there, too, but it seemed pretty clean otherwise.
The Grade: BVG 7

Reality Check: This checks in as the most-common grade for this card but with a small volume better ... but nothing better than an 8.5. Mantle appears on two other cards like this in this set and most have pop reports that look similar to this. Subsets like this in a couple of 1970s sets and leaders cards can cough up big names without breaking the bank -- that's one way to collect slabs of legends.

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CHEAP PICK-UP
The Card: Brodie Croyle 2006 SPx #97 (/1,299) -- Rookie Card
The Reason Bought: Croyle's NFL career didn't last long but he did get his shots -- but that is not why I grabbed it ... this was about a $3 pick-up and it fits my school ties part of my stash like McCarron. Ultimately, this one was picked up as possible filler here -- and it is -- as doing new submissions/returns ain't really happening for me at the moment.
The Grade: BGS 9

Reality Check: I was really surprised to see how many copies of this card have been slabbed -- it seems like one of his somewhat forgettable RCs and not even close to one of the most-interesting designs for this brand, either. Mine checks in on the lower side but not the lowest ... but for $3 I'm not worried.

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ANOTHER PAST PROOF
The Card: Carl Garrett 1971 Topps #34 -- 1989 Topps Auction blank-back proof Rookie Card
The Reason Bought: This is another $3-ish pick-up of a vintage card from long, long ago that was part of a landmark auction when Topps first opened its vaults to get rid of some treasures back in the day. That came in 1989 -- long before the Topps Vault arrived in 2001 -- but we've seen a lot of cardboard like this one made though the years. This is the RC for the former third-round pick who played for the Patriots, Bears, Jets and Raiders who was the 1969 AFL Rookie of the Year and a Super Bowl champ in his last stint in the league.
The Grade: BVG 7

Reality Check: Only three copies of this card have been graded? Actually ... just two regular copies of this card and then this proof have been graded. I grabbed a bunch of these proofs since they were so cheap and they seemed like cards with more upside than the slash-and-burn price I paid. Sure, there may not be a ton of Carl Garrett demand but it just seemed like an oddity that could pique interest ... after all, it's a 50-year-old proof card.

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SO, ABOUT THIS CARD ...
The Card: Mike Singletary 1983 Topps #38 -- Rookie Card
The Reason Graded: I've had this one stashed for literally decades ... so let me tell you a story about how it ended up right here, right now. This Rookie Card of the first NFL player I ever met was one of a couple I pulled from a full wax box of 1983 Topps I traded for sometime in 1997 or so -- I remember that because it was at a card show and 1997 Bowman Chrome Miguel Tejada and Kerry Wood cards were all the rage and I could't figure out why they cost soooo much more. What was in the trade? Well, I got this box and around $50 or $75 cash -- a big deal then for me -- and all I had to cough up was ... my 1996-97 Topps Chrome Kobe Bryant Rookie Card. It didn't matter that much to me then (and I don't really regret the trade as it was so long ago). It was one of those deals where it had been a decent price in one month of a price guide and had taken a big jump in the newer issue where not everybody (you can guess who) knew about that development. No biggie ... I still felt like I got a solid deal since I got it in a pack at Walmart for like $4. Plus, I had the Allen Iverson Chrome RC and I liked that one better, anyway. (I have no idea what I did with that card.)
The Grade: PSA 9

Reality Check: I wanted to slab one of these RCs I pulled but knew that the centering was an issue ... so that's why I went with PSA on this, which was the cleaner of the two I pulled way back then. It's razor sharp beyond that centering but figured I'd get an 8-9 and was right. Centering like this doesn't feel like a PSA 9 to me but I know BGS would have had this one a BGS 8.5 ... or maybe a BGS 9 if I was lucky. I played it safe and was hoping for a generous grade in comparison. The trade wasn't all that bad as that box ended up having a couple of Marcus Allen RCs and Joe Montana cards and stickers, too. I need to do some digging and see how those look with grading in mind.

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ICONIC SET & PLAYER OF THAT TIME
The Card: Mark McGwire 2001 Topps Heritage #129
The Reason Bought: If there's one brand where I could grab a bunch of notable non-rookies to slab, it would be this one, Heritage, and some of those players I have slabbed in the past at least a couple times. One, for example, from this same set was a Ken Griffey Jr. I recently pulled and slabbed ... a PSA 10 if I remember correctly ... but this one was a simple buy at just $5. I'm fine with nines (as I've said many times) so this was an easy buy.
The Grade: PSA 9

Reality Check: Even out of fresh packs, the corners of these cards can be issues and the centering and surface of the oldschool stock used here can also showcase (or have) flaws quite easily. Also part of the issues? The packs were paper wrappers with some room for cards to move. This number seems a little low overall but I still like the card as its from his last season as a player (and the first for the line) and his only other basic Heritage card is from the following year. His only stuff since for the brand has been hits, which makes me kind of wish we could see some type of Heritage update set to give us notables from the past in designs where they didn't appear. Griffey, McGwire, Barry Bonds, Tony Gwynn and other guys are all ones where slabbed base card runs would have appeal in my book if I could grab or slab anything.

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AN ENIGMATIC ONE ... OR TWO
The Card: Steve Hawes, John Johnson & David Greenwood 1980-81 Topps
The Reason Bought/Graded: I must have deleted my records for this one -- or I might even have more than these two slabs floating around -- but it's a sign of how it goes for me with this oddity of a set showcasing a player I collect. I have noted here in the past how I grabbed a bunch of Johnson's cards from his career raw (1971-1981) in bulk with an eye for slabbing but with vintage that's just not something easily done to land stuff higher than a PSA 8 regularly ... even if you rip fresh packs. This weird three-cards-per-card set is an oddity that I have a love-hate relationship with. I like them a lot ... but would hate trying to chase high grades. An example of why? Check out the perforation lines for pulling these cards apart -- dramatically different on these two ... so much so I'm not even sure if that counts. One is rough enough that the cards would have close to 100-0 centering if they were pulled apart ... now that I think about it, both of these might have been buys. There's no way I would have sent the right one in with that perforation.
The Grade: PSA 9

Reality Check: Landing 10s here is not easy and they won't be cheap if you try to buy them (this is a common card if raw) if they come onto the market. Thankfully I have completed his entire in-career Topps card run and am just slowly working them into my list here when needed. Once I get organized enough to know exactly what I have, then I can take on the one dreaded thought ... or do I just call it an impossibility? ... Do I dare say the word "upgrade?"

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ONE OF A KIND ...
The Card: Trish Stratus 2001 Fleer WWE Raw Is War Femme Fatale #16
The Reason Bought: I picked this up along with another wrestling slab for a cheap price ... about $5 ... figuring somebody else would have grabbed it before the countdown clock wound down. But they didn't. This isn't a pricey insert or anything but it is from her "rookie year" on standard WWE cardboard with Fleer having arrived as the company's card-maker in 2001. Landing top grades on some Fleer stuff from around this time can be a challenge as everything is heavily glossed and can stick together in packs ... and cutting and packaging wasn't really done with high-end grading in mind if you ask me. (Then again, should it be?)
The Grade: PSA 9

Reality Check: I was surprised to see that this is a pop-one card. It seems that wrestling slabs have been picking up steam pretty well in the last few years but that may be more focused on legendary men's stars and not the women's icons like this Hall of Famer. Not all cards are heavily slabbed -- just like in other sports the debuts, key insert sets and hits should be and are thought of first.

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LOW-GRADE THROW-IN
The Card: Shaun Alexander 2000 Leaf Limited #422 (/1,000) -- Rookie Card
The Reason Bought: I grabbed this card for under $4 because it's a player with school ties for me but also because it's a classic example of how memorabilia cards can be tough slabs ... they just get handled more than other types of cards when they are made and that can lead to more flaws. In fact, if you can find memorabilia cards from the early 2000s in highest grades from PSA and BGS you should consider them as those high marks aren't easy.
The Grade: PSA 7

Reality Check: This one may have a low grade but the best is only one tick higher, which is pretty crazy. I still was a little surprised to see three total copies graded. For the price, I'm good ... I think I grabbed it since I don't even have one raw.

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TOUGH GRADING ...
The Card: Steve Swisher 1981 Topps Traded #840
The Reason Bought: This is another bargain-priced slab -- at least in my mind -- as it was a $9.99 find. Like Johnson above, I will always pick up certain slabs for this guy if they are in the right range. I did check the pop report on this one before I grabbed it and the relative scarcity here also helped seal the deal on that decision. I think I own only one raw copy -- and it's a set that I think I've only seen once in-person, which is when I grabbed it. (Can't say I've looked hard, but it's true.)
The Grade: PSA 9

Reality Check: The borders on these cards are pretty narrow, meaning perfectly centered cards are that much tougher to find compared to years where there's a thicker border. Swisher's standard Topps card has a similar population to this one -- 25 total, seven 10s, 11 nines, six eights and a seven. That pretty large print dot near his head might have lost this one a shot at a 10 ... it looks pretty good otherwise to me.

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