Here's this month's roundup of items that have recently caught my eye as a buyer ...

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MY BEAR NECESSITY
The Item: Paul "Bear" Bryant autographed & dated/inscribed (Oct. 18, 1976) 8-by-10 photo (BAS authenticated)
The Price: $219 ... high for me but it's the perfect item for me
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This was a jaw-dropper of a find for me during a random search of Mill Creek Sports' superstore for autographed stuff earlier this year and I've saved it for football season, specifically this month, to present it and tell its story. It's personalized and that makes it perfect for me this time ... and to top that, the signed date -- the legendary Alabama Crimson Tide football coach and football icon who won 323 games dated everything signed like this -- might as well be on Buzz's actual birthday. (It's close ... close enough.) The odds of this existing or one being signed on my actual birthday? Well, I'm sure there were a number of things to sign on this Monday and I'm also very sure he wasn't sitting down to sign requests on a gameday when I kicked things off in the world. So, this is perhaps as close as it can get. The quality and condition of the photo are perfect and the ink is perfectly legible, too. Now, is his autograph really rare? Not particularly, but he died in January 1983 well before sit-down and paid signing sessions were en vogue for sports legends and he's still in high, historic demand despite Nick Saban equaling him and/or re-writing the Alabama record book in more recent years. It's the perfect item at a perfect price and it will always be mine.
Grab a box right here: Nothing for this ... but football cards are here.

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Minor league baseball cards from the past can include some weird stuff ... stuff you wouldn't imagine to be found on a baseball card. Here are some some new oddities in this latest edition of MiLB Madness. 

BO KNOWS MiLB
The Card: Bo Bichette 2018 Topps Heritage Minor League (image variation)
The Buzz On This: My most-collected active player bats lead-off this time as I just wanted some MLB star power here -- he has that despite a down year in 2024 -- and this one also is a reminder. Of what? That, while the MiLB options in packs are not what they used to be right now, you can find a lot of today's younger stars on Heritage MiLB cards that ran from 1962 to 1973 on cardboard -- that's 2011 to 2022 in reality -- before the line was shelved last year. This was a slightly pricier pick-up vs. my typical stuff dropped here (oddball finds from team sets) as this is a photo variation SP ... a little tougher find but not an impossible one. What might be impossible finds at some point soon or the next few years? Unopened Heritage MiLB boxes and perhaps even some earlier editions of Pro Debut ... they have to have the smallest print runs of anything from Topps in recent years. No new stuff to open in box form has had me looking at singles more and more, despite many older MiLB boxes having affordable prices ... I may dabble with both more next year.

Keep reading for more examples of some weird or fun baseball cards you can find in MiLB.

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