Making the Grade (July): Domino's auto, Sasha Banks & Ricochet gems, vintage buys and ... a 40-cent slabbed pack?

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 ... and this time it's a few fresh slabs and a few more past pick-ups than usual as my pre-COVID grading submissions are delayed and still in graders' hands.

OH, OH DOMINO ...
The Card: Zazie Beetz 2019 Goodwin Champions Autographs
The Reason Graded: Goodwin Champions is always full of interesting and different autographs -- many super-affordable ones, too, though the years -- but this is not one of the dirt-cheap sigs that has some obscure sport's star on it. Instead, this is of the celeb variety in the brand as Beetz might be best known for her roles in Deadpool 2 (where I know her), Atlanta or Joker. Domino in the movies is different than Domino in the books, but I think it worked so this auto was firmly on my want list when I first saw she was a signer. She's got almost 40 different cards in this release, which is the home of her only certified autographs so far.
The Grade: BGS 10/10

Reality Check: This was a nice surprise to me as paper-stock autos can always have minor problems -- especially with on-card autos. This was not a pull of mine -- in fact, it was in a previous Buzz Buys item as seen here -- so I was a little surprised but I also knew it looked grading worthy with scrutiny so I opted for BGS. I was also surprised to see that it's the only one graded, but there are other versions. Three of her inscribed cards have been graded with nothing higher than a 9.5. Even more interesting? This is just one of four 10s out of 40 cards graded from this particular set for all signers.

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

HIGH-FLYER, HIGH GRADE
The Card: Ricochet 2018 Topps WWE Then Now Forever Autographs Blue (/50)
The Reason Graded: This set is one I've shredded more than perhaps any WWE release other than the original Topps Heritage boxes back in 2005. Why? Good photos and a number of newcomers with First NXT Cards and Rookie Cards as well as autographed parallels of many of them. This high-flyer's photo isn't the best -- it really doesn't capture his unique in-ring work but I'm not sure what could -- but it's a rare parallel with an auto that didn't have any sticker issues. When I got it in hand, it looked very, very clean so I decided to slab.
The Grade: BGS 9.5/10

Reality Check: I was right on the grade -- it's a solid piece and interestingly nobody else has slabbed a copy of this one. It's not my only rarer parallel auto I've grabbed in the last few months for him, so I suppose it may not end up being alone in my collection. The super-skinny stock used for these releases is seriously damage-prone. You can easily damage bottom edges of cards simply by pulling open the pack -- and the corners and edges can easily get tweaked during their in-pack lives -- so anything BGS 9 or higher is strong in my mind.

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RAZOR-SHARP VINTAGE
The Card: Larry Csonka 1979 Topps
The Reason Bought: This Hall of Famer was a member of the perfect 1972 Miami Dolphins as well as their title-winning follow-up team and he's a relatively affordable player whose Rookie Card can be found in the 1969 Topps set and then in a number of releases after that. This card? It's an interesting oddity from back in the day as it's got an airbrushed jersey for his return to the Dolphins for his final season in 1979 but uses the same photo as his 1977 Topps card. (Was a Dolphins photo from earlier not available since the timing didn't matter? He was in the World Football League in 1975 so maybe they felt going back to 1974 was just too far.) Anyway, none of that was why I bit here ... do you realize how tough it is to land a BVG 8.5 from this era? It's a razor-sharp card and it's from the brief era where vintage cards had sub-grades.
The Grade: BVG 8.5

Reality Check: Only two cards equal this one and only two top it -- and a lot of them have been graded considering it's not all that of an expensive card. Perhaps that's the power of the 1972 Dolphins. Even more powerful? I landed this slab for less than $6.

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CHEAP PICK-UP
The Card: Calvin Ridley 2018 Panini Elite Draft Picks Rookie Card (red jersey variation)
The Reason Bought: This is another bargain buy where I just couldn't pass it up for the price -- just $4 -- and I was only looking since he's a player I casually collect. It's not a big card but I'm fine with nines and the price is a good chunk lower than it would have cost me to grade one. (Though there are a lot of other cards I'd slab before this one ... especially if paying for sub-grade service.)
The Grade: BGS 9

Reality Check: It's the only one that exists, which isn't surprising ... even to me. I didn't know that when I grabbed it but I still think Ridley could make some moves card-wise on a team that's known to throw it a lot. We'll see when they actually get back on the field at some point.

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NOT SURE WHY ...
The Card: Brandon Belt 2011 Bowman Chrome Prospects Autographs
The Reason Bought: This one is another bargain pick-up that has some decent potential out there if I were buying to sell. I got it for just $10 and some change, which seemed like a decent price considering the grade, the popularity of first Chrome autos and there fact that he's been a regular for the Giants since 2011, averaging 19 homers per 162 games for his entire career. He hasn't really had a break-out season, though, but he has been an All-Star so it seemed like a decent buy for the grade.
The Grade: BGS 9.5/10

Reality Check: It turns out most cards check in at this grade -- so that's one reason it was cheap. No worries. I've slabbed some goofy cards for $10 in the past ... or had some bad packs/boxes for more than that.

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GRABBED A ROOKIE CARD
The Card: Carney Lansford 1979 Topps Rookie Card
The Reason Bought: This is a RC for a guy who was a batting champ and an All-Star back in the day before he was a reliable member of the Oakland A's throughout the 1980s and then into the Bash Brother years where he was a World Series winner. I must have been in a throwback mood as I spent about $10 for this one -- but, at the same time, anything slabbed from the 1970s would be a challenge to land in a high grade. (Or, finding one via PSA or BVG at a higher mark might have been pricier when I looked.) Either way, I locked one down and don't really need to look again. For vintage stuff, PSA 6-8 is fine in my book for stuff from this era.
The Grade: SGC 7 (old slab SGC 84)

Reality Check: I was a little surprised to see how few have been slabbed by SGC for this one, though it's not exactly a pricey card. PSA has slabbed 166 of them and only 17 are 10s. PSA 9s are the most-common grade but there are plenty lower.

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YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS ...
The Card: 1984-85 Topps NHL pack
The Reason Bought: I own very few unopened packs -- the Buzz Break section and Buzz 8 in 8 marathons should tell you that -- but this one is just not getting ripped ... at least without some bolt-cutters. It's the home of Steve Yzerman Rookie Cards and a number of other key players from the era, but that's not why I picked this one up. A while back, I picked up a small lot of junk wax for just a couple of packs that were teased among them -- I remember some 1991 Stadium Club and 1994 Upper Deck baseball in the mix -- and this one, oddly, was in the box, too. It made no sense but it was all too cheap to pass up -- I landed this pack for literal pocket change (about 25 packs for around $10 -- shipped). Meanwhile, ungraded packs of this go for about $10 on their own.
The Grade: PSA 7

Reality Check: This pack doesn't look like it was made of wax paper but this one still graded a PSA 7 -- not sure why but I'm not worried for the price, and it's one of the lowest-graded examples out there. But it is what it is and PSA 9 packs have sold for like $65 ... so I still have to be ahead on my 40-cent pack.

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THE BOSS
The Card: Sasha Banks 2019 Topps Now WWE  (/172)
The Reason Bought: I have had good luck grading Topps Now cards but had waited on picking off anything for this WWE star that I collect (casually) until there was a card with a stronger photo or, realistically, a better outcome of a match shown on a Now card. (Booking and ideal cardboard haven't aligned often for her and this set) This one worked, though, and I picked up one raw -- though not via Topps -- for about $6. I got a bit of a smackdown when I got it as its surface wasn't one I would have tried to slab. Then, though, this one presented itself for $12 already graded. For the grade, despite not having subs, I bit. I'm moving toward no-subgrade cards on cheaper slabs where I like the card more than an elite grade on a key card -- it's cheaper to submit that way.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: A simple card that's graded well ... so that works. A lot of times cards like these will have price tags double or triple what I paid as slabber/sellers will just wait things out for a hot streak.

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PAST PICK-UP
The Card: Jonathan Allen 2017 Leaf Valiant Tenacious D Purple (/15)
The Reason Bought: This one hit the spot price-wise at less than $7 and as an auto of a player with school ties. Like many, I don't really chase defensive cardboard all that hard, but I still couldn't pass up this one for the price. His autograph is often problematic on stickers with the "J" running off, so this on-card sig was a good option compared to many others.
The Grade: BGS 9.5/10

Reality Check: I was a bit surprised to see only two graded but then again only 15 were made. I think this pick-up was just so I had one of his autos ... so mission accomplished.

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HISTORIC FIRST
The Card: Masanori Murakami & Dick Estelle 1965 Topps Rookie Card
The Reason Bought: On Sept. 1, 1964, Murakami made MLB history as the first big-leaguer born in Japan. (Learn more about his career here via the Hall of Fame.) I picked up one of these raw years ago but something got me to look for slabs just recently and this one jumped out at me as it truly looks better than its grade ... and certainly makes me think my other copy won't get this kind of mark.
The Grade: PSA 5

Reality Check: Key vintage Topps MLB cards are heavily graded by PSA and this one is no exception. Most check in higher than this one, too, but for $10 I like this card. It's very clean and a solid piece of MLB trivia with good potential appeal to many.

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GOT TO BE AN SP ...
The Card: John Johnson, Walter Davis & Nate "Tiny" Archibald 1980-81 Topps
The Reason Bought: I collect the player on the left because of some school ties and have all of his in-career cards in slabs now (at least I think I do ... gotta get organized). What I do know about this card? It's not noted as a short-print but it's got to be one -- or there are some serious stockpilers of Davis or Archibald cards out there ... even raw copies of this one are in seriously lower volume compared to others in this set that show this former Seattle Supersonics player and championship team member.
The Grade: PSA 8

Reality Check: Printing-wise, these cards aren't as dirty as others that came before them but they certainly aren't easy grades, either, and like I said finding copies of this one raw and in volume to cherry-pick to grade ain't easy. (Others in this set seriously were ... and I still only landed PSA 8s with my best copies) I like this set more than I don't -- and I wouldn't mind seeing a modern-day take on it since printing and cutting would be so much better.

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CHEAP BUSTS
The Card: Eddie Lacy 2013 Topps Museum Collection Rookie Quad Relic Gold (/25)
The Reason Bought: Another school ties card and cheap buy this time -- believe it or not, this one was under $5 -- and that had me doing a double-take considering the volume made. I don't grade memorabilia cards often, not because they can be a challenge but because if you slab 'em up you can't rub the swatch. Somebody probably saw dollar signs with only 25 made.
The Grade: PSA 9

Reality Check: This one must have been slabbed when he was being heavily hyped as a key in the Green Bay Packers' future -- he did have two 1,000-yard seasons, after all -- but the wheels fell off not long after that. As more of a college-minded collector I'm not all that worried about pro performances. It's a simple card but a nice pick-up. It won't make me any money but that's not why I grabbed it.

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