Shohei Ohtani
Board Buzz: Must-read threads on Blowout Forums (Oct. 5)
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What's Buzzing: Blue Jays open big, Shohei Ohtani takes the mound, NFL Week 5, Topps NBA and ripping into Bowman Chrome and more in this Sunday edition.
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1 -- Checking in on the Vladdy Jr. thread after the Blue Jays' blowout of Yankees
2 -- Shohei Ohtani talk after his first postseason start
3 -- More MLB threads are here
4 -- NFL Week 5
5 -- Results from some 2025 Bowman Chrome rips
6 -- Topps NBA chatter--
Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.
Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.
Board Buzz: Must-read threads on Blowout Forums (Oct. 2)
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What's Buzzing: Dodgers advance in MLB postseason, NFL Week 5 is here, MVP chatter, a grading question, a SpongeBob thread and ... Living Set NBA?
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1 -- The MLB postseason threads are here
3 -- Talking Topps Now and Living Sets
4 -- A grading question
5 -- A SpongeBob thread
6 -- Still pondering the MVP ...--
Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.
Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.
First Buzz: 2025 Topps Update baseball cards (updated)
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What: 2025 Topps Update baseball cards
Arrives: Oct. 29
Box basics: One auto or Relic per 20-pack hobby box (12 per case) or one auto and two Relics per 10-pack jumbo box (six per case)
Odds: TBD
Checklist: Click here
Order: Click here (when available)What's buzz-worthy: The full hobby details for the Update series of Topps' flagship baseball cards are still to come, but the box subject has been teased and it's Chicago Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong.
Keep reading for more info and a full gallery of images for this one once they are available.
Board Buzz: Must-read threads on Blowout Forums (Oct. 1)
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What's Buzzing: Shohei Ohtani powers Dodgers in postseason opener, signed books, Disney Chrome, 2025 Donruss NFL and more.
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1 -- The MLB postseason threads are here
3 -- The 2025 Donruss NFL reactions
4 -- An attempt at a WWE Hall of Fame Rookie Card checklist
5 -- Still talking Disney Chrome
6 -- Checking in on the signed books thread--
Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.
Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.
First Buzz: 2025 Topps Diamond Icons baseball cards
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What: 2025 Topps Diamond Icons baseball cards
Arrives: Oct. 22
Box basics: Nine autographs and one Relic per 11-card box (two boxes per case)
Checklist: TBD
Order: Click here
What's buzz-worthy: This high-end line arrives once again with a base card in every box this time along with plenty of hits.
Keep reading for more as well as a full gallery of images.
First Buzz: 2025 Topps Holiday baseball cards (updated)
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What: 2025 Topps Holiday baseball cards
Arrives: Oct. 22
Box basics: One autograph, Relic or Chrome variation in mega boxes -- TBD on other two formats, advent calendar or tin (also with three-tin hobby & retail boxes ... full details below)
Checklist: TBD
Order: Click here (when live)What's buzz-worthy: The annual Holiday version of Topps baseball cards is on its way with some variety on formats -- each with some exclusive parallels -- and some new looks.
Keep reading for more and a full gallery of images.
Auction Buzz: Michael Jordan's debut, iconic views, rare Pokemon, Hellyboy's Big Baby & more on block via Heritage
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Auction Buzz is a monthly look at some of the variety found out there on the auction block ... check 'em out.
It's going to be a busy end of the year for Dallas-based Heritage Auctions with a number of regularly scheduled events as well as some showcase auctions with high-profile stuff all on the calendar. This time, we look at a few things from a few active sales this month.
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ANOTHER BIG JORDAN
The Item: Michael Jordan Oct. 26, 1984 (NBA Debut) Chicago Bulls season-ticket stub (PSA 4)
The Price: $65,000 after 25 bids (ends Sept. 27)
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Last month, a Michael Jordan (and Kobe Bryant) card sale via auction re-wrote some hobby history and, while we're confident this one won't fetch $12.9 million, this one is in some rare air. It has already hit its estimated price from the auction house and while its grade is low there are only three higher. "The most important athletic debut of the post-war era?" asked Heritage in its listing. "A strong argument could be made. Perhaps only Wayne Gretzky could challenge Michael Jordan in balloting seeking to identify the most dominant figure of his respective major sport, but once you step outside the sports arena and into the wider popular culture, M.J. leaves The Great One in his dust. He remains one of the most recognizable humans on the planet two decades after his retirement from the NBA." Jordan scored a modest 16 points in a 109-93 win over the Washington Bullets on this night and only 14 of these have been grade overall.Keep reading for more interesting pieces up for grabs right now.
Board Buzz: Must-read threads on Blowout Forums (Sept. 7)
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What's Buzzing: NFL Week 1, Shohei Ohtani keeps on homering, college football, Big Dumper, Taylor Swift and more.
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1 -- NFL Week 1 reactions
2 -- Shohei Ohtani keeps on homering
4 -- Looking back at the NFL-Taylor Swift thread
5 -- Checking back in on Big Dumper chatter
6 -- All your MLB chatter--
Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.
Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.
Board Buzz: Must-read threads on Blowout Forums (Aug. 28)
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What's Buzzing: Talking NFL favorites, Shohei Ohtani, NFL and WWE chatter, Big Dumper and more.
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1 -- Talking favorite NFL releases
2 -- Shohei Ohtani
3 -- Even more NFL chatter is here
4 -- Still talking Cactus Jack WWE--
Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.
Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.
Buzz Break: 2025 Topps Series 2 baseball cards (hanger)
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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: 2025 Topps Series 2 baseball cards (hanger)
First Buzz preview & checklist/odds: Click here
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (a few formats)
Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of what was in this one.
Kobe Bryant & Michael Jordan dual-Logoman 1/1 autograph sells for $12.9M via Heritage -- new record for any sports card
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Update: The card sold for $12,932,000 -- an all-time record for any sports card -- at 1:45 a.m. Sunday morning.
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It's already topped the $7-million mark with time to go before the auction ends tomorrow night, but there's no telling the heights this card might reach.
There's a realistic chance that the Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Autographs card will become the priciest sports card of all time -- not just priciest basketball card ever -- when the dust settles at ends Heritage Auctions on Saturday and it's really only got two rivals.
Right now, with its buyer's premium attached, this card sits at $7,015,000 after 46 bids (click to view) and that already gives it the title of the biggest basketball card of all time. The previous NBA high was for a similar modern card, a 2009-10 Panini National Treasures Steph Curry Logoman auto, that sold privately for $5.9 million to an investment fund July 2021.
And there aren't too many past auctions that top that.
Buzz Break: 2025 Topps Heritage baseball cards (blaster)
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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: 2025 Topps Heritage baseball cards (blaster)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com
First Buzz preview, odds & checklist: Click hereKeep reading for a full breakdown and gallery for what was found in this one.
Board Buzz: Must-read threads on Blowout Forums (Aug. 21)
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What's Buzzing: Cactus Jack WWE, grails, Kyle Schwarber, Shohei Ohtani, Cal Raleigh and more.
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1 -- Cactus Jack WWE on their minds
2 -- Talking grails ...
3 -- Still pondering Kyle Schwarber and Cooperstown
4 -- Talking Ohtani
5 -- Big Dumper is nearing a record and 50 homers
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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.
First Buzz: 2025 Topps Tier One baseball cards
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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.
Buzz Break: 2022 Topps Heritage MLB cards (retail box)
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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: 2022 Topps Heritage baseball cards (retail display)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (for hobby)
First Buzz preview & checklist: Click hereKeep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of what was in this one.
Board Buzz: Must-read threads on Blowout Forums (Aug. 14)
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What's Buzzing: Is Topps working on an NBA-NFL hybrid set already? Shohei Ohtani, Pete Crow-Armstrong, eTopps and more in today's edition.
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1 -- Is Topps working that far in advance?
2 -- Good question
3 -- Shohei Ohtani
4 -- Pete Crow-Armstrong has hit a wall
5 -- The real end of eTopps is near
6 -- All your NFL chatter as the season nears--
Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.
Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.
Board Buzz: Must-read threads on Blowout Forums (Aug. 12)
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What's Buzzing: NFL chatter, Big Dumper, lots of thoughts, eTopps and an Ohtani vs. Bonds question.
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1 -- An Ohtani vs. Bonds question ...
2 -- eTopps
4 -- Some grading thoughts in there
5 -- Big Dumper ain't slowing down
6 -- All your NFL chatter as the season nears--
Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.
Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.
Board Buzz: Must-read threads on Blowout Forums (Aug. 10)
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What's Buzzing: Shohei Ohtani, eBay issues, Graphite tennis, 2026 MLB Rookie Cards, Drake Baldwin and NFL chatter.
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1 -- All your NFL chatter as the season nears
4 -- Pondering 2026 Topps Series 1 Rookie Cards
6 -- Breaking down a Graphite tennis case--
Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.
Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.
Buzz Break: 2025 Topps Series 2 baseball cards (hanger)
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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: 2025 Topps Series 2 baseball cards (hanger)
First Buzz preview & checklist/odds: Click here
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (a few formats)
Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of what was in this one.
Making the Grade (Aug.): Aaron Judge, Rickey Henderson's Rookie Card, Roger Maris, WWE stars, three Mariahs & more
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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 9Grade 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10 P10 Total Population 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 20 10 8 0 44 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.
First Buzz: 2025 Topps The Joy of Baseball Bob Ross X MLB
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What: 2025 Topps The Joy of Baseball Bob Ross X MLB
Arrives: July 31 via Topps.com
Box basics: Two autographs and one paintbrush pen per eight-pack Collector's Edition box; autos found one in four Happy Little Boxes
Checklist: TBD
Order: Click here (when live)What's buzz-worthy: MLB fans get a second helping of "happy little trees" on happy little baseball cards, with a "unique collection showcases MLB legends, past and present, silhouetted atop Bob Ross’ unmistakable landscape motif to create trading cards that are sure to be works of art."
Keep reading for more as well as a full gallery of images.
Board Buzz: Must-read threads on Blowout Forums (July 22)
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What's Buzzing: The National nears, Paul Skenes, Shohei Ohtani, waiting on Topps WWE, fake autos and ... the future of sticker autos?
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1 -- The future of sticker autographs?
2 -- The National nears
3 -- Talking Paul Skenes
6 -- Reactions to an alleged autograph forgery ring--
Have you spotted a hot thread? Tell us about it in a comment or on Twitter.
Follow BlowoutBuzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz.
First Buzz: 2025 Topps Archives Signature Series
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What: 2025 Topps Archives Signature Series baseball cards
Arrives: Aug. 6
Box basics: One encased and numbered buyback autograph per box (20 boxes per case)
Player list: Click here
Order: Click hereWhat's buzz-worthy: Topps' long-running brand arrives once again with "a curated lineup of autographed buybacks — each one a piece of hobby history reimagined."
Keep reading for more.
Legendary cardboard: 25 fun & notable Ichiro Suzuki cards
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Ichiro Suzuki’s 2001 MLB arrival didn’t just change the game on the field — he helped feed growing international demand for baseball cards via plenty of new premium brands that helped pave the way for the ultra-deluxe stuff of today.
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A legendary career and baseball journey on two continents makes its final stop this month in Cooperstown, N.Y., and the Hall of Fame and there’s a lot that can be said about that in several directions.
Ichiro Suzuki changed the game with his arrival in MLB, eschewing the longball in favor of speed and hits — lots and lots of hits. But, “hits” are also the story of all those years when it comes to baseball cards with the prized rarities found in packs with autographs on them — or pieces of memorabilia in them — being an unstoppable force in those years.
Of course, hits didn’t start with the Japanese star’s arrival, but many of his cards in sets alongside another now-legendary 2001 rookie, Albert Pujols, helped change the cardboard world even faster. Demand for their stuff prompted several new brands from several companies making MLB cards back then to try new things, capitalizing on their new stars who could move packs and boxes of cards -- just like they could move players around the bases and move butts into seats to watch games. One could argue that 2001 was in part a big piece in the evolution of what we see in today’s sports card landscape -- a focus on rarities with small print runs and with premium prices that weren’t like the wax paper-wrapped pocket-change treasures of not that many years before.
Now, what’s to come here is absolutely not a definitive list of top cards — and it’s not one purely based on volatile values or one limited solely to Rookie Cards. Why? There’s a lot to choose from for Suzuki on all fronts — there could be several ways to take on this challenge. He has more than 50 different Rookie Cards between his 1993 Nippon Professional Baseball and 2001 Major League Baseball debuts (depending on how you want to argue about RC definitions) and he had roughly 500 cards in 2001 alone. Many of them are rarer cards where it is impossible to own them all thanks to small print runs and rare serial-numbered versions.
In all, he appears on more than 19,000 different cards made over the years between NPB and MLB -- and even though his playing career ended in 2019 his cardboard career has not. He’s got a place in the game in seemingly every new baseball card set on the way and that figures to be the story for the rest of cardboard eternity. He’s not just a Hall of Famer … he’s an international icon.
Here’s a small sampling of 25 Ichiro Suzuki cards that are both fun and notable.
Making the Grade (July): A perfect Caitlin Clark, clean comics, young WWE stars, Shohei Ohtani, Bo Bichette & plenty more
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Like many collectors, Buzz is a fan of grading ... so here's this month's grading diary.
AS GOOD AS IT GETS
The Card: Caitlin Clark 2024-25 Panini Instant WNBA (/26,980) -- Rookie Card
The Reason Graded: I watched and waited for the most part with Caitlin Clark cards as Panini Instant stuff arrived regularly and her in-pack WNBA Rookie Cards arrived later in the year. But, when this award-winner card popped up with a clean and iconic studio photo? Well, I pretty much instantly (pun not intended as it's simply true) grabbed a 10-pack with an eye for a slab. It's in a past Buzz Buys (hit the archives) and this is the result a few months later.
The Grade: CGC 10 (Pristine)Grade 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10 P10 Total Population 0 1 0 1 1 3 9 25 5 36 6 87 Reality Check: This one is heavily made and should be heavily slabbed -- the number of Pristines has at least doubled just in the few weeks since I got these back from CGC -- but many won't be checking in at this top mark. I didn't slab to expect a perfect 10 but I thought this one had potential after going through my stack. Three of my 10 had solid centering and this one was first to make that cut ... with this mark I may not need to send in the other two. It's my lone Clark slab ... and it's strong enough it might stay that way just so I can say I went 1-for-1 grading here. We'll see.
Keep reading for more of this month's rundown of pick-ups and new slabs for Buzz.