Like many collectors, Buzz is a fan of grading ... so here's this month's grading diary.

A HIGH-GRADE DOMINATOR
The Card: Paul Skenes 2025 Topps Heritage
The Reason Bought: I'll fully admit I'm a sucker for high-grade Heritage Rookie Cards and, while this isn't an RC, this one captured my attention just like one as I've ripped my fair share of Heritage this year and, well, not much of the cards that matter that I pulled could have checked in at a perfect grade. All that perfection, the clean photo and the color scheme here got me to bite.
The Grade: CGC 10 (Pristine)

Reality Check: I didn't check the pop report before grabbing it, so it was an extra bonus to see that it's the lone card in the top slot with a decent number of cards below it -- and that goes as low as a CGC 7. That reinforces that Heritage isn't the easiest grade. That makes this one even more of a win in my book.

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

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What: 2025 Topps T205 baseball cards
Arrives: TBD
Box basics: Four packs per 40-card box ... one autograph in every four boxes
Checklist: Click here
Order: BlowoutCards.com (when available)

What's buzz-worthy: Topps revisits old-timey tobacco cards with a T206 companion that carries a little more color, the T205 series, but with the same general approach of past editions.

Keep reading for more as well as a full gallery of images.

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What: 2025 Topps Tier One baseball cards
Arrives: Sept. 17
Box basics: Two autos and one Relic per four-card box (12 boxes per case)
Checklist: Click here
Odds: Click here
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: A new year of Tier One arrives soon with "no fluff, just hits" -- and with one base card in there each time, too, as it delivers "serious weight" as part of what Topps says is "a high-end dive into the heart of the hobby."

Keep reading for more as well as a gallery of images.

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Like many collectors, Buzz is a fan of grading ... so here's this month's grading diary.

NINES ARE FINE
The Card: Aaron Judge 2017 Topps Archives -- Rookie Card
The Reason Graded: The unique 1960 Topps design always stands out to me. Why? Because one of my first clean vintage cards as a kid was a Gus Bell form the set, which I got since I knew he was a big-leaguer's dad. (Yay, trivia!) So that's perhaps one reason I held this Judge RC instead of letting it go. (Plus, I didn't rip as much of this brand ... so it was the only copy I pulled.) Judge's dominating 2025 season should make you stop and wonder about slabbing any RCs or early/rare stuff you have now ... just because. He and Shohei Ohtani are all-timers playing right in front of our faces now and are as safe as it gets when it comes to grab and slab or buy and hold -- even with plenty of their cards being graded.
The Grade: CGC 9

Reality Check: I knew this wouldn't be a 10 contender with the finicky stock here and the centering being a smidge off by my typical standards for a slab, but, like I said, it was my only copy. Most check in at this grade, so the nine makes sense, too, and the volume below it also shows this card isn't the easiest to grade.

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

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What's Buzzing: Collectors remember Ryne Sandberg, Derek Jeter, The National nears, new pulls and more.

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1 -- Collectors remember Ryne Sandberg

2 -- The National is days away

3 -- Showing off new Derek Jeter cards

4 -- Ripping Goodwin Champions

5 -- Inside new Twin Peaks boxes

6 -- New MLB pulls

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Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.

Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.

What: 2025 TRISTAR Hidden Treasures Grand Slam baseball memorabilia
Arrives: Oct. 1
Box basics: One autographed baseball jersey, one autographed baseball, one autographed bat and one encapsulated autographed item per case
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: TRISTAR's autographed baseball chase lineup goes high-end with this one that guarantees a variety of items and plenty of possibilities from the past and present.

What's the biggest of them all this year? Keep reading for details on those and a gallery of what's in this one.

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What: 2025 Topps Finest baseball cards
Arrives: Aug. 29
Box basics: Two autos per six-pack box (eight boxes per case)
Checklist: Click here
Odds: Click here
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: The checklist and odds are not yet in for a new year of Finest, but we have the basics for the flashy and colorful brand arrives when once again with a new batch of players and plenty of artistic flair next month.

Keep reading for more and a full gallery of images.

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Simply put, this one is all about the best of the best.

Baseball's global icon and living legend Ichiro Suzuki takes his spot in the National Baseball Hall of Fame later this month in Cooperstown, N.Y., and just one piece of all that's to come with his history-making day is Baseball America's special issue that's precision-crafted with a little bit of everything inside when it comes to Japan's greatest player and an icon among the elite in MLB history.

The Ichiro Baseball America Hall of Fame Commemorative is 50 pages of full-bleed retrospective splendor that showcases all of the memorable moments, rarely seen photographs, historic analysis, other memories and stories from yesteryear, thoughts from opposing pitchers and, of course, it's even got some baseball cards inside.

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It started as a simple idea for some summertime filler breaks ... but this old pack turned out to be a reminder of something else to consider.

It's a 1993 Bowman jumbo with 22 cards inside -- 20 of them being shots at a Rookie Card for New York Yankees icon and Hall of Famer Derek Jeter as the big find. Jumbo packs also include a pair of foiled cards from the 708-card set that doesn't include a single thing otherwise.

It's all gas, no breaks -- at least if base cards are your thing.

There are no insert cards, no parallels, no hits ... just cards (a few with foil, but nearly all without). The only chase beyond landing your specific wanted name here are the RCs -- there are almost 200 names in the set (27.5 percent of it to be precise) being a first-year MLB card appearance.

So ... what did I find this time?

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What: 2025 Topps Chrome baseball cards
Arrives: July 23
Box basics: One autograph per 20-pack hobby box (12 boxes per case); three autos per 12-pack jumbo box (TBD boxes per case)
Checklist: Click here
Sapphire Checklist: Click here
Odds: Click here
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: The full Topps Chrome details are still to come but the basics and early teasers are here for when the latest flagship release hits colorful and flashy plastic with "an all-new lineup of jaw-dropping inserts and exciting Chrome parallels."

Keep reading for more and a full gallery of images.

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What's Buzzing: Pondering the best in 2000s MLB, NBA postseason, MMA chatter, new pulls and more in this midweek edition.

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1 -- Wondering about 2025 Topps Update 

2 -- Still pondering the best MLB players of the 2000s

3 -- An upside down patch (and it happens often)

4 -- New football pulls

5 -- Some MMA topics to see

6 -- NBA postseason chatter

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Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.

Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.

What: 2025 Leaf Bronx Legacy baseball cards
Arrives: Sept. 2025
Box basics: Four "premium hits" per box (10 boxes per case)
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: Leaf's brand documenting New York's premier baseball franchise arrives for a third time with the biggest legends in the history of the game and so much more to be found.

Keep reading for more info and a full montage of cards released so far.

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If you're one of those baseball collectors who's been all about the anime, this one's for you.

Buzz was busy today adding a bunch of cardboard to the preview gallery for the forthcoming 2025 Bowman release (click here to see all of those and order your boxes), but this one -- all 30 cards in the 2025 Bowman Anime insert set -- gets its own standalone.

Why? These baseball cards are unique and they're a popular style of artistic card inclusions from a few companies in a few sports in recent years. This time there are 30 standard cards for stars of the past, present and future -- and then four Japanese icons will have Kanji Variations to find as well.

You can learn more and see the 30 standard cards after the jump.

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What: 2025 Bowman baseball cards
Arrives: May 7
Box basics: One auto per 24-pack hobby box (12 boxes per case), Three autos per 12-pack jumbo box (eight boxes per case)
Odds: Click here
Checklist: Click here
Mega Box Checklist: Click here
Sapphire Edition Checklist: Click here
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: Early teasers for 2025 Bowman are here in advance of its pre-order coming next week.

Keep reading for more.

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What: 2025 Topps Chrome Black baseball cards
Arrives: April 30
Box basics: One autograph in every box (12 boxes per case)
Checklist: Click here
Order: Click here (when available)

What's buzz-worthy: This brand returns for a sixth time with the same approach of the past -- an encased autograph and more in every box -- and some new looks and signers in play.

Keep reading for more and a full gallery of images.

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What: 2025 Topps Tribute baseball cards
Arrives: April 23
Box basics: Three autographs and three Relics per six-pack box (four boxes per case)
Checklist: Click here
Odds: Click here
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: Tribute is up next in the Topps MLB lineup with its familiar high-end approach the same but it having a smaller case size this year.

Keep reading for more as well as a full gallery of images.

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What: 2025 TRISTAR Hidden Treasures New York Pinstripes Autographed Baseballs
Arrives: April 30
Box basics: One autographed baseball per box (12 boxes per case)
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: TRISTAR's Hidden Treasures brand hits the diamond for another year with its focus on one of MLB's most-historic franchises, the New York Yankees.

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What: 2024 Topps Diamond Icons baseball cards
Arrives: TBD 2025
Box basics: Nine autographed cards and one Relic per 10-card box (two boxes per case)
Checklist: Click here
Odds: Click here
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: "One of the most-treasured releases every year from Topps" returns with the same format as previous years but with new players and plenty of hits -- in fact, it's once again nothing but hits.

Keep reading for more as well as a full gallery of images.

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What: 2024 Topps Transcendent Collection baseball cards
Arrives: Jan. 22, 2025
Box basics: 10 hits and more per 42-card box
Checklist: TBD
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: Transcendent returns via a different approach with "careful crafting and elegant touches" for its super-premium VIP product experience -- and with only 100 VIP party invitations now randomly inserted into the run and a second rarer VIP party package to be found, too.

Keep reading for more as well as a full gallery of images.

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What: 2024 Topps Brooklyn Collection baseball cards
Arrives: Dec. 11
Box basics: Two autographs per seven-card box (20 boxes per case)
Checklist: Click here
Odds: Click here
Order: Click here (when available)

What's buzz-worthy: Brooklyn Collection returns for another year with a new but colorful oldschool-style look, autographs in every box, and then some new and past stars showcased on cardboard once again.

Keep reading for more.

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There's been plenty of focus on ballots -- justifiably as it's November in a presidential election year -- but Buzz completed a collecting project this week that was all about them. It's one that's easy to do in whatever way you want to do it ... and without breaking the bank.

What was it? I completed a career run of my player's appearances on MLB All-Star ballots -- and I did it with just a couple clicks.

It's complete by year but I'm still at least one ballot short of a master list -- at least that as I know of thanks to those pesky parallels that are apparently a thing here, too. Some years have a ballpark version of the ballot and then a sponsored one to be found out there in the real world. Why? Well, back in the day voting wasn't exclusively done online, so selected companies would have ballots at their stores. For example, for some odd reason way, way, back in the 1990s I remember MLB ballots at Subway, but that doesn't apply here ... not this time.

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What: 2024 Topps Stadium Club baseball cards
Arrives: Nov. 6
Box basics: Two autos per 16-pack hobby box (16 boxes per case); One auto per eight-pack compact box (16 boxes per case)
Checklist: Click here
Odds: Click here
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: Stadium Club arrives once again with a pair of box formats for rippers and with plenty of MLB stars and energy inside.

Keep reading for more and a full gallery of images.

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What: 2024 Topps 206 baseball cards
Arrives: Oct. 3 via Topps.com
Box basics: Four packs per box ... one autograph per four-box case
Checklist: Click here
Order: BlowoutCards.com (when available)

What's buzz-worthy: Topps revisits T206 tobacco cards for a fifth edition but this time around it arrives with four-box cases that will guarantee an autograph.

Keep reading for more as well as a full gallery of images.

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What: 2024 Leaf A Bronx Legacy Series 2 baseball cards
Arrives: Nov. 15
Box basics: Four "premium hits" -- at least two autographs -- per box (10 boxes per case)
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: Leaf follows up on last year's look at New York's biggest baseball team with a second series packed with the biggest legends in the history of the game and plenty more.

Keep reading for more info and a full montage of cards released so far.

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From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: 2023 Topps Series 2 baseball cards (blaster)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com
First Buzz preview, odds & checklist: Click here

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of what was in this one.

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