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 Press Proofs Red #327 Patrick Mahomes II Rated Rookie
The Reason Graded: Oh what a difference a year makes. This time last year, this parallel Rookie Card was a pull from a retail box where it didn't do much for me -- in fact, I had it set aside to send away when I revisited a box out of curiosity and there he was ... and he wasn't alone. Now, he's an MVP lock and one of the hotter Rookie Cards in the hobby after a 50-touchdown season. These Reds are only found in retail boxes and I figured I'd take my shot at getting it in a slab since it looked pretty clean.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: It was definitely that and what's surprising is that nobody else has pulled one and opted to slab it up. Yes, I know it's the rare autos from key brands that lead the way, but I think a slab for a card like this -- one where there may not be as many out there as other un-numbered parallels -- with a low pop could surprise you if you were a seller. (I'm not ... I stash my stuff 99.9 percent of the time.)

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

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Between everyday Buzz Breaks and the near-monthly Buzz 12 in 12 marathons, Buzz busted a lot of packs in 2018.

How many? Well, Buzz is almost afraid to count -- though it was seemingly news to me that the 12 in 12 marathons actually started early last year. (That's even more proof there's been a lot of wax to get these hands ... it's all a blur.)

It was a year of memorable pulls for me at times with some icons' autographs found in my packs. It also was fun one ripping into really old packs, too, with some cheap thrills there.

Breaks are among the most-popular items seen here nearly every day and Buzz knows that. So look for plenty of breaks in 2019 -- but, before that time comes, keep reading for links to not one, not 18, but 25 memorable breaks from 2018.

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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 2.

The packs: 1990 Pro Set Series 2 NFL (1,000-plus)
The cost: Too much but not that much (Buzz found a deal he couldn't refuse) Get your new NFL boxes by clicking here

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

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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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THE NBA'S NEW BIG THING?
The Item: Luka Doncic 2018-19 Panini Prizm Gold Autograph (/10)
The Price: $9,999.99 Buy-It-Now (or best offer)
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: You might think this price is lofty -- it is -- but the completed auctions for this star are still just as crazy. Why? Through his first 21 games, the No. 3 pick in the draft has averaged 18.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game for the Mavericks. It doesn't hurt that this is a popular brand with NBA fans and it has a relatively deep checklist meaning you won't find him as easily as you might think in any color -- though nothing is impossible and the rookies have a good presence around the product.
Similar Pieces: Check out other 2018-19 Panini Prizm autos 
The BlowoutCards.com Hunt: Click here for 2018-19 Panini Prizm boxes

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

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There aren't a lot of details on this new Panini America release other than, well, if you run into Barry Sanders this weekend you might get one from him.

"Excited for homecoming and the opportunity to celebrate the 30th anniversary of my 1988 season w/ @OSUAthletics & @CowboyFB," Sanders tweeted on Friday. "My friends @PaniniAmerica created a special card set [featuring] the classic 1988 Donruss design. Find me this weekend & I just might give you one! #WhoDoYouCollect"

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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 2.

The box: 1989 Pro Set Series II football cards
The cost: $10 (expect to pay more when you find)

What's inside this one? Keep reading ... it's an insane box.

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Note: A break from The National coverage for this month's Making the Grade as Buzz preps to be at the show later today. Look for plenty more from Cleveland here soon.

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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 ...

Continue reading →

Have you seen the latest crazy 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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HOTTEST INK IN THE HOBBY?
The Item: 2018 Cryptozoic Rick And Morty Season 1 Autograph #JR-R Justin Roiland as Rick Sanchez (/50)
The Price: $947.64 Buy-It-Now
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Just like the cartoon series, you can't really explain it -- you just have to see it. A number of the autographs in this recently released product are scorchers and they're not even the main thrust of the set -- you'll find one and sometimes two full-color sketch cards per box (and sometimes an auto atop that). Roiland is the co-creator of this cult classic series and he signed a few different cards for characters in this release -- and that hasn't brought down prices for those that have sold or are on the block. Even the binders for this one are selling very well.
Similar Pieces: Check out other cards in this set
The BlowoutCards.com Hunt: Click here for boxes and binders for Rick and Morty

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

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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 packs: 1990-91 Pro Set English League soccer (five packs)
Where to buy: Easily findable online

Packs in this lot: 5
Cards per pack: 9
Cards in this lot: 47
Base set completion: 
46 of 328 (14 percent)
Duplicates: 1

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Would you be mine? Could you be mine?

The answer is "yes," when it comes to stamps for children's television icon Mister Rogers as the U.S. Postal Service will issue a new stamp featuring him late next month.

It will be formally unveiled at a dedication ceremony on March 23 at WQED’s Fred Rogers Studio in Pittsburgh -- an event open to the public -- and should go on sale at that time, too. These Forever stamps will cost 50 cents each and will also be commonly collected as sheets. He'll share the stamp with one of his puppets, King Friday XIII.

Believe it or not, it's also not his first collectibles appearance.

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This is one of those black days for music fans.

Soundgarden and Audioslave singer Chris Cornell -- one of the iconic voices of grunge music in the 1990s and a successful performer in all the years since -- has died at 52.

Known for his intense guttural sound but also dramatic range, Cornell was part of six studio albums with Soundgarden and three with Audiosoave as part of a career that spanned more than 30 years and included two Grammy awards.

“For me to make a connection with music it has to either have a visceral nature, whether it’s anger or aggression or that kind of passion which shows up in rock music, or there has to be some sort of melancholy and introspection, something about it that makes you feel your own pain,” he once told Rolling Stone.

But, when it comes to cardboard, there's not a lot to go around to note his lengthy career.

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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 five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Jose Fernandez reactions, Carson Wentz's start, Pro Set & more.

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Earlier this month the late Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame but this past weekend the treasures from that career entered the hands of collectors around the world.

The auction of "Snake" Stabler's personal collection of memorabilia via Pristine Auction ended on Sunday night with one six-figure item that didn't reach its reserve and many others of note. In all, the auction generated nearly $200,000 in sales.

The priciest item was his 1976 Hickok Belt Award for Professional Athlete of the Year (above), which reached $107,427.60. It's an honor that was awarded the final time with Stabler's win and this is the first copy of the award to hit the open market. It's an 18K gold belt buckle with a three-carat diamond, a three-carat ruby, a three-carat sapphire and 26 diamond chips totaling 5.5 carats.

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"They are who we thought they were" may be a sound bite he's remembered for, but Dennis Green also will be remembered as being what many thought he was.

A pretty decent football coach.

The former Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals leader died from an apparent heart attack on Friday at age 67. He last coached a decade ago with the Cardinals, going 5-11 to cap his 13-year coaching resume with 113 wins and 94 losses.

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He was a coach for two of the greatest teams in NFL history, a defensive mastermind and a coach that his players revered.

He's Buddy Ryan, a 26-year veteran of the coaching ranks and an innovator in the game. He was a young defensive coach for the New York Jets that won Super Bowl III. He was the brains behind the 46 defense and the dominating Chicago Bears that steamrolled their way to a victory in Super Bowl XX.

"Buddy was such an integral part of the Chicago Bears and the '85 Bears, it was unbelievable," former Bears coach Mike Ditka told NFL.com. "There's no way we win anything without that defense, without his coaching and I think everybody understands that. We won because of our defense, we can never forget that. That's just the way it was."

He died on Tuesday at age 82 -- and he's also a legend you won't find often on cardboard.

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It sounded like a fun, cheap rip of some oldschool wax -- a late-night buy just because it was a good deal -- but it turned into another lesson about old cardboard.

This time, the product was a long-forgotten (and maybe unknown to some) release from Pro Set back in 1991 -- the company's UK edition of SuperStars MusiCards.

To those of you who were around for Pro Set, you probably fondly remember the football card chases created by the Dallas, Texas-based company in 1989 and 1990 and the overproduction that was happening but we never saw because everybody (and their mother) was buying. By 1991, many of its products -- and there were many in the non-football realm -- arrived with a thud. Not because they were bad but because they were trying new things and new things didn't always work. (And because the presses kept on rolling.) By 1993, the company was back down to football and by 1994 the company was gone completely.

And if you weren't around then? Well, you missed out on some of the best simple cardboard of all times ... and one example of that is this 1991 SuperStars MusiCards UK Editon.

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More than 100 million records sold, seven Grammy Awards, an Oscar, four films, countless albums and one of the better Super Bowl halftime shows in history.

The accolades and memorable moments in the career of Prince Rogers Nelson, aka Prince, are plentiful, but fans of the 57-year-old who died on Thursday have just two options for collecting the star on trading cards that were released by a major manufacturer and actually show him on the front.

They come from the 1991 Pro Set SuperStars MusiCards UK Edition.

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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 the second grading diary here on The Buzz ...

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With the holiday season here, cardboard is probably on the minds of many Buzz readers as they wonder what might await them soon.

Others, like Buzz, might be thinking of Cardboard of Christmas Past -- you know, some of the Santa Claus trading cards we've seen throughout the years. Most of it's trivial and not all that collectable -- but they all stand out in a way compared to our traditional sports cards.

1989 Pro Set Promos #1989
When Dallas-based Pro Set created this card during its first season of making football cards in 1989, it sparked a trend that we saw in not just football cards but other areas in the years that followed. (Boy are there some bad Photoshop jobs there in the 1990s.) For all intents and purposes, though, Buzz would call this one a "Rookie Card." Yes, there were previous non-sports cards -- but this was the one that put cards like this on the minds of the sports-collecting masses after it was mailed out to dealers and selected NFL-related people.

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