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2005 BenchWarmer Holiday

2005 BenchWarmer Holiday

Making the Grade (December): Rare Shohei Ohtani, Star Wars, Pete Alonso, Tim Duncan, vintage, several WWE stars & more

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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.
Here's this month's grading diary here on The Buzz ...
A BIG BLASTER PULL
The Card: Shohei Ohtani 2018 Topps #700B hand on helmet SSP photo variation
The Reason Graded: Not that long ago, I pulled this card from a Series 2 blaster box and decided that it needed a slab since these SSPs appear to be relatively rare -- and I was even more surprised to see how they didn't grade all that well on the pop report. Meanwhile, mine looked very clean ... so I had to do it.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Grade 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10 B10 Total
Population 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 5 5 1 0 14
Reality Check: Only one card graded better than mine and four others have equaled it while eight cards have checked in at a BGS 9 or lower -- that seems pretty low for a modern card, though the skinny stock here clearly could have issues after these cards hit packaging. I'll admit that this was a pull while Ronald Acuña Jr. hunting in Series 2, but this feels like a win on top of a win with it grading so well after being pulled from a discounted box. Here's hoping his third season is as strong or better than his first two, which are remarkably similar from the batting side.
Keep reading for more of this month's pick-ups and new slabs for Buzz.
Continue reading →

This entry was posted in Baseball, Basketball, Football, Movies, Non-sports, Pro Wrestling, Making the Grade, TV, Vintage and tagged Alabama Crimson Tide, BGS, College football, Fleer, Joe Namath, Luke Skywalker, MLB, NBA, NFL, Panini America, Press Pass, PSA, Sasha Banks, Topps, WWE, 1972 Topps, 1977 Topps Star Wars, 2016 Topps WWE Heritage, Alexa Bliss, Carl Yastrzemski, Charlotte Flair, Invincible, Ken Griffey Sr., Mandy Rose, Mark Wahlberg, Panini Instant, Rob Schamberger, Shaun Alexander, Tim Duncan, Triple H, Vince Papale, 2018 Topps, Bridget Marquardt, Holly Madison, Kairi Sane, Kendra Wilkinson, Shohei Ohtani, 1974 Topps, 2014 Topps WWE Road to WrestleMania, 2018 Elite Draft Picks, 2018 Topps Series 2, 2018 Topps Heritage WWE, 2013 Press Pass Parks and Recreation, Pete Alonso, The Girls Next Door, Ronald Acuña Jr., 1977 Topps, 2019 Topps Heritage, 2019 Topps WWE Undisputed, Chris Boucher, Toronto Raptors NBA champions, 1997-98 Fleer Ultra, Parker Posey, 1990 Donruss, 2018-19 Panini Instant NBA Finals, 2005 BenchWarmer Holiday, 2013 Parks and Recreation on December 1, 2019 by BlowoutBuzz.

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