Making the Grade (June): A perfect Alexa Bliss NXT RC parallel, Michael Jordan's signature, DeShaun Watson, Maddux & 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: 2015 Topps Chrome WWE Refractors #92 Alexa Bliss
The Reason Graded: I busted a ton of basic Topps and Chrome that year chasing a few names and, at that time, Bliss wasn't one of them. In fact, she was perhaps the least-compelling of the NXT and new female stars in the set at that time. Since then, though, times have changed and she's been a highly marketed title-holder. This was the only Refractor version of her first WWE card in my stash go I sent it in ... and based on the grade I'm glad I did.
The Grade: BGS 10 Black

Reality Check: Just 10 copies of this card have been graded and this is not only the only perfect 10 but it's also the only 10 period. I'm not sure what kind of market there might be for this one but I won't find out -- it's going into my stash of graded WWE/NXT debut cards. Another interesting nugget? It's the only Black-label Bliss from any product  and more than 80 cards to be slabbed.

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The Card: 1994 Collector's Choice Silver Signature #661 Michael Jordan
The Reason Graded: I pulled this from a dirt-cheap box not that long ago -- in fact, I beat the odds and pulled two in two boxes. If you know how these were packaged, it's not always easy to find clean cards in those weird thick-foil wrappers and their gloss and soft stock lead to a lot of cards with issues. Not this one. Its upper-left corner has some slight weirdness to it -- it's not bent, not lifted, not dented just a little edge fuzz near it. I knew that spot was a likely issue when I inspected these but the card was otherwise impressively clean and nearly perfect. I'm a sucker for Jordan baseball cards so this one definitely got the nod for slabbing for me.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: There isn't a single BGS 10 copy of this card -- perfect or not -- and there are only 12 other copies of this card that match my grade. Both of those facts surprise me given the heavy focus on Jordan cards when graded. Of course, that mania generally applies a little more to NBA stuff.

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The Card: 2003 Fleer Hardball Platinum #264 Greg Maddux All-Around Stars
The Reason Graded: There's a secret reason I got this graded that I don't think when I recently pulled it from a Buzz 12 in 12 break. Well, that and the curiosity of how the corners sub-grade would be handled. The corners here? Perfection, since there aren't any. The secret reason I graded this parallel? It's a 1/1 of sorts -- its serial-number is 31/50, which is this Hall of Famer's uniform number. Hardball is one of those weird sets that I like to a degree but some people hate because of a few reasons (storage and sorting of round cards) and I totally get that. It's not that flashy but I liked the novelty of this "1/1" kind of card.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: It's the only copy of this card that has been graded so it's a 1/1 in two ways. Ironically just 99 cards from the entire product have been graded. The 11 that have been slabbed from this particular set are all 9.5s. The others? Albert Pujols, Ichiro Suzuki, Felix Sanchez, Alexis Rios and five copies of Chin-Feng Chen's card. (What? See our newest eBay Buzz for more there.)

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The Card: 1964 Topps #116 Rookie Stars -- Jay Ward (RC) and Tony Oliva
The Reason Graded: Oliva is an eight-time All-Star who hit .304 over a 15-year career and is one of just 30 people in the Twins Hall of Fame. He was one of six in its inaugural class back in 2000 along with Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew and Kirby Puckett. The kicker here? It's not his Rookie Card -- it just looks like one. That along with its relatively clean look made me think "slab it up." (My goal is to include at least one vintage card every month, so this also helped fill that spot as I figured it would be at least a 7.)
The Grade: BVG 7

Reality Check: I was right on the grade and it's the most-common grade for this card, too. Interestingly, there's nothing above an 8.5, despite the 1964 set being a relatively cleanly printed though not always well-centered set compared to those that came before it. Only nine cards graded higher than this one. (I'm sure there's plenty over on the PSA pop report but I like the smaller volumes for BVG stuff, myself.)

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The Card: 2017 Donruss Press Proofs Bronze #345 Deshaun Watson Rated Rookie
The Reason Graded: I busted a ton of Donruss last year and more than a few Mega Boxes that included just three Bronze parallels that aren't found anywhere else. This one was one of the biggest pulls there so I figured why not, despite a tiny bit of extra edge fuzz (it reportedly doesn't hurt if it's "extra") and a single tiny spec on the right side. The rest of the card was very clean under closer inspection so I figured this one was worth a slab given how impressive Watson was last season. A solid rookie and a parallel that might be rarer than people may think seemed to work in my mind and the Bronze could be one to watch over time.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: This is the only copy of this card graded and, in fact, it's the only Bronze parallel at all to be slabbed from the entire product. Meanwhile, there are just 38 other Watson cards from the product that have been graded, while nearly 200 of his cards from Optic have been slabbed. That seems like an interesting divide.

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