Buzz buys and busts a lot of boxes right here for Buzz Breaks, but one of my goals just might be to rip fewer blasters this year and talk more about cardboard that I -- and you -- might like. One way to do that? Simple show and tell -- present a few pick-ups and say why they captured my attention. Would they capture yours? I'd be interested to know -- sometimes they might, sometimes they won't and that's fine. It's a buyer's market out there with plenty of options and bargains as well as high-end gems to chase.

So, with all that said, here are a few Buzz Buys ... and this time around they're a little pricer than my normal pick-ups.

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I AM GROOT ... 
The Card: Groot 2018-19 Upper Deck Marvel Annual sketch card -- artist: Poognasty (1/1)
The Price: $21.25
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: I did a double-take when I saw the detail of this sketch card in comparison to its price. While sketch cards can get super cheap these days -- even for full-color comic sets -- that's often due to quality of the work. This one seems like it was seriously underpriced. Groot is one of the more unique characters in the Marvel universe these days, though he's more of a merch machine in his child years vs. adult years seen here. Either way, this one was striking and I had little hesitation picking this one up. That's easily the most I've spent on a sketch card but it's by far my best one, too.
Grab a box right here: 2018-19 Upper Deck Marvel Annual (when available)

Keep reading for a dozen more interesting items ...

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What: 2019 Panini Prizm NASCAR cards
Arrives: Sept. 18
Box basics: Four autographs per 12-pack box (12 boxes per case)
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: Prizm hits the track for another run with plenty of color, plenty of ink and plenty of horsepower as the NASCAR season keeps on going, too.

Keep reading for more info and a full gallery of images released so far.

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It's back -- and it's literally bigger than ever.

Those who attended The National last year had a shot at some big surprises in last year's Blowout MegaMix -- I landed a Ronald Acuña Jr. autographed baseball in mine -- but this year the Blowout mystery boxes are bigger and bolder than ever before. How so? Well, for one, you don't have to actually go to the show in Chicago to get your hands on one of these boxes this year.

Keep reading to learn more ...
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Have you seen the latest cool or interesting items on eBay? If not, you just might see some of those here every week as we're launching a weekly version of our eBay Buzz pieces that pop up from time to time. We’ll spotlight some items that have a story or just wow us with how much interest it might have — and we’re not just talking baseball cards, either.

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A UNIQUE TOUCH 
The Item: Juan Soto 2019 Topps Museum Collection bat barrel nameplate 1/1
The Price: $2,999.99 Buy-It-Now (or make offer)
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: His full name is Juan Jose Soto Pacheco and it's "Soto Pacheco" that he has chosen to put on his bats. You can get a good look at one right here (click to zoom), though the MLB Authentication sticker (albeit unreadable) should be enough to make worries lessen. This is one simple personalized touch that shows how game-used bats (and premium bat cards) can be a lot more interesting. This card is an example of the big stuff that is possible in boxes of Museum Collection, though as a 1/1 card this one is no longer potentially in a box if you grab one.
Similar Pieces: 2019 Topps Museum Collection autos on eBay
The BlowoutCards.com Hunt: Click here for 2019 Topps Museum Collection boxes

Keep reading for four more interesting items in this week's roundup ...

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Make your picks with a click ... and free stuff could be yours. That's YourDozen.com in a nutshell, and up this week are a dozen questions for this weekend's action in MLB, wrestling, MMA and auto racing.

Blowout Cards' hot spot for your shot at free stuff -- store credit, boxes, memorabilia and other prizes -- is in its 22nd week and the prize is $200 in Blowout store credit. And, again, nobody has been perfect in the history of the event ... will you be the first?

>>> CLICK HERE TO ENTER <<<

Did you get in on last week's event? Check the leaderboard and contact fish@blowoutcards.com to claim your prize if you're the winner.

How does it work? Keep reading ...

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Make your picks with a click ... and free stuff could be yours. That's YourDozen.com in a nutshell, and up this week are a dozen questions for this weekend's action in MLB, WWE and NASCAR.

Blowout Cards' hot spot for your shot at free stuff -- store credit, boxes, memorabilia and other prizes -- is in its 21st week and the prize is $200 in Blowout store credit.

>>> CLICK HERE TO ENTER <<<

Did you get in on last week's event? Check the leaderboard and contact fish@blowoutcards.com to claim your prize if you're the winner.

How does it work? Keep reading ...

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Panini America's Father's Day promo packs will hit participating hobby shops beginning next week.

Set to begin on June 14, the packs will include a number of young stars in college and pro uniforms as well as a number of serial-numbered rarer inclusions as well as hits. The packs are bonuses for those who purchase certain products during a weekend visit to the shop.

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Have you seen the latest cool or interesting items on eBay? If not, you just might see some of those here every week as we're launching a weekly version of our eBay Buzz pieces that pop up from time to time. We’ll spotlight some items that have a story or just wow us with how much interest it might have — and we’re not just talking baseball cards, either.

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DOMINATING BAT, SOFT DEMAND?
The Item: Austin Riley 2015 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospect Autographs Cyan printing plate (1/1)
The Price: $1,800 Buy-It-Now (or best offer)
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: The Atlanta Braves have a rich history of homegrown players dominating on the big stage and a crop of young players on the team now who are seemingly capable of big things on the field and selling cardboard. The latest new arrival -- a guy who has already set a team home run record -- has had a scorching start in terms of the longball and yet he's seemingly a little soft price-wise when it comes to the high-grade first Chrome parallel auto front. (See that link below.) They aren't cheap, but the prices don't compare to other notables in recent years who have arrived and played well. This particular example isn't the cheapest but it is a unique one.
Similar Pieces: Austin Riley autos on eBay
The BlowoutCards.com Hunt: Click here for 2015 Bowman Draft boxes 

Keep reading for four more interesting items in this week's roundup ...

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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 ...

The Card: 2018 Donruss Optic Red & Yellow #153 Baker Mayfield (RC parallel)
The Reason Graded: I found this one in a Mega Box and it was by far the best highlight of the bunch there so that's why you see it here. Mayfield has shown himself to be a spark plug among a good rookie crop since back when I pulled it, so that's another reason. A third? This brand is one that I like more than others. The color scheme of this card, a retail-exclusive, also looked good, so I figured I'd slab it up and see how it looked when it came back. These were very pricey when they first started arriving on eBay but I'm sure they have settled down by now -- still an impressive card to me either way and I'll be tucking this one away in my stash alongside my Bowman Chrome Tom Brady RC for the simple long-term appreciation. (Mine, not financial.)
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: At the point I submitted this one, there was at most one graded and I'm still surprised that there are so few slabbed. I also was surprised with the grade figuring I'd check in at a likely BGS 9 but I'll take it. I think high-grade copies of retail-only parallels found in certain formats could be tougher future finds than people might think.

Keep reading for the rest of this month's new grades and additions.

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Buzz buys and busts a lot of boxes right here for Buzz Breaks, but one of my goals just might be to rip fewer blasters this year and talk more about cardboard that I -- and you -- might like. One way to do that? Simple show and tell -- present a few pick-ups and say why they captured my attention. Would they capture yours? I'd be interested to know -- sometimes they might, sometimes they won't and that's fine. It's a buyer's market out there with plenty of options and bargains as well as high-end gems to chase.

So, with all that said, here are a few Buzz Buys ... and this time around they're all cheap finds or something with a story.

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LIVING AFFORDABLY ... 
The Card: Ronald Acuña Jr. 2018 Topps Living Set (PSA 9)
The Price: $9.75
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Have you seen this guy's stats this week? That's why he's batting lead-off today -- he just keeps Living, err, hitting. This is the most-available Topps Living Set card at a record 46,809 made and that's one of the reasons why I was able to pick this up for less than what it would cost me to find one raw and get it graded. Nearly all of the nearly 4,000 copies of this card graded by PSA check in at this grade or a 10. There are 1,522 PSA 9s and 2,309 10s. I'm fine with nines as long as they appear relatively clean and to me the key on this card is that bottom-right black corner. It's good on this one but isn't on many others in this grade. Yes, the centering is off a tad here, but that corner would be much more jarring to me if it were nicked. This card looked very good to me, especially at its price.
Grab a box right here: You won't find these in packs ... so hit MLB boxes here for something different. 

Keep reading for five more interesting items ...

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What: 2019 Panini Victory Lane NASCAR cards
Arrives: May 29
Box basics: Two autographs and two memorabilia cards per four-pack box (16 boxes per case via two inners)
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: Victory Lane takes to the track for a second lap on the track this year with the same volume of hits and a number of inserts in every box.

Keep reading for more info and a full gallery of images 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: 2019 Donruss NASCAR cards (blaster)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (for hobby)

Packs per box: 7 (six standard, one Optic Red Wave pack)
Cards per pack: 8 per standard, three per Red Wave
Cards in this box: 51
Set completion: 31 of 160 (19 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Notables on base cards – Chase Elliott, Bill Elliott, Kevin Harvick, Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, Mark Martin, Darrell Waltrip, Kyle Busch, Terry Labonte, Ned Jarrett, Tony Stewart

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Some of the biggest sports stars of the past and some of NASCAR and MLB's biggest names of today will all be appearing on Funko Pop! toys this year.

Babe Ruth and Muhammad Ali get things going in a legends line, while Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt lead the pack for new NASCAR toys revealed just as the Daytona 500 and a new racing season starts today.

Joining them will be a huge lineup of MLB stars and mascots -- and for NFL fans a two-pack for Shaquem and Shaquille Griffin of the Seattle Seahawks.

Keep reading for a rundown of them all.

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Make your picks with a click ... and free stuff could be yours. That's YourDozen.com in a nutshell, and up this week are a dozen questions for everything from the NBA All-Star Weekend to the Hollywood box office and even WWE's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.

Blowout Cards' new hot spot for your shot at free stuff -- store credit, boxes, memorabilia and other prizes -- is in its third week and the prize this once again is $200 in Blowout store credit.

Did you get in on last week's event? Check the leaderboard and contact fish@blowoutcards.com to claim your prize if you're the winner.

How does it work? Keep reading ...

Continue reading →

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: 2017 Donruss Rookie Gridiron Kings #2 Patrick Mahomes II
The Reason Graded: His break-out campaign started off so strong I had to revisit my past pulls from Donruss last year -- I busted a ton -- and I submitted a trio of his cards. You saw one last month, you see this one here and you'll see another in March. (Call that a spoiler.) This insert isn't the most-striking of cards but it looked very clean in my pre-examining of cards so it made the cut.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: None have graded higher but this one is not alone on the pop report. That surprises me a bit as grading seems to be all about standard RCs, rare numbered parallels and the ol' big mojo hits, but it seems that a season like the one he had could be prompting anything from his first year on cardboard to get another look. (Ironically you can still grab boxes of this one and others relatively cheap, too. To me that all spells fun ... and wax will dry up over time.)

Keep reading for the rest of this month's new grades and additions.

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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 wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We'll post one every hour all day long ... this is Hour 3.

The box: 2017 Panini Absolute Racing (hobby)
The cost: BlowoutCards.com (for hit-per-box blasters)

What's inside this one? Keep reading ...

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Nothing but breaks and highlights in today's edition.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Nothing but highlights and big pulls from boxes and cases from all around the collecting world.

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Nothing but big pulls and other break highlights in this Sunday edition.

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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: 2018 Panini Prizm NASCAR cards (blaster box)
The cost: BlowoutCards.com

Packs per box: 7 (six standard and one Camo Prizm pack)
Cards per pack: 4 (three per Camo)
Cards in this box: 27
Base set completion: 
12 of 50 (24 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Base cards – Jimmie Johnson, Chase Elliott, Bill Elliott, Danica Patrick, Marcos Ambrose, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman

Rookie Cards (3) – Hailie Deegan, William Byron, Bubba Wallace

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What: 2019 Donruss NASCAR cards
Arrives: Feb. 6
Box basics: One autograph and two memorabilia cards per 24-pack box (20 boxes per case)
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: A new season for NASCAR arrives soon with Optic cards worked into the Donruss lineup along with a few surprises that all help celebrate the past, present and future of racing.

Keep reading for more info and a full gallery of images released so far.

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We're less than 10 days away from the biggest shopping day of the year and Panini America has begun teasing its promo pack inclusions for Black Friday.

The first wave of teases -- and we'll add the rest right here as they come -- focuses on the parallels found in the eighth edition of packs for the promo packs, which will be bonuses with purchases of the company's products at participating hobby shops beginning on Nov. 23.

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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: 2018 Panini Prizm NASCAR cards (blaster box)
The cost: BlowoutCards.com

Packs per box: 7 (six standard and one Camo Prizm pack)
Cards per pack: 4 (three per Camo)
Cards in this box: 27
Base set completion: 
12 of 50 (24 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Base cards – Trevor Bayne, Kurt Busch, Paul Menard, Brad Keselowski, Harry Gant, Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Jeff Burton, Joey Logano, Kyle Petty

Rookie Cards (2) – Hannah Newhouse, Christopher Bell

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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: 2018 Panini Prizm NASCAR cards (blaster box)
The cost: BlowoutCards.com

Packs per box: 7 (six standard and one Camo Prizm pack)
Cards per pack: 4 (three per Camo)
Cards in this box: 27
Base set completion: 
11 of 50 (22 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Base cards – Rusty Wallace, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Danica Patrick, Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman, Marcos Ambrose

Rookie Cards (1) – Hailie Deegan

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Pondering the worst starting QB in the NFL and highlights from several big pulls from around the collecting world.

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