Making the Grade (July): Vladdy & Bo rookies, CM Punk's 'Pipe Bomb,' Naomi Osaka, botched cardboard, vintage & a CGC book

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 ...

VG THE MVP (SO FAR)
The Card: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 2019 Topps Stadium Club #301 -- Rookie Card 
The Reason Graded: In my first bulk sub to CSG, which I recently got back -- 80 working days, by the way -- I worked in a few recent-year Rookie Cards just to see how some different kinds of stock are handled by the veteran grading company that has just turned its attention to sports cards starting this year. I sent this in before the season started, of course, but it looks like a smart slab now as Vladdy is demolishing things in MLB and is on pace for a monster season if he keeps at it.
The Grade: CSG 9

Reality Check: There's no pop report yet -- they say it's coming* -- but this one comes in at my anticipated mark, though I would have been happy to get a higher one. (You'll see those in the coming months.) This one has some high gloss and somewhat softer stock -- not the easiest grading combo -- but I think it's the backs here that are the key. This one not getting a higher grade made me wonder what might be holding it down -- a deal where I'd want to see subgrades, but not for $10 more. I do think, based on my results, that CSG is grading to a stricter standard (like BGS) vs. others (at least historically until recently) so I'm also OK with cards not checking in at 9.5s or 10s in bulk. My second bulk sub -- hopefully back soon, too -- included more stuff like this.

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

BO SHARES THIS ONE
The Card: Bo Bichette & Anthony Kay 2020 Topps Heritage #52 -- Rookie Card
The Reason Bought: Good or bad, Bichette is pretty much a linchpin player on my fantasy team this year -- even when he's slumping he plays -- and that same kind of goes for my slab grabs out there on the bargain end of things. I grabbed this for just $10 and I did that because it was a solid price. Most of his low-end RCs are around $20 when slabbed with 8-9 grades but heavy returns that may be including him now might be dropping some of those prices.
The Grade: PSA 9

Reality Check: The 1971 Topps re-do that is 2020 Topps Heritage is one that I'm not sure I'd submit cards from all that willingly -- unless a card looks absolutely perfect -- there are all kinds of things that could be noticed on those all-black borders between edges and corners. I own a couple of these raw but for that price I just couldn't pass it up. I'd buy his RCs all day long at this price and this grade if I could. (The funny part? I have a couple other copies of this one incoming ... so you'll have some déjà vu when I get them in-hand.)

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OBVIOUSLY BOTCHED, BUT ...
The Card: Bryce Harper 2013 Topps #1B -- photo variation
The Reason Bought: I pulled one of these SP cards in my very first hobby box of this back then, but my copy had a corner lift that has had it in my "maybe grade but it'll probably be a disappointment" pile for all these years. Why? I like the photograph here. I recently found this one in a comfortable minimum that looks very good at a comfortable price but with an oddity of grading attached -- this card is missing its foil. Did that affect the grade? In my book it should but there's a chance it might not ... I actually don't know if they have a stated process of how card defects like this could influence grading.
The Grade: BGS 9

Reality Check: The pop report on this one is surprisingly low if you ask me -- remember, Harper was a huge deal back then -- and the results are definitely split with this one checking in just as often as the best grade ... and no 10s. I like the idea of slabbed botch cards -- check out my slabbed one here -- but wonder if grading companies should try to clarify how they are handled.

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ICONIC CARDBOARD
The Card: Naomi Osaka 2019 Topps International Tennis Hall of Fame #50 -- Rookie Card?
The Reason Graded: I sent this one in for the heck of it with my first bulk sub figuring it would be a contender for a decent grade -- but I really didn't look at the centering all that closely. (It being off two directions here likely got it this mark as it's otherwise a razor-sharp copy. I managed to get three of these sets from the Hall at close to their original price even after they blew up in price with her on-court successes. It's a high-dollar card in high grade and a respectable one otherwise as she's been dominant without having a lot of cardboard. I only opened one of my sets so I didn't cherry pick which one to send in. Now I kind of want to open and possibly grade my others. 
The Grade: CSG 9

Reality Check: As I noted, I think the centering got me here -- it's not dramatically bad given the design at a glance but it's definitely off if I had used some measuring of the borders where there is one. No big deal -- I graded this one to stash it away as she has very few fully licensed cards.

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STICKERY RICKY
The Card: Ricky Williams 1999 Fleer Focus Fresh Ink #36
The Reason Bought: I always liked the feel of these sticker autographs that Fleer used in some releases around this time -- a foil sticker that feels like it's not one. (It's incorporated into the foil design better than many designs.) I found this rookie-year auto for roughly the price of a blaster -- some of his autos can be pricier from his early years -- and grabbed it for the sake of having some throwback inclusions here that aren't too far back.
The Grade: BGS 8.5

Reality Check: An 8.5 seems low until you look at the pop report -- it's actually a rare card to find slabbed at all -- and just a single card is graded higher. Perhaps this volume is a sign that it's more of an SP'd card than people might think? Or is it a sign that these aren't all that grading friendly? Perhaps. The front here looked very clean (condition-wise, not design-wise) other than the centering perhaps a little off based on that sticker placement. I think its flaws are on the back corners and edges. All in all, I think this one (in an old slab with the marks on the back) presents better than it is as an 8.5.

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SLABBING THEM BOOKS
The Comic: Harley Quinn #59 (variant cover)
The Reason Bought: I've owned a few graded comics over the years -- literally only a handful -- but I've decided to work in a slabbed book each month if I can since grading returns are so slow (or stopped) from most companies right now and that has limited my submission options. (That said, after I joined CSG that meant I could submit books, too, and I recently sent off the first books of my own for grading.) This one's horizontal format and clean digital style with lots of little details got me to bite here on a variant book.
The Grade: CGC 9.8 (Universal)

Reality Check: Back when I was buying books regularly (not a long time) back in the early 1990s, I was a notorious nit-picker for condition, so we'll see how my subs check out in a few months -- It's definitely way more complicated than cards. For new stuff like this, it seems like it's got to be a 9.8 for buyers/sellers for modern stuff and the census (as they call it) for this one reflects that. CGC 10s basically don't exist in the big-picture on anything and even 9.9s are rare across the board in all eras, especially older years. Grading-wise I think I will dabble in cheaper or unique books like this from the late-1980s forward in the areas I liked back then. (I was more of an artist collector but not who you might think of first from the years of Marvel's reboots and Image Comics' launch.) The cost of grading books means your starting point for slabbed books is typically a bit pricier than a lot of cards, too. Harder to grade,  harder to dabble on the cheap. (We'll see how long I give this a go.)

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HOW MANY YOU NEED?
The Card: Reggie Jackson 1985 O-Pee-Chee #200
The Reason Bought: This one jumped out at me as an O-Pee-Chee card -- it's razor sharp unlike how they normally look -- and that bright stock made it look better than a 1985 Topps card might, too. Now, did I need this one? Nah, but it was relatively cheap  and a throw-in with a few other slabs that were even cheaper than this one. Simple as that. I prefer cards for his Hall of Famer from other parts of his career ... but this one looked good enough to bite.
The Grade: BGS 9

Reality Check: I figured it would be a low-pop card but didn't look -- it's the lowest one of the bunch. Had I known that, I might not have grabbed it. The only thing that looks obviously "off" by just a smidge is the left-right centering. If you have ripped 1985 Topps, you know how sloppy centering and ink flow can be in this timeframe. You can go through a ton of fresh cards and not see cards better than this.

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TURNING 21 ...
The Card: Shaun Alexander 2000 UD Ionix #86 -- Rookie Card (/2,000)
The Reason Bought: I always liked the cards showing this past college star taking the field for his last college game like this one does (if I remember the moment correctly) and this is a card that I think I might own a couple other times (one raw, one perhaps lower-grade). This one presented itself in a high grade without a premium price, so I grabbed it.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: The pop report here is interesting with so much parity between the top two grades and nothing checking in at a BGS 10 at all ... of course, the stock style may not allow that, really, and I'm doubting that too many of those 41 copies were actually done since BGS started doing black slabs several years ago. I grabbed this for my school ties part of my stash and figured I might not find another even with the overall volume.

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OLDSCHOOL BVG
The Card: Johnny Bench & Dick Allen (Home Run Leaders) 1973 Topps #62
The Reason Bought: High-grade stuff from this era just doesn't seem that plentiful but there could still be action here doing raw subs vs. the decades that came before this. What do I mean? Cards like this are cheaper but still have serious upside with grades if they check in higher than this. (And I'm sure a lot of the vintage submitters go with 1950s and 1960s before this era.) This was $10 -- a little high, maybe -- but I liked it as it shows a Hall of Famer and an iconic non-HOFer from the era. Plus it doesn't have any awkward design touches that a lot of stuff can have from the 1970s.
The Grade: BVG 8

Reality Check: It doesn't really have anything that makes me see how it fell to a BVG 8 -- it looks better than that other than perhaps a slightly rough bottom edge or very slight diamond cut. Only four copies exist that are higher ... so maybe that $10 price wasn't bad after all.

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BULK STAR POWER
The Card: Ken Griffey Jr. 1998 Fleer Ultra #1
The Reason Graded: I slipped this one into the end of my first CSG bulk to see how the truly soft and high-gloss Ultra stock might grade out from them (kind of like my first card here) and since I liked this card, which is from a brand I liked from the mid-1990s until around this time. This one has a strong photo for a Griffey trademark moment (though I wonder where his bat went ... I might not have cropped it out) and that also prompted me to throw it in. I have a lot of star cards from around this time that have premium feels but are cheap and pretty plentiful ... but could be pricier cards if they dropped in more elite grades. 
The Grade: CSG 9

Reality Check: This card likely had its issues on the back as I just didn't see it before I sent it ... and it's another sign that CSG is a tough but not unrealistic grader. There's one corner and maybe one minor spot on an edge here, but I still thought it might have checked in higher than this. I'm a big fan of a lot of the slab features here -- particularly the ability to see a scan of the card front and back directly off of a QR code on the back -- and that's going to cut down on faking slabs or swapping out cards if they can somehow alter a case. Literally the only drawback right now for CSG is that their pop report isn't yet live. Considering all of the variables and price, I'll probably do CSG with most of my new submissions. (I'm not slabbing to flip.)

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IMPRESSIVE FOR ITS GRADE
The Card: Steve Swisher 1975 Topps Mini #63 -- Rookie Card
The Reason Bought: This card was around $5 and it looks a lot better than some of the PSA 8-9s I own for this card that cost me more. What's the problem here? Well, the centering is off a little but it must have a surface wrinkle in there somewhere that drops it down ... but I'm not seeing it.
The Grade: PSA 5

Reality Check: This one checks in as one of the two lowest copies but, man, it's a strong PSA 5. Printing spots, diamond cuts, ink blotches and so much more commonly goes wrong here ... but not on this card. Yet it's a five.

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MANNY BEING MANNY (MAYBE)
The Card: Manny Ramirez 1992 Topps Stadium Club Dome #146 -- Rookie Card
The Reason Bought: This is perhaps the least-impressive of Ramirez's RCs from back in the day with that senior picture-style portrait instead of a baseball photo, but it's one that is still heavily graded since Stadium Club was a very popular brand then. I threw this one into a lot pick-up since it was just $4. Not a big deal of a card -- admittedly modern filler -- but it cost somebody more than that to slab it. Not sure I'd pay the $20ish (or more) to grab my raw copy from my set landed back in the day because there are no guarantees on an elite grade. (I'd probably slab other Ramirez RCs first.)
The Grade: BGS 8.5

Reality Check: I honestly see no flaws on the front of this card other than one very small spec on the right edge (may or may not be an issue) so it's probably something on surface or the back bringing this one down. Why grab this? An occasional throwback junk slab grab of the right player or era might not hurt if it's cheap enough ... and even cards perhaps seen as "lesser" in the past might be in demand from some collectors these days. Cards like this in elite grades can be a lot more expensive than you might think, too, because of printing standards vs. grading standards. I mean, look at the volume of 10s here. Enough said.

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IT'S BEEN A DECADE ...
The Card: CM Punk 2013 Topps WWE Triple Threat Tier One #TT26
The Reason Graded: Punk's infamous "Pipe Bomb" promo (click to view) happened just over a decade ago -- June 27, 2011 -- and in it he breaks down the fourth wall more than a few times and more than a few ways before his mic gets cut. Its was clearly planned -- but perhaps not its scope -- but it was a daring, scathing promo dragging Vince McMahon and plenty more in WWE. In it he name-dropped some competition, people elsewhere and said other stuff in it that was not allowed ... but it happened and it got cardboard. There were not many cards for the moment, but I liked the novelty of this having one. The added irony here? Punk is likely on the not-to-be-mentioned on TV list now ... and I know there have been cards where info on backs go out of their way to not mention him by name.
The Grade: CSG 9

Reality Check: This foilboard card is on super-skinny stock but was clean on the front, so it looks good. I knew it wouldn't grade really high with its back edges and corners (and dark colors), but I threw it in my bulk sub. I would have preferred a nine but was not surprised it checked in where it did. I need to dig out the other card that I know of has this moment featured ... to slab it to go with this one. Why? Good moments can make good slabs. Or, maybe I'll try slabbing some first cards/Rookie Cards from the realm. We'll see.

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