Making the Grade (January): Patrick Mahomes, The Mick, Tommy Chong, Whitney Houston, botched cardboard & 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 ...

The Card: 2017 Donruss Press Proofs Red #327 Patrick Mahomes II Rated Rookie
The Reason Graded: Oh what a difference a year makes. This time last year, this parallel Rookie Card was a pull from a retail box where it didn't do much for me -- in fact, I had it set aside to send away when I revisited a box out of curiosity and there he was ... and he wasn't alone. Now, he's an MVP lock and one of the hotter Rookie Cards in the hobby after a 50-touchdown season. These Reds are only found in retail boxes and I figured I'd take my shot at getting it in a slab since it looked pretty clean.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: It was definitely that and what's surprising is that nobody else has pulled one and opted to slab it up. Yes, I know it's the rare autos from key brands that lead the way, but I think a slab for a card like this -- one where there may not be as many out there as other un-numbered parallels -- with a low pop could surprise you if you were a seller. (I'm not ... I stash my stuff 99.9 percent of the time.)

Keep reading for the rest of this month's new grades and additions.

The Card: 2018 Elite Rookie Autographs #46 Sam Darnold (/25)
The Reason Graded: I pulled this retail-only version in a Walmart blaster box in the preseason and set it aside in a box for a few months, despite it being a pricey card at that time. Why? I figured he had plenty more on the way and wasn't that comfy with his playing status for a team that hasn't really done much lately. For whatever reason, I recently dug it out and put it in the grading pile (probably because of its scarcity) and it turns out he had a bit of an uptick on the field late in this season. (It's not been a great first season, but it probably could have been worse.)
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: This card's scarcity should mean it won't see slabbing action often -- I'd be curious to see how many might even surface at all given its retail-only status -- and it's a pop report 1/1. It also graded slightly higher than I had expected (I had figured probably a BGS 9 with potential foilboard issues) but I'll take it.

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The Card: 2011 Panini Americana Silver Proofs #96 Tommy Chong (/100)
The Reason Graded: I like working an oddball card into the mix and this one fits that slot for this month. Oddly, I've pulled more than one of his /100 Proofs from this release -- this one and one being retail -- and I opted for the cleaner of the two. His place in comedy history with Cheech Marin is fun pop culture -- you might say a piece of Americana -- and I liked his work on That '70s Show, too. I figured why not as the card appeared to be very clean. I also didn't check the pop report before submitting this one, but it's what I had expected.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: It looks like this is the only BGS-slabbed Tommy Chong card of any kind on the planet. (Shocker?) He's got about 25 different cards all released in the last decade or so from a few brands and about half of them are autos. Oddly, not even one of those got graded. I don't own the ink -- you really need him with Cheech on any signed piece if you ask me -- but this is just as fun as an oddball item in my mind. Well, at least since it's in high grade. (Pun totally not intended there ... but I'm leaving it. It's about as funny as Buzz gets.)

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The Card: 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen #89 Mickey Mantle
The Reason Graded: I ripped a ton of this first Gypsy Queen release -- mostly for the minis -- and stashed all of my base away in two-row boxes for years. I recently dug them out to pull names and this card jumped out at me with it looking like a BGS 10 contender. There was one tiny thing that bugged me, but it otherwise looked like a Black-label candidate.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: The centering is spot on here but apparently there were a few minute issues here and there under a loupe. (I've added a loupe since submitting these. We'll see if it helps or discourages me -- seeing cardboard under magnification may blow your mind and play tricks with it. That's my reaction so far.) This card is the highest-graded copy of The Mick from a landmark set, holding the same grade as one other that was encased way back in 2012.

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The Card: 2012 Bowman Platinum Ruby #56 Bryce Harper RC
The Reason Graded: With Harper bound to be in the news this off-season, I figured I'd get one of my parallel RCs of his slabbed up. I ripped plenty of wax then but didn't pull a ton of his early stuff so I don't have a lot to choose from other than the cards that basically everybody has (The ones can be bought already slabbed somewhat inexpensively.) I think I pulled this one from a bargain bin blaster box as this brand was discounted pretty hard but still delivered ink pretty well, leading me to buy.
The Grade: BGS 9

Reality Check: A spot on an edge on the back must have gotten me in my pre-loupe days, but I'm fine with a BGS 9. It's interesting to see that only two cards have topped this, so it's probably a common issue with something with the brand's cutting or packaging. Honestly I just slabbed this one up because I liked its look and it was a tad tougher parallel to pull.

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The Card: 1997-98 Fleer #201 Tim Duncan RC
The Reason Bought: This future Hall of Famer has a lot of Rookie Cards but this gloss-free brand is one that I'd chase in wax boxes if they were findable on the cheap -- but they're not all that available within my budget. I figured this one was just one to grab. Why? Keep reading ...
The Grade: SGC 96

Reality Check: I always liked this brand more than most of its counterparts of the time and when I saw this one for just $7 over on COMC, I figured why not. It's got no obvious flaws where I don't see it not being worthy of any other slab type, so that's another reason I grabbed it. SGC cards can present themselves at a fraction of others' prices -- and you can find cards that look better than their number might indicate. I'm a very casual Spurs collector -- I pick up a few guys' cards here and there each year -- so this was an easy add. (My raw copies of this one pulled years ago all had issues.)

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The Card: 1991 Pro Set #350 Whitney Houston
The Reason Bought: Thanks to Bill Belichick Rookie Cards, ripping into 1991 Pro Set Series 1 boxes isn't as much of a cheap thrill as it used to be (but don't get me wrong, you can find them) and back then this card was a highlight on both the set's checklist and in the card market. It's simply a very unique piece. Pro Set documented many areas of the game as The Official NFL Card and that included Whitney Houston's national anthem performance at the Super Bowl during wartime.
The Grade: PSA 10

Reality Check: As you may know based on recent breaks here, I'm a sucker for Pro Set and I did a double-take when I saw this card at just $8 while slabbed a PSA 10. Now, I know a PSA 10 is not intended to be perfectly perfect and the rough cuts of Pro Set can make it a massive challenge to find top-grade cards straight out of fresh packs. This one is not perfect -- there's a spot on the left edge that's not pretty (especially viewed with a loupe) but I was fine with this one's overall look otherwise for the price. I'd like to have this card in a high BGS grade but I'm afraid to look at the pop report for that and then the prices ... if they even exist. Maybe busting a fresh 1991 box will be on my radar in this new year.

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The Card: 1990 Topps #669 Tommy Lasorda
The Reason Bought: Bet you can't figure this one out ...
The Grade: BGS 5

Reality Check: If you remember last month's Making the Grade, you might have seen a crazy mis-cut card. This one was a buy that joins that one in that wing of my stash. This is 100 percent a gimmick/goofy show-off card of a Hall of Famer and now I know that a blank-back or blank-front card can be slabbed. (I hadn't really thought about it before I saw this one, which cost me a whopping $3.) The grade is based on some condition flaws not really related to the missing ink on the front and it's oddly the only copy of this admittedly cheap card that's been graded. You'd think a Dodgers fan out there somewhere might have gotten a Lasorda graded for the heck of it ... but nope. I've pulled a number of weird miscuts and botched printing jobs in the past and kept them all -- maybe I'll slab a few more at some point, though the novelty vs. cost is one to consider. (It's not a cheap thrill but I like weird and interesting cards just as much as the money stuff.)

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The Card: 1984 Fleer Update #U80 Joe Morgan
The Reason Bought: This two-time MVP wrapped up his Hall of Fame career in an Oakland A's uniform and there are not that many cards showing that time. This is arguably one of the better ones in that it's from a rarer set that included a pair of Rookie Cards that get a lot more attention (Roger Clemens and Kirby Puckett). This one got the nod when I saw it in its grade and at its price. Cards of HOF guys in unfamiliar places are fun sights that, at least to me, don't get old.
The Grade: BGS 9.0

Reality Check: I was a little surprised to see so many copies of this one graded, though it's still not a huge number, and I paid $7 to get it, which is less than half of what it would have cost for me to find one and grade it ... with no BGS 9 guaranteed.

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The Card: 1975 Topps #13 Sam Cunningham
The Reason Bought: Do I admit here that I thought this was his Rookie Card during a late-night impulse buying click-fest? It has the same photo (and I already have the RC in a PSA slab somewhere) but the price was right. It's not that different of a design with the same photo for his second-year card, but I'm still glad I grabbed it. He's Randall Cunningham's big brother and he was a bruiser at USC before he played nine years in the NFL -- all for a franchise that's among the best in the league today. Why do I care? I collected Randall Cunningham back in the day but never landed much of this guy's cardboard.
The Grade: SGC 92

Reality Check: This card was just $4 over on COMC.com and I didn't check the pop report before buying it -- that surprised me, though I'm sure the set collectors have the PSA report looking a little meatier. For the price I'm cool with my mistake of thinking it was the RC. There's only one better and this card really looks better than its grade.

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