Making the Grade (January): Dan Marino, Big Mac, Bo Bichette, Alice Eve, botched cardboard, vintage and ... El Generico?

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 ...

WORKS FOR ME
The Card: Dan Marino 1984 Topps #123 -- Rookie Card
The Reason Bought: I never really aspired to own a Dan Marino RC -- or a number of other notables from the past -- but this one presented itself on the cheaper side of things for this card (about $135) and considering how this one looks I grabbed it. Why? Go window-shopping for these cards raw -- it can be depressing to see how sloppy the printing and cutting can be for this set. (Want more proof of extreme possibilites? Click here.)
The Grade: BGS 9

Reality Check: I knew this was a strong grade for this card but I didn't look at the pop report for this heavily graded and iconic Hall of Famer RC. Just 415 check in at a higher mark out of nearly 9,000 graded -- less than 5 percent of the total grade higher -- and this one accounts for just seven percent of the total population for this card. My card isn't perfect -- there's a minor couple of spots in the black border line above "Dan" and some very, very minor specs here and there on the edges but at a glance there are not massive differences here vs. higher grades ... other than the fact that a BGS 10 copy of this card has sold on eBay for more than $4,500. I'll take mine all day long -- and getting a nine here is tough as it is.

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

BARGAIN-SLAB GRABBING
The Card: Ozzie Albies 2015 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP71 -- First Bowman Card
The Reason Bought: I have been picking up a few young stars' slabs in the OK but not-elite grades just to have them. If they blow up, great. If not, no big deal. I landed this one for $11 as it's Albies' first Chrome card and it'll go along with some of his slabbed RCs I have grabbed in the recent past. Before this past season, he'd put up back-to-back 24-homer campaigns with improvements in his hit totals, RBI, walks and average among other things ... so he felt like a solid grab if cheap. Compared to Ronald Acuña Jr., he's a steal, though he's not as big of a deal on the field. But, if the team puts it all together he might have more room to gain in comparison.
The Grade: BGS 9

Reality Check: I'm fine with nines and this one is right there in the pack in terms of its volume. At least it's not the lowest grade, though.

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FELT LIKE A STEAL
The Card: Mark McGwire 1987 Fleer Update #76 -- First Fleer Card
The Reason Bought: I found this one for about $16 and didn't flinch when grabbing it as it's a card that looks really, really good. The boxed Update sets might be a little easier to grade than their packed out standard Fleer counterparts from this year, but they are often messy in a lot of ways -- centering and print dots among the big issues with this one and all that cyan ink. This one? Super clean. This is McGwire's first Fleer card -- not a RC as that's 1985 Topps -- but in this grade at this price I had to have it.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: I knew this one was nice but I didn't check the pop report before I grabbed it -- and it's only been topped twice there. Twice. That's crazy but that shows you how 1980s stuff can be with grading. I didn't check the Glossy counterpart on this one, but I'd imagine it's similar or maybe a little easier.

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OLE!
The Card: El Generico 2010-13 Missouri Wrestling Revival #60
The Reason Bought: Sami Zayn is (intentionally) one of the WWE's most-annoying characters going today, but in the past one of his gimmicks was that of a generic luchador with the name and moves to go with it ... El Generico. I haven't seen enough to know the ins and outs of the character (or how it was received ... but I think was much more whimsical than he is now), but I have seen the highlight reels showing the crazy moves he would do. So, when this one popped up I figured why not for the grade and the price, which was less than a blaster.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: I don't know much about the set this one came from, but there are a number of key names in it -- both young and old -- and it was released with a focus on a conglomerate of several midwest independent promotions. This one has been slabbed a number of times and a Seth Rollins (Tyler Black) card has been, too. I don't really chase independent wrestling cards but in a slab this one presents as a fun item.

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ANOTHER ODDBALL
The Card: Gary Pettigrew 1971 Topps #63 1989 Topps Auction blank-back proof card
The Reason Bought: This is one of the several proof cards I mentioned last time -- cards that were sold in the landmark Topps auction of the past -- and this one cost me around $3. Why grab it? I just liked the price for this (and the others) for slabs, knowing that they are pretty unique and the label notes that, too. I couldn't tell you much about Pettigrew other than he was a second-round pick out of Stanford and played nearly a decade in the league ... all before I was watching.
The Grade: BVG 7.5

Reality Check: This card was put in the pop report with its standard counterparts and it grades the highest. I'd imagine these are cards that were cut by Topps and they took that into consideration (since they are proof cards) as some look smaller than they might normally be. This feels decent, though, for a $3 vintage card with a story. I could see oddballs like this getting maybe $15-20 (perhaps more if somebody was really interested), so that's why I grabbed a few.

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ANOTHER ODDBALL
The Card: Ken Griffey Jr. 2000 Upper Deck Ovation #43 (missing foil)
The Reason Bought: Here's another card I grabbed back when the MLB Network documentary Junior was on he air and it got me looking. I landed this for $10 and grabbed it since I liked the missing foil stamping here perhaps even more than the grade. (The grade didn't hurt.) This shows Griffey at his introductory press conference with the Reds -- an image we got on a number of his early cards back when that move went down -- and they will always have some appeal for collectors at that time ... at least for me.
The Grade: SGC 96

Reality Check: Seventeen regular copies of this one have been slabbed by SGC with most getting this same grade and only three checking in higher. All in all, this is just a cheap odd card that I think has some appeal.

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GRABBING MiLB
The Card: Bo Bichette 2018 Topps Heritage Minor League Clubhouse Collection Relics #BB
The Reason Bought: I got this one for $13 because it's a design I really like and it's a player who I have been grabbing a few slabs for the last year or so. (This was a preseason pick-up.) Do I think cards like this are potential money-makers in the future? Perhaps -- there simply can't be as much stuff made for MiLB releases from Topps compared to MLB sets. Wax dries up pretty fast for their two MiLB releases each year, too. Odds are you'll be able to find the standard stuff easier than the MiLB stuff say a decade from now.
The Grade: PSA 9

Reality Check: This is the lowest of the two graded so far here ... no big deal to me. I dig it whether it's the worst-graded or the best-graded copy. If I could build some full sets on the cheap, the Heritage Relics (both MLB and MiLB) releases in recent years might be higher on my list than others. It's not a money thing ... it's a collect-and-stash thing. The money part could be interesting later on. (Would I collect 'em all and slab 'em all? Probably not ... just the elite names.)

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BAD SET, BIG NAME
The Card: Sting 1991 Impel WCW #11
The Reason Bought: This was actually a mistaken grab months ago -- I was watching something from a seller and put in a bid on something else (this) as a partial reminder of everything ... and nobody else bid. I missed getting what I wanted but got this card for literally less than a pack of Topps along with another slab. Why is it here? Well, Sting is back on the TV and wrestling landscape with AEW and their push includes a ton of throwbacks to the NWA and WCW with this top star's later persona (not this one) looking to be a big part of things in the coming years. Whether he wrestles (not likely) or not doesn't matter, but there could be some added interest in his better cards. (This one really isn't one of those ... it's just one of his cards.)
The Grade: PSA 10

Reality Check: This set is awful -- and most notable names have multiple cards -- but this one has graded pretty well with my copy where most show up in slabs.

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A SCI-FI TROPE WITH A TWIST
The Card: 2014 Star Trek Movies (Star Trek Into Darkness) Silver parallel #50 (/200)
The Reason Graded: This card is a smart one if you ask me and here's some admitted over-analysis as to why. The front gives off a "Listen to me, you idiot!" vibe as Carol Marcus stands above James T. Kirk explaining a bunch of plot stuff as they head into action in Star Trek Into Darkness. Meanwhile, the back photo is a moment that is clearly a bit of formulaic sci-fi junk that actually got the movie criticized in some circles due to its egregiousness. Like the Princess Leia card right here and its moment that delivered a zinger at Luke Skywalker (and perhaps sci-fi viewers), this card does it with the duality of the front and back. (Told you it's over-analyzed ... but all of that is why I think it's a smartly made card.)
The Grade: PSA 9

Reality Check: It's the only copy graded ... so it's just me. I'm not sure why it's a nine but sometimes the back edges of these cards can be a little rough.

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VINTAGE GRAB
The Card: Butch Hobson 1977 Topps #89 -- Rookie Card
The Reason Bought: I landed this one for less than $2, so it's not some amazing grab (well, price-wise maybe) -- it's just a need for my school ties part of my collection. The former Alabama star played eight years in the majors -- his best being 1977 when he hit 30 homers and hit .265 despite a league-leading 162 strikeouts -- and then he was the manager of the Red Sox from 1992-94. He's got a decent amount of baseball cards out there -- about 70 -- but with no autos and no mem (and no reason for them to exist, really) so the RC is arguably his most-notable card.
The Grade: PSA 6

Reality Check: The vertical centering here is brutal but it looks very good otherwise. I'm sure I was just going to grab a raw one back when I was looking but the price for a slab was too cheap to pass up.

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