Making the Grade (September): Jose Altuve's key Rookie Card, a Bill Belichick bummer, Roger Maris, Heritage and its Minis

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: 2011 Topps Update #US132 Jose Altuve RC
The Reason Graded: Altuve has been hitting on a Hall of Fame-caliber pace for much of this decade and at age 28 he's already pushing 1,400 hits and 100 homers while hitting .318. This card would be a bigger deal if it didn't have to compete with Mike Trout's Rookie Card but it's still a big one. I jettisoned a number of these in the last few years (I bought a lot that year for the diamond promo codes, remember those?) but saved a few that I thought looked cleaner and opted to get one of them graded.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: I'm clearly not the only one slabbing these up as mine is one with 523 rivals in that grade but only 29 grading better. In the long run, that might be a good thing as wax boxes have hit pricey plateaus that likely mean there won't be a ton more of these getting pulled. (I'd bet most people buying those boxes aren't ripping at this point.)

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The Card: 1991 Pro Line Portraits #115 Bill Belichick CO RC
The Reason Graded: Look at those razor-sharp -- and clean -- edges and corners ... that's not the norm for early 1990s Pro Line and Pro Set cards that are totally in my collecting nostalgia wheelhouse for that time when it comes to football. High-grade copies of this one top the $100 mark regularly as this is the Rookie Card of a future Hall of Famer and I pulled this one from a fresh box. I have plenty more, but this one was the best -- but apparently the back edges of this card weren't up to snuff. I still figured this was a candidate for a grade of at least a 9 ... or higher.
The Grade: BGS 8.5

Reality Check: Asking prices for this card even at a BGS 8.5 are still strong on eBay at $50 a pop but I prefer my stuff to be BGS 9 or higher (nines are fine) with newer stuff. It's still a strong 8.5 and the pop report here is pretty light so it's not a loss to get a dreaded "lower" grade here.

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The Card: 2016 Topps Heritage Mini #460 Buster Posey (/100)
The Reason Graded: I told you a couple months ago that I've had a good run of names found as Mini parallels in Heritage and this one is my third key name to get slabbed. It's definitely not the flashiest of the 1960s designs but this is a key player on a key franchise in a rare pull from one of the hobby's most-popular releases year after year. Given its scarcity, I figured it was worth a slab.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: This is one of just two copies of this one to get slabbed and they're both at this mark. This was a safe slabbing and one that should be of interest in the future. It's not flashy but it's solid -- a bit like Buster.

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The Card: 1961 Topps #2 Roger Maris
The Reason Graded: Maris' 1961 and 1962 Topps cards are key releases with his history on the field at that time and how it's reflected on cardboard. I prefer this one as it's more solemn and perhaps fitting for Maris while many prefer to see the line with 61 home runs on the back of the card. I didn't get this one graded chasing any certain conditions -- I just knew it was clean enough I wanted this favorite in a slab.
The Grade: BVG 4.5

Reality Check: BVG isn't always a high-volume pop report for cards from this era but this card has double-digits in every grade from 1.5 to 8 with the most-common grades being 4.0 and 5.0 (for now) at 98 apiece. Mine is right in between those and is one of 81 cards in that grade. It might be higher than I figured but the power of a clean image and no creases probably helps out here.

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The Card: 2018 Topps Heritage #331 Lucas Sims/Ozzie Albies RC
The Reason Graded: Confession time ... I didn't get this one graded myself. Instead, I picked it off for $8 (less than the cost of grading in a bulk sub) as it's been a card I've been watching -- and because I didn't plan things out time-wise to have five new slabs in hand for today. This card is one of my favorites for this year because of its oldschool simplicity. Sure, people can chase the Albies big mojo hits and first Chrome autos in slabs ... but I like the retro vibe here better. (And I think autographs on cards like this one would be huge if they were found in packs.)
The Grade: PSA 9

Reality Check: I was a bit surprised to see the PSA pop report as low as it is (as you can see above) and the BGS pop report is even more barren with just four 9.5s and two 9.0 cards. I may re-check my raw copies and see if any are up to snuff to contend on either report. I'm picky but I may have a 10 in my stash based on closer looks at this one.

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