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 ...

GRADING THE PHENOM
The Card: Baby Yoda ("The Child") 2019 Star Wars Living Set #58
The Reason Graded: I picked up a few of these since I knew they'd be hot -- it set a record with 9,663 copies sold that shows how it definitely was in demand. However, that volume is significantly higher than anything else in the set and that  can also lead to lower re-sale prices as those who bought in bulk want to move them. (They have more competition.) Grading-wise, this one is the big leader, too, but I still wanted to chase a 10.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: I came close but ultimately checked in where most cards here do. Nearly 50 cards from the set have been graded and this guy is on 29 of them. Only two other copies have five or more graded copies and that leaves the rest as population-one cards. I didn't get a 10 but I'm fine with this mark as the stock does seem like it might be a tougher grade than other types.

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

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Let's all act surprised when The Captain gets his Cooperstown call later today -- it will make things a lot more exciting than some who-got-snubbed or who-shockingly-got-in commentary. Those are too predictable.

Since I'm feeling a tad contrarian today, here's where I'll rattle off my take on Derek Jeter and his Rookie Cards and how the one I'd want right here, right now today is the one you see above, not some big-money, elite-graded slab.

The New York Yankees shortstop appears on more than 18,000 different cards but only eight of those -- just eight! -- are classified as Rookie Cards based on the traditional definitions. (Insert cards are not RCs. Autographs are not RCs. Even RC parallels are not RCs and so on.) And technically, the card you see above didn't arrive in the most-traditional of forms, either, as it came from the 1993 Topps Stadium Club Murphy set -- a boxed set limited to just an announced 128,000 copies which is inevitably lower than anything else -- that also does get dubbed a RC from back then.

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Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today's your day then as we launch 12 in 12 -- a series of a dozen breaks of past wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We'll post one every hour on the hour all day long today ... this is Hour 9.

The box: 1993 Upper Deck Series 2 baseball cards (jumbo box)
The cost now: $19.99
The cost then: $55.80 ($2.79 per pack ... printed on every pack)

What was found inside this one? Keep reading ...

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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.

For the first grading diary here on The Buzz, it will be a mix of cards graded for a few reasons.

The Card: 1993 Upper Deck #449 Derek Jeter
The Reason Graded: This was pulled straight from an underpriced factory set and looked very clean except for a tiny spot on the back -- Buzz figured it might push into the high grades even with the gloss issue. These cards are also not easy to pull from wax or sets cleanly because the high-gloss cards often stick together, peeling away specks of paper. Another reason? This is an iconic card that's worth grading if you own a clean one.
The Grade: BGS 9

Reality Check: The SP Jeter rookie is the one people chase, not this one. This one's $20 on eBay -- and perhaps undervalued considering how they grade on the pop report. BGS 9s and higher are really much rarer than people think.

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